200 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
party and the General Confederation of Labour, under
pressure from representatives of the districts occupied by
the fascists—a less short-sighted and fatalistic policy was
demanded, and on the other—the left wing—a group of
third-internationalists was formed, who largely adopted the
point of view of the communists. Under fire from these two
quarters the executive stuck more and more uncompromisingly
to such formulas as justified it in maintaining its eternal
passivity. The difference between the party executive and
the parliamentary group came to a head suddenly. On June i
the socialist deputies passed a resolution proposed by
Zirardini, deputy for Ferrara, in favour of supporting e a
ministry that should guarantee the restoration of peace and
freedom 5. The executive, meeting on the same day, dis-
avowed the resolution and summoned the National Council1
to crush this sedition. The Council met in Rome on June
10-14, in the presence of the leaders of the General Con-
federation of Labour. After a completely vague discussion
and the failure of four or five resolutions they finally approved
by 13 votes to 6 (with 5 abstentions) a motion proposed by
Serrati, the editor of the Avanti^ condemning * collaboration,
whether direct or indirect', that is to say, not only collabora-
tion and support, but even abstention from voting, whatever
the government in power; deploring the attitude of the
parliamentary group and reminding the Confederation of
the respect it owed to its treaty of alliance with the party.
This pact, signed on September 27, 1918, left the responsi-
bility for political action to the party executive, which,
although it had not been at all anxious at the time of the
factory occupations in September 1920 to take advantage
of this provision and c make revolution ', now remembered
it in time to prevent the socialist deputies and the General
Confederation of Labour from having any freedom of action
in the parliamentary crisis.
Serrati, it must be admitted, had hesitated. The night
before the meeting he revealed his doubts to a friend, but
to rid himself of them he decided in favour of an absolutely
uncompromising attitude. To agree with the argument of
^1 Formed of delegates from the provincial Federations, not to be confused
with the party executive.