The return of Signor Facta to office and the cessation
of the general strike proclaimed by the Socialists unfortunately failed to restore domestic peace in Italy last week. The anti-Socialist body, who wear black shirts and are known as the Fascisti, maintained their discipline in Rome itself, but elsewhere they showed no scruples about attacking their opponents. In Milan, where the strikers stoned the tramcars, the Fascisti mobilized, occupied the town hall and destroyed the offices of the Avanti, the leading Socialist journal. There was sharp fighting, too, at Ancona, Leghorn, Genoa, Brescia, Parma and many other places. Martial law was proclaimed in half a dozen provinces, and the Premier made an urgent appeal for order, in which he was sup- ported, oddly enough, by that stormy petrel, Signor d'Annunzio. The Italian Socialists doubtless have only themselves to thank for the " reprisals " which the Fasoisti have taken, inasmuch as the Socialist party has too often advocated and practised " direct action." But the maintenance of law and order ought not to be left to any private society, however well intentioned its leaders may be.
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