~~~~~~~~~~~!!lilll1ll!!!~~~~~~~"" Fascism Exposed ! To the Australian People and All Political Representatives Address delivered by Dr. Omero Schiassi at the New Gaiety Theatre, .Melbourne, on the 10th June, 1928, under the auspices of the Committee of the Anti-Fascist Concentration of Australasia, in commemoration of the Great Martyr, Giacomo Matteotti; and afterwards translated as an appeal to the people of Australia. {Issued 1n English and Italian by the Executive Committee of. the Anti-Fascist Concentration · of Australasia). THIRD EDITION. Sold by the Library of the Socialist Party, 182 Exhibition Street. Melbourne, CONCENTRAZI e cea.n1a 11F asCisfil0°rtemTOZi~t~ ! c.~ Al Popolo Australiano e a tutti i Rappresentanti Politici ! Discorso pronunziato dall'avv. Omero Schiassi al New Gaiety Theatre in Melbourne il 10 Giugno, .1928, per incarico del Comitato della Concentrazione Anti-Fascista dell'Oceania, a · commemorazione del Grande Martire Giacomo Matteotti, e poscia tradotto in appello _al popolo dell'Australia. (Pubblicato in Italiano e in Inglese, a cura de/ Comitato Esecutiuo' de/la Concenfrazione AntiFascista dell'Oceania). TERZA EDIZIONE. In vendita presso la Libreria del Partito Socialista, 182 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. Con ii contributo di Fraser & Jenkinson Pt:r. Ltd., U6 Queen St., Melbourne. PRESIDENZA DEL CONSIGLIO .,-li'-\l.SAR1 DEi MlNlSTRI { ~· Su1murn di missionc :umivcn..'\1lnai,ionali cd C\-enti $J)(>l1i\·i nazionali I .:: c im,crn:w.ionali N,t,.·£\O~'t"
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends All! youR numerous and enthufliastic attendance here this evening clearly expresses your judgment and your deliberate purpose. Your applause will be the confirmation or the Constitution of the Anti-Fascist Concentration of Australasia, drawn up in the Committee, -consisting of the following gentlemen :-F .. Broccardo, G. Terranova, N. Brancove, S. Lodovico, C. 'Silverstrini, A. Torrigiani and 0. Merluzzi. l do not spealc tO you in the name of the party which I representevery party comes into the coalition, with the full equipment of its theories, without foreswearing any one of them! I do not sp.eak, therefore, in the name of the Catholic party, or the Liberal party, or tho Republican party or the Communist or Anarchist party, etc. I speal< in the name of the whole people of Italy, saving only the Cains, in the name of the people which wishes to 'fnalc.e known~. but cannotfor it is gagged-tb ·file people· of· Australia and may!/"., to. Ylf w9ol~ world, the burning sh'ame of Fascism! History, from its beginning to our ·days, shows us that the most effective means of overthrowing tyranny -apart from the bodily destruction of the tyrant-is the exposure of its deeds and misdeeds. For this reason, the tyrant of all ages is affrighted and infuriated by truth, like the bull by the red rag; and he kills, imprisons, -tortures, exiles all those who venture to proclaim the truth. I have therefore accepted, with all the enthusiasm of lllhich I am capable, the invitation of the Committee to commemorate our great martyr and my own personal friend, Giacomo Matteotti, and to address at the same time an appeal to the Australian people. Thus:- 0The Anti-Fascist Concentration" for Australasia denounces to the Australian people and to its legitimate representative, the Right Hon- \ B1bllotec d C 2 orable Stanley Bru~e, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, Benito Mussolini and his Government! "Liberty is the goal, which is so dear, As he knows, who for it lays down his life." -Dante. Must we keep silent things that are incredible though true, or feign things that are credible, though false, in order to be able to tell them? And for our greater anguish, shall we find credence in things and deeds which had to overcome so much re- • sistance from our inveterate la.w abiding habits, in order to be believed by us, in the time of their inception, and which, in any case, we judged as a reprehensible but transient historical and social excess? Shall a people like that of Australia, which through Jong usage has made the observance of law af\d order its second nature, be able to 1 lend ear and faith to the statement that arbitrary and criminal force is constantly employed as n. means of government for a people with a civiJisation two thousand years old? Right Honorable Sir, you derive your powerful moral authority to direct the destinies and represent the wishes of the Australian people from the legal majority which gave you this mandate, and we, no less readily than any other, offer you due recognition and deference! Neither of these is due to Benito Mussolini, who has usurped his power, and keeps it still, illegally and arbitrarily, to the detriment of a whole nation weighed down by oppression! From the time when, in Oct.Ober, 1H22, with the famous 111nrch on Rome-a march of Italians against their own capital!-which dispassionate historia.ns will soon describe as it was in effect, the most cowardly episode in all civil wnr, being free · from all possible risk, Parliament. Monarchy, Constitution, Legality, Liberty, ceased to exist, except in name and for passing the estimates. 'l'his wretched episode markecl the formal consummation of a whole
preceding series of isolated crimes against workmen, and the bf',:;inning and transition from sporadic crimes committed on individual initiative and responsibility, to State crime on a large scale, against the working class. The latter had committed an unpardonable crime--the seizing of the factories--in the period immediately after the wa,r, in consequence of the failure of promises hastily made by the Italian bourgeoisie--land for the peasantry and industrial profitsharing for the workmen--to urge the protesting people on to war; and what appeared, in the circumstances, a still more unpardonable crime, was to have given them back, after long and mature deliberation in Milan, and with regular procedure, by the delegates of the worlters' industrial organisations of ItalY. Benito Mussolini, saviour of Italy, strong man, Napoleon the Great come to life again, and other similar pleasantries, which are circulated as legends by the interested literary hirelings of the Government, and which therefore easily traverse other lands and seas, are insults to the common chronicle· of facts, and a snare cunningly set for the good faith of common opinion. He saved nothing. for his effective intervention in the events in question toolt place after the Italian working class spontaneously effected the restitution of the factories. He was not strong but headstrong in his systematic incitement of social outcasts so markedly on the increase ·art,,r the end of the war, and in his unchecked onset towards lawlessness. As to the great Napoleon, he is a mOst grotesque and cynical .caricature of him: Napoleon, rightly or wronglY,,. spread the great principles of the French Revolution, and tiad made himself the champion of the Charter of the Rights of Man, at the point of the bayonet countering the resistance of foreign armies in full equipment; our little Napoleonic ape, impersonating an insensate because disproportional class reaction, wearing the mask of nationalism, and therefore lacking in principles which Biblioteca C no 8 a co 3 ' Fascism has not and cannot have,~ -- is at tiie head of a band of scoundrels, which is working against the people of its own blood, against a r,eople which is unarmed, having been previously disarmed by a rigorcug law passe-d by the preceding Prime Minister, the Honorable Gia. vanni Giolitti. It was the intention of the King of Italy to pass the sponge over the events of the post-war period, by a decree of amnesty; a wise provision, the execution of which, if it had not succeeded in eliminating the class war, would undoubtedly have silenced the hatreds emanating from its most scandalous manifestations; bu( a family quarrel in the reigning house intervened to aggravate the situation, already compHcated enougll of itself, of the social forces at war with each other. The Duke of Aosta, noted for his reactionary ideas, claimed that the working class should be punished, and his obstinacy was equal to his narrowness of outlook. For this base purpose there came forward the man ready to betray all parties and all faiths; first an Anarchist, then a Communist Extremist; an AntiMonarchist to the point of legitimising regicide in the red week; an anti-war partisan, and then standing for intervention when the gold from France had hardly been received; a tendential Republican for a time, then a Monarchist, an Imperialist, etcetera: Benito Mussolini, the Glorious Duce! He appeared as strong man and hero, when the Duke of Aosta, with the a!lliable intention of supplanting his cousin on the throne, had given orders to the Royal Carabinieri, whose commander he was, to stand by without Interference at the acts of destruction effected by the Fascist b'ancls, whiclt were then irregulnr, and to protect them, in case of counter-attack in legitimate defense, in bands, which were then irregular, their punitive expeditions ( ! ) against the disarmed populace. "Stem the tide" was the euphemism which will remain famous in the history of Italy. "We have orders to
l t ! etem· the tide," was the reply of the King's Carablnieri to the solicitations or protests of the authorities, who were surprised and scandalised to find passivity, and often help in the perpetration of crimes, on the part of the Corps whose business it was to prevent them. Thus were methodically destroyed Co-operative Societi.es, Institutes, and Centres of Proletarian Organisation, representing values of ruillions of lire: all the patient work of half a century in educating and uplifting the working classes was scattered; while the impunity secretly guaranteed to the authors of the massacres waR spreading in waves of terror over public opinion-such was the name openly given to them later with monstrous boastfulness-as a prelu.de to the gagging and effective f::lavery which were to come. In this way were committed thousands of murders, almost as a festival and orgiastic celebration of their absolute impunity; conscientious judges w,•re intimidated by threats; the brutality of the human beast of the darkest periods of his, tory reappeared stronger than ever, nourished by ·the cowardice of vile mercenaries armed to the teeth, pitted against individuals despoiled of their arms, and of civil protection: fathers, sons, husbands, brothers slaughtered in the presence of their dear ones, sometimes in the night, and in circumstances such that the recollection of them alone brings a startled shudder of horror. Impudence and loss of moral sense reached such a point as to pass off as martyrs the criminal aggressors who fell in the punitive expeditions, at the hands of those who did not consent to give up their life without resistance. The unlimited number of such a list of so-styled martyrs is the proof of the magnitude of the reaction. The march on Rome was executed under the shelter of a military prounciamento of some generals who joined the Duke of Aosta. It was such that the King of Italy, to avoid the disintegration latent in the army, and the possibility of being unseated, BibliotecaGino Bianco was constrained to call to office Mussolini, who, under-,the wing of the Press, bought over by the gold or French masonry, was fanning the !lame of dissension in the Royal household. The full price was exacted: the power once in his hands, the tragedy already in full development was replaced by the tragic farce. The famous consensus of the whole of the nation did not exist and never had existed. The lists of candidates for the subsequent elections, prepared by Mussolini, were catalogues of servants and tools devoted to him by previous pact, and the elections were imposed, revolver in hand, with bludgeon and castor oil. Thus was the consensus attained! ! ! Crime calls forth crime. Right Honorable Sir, yon have here a great and noble figure, on whom all An;tralia looks with just pride and vibrant veneration, as a symbol and personification of living honesty, kindness, universal human charity, the Honorable William Maloney, the little doctor as he is called by his admiring people; weli then, Sir, saving a difference of age, such was in Italy our friend, the multi-millionaire Giacomo Matteotti, who gave out with full· hands for the Italian proletariat the treasures of his n1ind, and of his heart, his eloquence, his wealth! Being warned a few moments before his last speech in the Chamber of Deputies, a speech which was. monumental in its denunciation of the infamous methods by which the elections were imposed on a civilised people, he said: "Now I am going to pronounce my own funeral oration!" His conscience did not falter, nor could it have been swayed in any way; and so he was done away with, by order of the assassin who now speaks in the name of a people bf forty-two million souls! His speech finished, the assassin rose from the Government bench, where he was sitting, and said: "That man must speak no more!" And thus it was. (A minute's silence In memory of the Great Martyr!)
Several have been killed, hundreds beaten and imprisoned, to prevent flowers being carried to the martyr's tomb, or any doing of· homage to bis memory! For centuries Italy and the world will look on him as on the purest fountain of light, in all the sublimity that there is in the supreme sacrifice or life for an ideal cause! "Kill me; but you will never kill the idea which is in me! 11 he cried, while he was being beaten down by the assassins of the Glorious Duce! With the attempts on the Sacred Person of the Glorious l)uce, the Italian political situation became W•orse and worse: terror is the vital atmosphtre ot the regime! With the suppression of all Opposition newspapers, in the absolute absence of control by public opinion, all the most fragrant flowers of tyranny have burst into bloom, as if by magic-espionage, deletion imposed as a duty, every door-keeper turned into a spy by Government compulsion, as in Russia under the ·Czar, political and criminal parasitism raised to the Nth power, corruption in all its unmasked or covert manifestations, supine obedience to the arbitrary ruling of the hierarchy, and sycophancy, have made possible an epoch W3iCh the humor of the Italian people, never forgotten even in the darkest hours of its history, has called that of the political suf. ,ci<les, a euphemism used to indicate the clandestine executions, by the Fascist Cheka, of political opponents, held or wanted to be such by the petty satrap of this or that town, and laconically announced in the Fascist ,:, newspapers, the only ones in existence, as "suicides." 'sir, history does not take us by surprise, and with ample intellectual width of vision, true though it may be that all humanity moves on fatally through errors and horrors, the suffering of the social body in order to reach a state of public health can be explained; and from a Machiavellian or cynical point of view, putting .i-side modern politico-Social concepBiolioteca Gino B anco 5 tlon as to the sovereignty of the / people and representative systems, even the despot can be justified: not the brigand, But the despot must be in a position to assure a minim um of existence to his own subjects, according to the requiNments of the times. It is a great people, Sir, that is dying, stifled and in inanition, by the work of a bandit who by a coup de main, unexpectedly •helped by circumstances, has seized the reins of government, and will not give them up again, except, as he himself proclaimed, through a sea of blood! Italy is now, politically, one great prison; economically, it is a squalid dwelling.place in which bare existence has become a crucial problem; financially it is henceforth a semicolony of Wall Street; the cost of living is greater than that of almost all the other countries of the earth; and wages and salaries scarcely a fifth of those received in Australia; the burden of taxation is so heavy an'd unbearable that it is collapsing under its own weight; the working classe;:; struggling against~ chronic unemployment; and the middle classes, constrained to live at the last extremities, having lost, by the recent threefold reductions, by Ministerial decree, of wages and salaries, the necessary power of acquisition, have cau8ed a permanent and serious economic crisis, evident not only in the excessive numlier of bankruptcies every day, but in the general ruin caused by the failures of public banks; the arts are decaying; oratory is buried; the most laudable energies, the noblest and most independent souls, the flower of the nation's intelligence and culture is languishing in prisons and in confinement to domicile; attempts on the tyrant's life succeed each other with siginficant frequency, . , . ·Naught but hypocrisy, naught but lying, trickery, naught but asthmatical rhetoric of the lowest quality: battles, naught but battles, with the purpose, already frustrated, of keeping the public spirit under confinuous pressure: the battle ,for the lira, '
the battle for the Llctorate Loan; the battle for grain; 1he battle for .,industries; the battle for the school; etc.; all ending in economic disasters, while the nation goes to pieces, still with the usual illusion that in the light of the centul'y, amazed by the wonders of aviation, of speed records, of the wireless tran£:misslon of electrical energy, of television, of synthetic chemistry, etc., the problems of society and government, which every day more and more assume the character of pure rational administration, can be indefinitely c\.eforred, if not resolved, by ferocious police measures! No, Sir, the people of Italy did not rleserve the shame of an adventurEr of such dimensions; nor did the peace of Europe deserve the nightmare of his syphilitic megalomania! The imperial glories of the regime are used, dishonoring the international obligations that have- been assumed, to oppress and harass with equal infamy of methods the most highly civilised minorities of other stock. He is leader and prisoner of a band of men who drain the blood of every resource of the nation, who make strife in the Fascist sections, in the search for the most wretched bone to gnaw; social riff-raf[, real scum from the galleys, convidted for common crimes, ot'Len occupy i11 this Fascist era positions of distinction. But his responsibility is immense, and in direct proportion to the systematic incitement to, and absolution of, crime, by which to reach and kenp in power, on the part of the worst element in the nation, which now dominates and rends it. His greatest exponents _and representatives in Italy and abroad are not nominated and chosen for their capacity, but for the greater number of crimes committed against the workers. The monarchy is finished. The dying speech of the monarchical institution has already been made in Italy through the mouth of its own representative. "If the party in Bibliotee,aG no B1a..,co 6 powcr"-such was the rather undistinguished plea of King Victor, supposed to be reigning by the Grace of God and the Will of the Nation, in the presencll of four previous Prime Min isters-"<lesires me to go, I am ready." The Fascist militia itself, consisting of we know not exactly whether it be ·three hundred thousand or half a million troops, a personal corps, the Pretorian body-guard oi.' ·the Glol'iOus Duce, is not bound by an oath to the nation or the King, but to the person of Mussolini, an oath which binds one to lift a murderous hand even against one's own parents, at the pleasure of the Glorious Duce. Every O!l\>onent has been declared. hy a. law of Mussolini, .an enemy o[ his country, Ambassadors and consuls are no longer the r~presentatives of the nation abroad, bnt tile employes of Mussolini, althoughLord bless you!-they carefully abstain from saying so, or naturally even protest the contrary. Wh9soever has not given way and has not acC'epted the Fascist formula, has been dismissed. The chief function of the Embassies and Consulates abroad, to-day, is the organisation of Fascist groups, and the struggle, by every possible rn~.ans, against any opposition or opponents, against whom falsehood is the lightest weapon in their hands; all the rest being nothing else than a matter oJ ordinary administration. Poor Italy, we fix our gaze on your pallor, while you are covered with an imperial mantle, to serve more and more the lusts of insatiable Cains; and we weep because we love you so much, and because we know that you are forbidden even to weep! Not for this did the Carbonari, the B:rndieras, the Ugo Bassis, the CaYours, the Mazzin.is, the Garibaldis, and all the splendid band of precursors, martyrs and hP.roes of your Risorgimento, perish in prisons, or give np their lives on the scaffold, or immolate themselves on the fields of battle, or give their arm and brain and possessions to the cause of your freedom; no, surely, if the spirit of
those great men had been able to foresee that a cruel Fate was imposing on you once more the ascension of a Golgotha, by fratricidal command! We have not the right to insist further on details, which nevertheless torment our mind and heart, like n hair-shirt with innumerable sharp - points; every people has its cares. and we are not unaware •of the bur~ dens and responsibilities whirh lie heavy upon you, Sir; and yet, if for one fleeting moment the human solidarity which no~vadays is imposed on one and all, not only as a duty of ' Assassinated on June 10th, 1924 Giacomo Matteotti, the great Italian Socialist, has become one of the martyrs of Freedom. ;His name and work is honored by liberty-lovers the world over. On Sunday, June 10th, 1928, in tl1e Gaiety Theatre, Melbourne, a public meeting took place, promoted by the Matteotti Club, and addressed in both Italian and English. Mr. Don Cameron was chairman. He read a sympathetic apology for unavoidable absence from Dr. W. M;aloney, M.P. Mr. W. A. Watt, M.P., wrote explaining his viewpoint, which was that such meetings should be left to the Italians, as they knew the facts. The actual speaker of the House of Representatives, Sir Lyttleton Groom, too, was invited. The chairman said that they that Jay commemorated the memory of a great Socialist" martyr, whose name ..._. and achievements would long be remembered. An Italian comrade, Bertazzin, addressed the audience in tribute to tlie work of Giacomo ll'.latteottr. He was loudly applauded, and spoke with considerable eloquence. Mr. W. J. Duggan (President of the A.L.P. and I A.C.T.U.) said that he represented the Australian Labor Party in indicating the party's sympathy with the protest against despotism. There was no darker tragedy in Italy's history than the Biblioteca Gino 81arco 7 sensitive souls but as a matter of universal interest, impels you to come 1own and look upon our grief, not disdaining our modest garb, which is in such a contingency nothing else than a sign by which OU!' political and moral integrity may be recognised: you will find strong and upright sotils; so that, warmed by the very breath of their faith, from the height of you,. Ministerial seat, with the wide resonance of your voice and authority, you also may be able to say to the world that Italy does not deserve executioners,, but civic rule and liberty. murder of Matteotti. By the depredations of a Modern Nero, Italy's genius was being stifled. Any word of encouragement that Australians could offer the liberty-lovers of Italy should not be withheld. If Mussolini or any of his satellites imagined that Australians would uphold and endorse Fascist tyranny they were in for an emphatic awak,ening-. The growing enlightenment of the masses haunting the tyrants was the hope of the world. Some day, for all time, they wot1ld see government of the people by the people for the people. (Loud applause). Mr. Blackburn, M.L.A., said, in reference to the letter from Mr. Watt, he had thought that as the death of Giacomo Matteotti was considered to be such a violent breach in the tn1dition which was universally honored, that a representative of the people in a Parliament was to be immune from molestation, an, appeal to a member of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia would have drawn from him keen interest in such an event as this, the commemoration of the death of a man who was struck down while engaged in discharging his public duties. Mr. Blackburn said he looked forward to the Italians gaining permanent constitutional liberty in Italy, with the world-wide advancement of the great bodies of the inhabitants of all countries, outside the privileged classes, towards political emancipation. Before such intellectual pro-
gress racial barriers must fall as a means of keeping peoples divided. He remembered as a boy the romantic story of how the freedom and union of Italy had been won. He recalled the exploits of Garibaldi and Mazzini. The Italy of to-day was a great anticlimax. It has a tyranny that combined the worst features of tyrannies of the Bourbon and the Austrian. The assassination of Matteotti was an attack upon constitutional democracy. They stood there, to-day, resenting the outrage upon the free and independent liberties of the people. The days of national interest being preeminent were passing, and Australia had its relationship to Italy. There could not be a happy Australia in the midst of an unhappy Italy. The na0 tions were one--an injury to the people of one was an injury to all. Matteotti bravely stood against tyranny, and therefore they honored him. Thousands everywhere glorified in his sacrifice. (Cheers). Mr. R. S. Ross (Socialist Party) said that the liberty-lovers of the world were with the anti-Fascists. Each generation anew had apparently to win liberty. Those whom the odds were against generally secured the victory in the long run. Fascism was founded on force, born and bred in illegality. Fascism was not confined to Italy. In essence the Australian Crimes Act and certain Arbitration amendmentS were e·qually coercive and despotic in spirit as the decrees of a Mussolini. Mr. J. Shelley (Communist Party) said Capitalism to-day throughout the world was endeavoring to do in all countries what had been done in Italy. Matteotti understood Mussolini to a T. The workers of the world had to realise that Mussolini was obeying the dictates of the master class. The effort was being made to hold down the workers by violence and force. There was a danger in even Australia of a Mussolini. (Applause). Speaking in English, Comrade Bertazzin said that if he were speaking for weeks he could not convey in full the suffering of the people in Italy under Mussolini. Let them bear in mind that there were thousands of BibliotecaGino Banco Matteottis being flung into prisons and exile. But as Matteotti had said, "The idea never dies," and the idea and ideal of Freedom could not be conquered. The members of the Matteotti Club were all in the Unions. They did not deserve to be called "damned Dagoes," and he asked that the workers of Australia recognise that many·anti-Fascists were here because to be in Italy was impossible. Members of the opera companies had been warned by Blackshirts not to attend the meeting. The anti-Fascists stood for 'the liberty of Italy and for . the liberty of the world. 8 Dr. Omero Schiassi, officially charged by the committee of the commemoration to make the address, spoke in Italian at length, the sentiments being frequently applauded. The oration in part was read in English by Mr. 'Blackburn, and is to be circulated as a circular among Parliamentarians and others. Dr. Scpiassi was a personal friend of Deputy. Matteotti. In the course of this impressive oration tJ\e audience stood in silence for one minute in respect for the martyred dead. At its conclusion it was cheered to the echo. -The Labor Daily of Sydney, under the title, The Terrorism of FascismDr. Omero Schiassi Appeals to Australia, reproducing the speech almost in its. entirety says :-A lengthy and striking address was delivered in Melbourne by the Italian, Dr. Omero Schiassi at the New Gaiety Theatre on June 10. The address was given under the auspices of the Committee of the Anti-Fascist Concentration of Australasia in coinmemorati9n of the Great Martyr, Giacomo Matteotti. This add1·ess has been translated into English as an appeal to the people of Australia. The Union Voice of Melbourne reproduced the speech entirely. The daily newspapers, The Sun and The Age gave a fair account of the meeting. Several other weekly newspapers of Australasia reported accounts of the meeting and lengthy excerpts of the appeal. '
Resocontodal Volantino '' InMemoria'' PrimaCommemoraziondei GiacomoMatt~otti in Australia Celebraziondeegnadel GrandeMartire Anche quella parte della stampa borghese che si e degnata, bencM a denti s:tretti, di riferire Pavvenimento, ha dovuto all_llllettere il grande successo. II parterre de! New Gaiety Theatre, uno dei piu grandi teatri di Melbourne era pieno zeppo, e la maggioranza <legli intervenuti era di italiani, fra cui alcuni iu camicia rossa, che hanno sfidato bravrunente l'intimidazione avversaria. Fascisti, con il Segretario del fascia locale, facevan.o la ronda lungo la via clava_nti la porta de! teatro, certo per p1·endere nota, e designare eventualmente ,alle ..... -carezze del regime caro al loro cuore, i parenti degli intervenuti residenti in Italia. La Prima· Camicia Nera dell'Australasia, l'ex socialista Commendator •Grossardi, Console Generale, era espressamente ritornato cla Sydney, a .sopraintendere la situazione creata <lall'avvenimento, prendendo per ii momento le redini dalle manf de! giovane collega! Silenzio di tomba ! La 1oquacissima Prima Camicia nera, cosf garrula quando si tratta di replicare a scrittori Australiani, in- -evitabilmente non troppo addentro nelle cose italiane, e ora sellza fiato. Egli d'altronde, se siamo bene informati, ha una qualche conoscenza della tenaglia polemica dell'avvocato Schiassj. E cosa un tantino intricatuccia e pericolosina avventurarsi a rispondere alla carica a fondo de! nostro compagno, e se diciamo ii vero, ·giu<licherete voi stessi, compagni, quando darerno la volta prossima per intero il suo poderoso discorso, ·nunque vittoria su tutta la linea: ii faseismo e i fascisti sono costretti a battere in ritirata. Le nostre polveri sono bene asciutte e no11 aspettano -che la prossima occasione. Biblioteca Gino B'anco 9 Presiedeva ii compagno Australiano Don Cameron. Egli Iesse una letiera di rammarico dell'Onorevole. William Maloney, ii Decano dei Deputati deHa Commonwealth ·Australiana, per la sua impossibilitl:1 a presenzjare i1 Comizio, e nel contem,po esprimente la sua completa ed entus.iastica adesione. L' ex Presidente della Camera Confederale dei Deputati l'On. A. Watt, rispose all'invito de! Comitato spiegando il suo punto di vista, che cio<3 la partecipazione a tali riunioni e da restringersi agli Italiani come quelli che sono a conoscenza <lei fatti !! Era pure stato invitato l'attuale Presidente deHa camera Con!ederale Australiana. Si erano scusali Hollo~ay, Segretario della Trades Hall di Melbourne per malattia, e Crofts Segretario del Consiglio delle Unioni deH' Aus. tralasia, perche occupatissimo per ·Ia sciopero dei cuochi <lei piroscafi . Al primo accenno al nome de! Grande Martire fatto dal Presidente del Comizio, l'Assemblea comincia a dar segni dell'entusiasmo- cbe Ja anima. Segue il compagno Isidoro Bertazzon ii quale ha parole di fuoco contro Mussolini, i fascisti e loro misfatti, eel e ripetutamente e calorosamente applaudito. W. J. Duggan, Presidente de! Partito Iaborista Australiano, e Presitlente del Consiglio delle Unioni dell' Australasia, disse che egli rappresentava. H Partito Laborista nell'esprimere la sua simpatia in accordo colla protesta contro ii despotismo. Kon vi e tragedin pill nera nella storia d'lta:lia di quella dell'assassinio di Matteotti. Per opera di un Nerone moderno ii genio italiano e coartato. Ogni parola d'incoraggiamento che gli Australiani possono offrire agli amanli deHa· liberta d'ltalia non deve
Bib11ot essere ricusata. Se Mussolini, o qualsiasi dei suoi satelliti immagina che gli Austra.liani vogliano sostenere od approvare Ja tirannia fascitn, anclra incontro ad uu amaro disinganno. II fuoco defi'odio delle masse contro i tiranni e e sara la s11eranr.a del mondo. Un giorno verra, e una volta per sempre, in cui si avra governo del popolo e per il popolo (Grandi Applausi) J/On. ~U. RlacJtbrn·n dis.se in riferirnento alln lettern c\ell'O_n. Watt, che egli riteneva che siccome l'assrissinio di Giacomo J\Iatteotti era cons.idcrato essere una tale violenta rottura delle tradizioni parlamentari, che sono unL\·ersalmente onorate, e che cio0 nn rnpprescntnnte della Nazione in un Parlamento dovesse essere immune da ogni molestia, un appello a un membro della Camera dei Deputati della Commonwealth Australiana, avrebbe dovuto provocare in Jui un profondo interessamento, quale deve essere per la commemora- ,-:ione dclla morte di un uorno, che flt assassinato mentre era nell'esercizio del suo ufficio di rappresentante della Nazione. Egli ricorda che fin da ragazzo apprese la storia romantica della conquistn c\elln liberta del popolo d 'Italia. Richiama le belle pagine delle azioni eroiche di Garibaldi e clel senno di Mazzini L'Italia de! giorno d'oggi e la negazione clell'Italia di quel tempo. Essa ora geme sotto una tirannia che combina in se le peggiori caratteristiche della tirannia borbonica e di quella austriaca. L' Assassinio di Giacomo Matteotti fu un attacco cliretto alla democrazia costituzionale. Qui in questo momento solenne siamo riuniti allo scopo di esprimere il nostro biasimo contro l'oltraggio fatto alle liberta clel popolo. I giorni dell'- esclusivismo e dell'jsolamento patriottardo sono passati, e !'Australia 6 legata all'ltalia. Non vi pu6 essere una Australia felice, accanto ad una Italia infelice! Tutte le nazioni formano una famiglia sola e l'ingiuria recata al popolo di una cli esse, e 1111'- ingiuria recata a tutte. (Grandi Applausi.) Matteotti valorosamente combatte per la libe.rta, e perci6 6 degno delln solenne commemorazione. Migliaia di anime ..._no Bra co viventi in tulto le parti tlel mondo oggi '1'onorano! (Grandi Applausi.) R. S. Ross per il partito socialista disse che tutti gli amanti clelln liberta in tutto il mondo sono cogli antifascisti. Sembra quasi un triste fato cbe ogni genernzione debba guadagnare la propria liberta! 11 fascis1no e fondato sulla forza bruta, nato e cresciuto nell'lllegalitA, tendc a progngnre le sue radici in Au.stralia, col Crimes Act, e certi emendamenti alla legge Arbitrale; ma le porte dell'inferno non pTevarranno, e noi confidinmo nella coscienza e solidarieta della clnsse proletaria per troncarne le radici. (AJlplansi.) J. Shelly per ii partito comunista, disse che il capitalismo oggi giorno, tenta di fare dappertutto, quello che ha fntto in ltnln. I lavoratori di tutto ii rnondo debbouo cornprendere che Mussolini ubbidisce ai dettanu della classe capitalistica. In Italia e gia in piena operazione Fabbattiment.o e l'oppressione della classe lavoratrice, qui 'iu Australia la si sta preparando. (Applausi.) Parlando in inglese il compagno. llertnzzon clisse cl_ie se egli parlasse per settimape jntere non potrebbe esprimere tutte Je sofferenze de! popolo Italiano. Non si dimenti chi che in l¼'llin ci sono migliaia di Matteotti cacciati in prigione, torturati con metodi peggiori dell'inquisizione di triste memoria, o banditi. Ma come disse Matteotti-l'iclea non muore mai-cosi l'idea e l'ideale dr libertii non si potranno mai so-pprimere. I memb1·i de! Club Matteotti sono tutti inscritti nelJe unioni locali~ essi non meritano il dispregiativo didamned Dagoes-che il gingoismo imperante mette nella bocca di lavoratori incoscienti ed egli chiede che i lavoratori A ustraliani riconoscano clle molti anti fascisti sono qui in Australia, per che e impossibile vivere sotto il regime brignntesco clel boia, di Predappio. Membri delle compagnie <l'opera itnliana sono stntr diffidati da1lle camicie nere a non intervenire al comizio. Gli Antifascisti sono per la liberta d'ltnlia e per la. liberta clel mondo. (Applausi.) Per ultimo prese la parola l'avvocato Omero Schiassi, insegnante di lingua . 10
e Ietteratura ltaliaua a-ll'Universita di Melbourne, per incarico officiale del Comitato della Concentrazione Antifascist.a dell'Oceania. Egli era amico intimo clel martire e suo compagno di scuola all'Uuh·crsita di Bologna nella stcssa facoltc.l. di giuri:-:pnllleuza. l11comincia con ,·ocP sicura, ma repentinamente interrotta :ilia prima e11m1ciazione clel name di Giacomo i\fatteotti, evidentemente per lo sforzo a trnttcuere le lacrime al ricortlo dell'amico assnss.inato. Un enorme applauso accoglie la fine dell'esorclio contenente In clenunzia formate de\ regime fascista. Tutta l'Assemblea come elettrizzata si sente trasportata in sfere ancor phi alte. "Per secoli l'ltalia e i1 Mondo guardera a Lui, come alla piti pura fonte di luce in tutto ci6 clle vi hn. di sublime, nel supremo sacrifizio dell& vita per uua causa itleale." E un fremito, 1nm µulsazione u11ica. u11 solo cuore si pu6 dire, bnttent nell'aula. jn quell'istante! I rnpicli passaggi descriventi l'nzione delittuosa cle\ Duce Glorioso, ragg-iungono un tale effclto dramrnatico, cite ogni frase vieue troncata da irrefrenabili applausi. Rarament si assiste ad una assemblea domiuata da mnggior• spontaneit{i. All'annunzio dell'oratore dell'osservanza di un minuto iii silenzio a Commemorazione del Grnnde Martire, allol'che persino il respiro si sacrifica alla soleiiuit.i del momento, 0 bastnto che uno solo si sia alzato in piedi per segno di maggior devozione, che tutta l'assemblea si e levata in una comunione perfetta Ji sentimento, rimanendo a capo chino per tutto il tempo de! rito. Alla fine tutta l'assemblea scatta in piedi con una lunga frenetica ovazione al grido di Abasso Bibi otE.ca G1'io Bianco ' ii fas.cismo, Evviva la Concentrazione Antifascista! Ma il discorso de! nostro compagno e motto di pill di una commemorazionc; e un appeno· al popolo Australiano, riassumente in vigorosa sintesi, gli avvenimenti capitnli di questn dolorosa. fase delln storia d'ltalia, e benc ha fatto ii Cornitato Ordinatore, a comunicarlo in Ing-Iese, a tutti i rappresentanti politici dell'Australia e Nuova Zelandn, J)eputati, Seuatori. a tutti i Consoli delle Nazioni estere, a tutti i giornali politici dell'Oceania, alle Ohiese, ecc. Ora si sta facendo una nuovn tirntura per invinrlo all'estero. * II Labor Daily di Sydney sotto ii ti tolo: Il Terrorismo de\ Fascismo11 Dottor Omero Schiassi lancia un appello all'Australia, riproducenclo ii Uiscorso qunsi interamente, dice: Un lungo e impressionante discorso fu pronunziato in Melbourne dall'Italiano. Dr. Omero Schiassi al New Gaiety Tlleatre il 10 Giugno. Il discorso fu tenuto per incarico del Con)itato della Concentrazione Antifascista dcll'- Oceania in commemorazione cle1 Grande Martire Giacomo Matteotti. Questo discorso fu trndotto in Inglese, quale appello al popolo Australiano. The Union Voice di Melbourne lo riprodusse per intero. * I quotidiani: The Sun e The Age diedero un d1screto resoconto delta· riunione. Parecchi settimauali clell'Oceaniq_ diedero ii resoconto della riunione e _ lunghi estratti dell'appello. 11
Signore, Signori, Compagni, Amici! II vostro numeroso ed entusiastico concorso qlii stassera, es_prime chiaris- •imamente ii vostro intendimento e deliberata volonta. II vostro plauso sara la conferma dell'avvenuta Costituzione della Concentrazione Antifascista dell'Oceania, nel suo Comitato composto dei nomi dei Sigg: F. Broccardo, G. Terranova, N. Brancome, S. Lod6vico, C. Silvestrini, A. Torrigiani, e 0. Merluzzi. lo non parlo a uome de! partito che rappresento; ogni partito entra nella coalizione, con intero ii bagaglio delle proprie teorie, senza rinunziarne ad alcuna. Non parlo quindi ne a nome de! partito cattolico, o liberale, 6 repubblicano, o cornunist.a o anarchlco, ecc. lo parlo a name di tutto ii popolo italiano, eccettuati i Caini, che vuol tar conoscere, e non lo pu6 perche imbavagliato, al popolo dell'Australia, e possibilmente a tutto ii mon<lo l'ignominia fascista! La storia, dal suo inizio ai nostri _giorni, ci dimostra, che il mezzo pill etticace, a parte la soppressione fisica <lel tiranno, per abbattere Ja tirannia, e l'esposizione dei suoi fatti e misfatti. Perci6 ii tironno ell tntte le epoche, paventa e s'infuria contro Ja veritA, come ii taro davanti al dr~ppo rosso; ed uccide, imprigiona, tortura, esilia, tutti coloro, che si avventurano a dire la verlta. . Ho quin<li accettato con tutto i'entusiasmo di cui sono ea.pace, l'invito del Comitato, a commemorare ii uostro Grande J\fartire, e amico mio personale, Giacomo Matteotti, e di rivolgere contemporaneamente un appello al popolo Australiano. Cos!: "La Concentrazione Antifascista per l'Oceania, denunzia al popolo Australiano, e al ,suo legittimo rappre- 1 •entante On. Stanley Bruce, Primo Ministro della Commonwealth, Benito Mussolini e il suo regime." - -LibertA va cercando, ch'e sf cara, Come sa chi per lei, vita rifiuta. -Dante. Dobbiamo noi tacere cose incredibili bench~ verissime, o dissimu1are per Bibliotecd G no :::;a co poterle dire e scrivere cose crediblli benche false?! - Ed a maggio1· tortura nostra, potremo essere creduti in cose e fatti, che tanta resistenza al nostro inveterato abito legalitario hanno dovute superare, per essere cla noi creduti in un primo tempo, e che in 6gni modo giudicavamo eccesso storico-sociale riprovevole, ma transeunte? Potra un popolo, quale l'Australiano, che per ,Junga consuetudine, ha fatto sua seconda natura, l'osservanza della Jegalita, prestare orecchi• e fede all' enunciazione della pratica costante dell'arbitrio e de! delitto, a regola di dominio di un altro popolq con una civilta doppiamente millenaria? Onorevole Presidente. voi traete la vostra poderosa autorita morale a reggere le s01-ti, e a rappresentare ii popolo Australiano, dalla maggioranza Iegale che ve ne conferf ii mandato, e noi, nol). secondi ad alcu• altro, vi rendiamo il dovuto riconosci~ mento, e deferenza! Nnlla di tutte questo ii <lovuto a Benito Mussolini, che ha usurpato ii potere, e Jo <letlene tutt'ora illegalmente ed arbitrariamente, a dannazione di tutto un popolo di oppressi ! Da quando nell' - ottobre de! 1922 con la famigerata marcia su - Roma-una marcia di Italiani contro la propria capitale!- che presto gli storici spassionati, de&- criTeranno quale effettivamente fu, ii phi codardo episodio di guerra civil• al riparo di ogni possibile rischio, Par]amento, Monarchia, Costituzione, Legalita, Liberta, cessarouo (11 esistere, eccetto che nel nome e per le spese. II triste episodio segn6 ii corona. mento formale di tutta una serie precedente di delitti isolatl conti'O Jnvoro. tori, e I'inizio e ii trapasso dalla sporadicitii <lei crimini commessi ad iniziativa e responsabilitA incliYiduale, al delitto statale su larga scala, contre la classe lavoratrice. Un imperdonabile <lelitto aveva questa compiut~Ia presa <Ii possesso delle fabbriche-nell'imme<liato dopo. guerra, in conseguenza della delusione alle promesse fatte avventatamente dalla borghesia italiana-la terra ai contadini, e la compartecipazione in12 /
dustriale agli operai-per spingere ii J>Opoloriluttante alla guerra; e parve, allo stato degli atti, delitto phi imperdonabile ancora, lo averle restituite, dopo lungo e maturato dibattito in Milano, e con ordinata pratica dei delegati delle organizzazioni industriali operaie d'Italia. Benito Mussolini, salvatore d'Italia, uomo forte, Napoleone ii Grande redivh'o, e simili altre facezie che si fanno circolare quali leggende, clai pennivendoli interessati de! regime, e che corrono perci6 facilmente gli oceani e le terre, sono insulti alla cronaca volgare clei fatti, e la trappola astutamente tesa alla buona fecle dell'- opinione de! mondo profano. Egli nulla ha salvato, poiche ii suo intervento efficiente negli avvenimenti in qucstione, ebbe luogo, dopo che la classe operaia italiana, spontaneamente effettu6 la restituzione delle fabbriche; pervicace, e non forte egli fu, nell'incitamento sistematico dei rifiuti sociali in impreSsionante &umento a guerra finita, nella corsa srrenata all'illegalita. Di Napoleone >I Grande, egli e la pili grottesca e cinica caricatura: N apoleone, a torto o a ragione, propagava i grandi principii della rivoluzione francese, e si era promosso a campione della carta dei diritti dell'uomo, sulla punta delle baionette, incontrando la res.istenza di eserci~i stranieri agguerriti; la nostra scimmiottatura, impersonante una insensata perch6 sproporzionata reazione di classe, mascherata di nazionalismo, e quindi in a.ssenza di principii che H fascismo non ha ne pu6 avere, e a capOIdi una accozzaglia di scherani, che opera contro ii popolo dei propri fratelli, contro un popolo inerme, essendo •tato previamente disarmato da una apposita rigorosa legge de! precedente Primo Ministro On. Giovanni Giolitti. Era intendimento de! Re d'Italia, di passare la spugna sugli avvenimenti PoStbellici, con un decreto di ammistla; aaggio provvedimento. ,Ja cui esecuaione, se pur non avesse valso ad eliminare la lotta di classe, ne avrebbe aenza dubbio, attutitl gl! odi, scaturenti dalle sue manifestazioni phi acandalose; ma una querela di famiglia Bib iotec Gino Bianco 13 nella casa regnante, intervenne, ad aggravare la situazione, gia di per se complicata, dalle forze sociali contrastanti fra di loro. II duca d'Aosta, di note concezioni reazionarie, pretese che la classe lavoratrice d'Italia, fosse punita, e la sua ostinazione fu pari alla sua microcefalia. A questa bassa funzione, si offerse l'uomo pronto a tradire tutti i partlti e tutte le fedi; da anarchico all'- estremisrno comunista, antimonarchico fino a legittimare ii I regicidio nella settimana rossa, antiguerraiuolo, poscia interventlsta appena ricevuto l'oro dalla Francia, tendenzialmente repubblicano in un tempo, poi momarchico, imperialista, ecc. Benito Mussolini, ii Glorioso Duce! Egli comparve uomo forte ed eroe, quando il cluca d'Aosta, nell'amoroso intento di soppiantare il cugino nel trono, aveva dato ordine ai Carabinieri Reali di cui era ii generale in capo, di assistere impassibili, alle distruzioni, operate dalle bande fasciste, allora irregolari, e di proteggerle in caso di controattacco per Iegittima clifesa, nelle loro spedizioni puutive (!) contro ii popolo disarmato. "Arginare" fli l'eufemisrno che rimarra celebre nella storia d'Italia: "Abbiamo l'ordine di argina1·e" rispondevano i Carabinieri de! Re, alle sollecitazioni o proteste delle autorita, sorprese e scanclalizzate nel constatare la passivita, e spesso ii sussidio nella perpetrazione dei delitti, dall' Arma designata alla loro prevenzione. Furono cos! metodicamente distrutte Cooperative, Istituti, Sedi di Organizzazioni, proletarie, per valori di milioni; tutto il •lavoro paziente di edncazione e di elevamento delle classi proletarie di un mezzo secolq, disperso; mentre l'impunit8., segretamente garantita agli autori delle stragi, si spandeva in-ondate di terrore-sullo spirito pnbblico-ta'li furono poscia con mostruoso millantamento apertamente dichiarate-~ preludio dello imminente imbavagliamento ed effettiva schiavitli. Furono cos! per ta! modo commessi migliaia di omicidi, quasi a tripudio e celebrazione orgiastica dell'impnnlta as-
• solutn: -i giudici coscienziosl venivaflO intimiditi e minacciati, la brutalita della bestia umana de\ tempi phi foschi della storia, ricomparve a galla, nutrita dalla codardia dei viii laru:ichenecchi armati fino ni denti, contra individui spogliati dell'armi e della tutela civile: padri, fig Ii, mariti, fratelli, trucidati alla presenza dei loro cari, a volte di notte tempo, e col concorso di circostanze tali, il cui ricordo soltanto suscita raccapriccio e fremito d'orrore. L'impudenza e la perdita del senso morale C giunto a tnl segno da fnr passare come martiri, i delinquenti aggresso1·i, caduti nelle spe<lizioni punitive, ad opera di coloro che non volevnno lascinre la vita senza resistenza. II numero assoluto di una qnalche rilevanza di siffatta specie di martiri, e la riprova delln vastitadella reazione.-La marcia su Roma, fu eseguita al riparo di un pronunzlamcnto militnre Ui alcuni generali, che si unirono al duca cl' Aosta. FU c9si che i1 re d'ltalia, per evitare la disgreg:1zioue latente nelPesercito, e la possib~ta di essere sbalznto di sella, fu c0'1(retto n chiamnre al potere ii :::\'Ius3olini. il quale nll'ombra llella tipogrnfia, C)n1prata coll'oro della masso1leria francese, soffiava nel fnoco della zizzania della casa reale. Il ricatto era compinto: afferrnto ii potere, alla tragedia gia in pieno svolgimento, fu sostituita la farsa tragica. Ii famoso consenso clelln totalita dclla Nazione non esisteva e non e mai esistito. Le liste di candiclati alle elezioni susseguenti, preparate da Mussolini, ernno elenebi di servi e manichini a lui devoti per previo impegno, e le elezioni furono imposte col revolver in pugno, ii manganello e l'olio di ricino . II consenso fu cosi raggiunto! ! ! 11 clelitto invoca ii delitto. • Ouorevole :Ministro, voi nvete qui una nobile e grande figura, a cui tutta PAustralia guarda con giusto orgoglio e pulsante venerazione, come a simbolo e personificazione dell'onesta vivente, della bonta, della gentilezza cl'animo, della carit{t. umana e univerBibliotecc1G no B12'1co 14 •ale, !'On. William Maloney, the litble doctor, ii piccolo dottore, come lo chiama ii suo popolo che lo adora; ebbene On ~linistro, salvo differenza Llell'et:i, tale era in Italia l'nmico nostro, il multimilonnrio Giacomo Matteotti, che per ii proletariato ltaliauo, profondeva a picne mani, i tcsori dell:1 sua meute e tle1 suo cuore, la sua eloquenza, le sue ricchezze ! :Messa sull'avviso pochi momenti prima de] suo ultimo discorso alla Camera dei Deputati, monumentale per la clenunzia dei metodi infami coi quali ad un. popolo civile erano state imposte Je elezioni, disse: "Orit vado a pronunziare la mia orazione funebre!" La sua coscienza nou falliva, ne si sarebbe potuto in modo alcuno piegare; perci6 fu soppresso, per mandato dell'assassino, che ora parla in nome di un popolo di quarantadue milioni di abitanti ! Finito ii discorso, si lev6 dal banco del Governo, g,ve era seduto, l'assassino, e disse; "Quell'uomo le\ non deve pi(1 pnrl:ue." E cosi f(1. (Un minuto di silenzio a commemorazione de! Grande Martire!) Sono stati uccisi parecchi, bastonati e imprigionati centinaia per impedire di portare fiori alla tomba de! martire, o corn unque rend ere omaggio all a sua memorial Per secoli l'Italia e il mondo guarcler:i a Lui, come a1la pil1 pura fonte di luce, jn tutto ci6 che vi ha di sublime, nel supremo sacrifizio della vita per mm causa. men.le! "Ucciclete me; ma !'idea che e in me non la ucciderete mai !" esclamava mentre veniva pugnalnto dai sicari del Duce Glorioso.-Cogli attentati alla Sacra Persona de! Glorioso Duce, la situazione politica italiana e anclata continuamente peggiorando: ii terrore c l'atmosfera vitale de! regime! Colla soppressione di tutta I~ stampa di opposizione, nell' assenza assoluta di controllo dell'opinione pubblica, tutti i piu olezzanti fiori della tirannide, sono sbocciati come per in~ canto: lo spionaggio, la delazione imposta · come dover.e, ogni portinaio creato spia d'obbligo de! governo, come in Russia al tempo degli zar, ii parassitismo politico e criminale spinto nil'• ennesima potenza:; la corruzione in
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTExMDY2NQ==