Il6 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
burnt, the other just managed to get away ; eight men were
killed and ten wounded. They were brutally avenged, for
soon after a number of troops and fascist squads marched in
and burnt down the People's House. Two days later they
attacked the People's House at Siena where the workers had
taken their stand. Fascists and police surrounded it,
together with 200 troops. After a few hours of battle
machine-guns were brought up and two shots were fired
from a 63 field-gun at the building ; after a last attack
the defenders hoisted the white flag and surrendered. The
fascists finished their clay's work by burning down the
People's House £ with petrol provided by several people,
including the Gavaliere Morelli of the Landowners' Con-
sortium '. Thanks to co-operation between the fasci of
Florence, Pisa, and Siena the whole district was soon
overwhelmed by the destructive tide of fascism. The
Chambers of Labour in the most important centres were
burnt down: Lucca on March 31, Arezzo on April 12,
Prato on April 17, Pisa on May 2, Grosseto on June 28.
The fascist squads also organized the conquest of Umbria.
Between March 22, when the Chamber of Labour and all
the workers' institutions at Perugia were destroyed, and
April 26, when the same thing happened at Terni, the whole
district came under fascist control
In the country round Rome and in the south fascist
progress was slow, except in Apulia, where the workers'
organizations were strong and class feeling bitter. Agri-
culture was more progressive here than anywhere else.
Wheat, wine and oil were cultivated largely on indus-
trial lines and there was a correspondingly large rural
proletariat. As in Emilia, wages, the minimum number
of employees per hectare, and the employment offices,
were questions of vital importance to the workers and
gave rise to frequent disputes. It was not through mere
chance that Apulia was the only part of southern Italy
to experience immediately a fascist movement on the Po
valley scale. The causes were the same; the land-
owners had the same end in view, the restoration of
their power; and used the same methods, the destruction
of the workers* organizations Even before the war they