Th e Socialist of January 1919 announced: “the striking masses have spontaneously created the workers' committees, the basis of the workers' state . . . these committees representing every department in every mine, mill, railway, or plant, contain the elements of an organization which can transform capitalism into a Soviet Republic. . . . All Power to the workers' committees” (Th e Socialist, January 30, 1919, reprinted in Hinton 1973, 302). … Th at same year, the Italian worker Mario Montagna expressed similar optimism for his own country: “we believe that the construction of the workshop councils (consigli di offi cina) represents the fi rst concrete affi rmation of the communist revolution in Italy and that these councils of peasants and workers are the basis for the whole future system” (Montagna 1919, 202– 3).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 479