The Slavic-Italian Anti-Fascist Union was a political movement in the Free Territory of Trieste

Free Territory of Trieste

The Free Territory of Trieste was to be a city-state situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, created by the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II and provisionally administered by an appointed military governor commanding the peacekeeping United...

. It was the most important mass organization of the Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste

Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste

Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste was a communist party in the Free Territory of Trieste...

 (PCTLT/KPSTO). UAIS/SIAU had around 70,000 members.

UAIS/SIAU was founded in the summer of 1945 by the Regional National Liberation Committee, as an umbrella organization of different groups seeking autonomy for Trieste or its integration into Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. At the founding congress Triestine, Italian, American, Yugoslav, Soviet and Fiuman

Rijeka

Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...

 flags were displayed, as well as portraits of Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

, Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

, Harry Truman, Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 and Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito

Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

.

UAIS/SIAU published the weekly newspapers Fronte unico ('United Front') and L'Istria nuova ('The New Istria'). It also published the newspaper Progresso, directed at the city of Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

.

UAIS/SIAU used a version of the Italian flag

Flag of Italy

The flag of Italy is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white, and red, with the green at the hoist side...

 with a red star

Red star

A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important ideological and religious symbol which has been used for various purposes, such as: state emblems, flags, monuments, ornaments, and logos.- Symbol of communism :...

 (a practice common in Italy as well in this period). However, the Allied Military government restricted the usage of this flag, ruling that only 'recognized national flags' be used in the area under their control. Ahead of May Day

International Workers' Day

International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...

 1947 the Allied Military Government ruled that UAIS/SIAU could only use the red flag

Red flag

In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...

, an act UAIS/SIAU considered a sabotage against their planned event (in which they planned to use Slovenian, Yugoslav and Italian (with and without the red star) alongside the red flag). Furthermore, the Allied Military Government restricted the UAIS/SIAU May Day rally the Slovenian-dominated working class areas, whilst letting pro-Italian groups demonstrate in the city centre.

UAIS/SIAU contested the June 1949 municipal elections

Free Territory of Trieste municipal election, 1949

Municipal elections were held in the six municipalities of the Anglo-American occupation zone of the Free Territory of Trieste in June 1949, Trieste, Duino-Aurisina, San Dorligo della Valle, Sgonico, Monrupino and Muggia...

 (held in the six municipalities in the Anglo-American Zone A), winning 33% of the total vote in Duino-Aurisina

Duino-Aurisina

Duino-Aurisina is a comune in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Lying near the border with Slovenia, it has a substantial Slovene population...

, 55% in San Dorligo della Valle

San Dorligo della Valle

San Dorligo della Valle is a comune in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 4 km southeast of Trieste, on the border with Slovenia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 6,019 and an area of 24.5 km²...

, 51% in Sgonico

Sgonico

Sgonico is a comune in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 12 km northwest of Trieste, on the border with Slovenia. , it had a population of 2,130 and an area of 31.3 km²...

 and 97% in Monrupino

Monrupino

Monrupino is a comune in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 9 km north of Trieste, on the border with Slovenia. , it had a population of 848 and an area of 12.7 km²...

. In the remaining municipalities, Trieste and Muggia

Muggia

Muggia is a small Italian comune in the extreme south-east of Trieste lying on the border with Slovenia.Muggia is the last and only flap of Istria still in Italian territory, after the dissolution of the Free Territory of Trieste in 1954....

, the Communist Party had its own lists and won 21% and 57% of the votes respectively. The election result was heralded by the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 press as a victory for the Communist Party.

Youth wing

The Anti-Fascist Youth Union of the Free Territory of Trieste

Anti-Fascist Youth Union of the Free Territory of Trieste

The Anti-Fascist Youth Union of the Free Territory of Trieste , initially known as the Anti-Fascist Youth Union of the Julian March was a youth movement in the Julian March . It was active between 1945 and 1954....

was one of the constituent organizations of UAIS/SIAU