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FORM TRADE UNION TO PUR CHASE ALL THE SHIPS. Secured First Vessel From Germany During War in Defiance of Gov ernment Finance Scheme Themacives. By Dorothy Thompson. GENOA, Nov. 2—(By Mail.)—In the port of Genoa today two ships are lying at anchor. One has just returned from Argentina and another from New York, where it recently went with a cargo of oranges. The Italian flag flies from the stern of each steamer, but from the mast flutters a red flag with great black let ters “Garibaldi.” They are part of a fleet of seven cargo steamers, each with a capacity of at least 7,000 tons, and they belong to the Garibaldi co-operative, the owners of which are the members of the “federation of the workers of the sea.” They represent the efforts of one body of Italian workers who do not think that it is necessary to wait for revolution to gain control of their Industry. These workers have organized the Garibadi, with the avowed purpose of buying out the principal ship-owners of Italy and, in time, gaining control of the Italian merchant marine. Sea Captain Formed It. The organization of the Italian seamen and the direction of their policy may be largely attributed to one man—Guiseppe Guilietti. He is a sea captain, a mem ber of parliament—elected on his own ticket—and a socialist who travels his own road and has been in and out of the party for many years. I believe that he is the most adored and at the same time the most hated man in Italy. There is not a sailor in any Italian port who does not call him “papa.” He is about forty-five years old, and not am sure, the handsomest man in Italy. When he told me the story of how the Italian seamen seized the ships in the port of Genoa and ran up the red flag he laughed until tears came into his eyes, Bought the Ships. The seamen came into control of the seven ships they now own in a manner popularity Ttalian. They bought and paid for them had the whole transaction was in its fundamentals thoroly constitutional. The Garibaldi scheme is one of the most arefully thought and cleverly engineered of business enterprises. But being Italian, they could not forbear making in the Process some large and revolutionary ges tures. “They succeeded, therefore, In making Italy a little nervous and the sur rounding world quite torely alarmed. And then, being left alone by a wise gov ernment, they quieted, down and began carrying inoffensive cargoes to inoffen sive ports. “In 1918, Guilett said, “every sailor in every Italian port, from the captain , the boy who washed down the decks, “48 a member of the federation of the workers of the sea. We have an indus trial union—no division among the mem bers of the craft. It is the only union of ihe kind among seamen by all the ‘world. Organize Co-operative. “In 1915, he continued, “we secured a general and very material increase in Wages to meet the increased cost of liv ing. We decided to put the first month's increase and a portion of each month's salary thereafter at work to win for the sailors the control of their own ships. We organized a co-operative. It is not the any other co-operative in the World.* It does not pay any interest or any divi dends: in fact, it is particularly designed not to! It was not organized to make profits for certain sailors, it was organ ized to revolutionize the status of all sail ors in Italy and put them in, a position where they can help the workers of the world. “Every member of the seamen's union is a member of the Garibaldi co-opera tive. Every member has promised to pay into the co-operative in monthly In stallments, depending on the size of his wage, the sum of 5,000 lire. The profits will go back into a fund which will be used to buy more ships. To Return Capital. “When our capital shall have reached the amount of 200,000,000 are we shall begin to pay back to the investors, not dividends nor interest, but the original capital which they have invested.” *“y would never raise a finger to help the Italian seamen to become capitalists,” said Guilietti, in the most enthusiastic moment of the interview. “We are com ing into a new age of co-operative en deavor. The seamen must keep their solidarity with the working class of the world. When we have bought these ships we sailors, out of our own money, and when they begin to make big profits, as they will, we will pay back to ourselves what we have put into the enterprise, taking neither Interest nor profits, and then the ships will be run by the seamen of Italy for the benefit of all of the workers of Italy, and, I hope, of the world.” IT asked Guilfetti how they purchased their first ships. “There were five ships which belonged to Germany tying In port at Genoa, and their disposition being in question I bid for them in behalf of the Garibaldi,” he said. “The commission approved the idea of selling them to the sailors and the government also approved, 30 everything seemed settled, but somehow we were never able to complete the negotiations, and one fine day we heard that the gov ernment was going to give them to the ship-owners who had lost vessels in the war.” Seized the Ships. And it was here that Guilietti laughed. “I told the sailors then that they'd bet ter just take the ships,” he said. “So they did. They occupied them and ran up the red flag, and every sailor thruout Italy was ready to stand behind the ac tion. And we told the government: “Now, we've got the ships and we'll give you 6,000,000 lire for them.’ So the govern ment took the price. You see,” he con cluded, “it wasn't exactly a revolution.”
Newspaper Details
Lincoln Evening State Journal
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Fri, Dec 03, 1920
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Karina V.
USA 14 Jun 2026
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