particular at the Fiat plants, went on strike demanding recognition for their 'factory councils', a demand the PSI and CGL did not support. The 'factory councils' more and more saw themselves as the models for a new democratically controlled economy running industrial plants, instead of as a bargaining tool with employers. The movement peaked in August and September 1920. Armed metal workers in Milan and Turin occupied their factories in response to a lockout by the employers. Factory occupations swept the "industrial triangle" of north-western Italy. Some 400,000 metal-workers and 100,000 others took part. On September 3, 185 metal-working factories in Turin had been occupied. The PSI and CGL failed to see the revolutionary potential of the movement; had it been maximized and expanded to the rest of Italy, a revolutionary transformation might have been possible. Most Socialist leaders were pleased with the struggles in the North, but did little to capitalize on the impact of the occupations and uprisings. Without the support and quarantined, the movement for social change gradually waned. Aftermath By 1921, the movement was declining due to an industrial crisis that resulted in massive layoffs and wage cuts. In contrast to the passive demeanor of the PSI and CGL, employers and the upcoming fascist did react. The revolutionary period was followed by the violent reaction of the Fascist blackshirts militia (the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento) with the support of Italian industrialists and landowners. And eventually by the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini in October 1922. A quantitative sociological study of the period by analyzing newspaper news in the period clearly demonstrates the evolution of violence acts between the social groups involved. See also Revolutions of 1917–23 Aftermath of World War I March on Rome Benito Mussolini Fascist and anti-Fascist violence in Italy (1919–1926) Labin Republic References Bellamy, Richard Paul & Darrow Schecter (1993). Gramsci and the Italian State, Manchester/New York: Manchester University Press, Neufeld, Maurice F. (1961). Italy: school for awakening countries - The Italian labor movement in its political, social, and economic setting from 1800 to 1960, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University. Pelz, William A. (2007). Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March, New York: Peter Lang, Further reading Giuseppe Maione, Il biennio rosso. Autonomia e spontaneità operaia nel 1919-1920, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1975 Giovanni Sabbatucci (a cura di), La crisi italiana del primo dopoguerra. La storia