M.I.A. Library: Filippo Turati
Source: La Critica Sociale, Milan 10th August 1891, pp. 177-180
Context: The Congress brought together workers organizations belonging to the main leftwing currents of the time. It voted on mandates for the delegates to the 1891 Brussels Congress of the 2nd International, and laid the groundwork for the creation of the Italian Socialist Party.
Authorship: The article is signed only La critica sociale but is in Turati's style. According to his biographer, Spence di Scala (Dilemmas of Italian socialism: the politics of Filippo Turati) Turati was the author of all articles signed in this way.
Translation and Notes: Graham Seaman for MIA (February 2025)
HTML: Graham Seaman
Last updated: February 2025
Doctors, jurists, scholars, scholars, etc., people who live among books, with a pen between their fingers, and who have long been "honoured by the world", it also seems to us, according to the witty opinion of a dear friend of ours, that they could very well hold their Congresses through a simple exchange of postcards - perhaps, adds our friend, with a pre-paid reply - without needing to carry their vanity around now in this place now in that, to bore each other by telling each other things that they already know by heart or that they can find, tomorrow, in magazines. Scientific and similar congresses are, in general, nothing but the triumph of academic arrogance, most often schools of pedantic ambitions and rivalries, and the juiciest and most practical side is always the banquet, with its attendant honours and noise and fun. But for workers' congresses it is completely different.
Here we are not talking about conferences and academic votes, which have a remote and mediated relationship with life. We are talking about men and women who have come, with immense sacrifice, from different countries, who have almost no other means of communicating ideas, united only by the uniformity of their condition; of people who emerge from the boiler-rooms of society to ask for a little place in the sun, and possesses no other science and awareness than that laboriously formed in the rough toil of the workshop, from direct experience of things, from mutual observations and conversations between companions in punishment, in separate and circumscribed environments. For these people a Congress takes the place, almost entirely, of books, and magazines, and correspondence; the mere fact of finding themselves gathered for the same purpose, of taking part, for once, as a body and as a class, collectively and independently, in the agitations of public life, is for them excitement and comfort. They have felt, each in his own country, the immense weight of the social pyramid that weighs on their shoulders, they have felt, they have caught in the air a word of redemption, a fragment of "good news" and they carry it and exchange it with each other, in the name or on behalf of the companions they left behind, in the provinces, in the small towns, labouring in the fields: convinced, absolutely convinced by now, of that truth written by Goethe and quoted a little later by Cimbali in these same columns: "Only he who knows how to conquer it with his own strength deserves freedom and life."
Workers' congresses are therefore the only ones, for us, that have a reason to exist today. And that is why we greeted this one in Milan with joy and took part in it as actively as we could, in the name of the various associations which invested us with a mandate. There were over 450 Societies represented, from almost all the provinces of upper and central Italy, and as many as 250, both men and women, delegates who actually met. The absurd ban on delegations made up of non-workers was not imposed. Among the presidents, one member of parliament, Mafli, and one woman, Mozzoni, were selected. The discussion, despite some incidents and occasional langours, generally maintained a positive economic and genuinely working-class character. The work, forced into two days, was patient and assiduous and left little room for rhetoric, for declamation, that Italian vice. On the second day, to complete the picture, they remained until late at night, despite the fatigue and hunger.
In a country where the independent workers' movement is rudimentary and indiscipline is a racial and educational trait, no one could expect those broad and elevated discussions of which the workers' congresses held abroad give us so many examples and which make, for example, the "Protocol" of the Halle Congress so rich in meaning and interest. However, in our opinion, anyone who assigned a paltry importance to the Milan Congress or presumed to have formed a clear and faithful concept of it, solely from the reports, however extensive, in the political newspapers, would be mistaken. Precisely because there is in these Congresses, for the elements that form them, for the issues they deal with, for the spirit that animates them, something new and characteristic, which is not found in books, speeches, magazines, bourgeois newspapers, local journalism did not grasp its most intimate meaning and was unable to give, no matter how much it tried, a truly faithful reproduction. The things it grasped most easily were the most common, and therefore most alien to the new soul of the Congress. Many points translated, perhaps in a more literary form, in the usual stereotype of liberal political journalism, managed to go completely astray. Less lacking, in its objective and synthetic laconism, was the report of the Vorwärts, presented by the German Leopoldo Jacoby, professor at our Academy, very learned in the social sciences, versed in the workers' and socialist movement of his country, and loving investigator of the younger Italian one. The democratic newspapers, in general, abstained from comments. A few others attempted criticisms and objections, but so pitiful and ill-advised, as to be far inferior - not only to the intellectual level of the Congress - but to any possibility, to any dignity of discussion.
Time and space urge us to limit ourselves to a few of the results of the Congress. The most lively battle was waged on the first point of the agenda. The Congress had to express its ideas to the delegates (who were then Croce and Turati) to the imminent International Congress in Brussels, concerning the opportunity of protective legislation for workers and on the means to make it effective. And here, as is natural, all the chronic distrust in the working classes of Italy and other places came out, not only towards political power, towards the laws, whatever they are, who makes them and who applies them, but towards politics in general, the politics — as they say — that divides, that deceives and that corrupts. The question was thoroughly vexed; the anarchist element brought its uncompromising note; but an enormous majority, almost all the votes (104 against 13) were won by the order of the day that we reproduce here as a document:
«Considering:
That the true and complete defense of workers consists in coming into possession of the instruments of labour in order to obtain the full equivalent of the product of their labour, which in the modern stage of industrial development can only be achieved through collective ownership of land and capital;
That the bourgeois state cannot lose its raison d'être and become, from an organ of the interests of the capitalists, an organ of the interests of the people;
That, in spite of this, even on the terrain of capitalist monopoly, organized workers can demand, and the ruling class, through instinct of self-preservation, can be forced to grant those provisions which assure to the workers and their families some of the most indispensable and most urgent guarantees - once these have been obtained, the militant proletariat can pursue with greater effectiveness the class struggle for its complete emancipation and carry out with greater alacrity its historical mission;
That the natural organ for these proceedings is currently the State;
While there is nothing to hope for in the effects of legislation to defend the workers without a strong workers' organization to promote it and monitor its implementation; however, given this organization, legislation can, within given limits, help and guarantee its work;
In fact, all industrial states have already embarked on this path, except for a very few, and among these Italy, whose only social law passed so far - that for child labour - is purely and simply ironic, and, despite its absolute inadequacy, is violated regularly and with impunity;
That at present the main workers' demands to improve their conditions are the following:
- a normal eight-hour day;
- weekly rest of at least thirty-six uninterrupted hours;
- surveillance of dangerous and unhealthy industries;
- prohibition of work by children under 14 years of age, combined with serious compulsory popular education;
- assumption, by the State or by the employers, of the general insurance of workers against accidents, illnesses and invalidity;
That it would be necessary for the workers of every country to be able to have a clear account of the scope and effects of the protective laws for workers already in force in other States and of the improvements that are desired therein;
That the main reasons why the laws for the protection of workers are too often made illusory by the conspiracy of the capitalists are the insufficiency of the political strength of the organized workers, and of their direct representation in the deliberative bodies of the State and the deficient supervision on the part of the inspectors, who should be appointed from among technical people, by the workers themselves, as the only truly interested parties;
Congress decides:
- That its representatives at the Brussels Congress should support the need to strengthen the organization of workers by trades and crafts everywhere and to promote agitation among them to achieve effective protection of workers in the senses indicated above;
- It should also propose that a popular publication be prepared to be translated into various languages, so that workers can be easily educated on the scope and effects of protective labour legislation in civilized countries and on the improvements desired;
- That the subject of protective labour legislation be placed on the agenda of next year's Italian Workers' Congress, so that Italian workers can formulate a practical and precise program of struggle.
In this agenda three essential points are highlighted: — the concept of promoting social legislation is accepted in principle, but viewed with a reasonable skepticism, and with the affirmation that its effectiveness depends exclusively on the powers of conquest and vigilance of the proletarian classes positively interested in benefiting from it — the criterion of the class struggle of the workers organized by arts and crafts is accepted (a concept to which the Mazzinian and predominantly political associations are known to be hostile) in order to achieve the complete emancipation of the workers and the collectivist regime - finally, it is accepted that the working class must enter the arena of public life as an independent political force, influencing the assemblies of the State (therefore repudiating, in principle, electoral abstention) and trying to transform the mechanisms and use them as a powerful means of development.
As regards the rights of assembly and strikes, things quickly got to the heart of the matter, denouncing the lie contained in the Zanardelli act and pointing out the measures needed. Here is the agenda, voted unanimously:
Considering:
That assembly of the workers, their only current defense against the excessive exploitation of the labourer, can only be effectively guaranteed by a robust and prudent federation of the working class, organised by trades and crafts among the various industrial and agricultural countries;
That the Labour Chambers and the International Labour Secretaries must contribute to hastening and making this federation effective;
That it is necessary to impose on governments the widest recognition of the right of assembly, which - like every right - must be founded on the will of the majority of the interested parties in a given locality - and the suppression of all those practices and laws that make it illusory or limit its effects, such as in particular the armed intervention of the State in favour of the capitalists, either to replace striking workers or to intimidate them under the pretext of public order, and Articles 165 to 167 of the new Italian Penal Code, which under the false pretext of freedom remove strikes from common law;
That effective safeguarding of the right of assembly cannot be achieved if the associations concerned do not provide, in the individual localities, for organization of effective solidarity towards strikers persecuted through dismissal by their bosses or trials or unjust convictions;
That at the moment, given the conditions of the organization of Italian workers, it is not the case that they should make proposals regarding the boycott;
Congress decides:
To give a mandate to its representative at the Brussels Congress to fight for all means suitable for planning the federation of the workers' forces and for obtaining the abolition of the laws discussed above;
To place on the agenda of the next Italian workers' congress the proposal for an agitation for the abolition of articles 165 to 167 of the new Penal Code and a special organization, for the defense and assistance of the victims of criminal and capitalist persecution in matters of assembly and strikes.
In this resolution one point should be noted, where reference is made to the right of the majority of striking workers, a principle which is entirely positive and frankly democratic, the adoption of which would overturn the criteria currently in force in this matter and would blow up that famous theory of "moral violence" which makes the new penal code, in terms of strikes, far more reactionary than the old one and renders punishable in practice all serious strikes, even those which were once exonerated by "reasonable cause".
On militarism, an order of the day was adopted along the following lines:
Considering:
That militarism is the application of force and violence to the defense and preservation of privileged classes and institutions;
That its functions impede the free and logical development of human progress destined to procure wellbeing for all, because they maintain in the social spirit a concern opposed to the true interest of society, which is the improvement and emancipation of its members, and create production intended for destruction and death, which generates an immense waste of economic forces;
That the working class is the most affected and the most damaged by the demands of militarism, to which it must sacrifice the most select part of its youth, forced to become a parasite of a production already perturbed by capitalist speculation and to be an instrument of repression and persecution in the hands of the bourgeoisie;
That a civil society of free and equal people, being represented by the international relations of peoples, founded on the principle of social solidarity, has no need of the violent and anti-human defensive work of militarism;
The Congress recognizes that the working class must stand against militarism as an enemy of its progress and emancipation, and declares it to be the duty of workers' organizations:
- to carry out continuous and active propaganda against the harmful effects of militarism and against the patriotic and national feelings which form its pretext, as well as against the moral teaching of military glory and honour;
- to refuse to participate in any demonstration that could serve to maintain military prejudices and influences among the population;
- to educate working-class youth in the feelings of brotherhood and solidarity, so that when under arms young people can resist the demoralizing influence of the military spirit and are no longer a blind instrument of discipline and tyranny;
and temporarily, as long as the present social conditions last, recognizes the duty to agitate for the reduction and abolition of permanent armies, accepting the principle of the armed populace and of international arbitration.
The agenda concludes with a very lively and vibrant vote, because the increased and strengthened consciousness of the working class could, in fact, make the current militarism impossible.
Finally, here is the order of the day that laid the foundations of a true independent party of Italian workers: it was adopted unanimously minus four votes, as some Mazzinians (De Andreis and others) declared that they could not accept it in its entirety:
The National Workers' Congress, discussing the question of workers' organization in Italy;
Considering
that to bring about the emancipation of the workers, the union of all the wishes and all the moral and material forces of the workers organized for this purpose is essential;
and affirming that emancipation cannot be fully achieved except by claiming as possessions of the working class, the lands and the instruments of labour which it uses to produce wealth;
resolves
to constitute all the organizations attending the Congress as the Italian Workers' Party and to promote agitation to integrate within the said party all the other Italian workers' associations for the following purposes and with the following criteria:
The Italian workers' party has as its aim the emancipation of the workers from the political and economic monopoly of the capitalist class.
It takes part in the struggles of public life with class criteria, independently of any other political or religious party, and supports the struggle against capitalist monopoly through solidarity, resistance, propaganda and cooperation with emancipatory intent.
- All associations of workers in the city and in the countryside, of both sexes, salaried or paid workers or even independent workers, may become members, provided that they do not have the status of exploiters or managers of the work of others.
- Associations administered or directed by non-workers will not be admitted, except for those workers' and agricultural associations which, due to special local conditions, in the unanimous opinion of the Central Committee and the local Committees, still retain the character of true associations in the interests of workers.
- The modalities of the constitution and action of the party will be formulated by a Commission appointed by the present Congress, which, taking into account the deliberations or discussions of the Congress itself, will have to submit within one month a draft program and statute to all the member associations and will take into account their observations before reducing it to a definitive program and statute.
- The autonomy of the individual Sections and Federations will be safeguarded in all that is not essential to the general interest of the party. Until a new and different decision is made, the Sections and Federations will remain autonomous even in deciding on their participation in electoral battles.
- The Commission appointed for the formation of the program and the statute, after having drafted the definitive formula, will act as the provisional Central Committee of the Party until the convocation of a subsequent national Congress to be held at the latest in the summer of next year.
«It will also appoint from among its members an International Secretary of Labour.
The second paragraph, which leaves the Party Committees a discretionary power to admit societies influenced by bourgeois elements, was a spur of the moment suggestion based on considerations of the deputy Prampolini and others, who noted that a too rigid exclusivism would have repelled from the Federation many important peasant societies, especially those of central Italy, which, without some administrative interference from trusted outsiders, could not function for the time being. This action should not, however, be taken without precautionary measures.
The Congress then moved on to nominate the Program Commission, which consisted of comrades Bertini, Croce, Cattaneo, Cremonesi, Lazzari, Maffi and Mrs Mozzoni; it decided (and perhaps it was a mistake to restrict itself so soon) that next year's Congress should be held in a city in central Italy (probably Reggio or Bologna); it postponed the discussion on the practical implementation of the eight-hour day to that Congress; it ended with some resolutions, which we deem unnecessary to report here since they are of an administrative-financial nature, aimed at founding the party's weekly newspaper; and it dissolved with cheers for the party itself and for workers' emancipation.
Of course criticism is easy, and we would have materials to provide a taste of it, if we wanted to embark on that task. Dario Papa found, not entirely wrongly, that even this conference, however worker based, sinned with a certain academicism. It should be noted, however, that this is the inevitable problem of all movements in their beginnings, and that exact affirmations of principles and directions, in a new party that has such a long road to travel and so many difficulties to combat and misunderstandings and pitfalls to thwart, are anything but superfluous.
The newspaper La Lotta of Forli also mentioned, as a point of weakness, the too frequent unanimity. However, there was no lack of lively debate, and the tendencies towards dissolution were given free and wide berth and largely prevailed over. Unanimity was not granted, it was conquered, and therein lies its value.
It may also be observed that the Congress did not achieve anything immediately practical, that the organization of the agricultural classes, the advantages which they could to draw from cooperation in production, consumption and credit for workers and farm labourers and the criteria and practices related to it were subjects touched upon rather than dealt with by the Congress; and that the very constitution and definitive action of the party was essentially left to the Congress of the following year. And there is some truth in this too. For this, moreover the most difficult part, the preparation was poor, nor did the short time that the Congress lasted allow it to be remedied.
The first steps are the first steps, faltering and uncertain, nor are we here to flatter them, to exaggerate their impetus. And we know that the "words" of the Congresses, even the most practical and wise, are boasting and wind, if they are not followed by the careful, detailed, tireless work of those who carry within themselves the soul of the party. But periods can be hastened, not skipped, and parties of the future move ever faster.
It is enough for us to have noted that this new attempt to weave together the scattered and still slender threads of the Italian workers' movement has undoubtedly marked a notable progress on the statu quo ante, and cannot be barren of fruit. And by going to Brussels, where, when these pages come out, the heart and the ideal of the militant proletariat of the world will beat - where perhaps we will not even take the floor, more eager for tighter links and to learn and bring back clear and sure impressions than to show ourselves off - we do not presume to bring an active and important contribution in terms of expedients, experiences, and forces already organised in a manly way; but we bear in our hearts the high and firm concept of taking for you a moral contribution, a promise that is not a lie, that is, the forthcoming conscious accession of the proletariat of our country to the great and holy struggle of the workers for world emancipation.
We will also, without boasting but with a calm spirit, add the signature of the Italian workers' party to the international promissory note for the near future that will be drawn up there.
La CRITICA SOCIALE.