114 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
the town. Thefascio was formed in February 1921, chiefly
by people from other districts, a demobilized colonel, a
student from Pavia (Lanfranconi, afterwards one of the
first fascist deputies), and various other declasses, who were
all welcomed with open arms and financed by manufacturers
and landowners alike. As in Polesine the agricultural
labour agreements were due to expire. The labourers were
well organized and supported by an extensive network of
town councils, leagues, and co-operatives, and there was no
chance of worsting them by legal means. Fascist squads
were quickly formed and set to work. The authorities
protected them, for as Chiurco reveals : c The sub-prefect
of Mortara sympathized with them ' and in the neighbouring
district of Voghera c the sub-prefect, himself a partisan,
was the father of an ardent fascist.' A levy was raised from
all the farmers in the district; for the richer four lire, for
the others two lire per per lied.1 They all paid up in the
knowledge that once the workers were defeated they would
get their money back with a good profit as well. Within a few
months the whole system of the workers' organizations was
wiped out.
In ' gentle Tuscany', however, fascist cruelty and
violence reached their highest level. Here the agricultural
proletariat was smaller than in Emilia (12-8 per cent of the
population, as against 23 -2). The favourite form of agrarian
exploitation was the mezzadria, which occupied rather more
than half the agricultural population. The socialists and
the Popolari disputed hotly for influence over the mezzadri,
and the fascists, standing for the rights of landowners,
attacked all c leagues/ red or white. One of the first
punitive expeditions in Tuscany was directed against the
' white 5 settlers of the Mugello, and on December 14, 1920
a peasant was killed at San Kero a Sieve. Four fascist
leaders, accused of a share in the murder, were released
after cross-examination. Two of them, Captain Chiostro
and Lieutenant Capanni, both retired, were welcomed as
fascist candidates in the national bloc and were elected a
few months later in the May elections.
Florence, particularly after the end of February, became
1 Local measure equivalent to 769 square metres.