The Red Army firing on workers in a socialist country is unacceptable. - Giuseppe Di Vittorio

I padroni non considerano il lavoratore un uomo, lo considerano una macchina, un automa. Ma il lavoratore non è un attrezzo qualsiasi, non si affitta, non si vende. Il lavoratore è un uomo, ha una sua personalità, un suo amor proprio, una sua idea, una sua opinione politica, una sua fede religiosa e vuole che questi suoi diritti vengano rispettati da tutti e in primo luogo dal padrone.

I know the bitterness, the disappointments, the time that union activity sometimes requires, with results that are not entirely satisfactory. I know all this well, because I too have been a union activist: you know very well that I do not come from above, I come from below.

I am not, have never claimed to be, nor do I claim to be a representative of culture. However, I am representative of something. I believe I am representative of those deep layers of the humblest and poorest masses who aspire to culture, who strive to study and seek to attain that level of knowledge that will enable them not only to ensure their own elevation as individuals, develop their personalities, but also to achieve the status that gives the masses a higher sense of their social function and their national and human dignity. Culture not only frees these masses from the prejudices that come from ignorance and the limits it places on people's horizons: culture is also a tool for moving forward and helping the whole national society move forward, progress and rise.