COUNTER-REVOLUTION
it, but except in the case of Turin we have not been able to take this into
account. Had we been able to complete the statistical data for all the
other localities and regions, figures in the last column but one, the workers'
syndicates, would be much higher. The total number of organizations of
every kind destroyed in the first half of 1921 is undoubtedly higher by several
hundreds than the figure we have given. Even the results of the public
inquiry published by the Socialist Party at the beginning of 1922, heavily
drawn on by Ghiurco, are very incomplete, for they do not always enumerate
acts of fascist violence and destruction, for example in Julian Venetia, the
provinces of Ferrara, Rovigo, etc. ' The reports we have used ', the preface
adds, ' only go as far as May or June 1921 ; and omit all Romagna, the
province of Modena, a great part of Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, the province of
Mantua, Piacenza, Parma.' This table does not include simple ' punitive
expeditions ', of which there were thousands at this time, nor individual
violence, lock-outs, forced resignations of town councils, destruction of private
houses and shops, banishments, and other forms of terrorism.
In all the ' invaded ' districts there was the closest con-
nection between the forces of the state and the fascists. At
Trieste on February 9, 1921, the fascists attacked the paper
II Lavoratore and the police interfered to arrest the com-
munists who were trying to defend their paper and printing
offices. The fascists of Siena, before setting out on their
expedition to Foiano della Chiana, received arms and
munitions from the local military headquarters. As a rule
there was no attempt at concealment. If the military
authorities did not help, such officers as were fascists
did. Chiurco records that at Tarento, for example :
' With the sanction of the fascist Nicolo Schiavone, a
sub-lieutenant of the gth Infantry Division, a case of bombs
was taken from the arsenal of the Rossarol barracks and
twenty-four mark 91 rifles from the San-Paolo military stores,
where this officer happened to be confined to barracks.3
The state forces not only provided arms, but often, as
we have seen, shared in punitive expeditions. In this
connection Mario Cavallari, a war volunteer, tells of
the following events which took place in the province
of Ferrara at the end of March 1921 : 'The fascists are
accompanied on their expeditions by lorries full of police,
who join in singing the fascist songs. At Portornaggiore,
an expedition of more than a thousand fascists terrorized
the country with night attacks, fires^ bomb-throwing,
invasion of houses, massacre under the eyes of the police.
Further, as fast as the lorries arrived they were stopped
by the police, who blocked every entry, and asked