to permit Flume's annexation to Yugoslavia; but D'Annunzio
refused to agree. On Oct. 27 the U.S. Government presented
a new scheme whereby Flume was to be made into an independ-
ent state, under the League of Nations, but comprising not only
the ancient corpus separatum, but also a large part of Istria.
Since the Slav population would then have swamped the Italians
of the town, the plan was not acceptable to Italy nor to the
Fiumani. President Wilson on Nov. 13 followed this with a stiff
message to the Italian Government, in which he insisted on the
question being settled on the lines of the American scheme. On
Dec. 9, however, the British, French and U.S. Governments
presented a memorandum to Senator Scialoja, proposing cer-
tain modifications the town of Fiume to enjoy full autonomy
(not independence) within the proposed buffer state, but without
territorial contiguity with Italy (as the latter demanded),
and Zara to choose which state should represent it diplomatically.
The tone of this communication was regarded in Italy as un-
friendly, and Senator Scialoja, in his speech in the Chamber on
Dec. 21, set forth the state of the negotiations and the reasons
why the various Allied proposals were inacceptable to Italy
above all the fact that they failed to provide for the security of
the Italian frontier and coast. M. Clemenceau's speech of the
24th was considered offensive to Italy and also inaccurate, as
he spoke of Fiume having been " promised " by Italy to Croatia,
whereas the Pact of London merely contained a declaration on
that point and not a bilateral agreement, as Croatia was not a
party to it and indeed did not then exist as a separate state.
To this Sig. Scialoja replied on the 2gth that Italy had only asked
for the execution of the Pact of London, that the Fiumani them-
selves had asked to be annexed to Italy, and that the Allies
seemed to ignore Italy's readiness to compromise on Dalmatia:
he would enter into direct negotiations with the Yugoslavs, pro-
vided the latter were acting solely on their own account and
were not guaranteed a minimum by other Powers.
After trying again, but without success, to induce D'Annunzio to leave Fiume, the Italian Government presented a new project on Jan. 6 1920, on the following lines: Independence within the buffer state for the town of Fiume, the latter being connected by a strip of territory with Italy, and the S.W. frontier of the buffer state corresponding to that fixed by the Pact of London; Cherso and Lagosta to be assigned to Italy, as well as the islands which Wilson was ready to cede to her; the coast from Fiume to the Voyusa to be neutralized, and the Italian element in Dalma- tia guaranteed adequately. On Jan. 9 the British and French Governments (the U.S. having now withdrawn from the Allied Supreme Council) stated that they were ready to apply the Pact of London, or, if Italy considered it no longer applicable under present conditions, the Memorandum of Dec. 9, with certain modifications suggested by the Italian note of Jan. 6. The following day the Italian Government replied to the Memoran- dum of Dec. 9, objecting above all to the proposed Istrian frontier, which would only be 18 km. from Trieste and 22 from the de- fences of Pola. On Jan. 14 the following agreement was arrived at in London between Sig. Nitti, Mr. Lloyd George, and M. Clemenceau: Fiume under Italian sovereignty, but Susak to Yugoslavia, the port and railway under the League of Nations; Lussin, Lissa and Pelagosa to Italy but demilitarized; Zara independent, but free to choose its own diplomatic representa- tion; Albania under an Italian mandate but certain districts of it ceded to Greece and Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav delegation objected to the whole scheme, and even Nitti's offer to renounce Italian sovereignty over Fiume, which would remain quite independent, failed to satisfy them, and they referred the matter to the Belgrade Government. The latter insisted on the Wilson line as the only possible frontier for Istria, and objected to Fiume and Zara being free to choose their diplomatic representation. On Jan. 20 the U.S. Government protested against any decision being taken without their having a voice in it; to this Britain and France replied on the 23rd that they had come to an agreement with Italy on the basis of the Nitti compromise, but that if the latter were not accepted; the Pact of London, which satisfied no one, would be the only
Further
Strikes
and Dis-
orders,
1920.
alternative. The Yugoslav Government objected to having t choose between these two proposals, and professed itself un- acquainted with the contents of the Pact of London; this was now communicated to it officially. President Wilson, on his side, replied to the Allies on Feb. 10 (in a note communicated on the I3th) that their new proposals of Jan. 14 contained several unjust modifications in favour of Italy as compared with the Memoran- dum of Dec. 9 to which he had agreed, while he rejected the Pact of London altogether; unless the Memorandum of Dec. 9 was accepted he would seriously consider the withdrawal of the Versailles treaty now before the American Senate. There fol- lowed-a further exchange of correspondence and notes between Italy, France, Britain, Yugoslavia and President Wilson, without any solution being arrived at.
In the domestic situation, one of the first consequences of Socialist successes at the polls in Nov. 1919 was an increase indiscipline and revolutionary spirit among the rail- waymen and postal employees. On Jan. 13 1920, the postal workers went on strike. Citizen committees, however, were formed who supplied volunteers, and this action broke the back of the movement; when the Government undertook to present the demands to Parliament, the employees returned to work (Jan. 22). The railwaymen, too, declared a general strike throughout Italy on the 2oth, though only 66,000 men actually responded out of a total of 193,000. Here, again, it was the provision made by volunteers that enabled the Government to face the situation. On no line was the railway service wholly suspended: 1,063 trains ran on the first day, and the number was raised to 1,789 on Jan. 29, when, after Sig. Nitti came forward with concessions, the strike ended. All strikers were readmitted and although their wages were not paid to them the amount was to be devoted to a building fund for railwaymen's dwellings, the decision on the men's original demands being referred to Parliament, whi' the eight-hour day was to be extended as soon as possib to the few categories to whom it had not yet been applied.
Other strikes and disorders followed, of which the m< serious were the strike of men on the secondary railways Lombardy, which lasted several weeks (Feb.-April) ; the stri in the Mazzonis cotton mills at Luserna and Ponte Canave: where the workmen occupied the factories for a few days; metal workers' strike at Turin, which began on March 24 over dispute about a clock that had been tampered with at the F.I. A.' works, and ended on April 23 with the defeat of the strike: The railwaymen caused further trouble by refusing to run trai which conveyed troops or police; and on June 8-24 the Cremon railwaymen struck because the under station-master had insist on forwarding a train which they suspected of conveying wi material to Poland, the strike extending to Milan and otb places. At Viareggio there were serious disorders on May i, 2 and 3, which began with a row over a football match. On June 26 a mutiny broke out at Ancona, promoted by anarchists. There had been a good deal of discontent among the men of the nth Bersaglieri because their regiment, of which they were justly proud, was to be disbanded; furthermore, the anarchists spread the false report that they were to be sent to Albania, an un- popular destination. On the morning of the 26th some anarchists disguised as Bersaglieri entered the barracks and induced a certain number of the soldiers to revolt and disarm the officers. Other officers, however, quickly succeeded in restoring discipline, and when bands of anarchists and other criminals in the town, who thought that the mutiny in the barracks was succeeding, proceeded to pillage the shops and terrorize the inhabitants, the Bersaglieri, including the ex-mutineers at their own request, went out into the streets and quelled the disorders, seizing the labour exchange, which was the anarchists' headquarters, by assault. Disorders continued outside the town a little while longer, as the anarchists from the neighbouring hills fired on passing trains, killing and wounding several persons. By the 27th order was fully restored and large numbers of arrests were made: in all 25 persons had been killed. The mutineers were tried in March 1921 and got sentences up to eight years.
