THE CAPORETTO OF SOCIALISM 197
tions, and against the police, who were there to protect the
4 freedom of labour5 ? After a few days3 struggle the
4 leagues J gave way and hoisted the fascist flag on such of
their houses as remained standing.
The same thing was happening in the province of Pavia,
in the rice country. At the season of the monda (weeding the
rice-fields) there was for a few weeks a shortage of labour,
and mondine (for the work was done by women) had to be
imported from other provinces. These provinces were now
under fascist control, and consequently the fascists and
landowners of Lomellina were able to organize the monda
in such a way as to crush the local red organizations, whose
members were not engaged but were replaced by mondine
escorted by fascist squads. Here and there resistance was
attempted, but the local squads, assisted by others from
outside, occupied the district, destroyed what was left of
leagues and co-operatives and firmly installed the dictator-
ship of the landlord. Sometimes the fascists did not even
have to break strikes, but were able to take preventive
action. For example, at the end of June, while the syndical
organizations of the province of Vicenza were discussing the
renewal of the labour contract with the Agrarian Association,
the Vicenza fascio announced that e without concerning
themselves with the question at issue', they would e use
every means to resist a strike '. Thus the workers saw
themselves deprived in advance of their only weapon, and
since the landlords were inflexible their fate was certain.
Another typical situation was that of Cremona., where the
coloni (small farmers) were organized in moderately left-
wing catholic syndicates. It was in this province that an
agreement was drawn up between Popolari and socialists,
in April 1922, for the defence of syndical and municipal
liberties.1 In June 1921, after a bitter struggle in which the
workers actually seized cascine (farms), the landlords were
forced to agree to the drawing up by a committee of
arbitration of an agreement involving c the introduction of
a profit-sharing contract and the responsible control of
agricultural enterprise' by the workers concerned. In
August the committee announced its decisions in a report