Protest Move Is Gaining Momentum in Switzerland
Trader Special Service.
ZURICH—Large circles of the Swiss people are watching with rising indignation the attempt of private Fascist organizations closely allied to Mussolini’s bands to start a movement for the annexation of the Swiss canton of Tessin (Ticino) to Italy.
Although Mussolini has himself given his word to respect the sovereignty and integrity of Switzerland, unofficial Italian Fascist organizations in Tessin want to annex this Swiss Canton. They declare it is the last of the three Capital Ts—Trieste, Trentino, Ticino—which must be “liberated.”
Create Public Sentiment.
This inofficial Fascist Irredenta has covered the whole Canton of Tessin with irredentist propaganda clubs. Its press is very active. It Is penetrating into the schools to such an extent that a protest movement among Swiss teachers is under way.
The Swiss government is not taking any steps to suppress the Fascist propaganda, but the majority of the people of Tessin and of the public officials of the Canton are strongly opposed to this anti-democratic activity.
The Fascist propaganda is supported mainly by Italian Nationalists who have business in Tessin, especially in the cities where Italian Fascist officials nurse the organizations with secret funds.
The official Fascist influence is employed openly to work against the democratic and Socialist elements in Tessin, and to advertise Fascism as an ally of the rich against the friends of popular democracy.
Seek Fascist Friendship.
The reactionary government of Switzerland is afraid of getting into trouble with Mussolini and therefore shows more consideration to his agents than to the democratic citizens of its own country.
As a result of this reactionary attitude, the Swiss government refused to let Prof. Salvemini, prominent Italian anti-Fascist living in exile in London, enter Switzerland for an anti-Fascist lecture in various Swiss clubs, and although there were vivid protests in a large part of the Swiss press, the order was not cancelled.
The resentment of the democratic Swiss people against any official concessions to Fascism was expressed to good effect when an Italian Fascist, Scanziani, was made director of a progressive paper in Tessin, La Gazetta Ticinese. Public opinion forced his resignation.
Numerous other instances of popular resentment against the connivance of Swiss authorities in Fascist plots shown that Mussolini’s game in Tessin is not as easy as it is in the annexed part of Tyrol.
The Milwaukee Leader, Milwaukee, WI, March 28, 1929