Italian Evolution

The Italian industrial uprising, which fizzed up with the suddenness of a skyrocket, has subsided as rapidly. When the workmen first seized the factories they declared that they would never give them up until they got full control; and though allowance had to be made for the familiar difficulty of moderate leaders who had to talk radically to hold their following, it began to look as if only complete surrender by the owners would avert trouble. There was surrender, but far from complete. The owners admit the principle of employe participation in management; the details are to be settled by a mixed commission. Whereupon the factories are to be restored, and the loud talk subsides because it is no longer needed.

The extremists who insisted on complete and immediate socialization, and who caused some disorders, especially in Turin, have received a heavy blow in the referendum by which the workmen voted nearly three to one to accept the compromise. The radical faction may be expected to continue to make trouble, but it will hereafter be recognized as a mere discontented minority which has no honest basis for its case. Three-quarters of the workmen involved want to make haste slowly. Mr. Turati, veteran leader of the moderate Socialist group in the Parliament, in an interview reported in yesterday's Evening Post, said that Italy needed more production, and that production could not be increased without new management, plenty of raw materials "and, above all, tranquility." The extremists, he said, could not provide raw materials, which would have to be obtained largely from abroad, nor could they provide tranquility. The Italian workmen, he added, were not inclined to the "Asiatic" ideas of the Third International; once again Italia fara da se.

The results of the referendum would indicate that he was right. A great change has taken place. It is already reported that Socialists such as Turati, Treves and Modigliani may sink their dogmatic scruples and enter the Cabinet to keep an eye on the working out of the agreement; and the fact that this change was brought about by violence sets an ominous precedent for the discontented of the future. Nevertheless, Italy has escaped practically unharmed from a situation which threatened a great deal of trouble, and the new industrial experiment is to be tried, apparently, with good faith on all sides. The outcome reflects great credit on the good sense of D'Aragona and the other moderate leaders, and still more, on that of the men whom they led. -New York Times