Unione Sindacale Italiana
Encyclopedia
Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI; Italian Syndicalist
Union or Italian Workers Union) is an anarcho-syndicalist
trade union
. It is the Italian
section of the International Workers Association
(IWA; Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori in Italian
or AIT - 'Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores in the common Spanish
reference), and the name of USI is also abbreviated as USI-AIT.
(CGL), met in Modena
and declared themselves linked to the legacy of the First International
, and later joined the anarcho-syndicalist
International Workers Association
.
The most left-wing camere del lavoro
adhered in rapid succession to the USI, and it engaged in all major political battles for labor rights
- without ever adopting the militarist
attitudes present with other trade unions. Nonetheless, after the outbreak of World War I
, USI was shaken by the dispute around the issue of Italy's intervention in the conflict on the Entente Powers
' side. The problem was made acute by the presence of eminent pro-intervention, national-syndicalist
voices inside the body: Alceste De Ambris
, Filippo Corridoni
, and, initially, Giuseppe Di Vittorio
. The union managed to maintain its opposition to militarism, under the leadership of Armando Borghi and Alberto Meschi.
and the Fascist regime, fighting street battles with the Blackshirts
- culminating in the August 1922 riots of Parma
, when the USI-AIT faced Italo Balbo
and his Arditi
.
USI-AIT was outlawed by Mussolini in 1926, but resumed its activities in clandestinity and exile. It fought against Francisco Franco
in the Spanish Civil War
, alongside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
and Federación Anarquista Ibérica
, and took part in the Spanish Revolution
. After World War II
and the proclamation of the Republic, former members of the union followed the guidelines of the Federazione Anarchica Italiana
that called for the creation of a unitary movement, and joined the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL).
When CGIL split in 1950, several activists refounded USI-AIT - nonetheless, the group was marginal, and present only in some of Italy's regions until the 1960s. It is connected with Autonomism, and has kept its syndicalist message.
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
Union or Italian Workers Union) is an anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. It is the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
section of the International Workers Association
International Workers Association
The International Workers' Association is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labour unions and initiatives based primarily in Europe and Latin America....
(IWA; Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
or AIT - 'Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores in the common Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
reference), and the name of USI is also abbreviated as USI-AIT.
Early history
The USI was founded in 1912, after a group of workers, previously affiliated with the Confederazione Generale del LavoroConfederazione Generale del Lavoro
Confederazione Generale del Lavoro was an Italian labor union, founded in 1906, under the initiative of communist and socialist militants...
(CGL), met in Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
and declared themselves linked to the legacy of the First International
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class...
, and later joined the anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
International Workers Association
International Workers Association
The International Workers' Association is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labour unions and initiatives based primarily in Europe and Latin America....
.
The most left-wing camere del lavoro
Camera del Lavoro
Camera del Lavoro were centers for Italian Syndicalist labor unions, modeled on the French Bourse du Travail, which flourished from 1895 to the rise of Fascism in the 1920s....
adhered in rapid succession to the USI, and it engaged in all major political battles for labor rights
Labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...
- without ever adopting the militarist
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
attitudes present with other trade unions. Nonetheless, after the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, USI was shaken by the dispute around the issue of Italy's intervention in the conflict on the Entente Powers
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
' side. The problem was made acute by the presence of eminent pro-intervention, national-syndicalist
National syndicalism
National syndicalism is a nationalist variant of syndicalism.- Founding of national syndicalism in France :National syndicalism was founded in France by the fusion of Maurrassian integral nationalism with Sorelian syndicalism. Interest in Sorelian thought arose in the French political right,...
voices inside the body: Alceste De Ambris
Alceste De Ambris
Alceste De Ambris , was an Italian syndicalist, the brother of Amilcare De Ambris. De Ambris had a major part to play in the agrarian strike actions of 1908.-Life:De Ambris was born in Licciana Nardi, province of Massa-Carrara....
, Filippo Corridoni
Filippo Corridoni
Filippo Corridoni was an Italian trade unionist and syndicalist....
, and, initially, Giuseppe Di Vittorio
Giuseppe Di Vittorio
Giuseppe Di Vittorio, also known under the pseudonym Nicoletti , was an Italian syndicalist trade unionist and communist politician, one of the most influential leaders of the labor movement after World War I....
. The union managed to maintain its opposition to militarism, under the leadership of Armando Borghi and Alberto Meschi.
The Fascist regime and afterwards
When the war ended, USI peaked in numbers (it was during this time that it joined the IWA, becoming known as the USI-AIT). It became a major opponent of Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and the Fascist regime, fighting street battles with the Blackshirts
Blackshirts
The Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
- culminating in the August 1922 riots of Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, when the USI-AIT faced Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo was an Italian Blackshirt leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force , Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa , and the "heir apparent" to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.After serving in...
and his Arditi
Arditi
Arditi was the name adopted by Italian Army elite storm troops of World War I. The name derives from the Italian verb Ardire and translates as "The Daring Ones"....
.
USI-AIT was outlawed by Mussolini in 1926, but resumed its activities in clandestinity and exile. It fought against Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, alongside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
and Federación Anarquista Ibérica
Federación Anarquista Ibérica
The Federación Anarquista Ibérica is a Spanish organization of anarchist militants active within affinity groups inside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo trade union. It is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI because of the close relationship between the two organizations...
, and took part in the Spanish Revolution
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the proclamation of the Republic, former members of the union followed the guidelines of the Federazione Anarchica Italiana
Federazione Anarchica Italiana
Federazione Anarchica Italiana is an Italian anarchist federation of autonomous anarchist groups all over Italy. The Italian Anarchist Federation was founded in 1945 in Carrara. It adopted an "Associative Pact" and the "Anarchist Program" of Errico Malatesta...
that called for the creation of a unitary movement, and joined the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL).
When CGIL split in 1950, several activists refounded USI-AIT - nonetheless, the group was marginal, and present only in some of Italy's regions until the 1960s. It is connected with Autonomism, and has kept its syndicalist message.
Split in USI
In the second half of the 1990s, a split occurred in USI. 20th IWA (AIT) Congress in Madrid in December 1996 decided to accept the USI "Prato Carnico" and not the "USI Rome" as the IWA Section in Italy. Despite this, the non-recognized USI group continued to use the initials "AIT" on their webpages and on many written announcements. The IWA has asked repeatedly for them to stop this activity, as they are not part of the IWA.See also
- AutonomismAutonomismAutonomism refers to a set of left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. As an identifiable theoretical system it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerist communism...
- Biennio rossoBiennio rossoThe Biennio Rosso was a two year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy. The Biennio Rosso was followed by the extremely violent reaction of the Fascist blackshirts militia and eventually by the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini in 1922...
- Anarchism in ItalyAnarchism in ItalyItalian anarchism as a movement began primarily from the influence of Mikhail Bakunin, Giuseppe Fanelli, and Errico Malatesta. From there it expanded to include illegalist individualist anarchism, and anarcho-syndicalism. It participated in the biennio rosso and survived fascism...