Big Think, “5 flavors of anarchy”
It may come as a surprise to some to find that anarchism comes in as many flavors as Ben ‘n Jerry’s. Anarchists are often typecast in popular opinion as black-clothed bomb-throwers. However, many would be surprised by the number and identities of different anarchists. What’s more, anarchist beliefs aren’t simply that the state should be […]
Salon, “Massachusetts executed two Italian immigrants 90 years ago: Why the global fallout still matters”
But fairly soon, it emerged that the two men were not anyone’s idea of typical bandits. Rather, they were active in Italian anarchist circles who believed that capitalism and states were oppressive and should be overthrown by revolution — and, if necessary, a violent one. At the time, most Americans lived in horror of anarchists […]
JSTOR Daily, “Is There a Place in Public History for Sacco and Vanzetti?”
The case slowly grew into an international cause célèbre. Sacco and Vanzetti were avowed anarchists, devoted to the idea of destroying all government. They were followers of Luigi Galleani, an Italian anarchist leader with followers around the globe, who argued that governments were in league with oppressive wealthy businesses who exploited workers. Continue Reading
Huffington Post, “Sacco, Vanzetti, and Mary Dyer”
Today, August 23, marks the 90th anniversary of the deaths by execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants and self-avowed anarchists who were convicted of robbery and first-degree murder in Massachusetts, and who, after numerous appeals and protests, died in the electric chair on August 23, 1927. Continue Reading
Tablet Magazine, “Dear Antifas: A Note About Your Ancestor”
Tresca was the Cold War anarcho-syndicalist. He was a super-radical who, even so, did not remove himself from the larger American system. My old friend Daniel Bell had the misfortune of seeing Tresca’s body on the sidewalk at Fifth Avenue and 15th Street, after the assassination, in January 1943. That was a terrible event. Tresca’s […]
The Atlantic, “Why Liberalism Disappoints”
Frankfurter worked tirelessly to save the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti from the accusations that sent them to death row. He eloquently transformed their fate into the quintessential liberal crusade of the ’20s—and was apoplectic that when he tried to enlist Lippmann in his effort, he struggled to rouse him from his icy evenhandedness. Continue Reading
Smithsonian Magazine, “The Biggest Trial of the 1920s Continues to Resonate”
Both men were involved with a direct-action anarchist movement, the same group that was later blamed for the 1920 Wall Street bombing while they were in jail. But there was little to say they had carried out the armed robbery, writes Temkin, who does not believe it is likely that the pair were guilty. What […]
The Boston Globe, “This day in history”
In 1921, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted in Dedham of murdering a shoe company paymaster and his guard. (Sacco and Vanzetti were executed six years later.) Continue Reading
WNYC, “Muslim New Yorkers Now Have Someone Watching the Cops Who Watch Them”
As detailed in the book about post-9/11 Muslim surveillance, Enemies Within by Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman, the NYPD has long investigated specific communities: Italians and anarchists in the beginning of the 20th century; Germans and Japanese during World War II; Communists later on. Then in 1971, a lawsuit was filed against the NYPD after Vietnam War protesters […]
The Western News (MT), “Libby middle school students hold mock trial”
The trial the students prepared was the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-born American anarchists accused of murdering two people during an April 15, 1920 armed robbery of shoe company in Braintree, Massachusetts. “The result of the actual trial was that they were convicted but there is a lot of controversy still over […]