Unione Sindacale Italiana
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| Full name | Italian Workers Union |
|---|---|
| Native name | Unione Sindacale Italiana - Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Office location | Genova, Italy |
| Country | Italy |
| Website | http://www.usi-ait.org |
Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI; Italian Syndicalist Union or Italian Workers' Union) is an anarcho-syndicalist trade union. It is the Italian section of the International Workers Association (IWA; Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori in Italian or AIT - ''Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores in the common Spanish reference), and the name of USI is also abbreviated as USI-AIT.
The USI was founded in 1912, after a group of workers, previously affiliated with the Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (CGL), met in Modena and declared themselves linked to the legacy of the First International, and later joined the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association.
The most left-wing camere del lavoro adhered in rapid succession to the USI, and it engaged in all major political battles for labor rights - without ever adopting the militarist attitudes present with other trade unions. Nonetheless, after the outbreak of World War I, USI was shaken by the dispute around the issue of Italy's intervention in the conflict on the Entente Powers' side. The problem was made acute by the presence of eminent pro-intervention, national-syndicalist voices inside the body: Alceste De Ambris, 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.
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