THE RISE AND FALL OF MAXIMALISM 77
waned. Scenes of violence—engineers held by force in their
factories, etc.—were few and quickly checked. Little blood
was shed, murders could be counted on the fingers of one
hand, and were in every case due to the isolated acts of a
few over-excited individuals : a small matter in proportion
to the extent and seriousness of the upheaval which had
occurred, and the thousands of factories and millions of
workers involved.
Thoroughly alarmed, the employers dissolved their
delegation, which by its high-handedness and obstinacy
had provoked the movement, and replaced it with a fresh
one, more conciliatory and determined to come to an
understanding. Overtures were made from all quarters to
the syndlcal and socialist chiefs, to get them to agree to a
compromise. The editor of the Corriere della Sera, senator
Albertini, betook himself to Turati and told him that the
time had come for the socialists to assume power. The
directors of the Banco. Commerdale assured the F.LO.M. of
their benevolent neutrality, and offered and asked for
assurances in case of a revolutionary outcome to the move-
ment. The prefect of Milan, acting for the government.,
did his utmost to bring together the two parties to the
struggle. Mussolini, too, took his precautions, announcing
in his paper that the fascists had no intention of attacking
the occupied factories, and so far forgot his pride as to go in
person to the hotel where Buozzi, secretary to the F.I.O.M.,
was staying, to tell him he would continue to support the
movement.
Should negotiations with the employers, now prepared
to yield on every point, be resumed ? A negative answer
would give the signal for a general insurrection, since it
was no longer possible to keep the workers in the factories
without giving them something further to aim at. The only
way out was by escaping in a forward direction. Armed
insurrection was out of the question, for nothing was ready.
The workers felt safe behind the factory walls, not on
account of their arms, often ancient and inadequate, but
because they looked on the factories as hostages which the
government would hesitate to shell to bits in order to dis-
lodge the occupants. It was a long step from this defensive