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Unione Sindacale Italiana




  country Italy
  full Name Italian Workers Union
  native Name Unione Sindacale Italiana
  founded 1912
  office Rome , Italy
  website http://wwwecnorg/usi-ait



Unione Sindacale Italiana (''USI''; ''Italian Syndicalist Union'' or ''Italian Workers Union'') is an Italian Trade Union .


EARLY HISTORY

The USI was founded in 1912 , after a group of workers, previously affiliated with the Confederazione Generale Del Lavoro (CGI), met in Modena and declared themselves linked to the legacy of the First International , and later joined the Anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association (IWA; ''Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori'' in Italian or ''AIT'' - ''''Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores'' in the common Spanish reference).

The most , 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 .


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 Mussolini 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.


SEE ALSO