Thread by @DrWatson_writer

**The MASSACRE of BUGGERRU of 1904**

Special thread for the anniversary of the massacre of miners on strike, by the hands of the Italian army. 4 people were killed and 13 injured as they asked for better work conditions, leading to the call of the Italian general strike.

In 1840, the king of Sardinia issued a law dividing soil property from underground and allowing people from everywhere in Europe to dig up for resources. With the Perfect Fusion of 1848, the law was extended to Sardinia and many companies were funded for the mineral-

-exploitation of the land. It was mostly Italians, Piedmontese, French, German and British.

The first mine to open was Malfidano, in Buggerru, Sulcis-Iglesiente. The company was French and based in Paris.

Since several decades between XIX and XX centuries, miners and workers were in continuous strikes to ask for better work conditions and salary. They associated in groups too, the first syndicates.

It was clear by early 1900s that Sardinian workers were underpaid-

-in comparison to Italians, by reasons of lack of skill or physical abilities, according to their employers. Safety measures lacked in the work and many miners had already died. They worked 12 hours a day, underground, with short breaks, in unhealthy places, with also women-

-and children from age 12 working there. While the employers and mine owners lived in the town of Buggerru, known as Little Paris for its cultural activity and social class, miners had to sleep in collective rooms, with little to no hygiene. They could buy things only through-

-the company's shops, usually at higher prices while their wages arrived late.

In May 1904, another accident killed some miners. The workers of Buggerru decided to go on strike, supported by the syndicates and led by Cavallera and Battelli. Things escalated quickly when in-

-September, the owner of the mine, the Greek Achille Georgiades, told the workers their break time will be reduced of an hour and they'll return to winter work hours one month earlier.

The miners went on strike. On the 4th of September, as the syndicalists and the boss treated-

-the conditions for the ending of the strike, Georgiades delayed, trying to take time. He had called the Royal Army to put end to the strike with the force.

When the army arrived, it was asked the miners to prepare the space for their stay. The miners refused, but not-

-all of them. Some got to work and clashed with their companions who were keeping up the strike. They started throwing stones at each other and the army replied with gunshots at man's height. Two miners, Felice Littera and Salvatore Montixi, were killed immediately. Two died in-

-the following days, 13 more were injured.

The event resonated in all of Italy and the Camera di Commercio of Milan put an ultimatum on police violence, calling for them to be forbidden the use of arms during strikes. Following another event in Sicily some days later, with the-

-army shooting on a crowd of farmers, the first Italian general strike was called and lasted for days.

It wouldn't have been the last massacre in Sardinia. Another followed in Gonnesa, 1906, and then Iglesias, 1920. Other bloody strikes took place in Cagliari for other workers.