88 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
the thread between Fiume and Rome was cut, only to be
joined again at Milan by Mussolini.
Since the General Confederation of Labour was involved
in the deadlock of the committee of workers and employers,
and the Fiume question was settled, Giolitti had nothing to
wait for but disruption in the ranks of the socialists in order
to complete his plan. At the end of 1920, the socialists
still had an imposing force at their disposal : one hundred
and fifty-six deputies in parliament, about a third of the
communes, more than a third of the provincial councils,
eight thousand co-operative societies, and two million
members of the General Confederation of Labour. How
could this force be used to make a real power in the policy
and destiny of the country ? Could the experience gained
during the occupations help the party towards a definite
goal at last ?
The time for e direct and violent' seizure of power was
past. During recent events it had not been considered, and
Lenin himself did not think it possible. e We do not want a
second Hungary ', he declared. But he hoped the situation
would become more favourable, and he demanded the
expulsion of Turati and his friends from the Socialist Party,
6 Expel the Reformists from the party and then support
a Turati government *, he advised Serrati. But the Italian
maximalists could only carry out the first part of this plan,
and that only two years later. The campaign against the
* Reformists', which led to the first split at Leghorn, made
the second part inapplicable. How could they drive out
Turati in the name of the struggle ' against all compromise '
and then contemplate a fresh compromise with him ? The
result was a split which added a fresh difficulty to those
which already embarrassed the Socialist Party, namely the
communist question. The Socialist Party at the end of 1920
reckoned 4367 sections and 216,327 adherents. At the
Leghorn Congress in January 1921 the maximalists (centre
party) won a majority with 98,028 votes, the communists
were second with 58,183, while the right only obtained
14,625 votes. This split resulted in no increased freedom
of action, for the tendencies it liberated. The communists
who led the party in September were as incapable as the