THE MARCH ON ROME 241
Umbria, and Civitavecchia, some few dozen miles from the
capital. The great steel works of Terni had been closed
since July, as there were no government contracts, and the
' red ' syndicates had obtained a promise that the works
should be reopened on September i. But the directors of
the Terni works had joined forces with the fascists, and on
the first, despite the promise, the hooters were silent. The
fascists trooped in from all the towns of Urnbria and
the Marches, and occupied and terrorized the town. The
fascist Committee of Action placarded the town with the
following notice : c Liars as usual, the socialists promised
you the reopening of the works to-day. They have not
been opened. Incapable of admitting their cowardice, the
socialists did not promise what has actually happened—
their flight/ The fascists c punished ' the socialist deputy,
Nobili, who had remained in the town, by beating him with
a manganello (bludgeon). The two Chambers of Labour,
confederal and syndicalist, were burnt down. Socialist
and communist clubs in the neighbourhood were similarly
destroyed. As soon as this affair was ended the directors
decided to reopen the works, but henceforward they would
only deal with fascist c syndicates '.1
In Civitavecchia, where the socialists had won control of
the municipality at the 1920 elections, the local fascist
movement was insignificant. In 1921 the Rome fascists had
several times tried to gain access to the town, but without
success. On August 4, 1922, again, after the general strike,
the fascists of the Maremma, * by previous arrangement
with the fascists of the town, entered Civitavecchia. But the
1 A month later a somewhat similar episode occurred at Leghorn. The
Orlando shipbuilders had at the time an order from the government for eight
destroyers, but on various pretexts they were demanding an appreciably higher
price than the one agreed upon. Upon the refusal of the government to submit
to these fresh demands, which amounted to several millions, and after an
attempt at compromise which failed through the obstinacy of the shipbuilders,
the latter closed down their works. The fascists intervened and the Marquis
Dino Perrone Compagni issued an ultimatum inviting the * Orlando company
and the government to reopen the works by October 12 ; if not the fascists
would occupy them.* The government gave in and the same day ordered the
re-opening of the works. Messrs. Orlando, who had inspired the fascist
ultimatum, obeyed joyfully : in giving these orders the government accepted
all their demands. And the fascists, who had thus gained much wealth for
their friends, the shipbuilders, appeared absolute saviours to the workers of
Leghorn. Fascist syndicalism scored heavily in this town.
16