Is Civil War Near in Italy.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 414, 13 May 1902, Page 3

Is Civil War Near in Italy.

The Italian Government is face to face with alarming conditions. A strict censorship has apparently kept the wprld from knowledge of the full facts, " hut letters have conveyed to other countries news which has been Stricken out of the telegraphic despatches . It seems that the Italian Socialists have been almost successful in instituting a serious revolution. For some time the Socalists have been organizing “Chambers of labor” and “Leagues of Resistance” m the towns and cities of Italy. The “Leagues” obey the local “Chambers,” and the whole organisation is control-

led by a Central Committee at Rome, which is said to be in fact the Ejoml representatives in the Chamber of Deputies. The Central Committee was to have given the word on February 28 for a general strike on all the Italian railways. The results would have been to throw all Italy into turmoil. But the plan was upset by the act nr. of Signor Morgani, Socalist Deputy for Turin, who ordered a general strike in his city several days beiore the appointed time. ' " This action opened the eyes of the Government. The entire railroad fmce of the country was promptly placed on a military footing, 80,000 reserves were called out, and the Government decreed a dissolution of all the “Chambers of Labor and Leagues of Resistance.’’ There was rioting ; n Turin.. Many strikers were killed or injured by the troops, and much property was destroyed, but the city was quickly brought under control. It is now believed that the Socalist revolution has flashed in the pan, but the danger is hardly past. The truth seems to be, as the London Spectator points out, that a wave of of commercial depression is breaking over Europe. In Spain and Italy, where the margin between comfort and want is already slight, the lower classes are already suffering. Strikes are the formidable expression ■ of discontent.