[PEN-L:5896] Re: 10's of thousands for peace in Italia

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 PEACE, bread and land,
Bread and roses, bread and roses,
All Power to the working People as a whole,


>>> Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx> 04/23/99 09:20PM >>>
Forwarded by Charles:
>On Thursday, 22nd April, over 600 shop stewards gathered in the Milan
>CGIL trade union headquarters to take part in a national assembly called
>by forty factory councils. The meeting called on the national leadership
>of the three main trade union federations (CGIL,CISL and UIL) to organise
>a general strike against the war. They also decided to organise a series
>of mass meetings in the factories on the question.
>
>What happened in the town of Massa, in Tuscany, is an indication of how
>the movement could develop. The official unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL,
>organised a four hour provincial general strike on 19th April. This was
>the first serious strike action called by the trade unions against the
>war. The national leadership seems less prepared to organise a serious
>movement, but the pressure could build up, especially if ground troops
>are sent in.
>
>The number of people on the demonstartion was 5,000. A large number of
>school teachers were there with a banner that had had some lines from a
>Bertold Brecht poem: "Among the vanquished the poor people went hungry,
>among the victors the poor people went hungry." Prior to the
>demonstration teachers and students had organised meetings in the schools
>on the war.
>
>Apart from the teachers there were also blue collar workers from the
>factories, government workers, the pensioners union, the railway workers
>and the workers from the marble quarries of Carrara. Significantly, there
>was also a delegation on the demonstration from the SIULP (the police
>trade union!).

Charles, this is good news! In some European countries, the war against
Yugoslavia may even revitalize the left!

Yoshie