76 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
difficult, and a more economical method of enforcing
labour's new collective contracts. The Federation leaders
had chosen the line of least resistance, and they thought
that the occupation would provoke government interven-
tion, while some of them, though they did not admit it,
cherished the hope that its political outcome might lead to
the socialists taking a share in the administration.
On August 31 the workers occupied 280 machine shops
in Milan, and in the next two days the movement spread
all over Italy, at times even forestalling the orders of the
leaders. It began with the metallurgical trades, but the
factories wanted raw materials and accessories supplied by
other industries, so, to ensure the continuance of their work,
these had to be won over. The control of the factories
passed into the hands of workers' committees, who did all
they could to maintain output. In this they had only them-
selves to rely upon, for all the engineers and nearly all
the technicians and clerical staff had left on the order of the
directors. Work in progress went on well enough, but the
difficulty of replenishing with raw materials was soon felt.
Money for wages was also wanting, for little had been found
in the safes opened after occupation. Once the first enthu-
siasm had evaporated many of the workers got tired of
spending all their time in the factories, until finally, towards
the end of the campaign, they were not allowed out for fear
they should not return. So the £ red guards ' at the gates,
to defend the factories against possible attack, served
equally to prevent a large number from deserting.
The workers5 committees often displayed admirable
activity, combined with a keen sense of responsibility, a
care for * proletarian honour * in all questions of labour
discipline, and respect for property become communal,
and made incessant appeals to the workers' consciences, of
which less and less notice was taken. The few weeks the
occupation lasted called forth in the workers, those
* appendages of the machines *, a flood of moral energy,
a striving towards higher activities, which the impartial
historian must preserve among the brightest pages of
proletarian idealism, or of any form of idealism. But the
picture had its shadows, which deepened as enthusiasm