The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 22, 1924, Page 11

By RUGGIERO GRIECO, Without having accepted any parti- sphere of financial infivence of the United States. With the entry of the United States into the war, Italy shel- | tered the Y. M. C. A. which, provided with great resources, made itself at home in the war zone and in the most important towns in Italy. The Y. M. C. A., which is a sort of spiritual ad- | vance guard of the American finan- | ciers, followed the tims of preserved rabbit, frozen meat and the corn. To- day the Simclair company, the great American petroleum trust, is coming to the fore, whose most recent his- tery is linked up with the petroleum scandals, in which the highest func- tionaries of the American state was involved. Italy is therefore sufficient- ly—Dawesed. The political independence of Italy, which is so vaunted by our national- ists, is therefore nothing else but pure rhetoric without any real significance. Ttaly thas. 391 million dollars credits abroad, as follows: 134 million in Great Britain, 97 in France, 63 in Aus- tria, 85 in Czecho-Slovakia, 33 in Ron- mania, 14 in Poland, ‘7 in Russia, 3 in Yugoslavia, 3 in the United States, 2 in France (the figures are taken from &@ publication of the Bankers’ ‘Trust company in New York). On the other hand Italy has debts in other coun- tries to the amount of 4,748 million dollars, 2,569 million of which are due to Great Britain, 2,015 million to the | United States France. Fascist Foreign Policy Weak. In foreign policy Fascism is follow- and 164 million to ing the same lines which the ministers | of the old regime followed, only that | it has developed greater oratorical powers and trained more numerous ami noisy choirs. One can even say that the foreign policy of Italy has never been so provincial as now. The premier, Mussolini, avoids leaving Ttaly to attend international confer- ences; his imperialism is very domes- tic in form, it has mothing of the pin- ion of the Roman eagie, but rather something of the flutter of a barn door fowl. Since his journey to Lendon in November, 1922, Mussolini has just roused himself sufficiently to go to Lausanne, but his journeys mean the rise of crises at home. in home policy the crystallization of the epposing parties and powers pro- ceeds with painful slowness. The pol- emic which the Civilta Cattolica cular Dawes’ plan, Italy is also a’ the Jesuits and the Osservatore Ro- mano (Roman Observer), the organ of the Vatican, on the one side, astl the press of the (catholic) people’s party and of the democratic-liberals on the other side, are carrying on over the common work of the people’s party and of the socialists, is continued in a most interesting way. The fact that the Vatican favors the view that the Fascist government, with all its sins, is to be supported, instead of an attempt being made to overthrow it by violence, is comnected by many people with the desire of the Vatican, that the year 1925 being a “holy year” shall pass without any social upheayv- als which might keep back the stream of pilgrims, millions of whom it is reckoned will come to Italy, as it is feared that the failure of the catholic festivais might cause a loss of income to the Vatican coffers expected dur- ing such mystical occasions. Parliamentary Opposition ‘Timid. ‘The polemics over the eventual col- laboration of the people's party and the socialists may be a threat to pre vent, or to increase the difficulty of | the participation of the people's par- ty in the expected violent attack against Fascism. But it is quite un- certain whether it will come to this attack. The program of the opposi- tutional parties belong (the people's party, the republican party, the re- formist party, the maximalist social- ist party and a few other less import- ant political groups) is of a very vague character. TRe opposition. parties jcontinually repeat that they are against any form of violence and do not imtend to adopt violent methods. The question which the press of the Faseists and of the constitutional op- position parties recur to again and again, is the “Bolshevist danger.” The Fascists maintain that there is a “Bolshevist danger” in Italy, which hides behind the opposition. The oppo- sition maintains and even “proves” that there can be no Bolshevist danger. On the contrary, the opposition parties maintain that the Italian Communists in a certain sense work along with the Fascists, in that they support the | policy of Soviet Russia and therefore must be on good terms with the Fas- cist government, which is likewise on friendly terms with the Russian gov- ernment. “Legal” Opposition Would Persecute Communists. Serrati sent a letter a short time ago to the democratic opposition pa- (Cathelic Community), the organ of | per 11 Mondo (The World) pointing tion, to which all anti-Fascist consti-! out that Russia is not a friend of the Fascist government, but wants to be a friend of the Italian people; that anti-Fascism has been very much tak- en up and spread in Rusgia and that the treaty between Italy and Russia is not a treaty between Communists and Fascists. Porhaps it would have been better if Serrati had not sent this letter to the democratic newspa- per, since the tatter cannot in any case admit the correctness of the fact ‘hich is opposed to fits views. On the other hand, one must keep in mind that the whole opposition fs strengthening its anti-Communist-Fas- cist campaign, in order to show the petty bourgeois, which changed a short time ago from Fascism to anti- Fascism, that the opposition parties are for the true and effective return to legality and normal conditions. It is certain, that the moment the opposi- tion parties were to take the place of Fascism, a cruel persecution of the Communists would set in; a legal per- secution, but none the less fearful and pitiless. Under what conditions will the col- lision with Fascism take place? ‘Will it take a legal form, or will it be ac- companied by viclence? The assump- tion of a conspiracy would sound credible, it one keeps in mind that the opposition parties feel above all the Fascism. But with- out the intervention of the masses there seems little prospect that the are in a very embarrassing position. Musso Pleads and Threatens. In the political sphere the cleavage gees on uninterruptedly. Those who have withdrawn from the movement is purely intellectual imitates the forms of the political, interventions of d’Anrunzio, and only these who know nothing of Italian af- fairs would believe that it could be capable of evoking a mass movement. From Bologna comes the news of the easily be guessed. The indecision of the anti-Fascist parties opposes the indecision of the Fascists. Fascism is trying to retain The Crisis in Italy is Ripening the co-operation of the right liberals who assure it the pariiamentary ma- jority, and continues at the same time its threats against the opposition. Mussolini's specch to the miners of Monte Arzaiata, who were compelied to listen to him, reveals the naivete contained in the political outlook of Mussolini, who, at the same moment in which in an interview with the edi- tor of the Giornale d'Italia he express- ed his desire for collaboration, in a public speech threatened the constitu- tional opposition parties in the com- monest of barrack-room expressions. Currency Depreciating. Meanwhile the exchange has deteri- orated. While the average rate for the first half year of 1922 was 20.1 lire to the dollar, the average in the first half year of 1924 amounted to 22.85. In the last half year 442 paper lire correspondedsto 100 gold Hre while in the first half year of 1922, 100 paper lire corresponded to 100 gold lire. Imports have increased to 18 milliards a year, that is about 2 milliard more than in 1922. The in- crease of prices corresponds to the increase in the rate of exchange. In 1922 the buying capacity of the Hre was 18.92, in 1924 it was 18.67 in Jan- uary, i841 in February, 18.20 in March, 18.16 in April, 18.30 in May and 18.29 on the average of the first half of 1924. In the first half of 1924 the surplus of imports over exports amounted to 2,783 million lire. The price index figure set at 100 on the average, amounted to 543.1 in Janu- ary, 1924, 550.5 in April, 536.6 in June and 544.9 last July. Of 125 different classes of goods which were investi- gated by a financial paper, only 30 have increased less than 200 per cent in price, while 17 have increased from 200 per cent to 300 per cent, 23 from 300 to 400 per cent, 37 from 400 to 500 per cent, 21 from 500 to 600 per cent, 18 from 600 to 800 per cent and 6 from 800 to 1000 per cent. The increase of population is also noticeable, which must be particular- ly considered in connection with the results of the Johnson bill (the new American immigration law, which now only permits the immigration of very few Italians—Ed.). On the 3ist of December, 1921, the figures of the population of Italy ran to 37,171,084, at the end of 1922 they had risen to 37,607,487, at the end of 1923, to 32,- 044,441. All these elements are of import- ance for the complete undersranding of the importance and significance of the coming events in Italy. THE SOVIET AGENCY IN CANADA In September the official agency of the U. 8. 8. R. in Canada completed its six months stay in Canada. Not- government and the official de jure recognition of the Soviet Republic by Canada, the agency had to work under very difficult conditions. The black hundred and white guard emigrant circles who had already long settled in Canada, the extreme reac- Kerensky, camé to Toronto with the purpose of arranging counter-revolutionary meet- ings have done all they could in order to force the agency out of Canada. press regarding life in the U. 8. 8. R. Left to Right: |. Lambert, B. Solasko, A. Yazikov, Sa Kulik and |. Kulik. Fe in Canada, but also the coming of all other persons from Soviet Russia to Canada was being utilized as propa- ganda against the U. S.S. R. At the last International Congress of Mathe- maticians held at Toronto there were present as delegates six Soviet profes- agency tried to bring in as wraping|sors. Instead of interviewing them personal there was published in the Toronto newspapers an interview with a white guard. The Soviet scientists, resent- ing this, had to publish a protest Headquarters Soviet Agency in ' Montreal. Stack Hit in Egypt. LONDON, Nov, 21.—Sir Lee Stack, against such false and slanderous act.| commander of the British forces in ions. Egypt, was wounded seriously when bomb throwers made an attempt to Next Sunday Night and Every Sun-| assassinate him today, according to a day Night, the Open Forum, news agency despatch from Cairo.