Vanzetti on left, Sacco on right
On May 5, 1920, Italian immigrants and anarchists Nicola Sacco (22/4/1891 -23/8/1927) a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti 11/6/1888 - 23/8/27) a fish peddler, were picked up, arrested and charged with the murder of two men Frederick Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli , a paymaster and a guard, during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, USA.
The crime seemed to be a common robbery, not anything to do with radical politics. But when a police investigation led to Sacco and Vanzetti, their radical political history seemed to put them in the frame.
This was at the height of the post-World War 1 Red Scare, and the atmosphere was seething with anxieties about Bolshevism , aliens, domesting bombings and labor unrest. Revolutionary upheavals gd been triggered by the war, nd one-third of the U.S , population consisted of immigrants or the children of immigrants.
U,S Attorney General A,Mitchell Palmer had ordered foreign radicals to be rounded up for deportation. Several thousand were deported. The largest raids occurred on January 2, 1920 whn over 4000 suspected radicals were seized nationwide. And just three days before Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested, one of the people seized during the Palmer raids , an anarchist editor had died falling from a 14th floor window of the New York City of Justice office.
Despite no witnesses getting a good look at the perpetrators of the murder and robbery, which was described as a shootout , Anti -immigrant and anti-radical sentiments led the police to focus on local anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the crime. Although both men carried guns and made false statements upon their arrest, neither had a previous criminal record. On July 14, 1921, they were convicted and sentenced to die. Anti-radical sentiment was running high in America at the time, and the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was regarded by many as unlawfully sensational. Authorities had failed to come up with any evidence of the stolen money, and much of the other evidence against them was later discredited.
During the next few years, sporadic protests were held in Massachusetts and around the world calling for their release, especially after Celestino Madeiros, then under a sentence for murder, confessed in 1925 that he had participated in the crime with the Joe Morelli gang. The state Supreme Court refused to upset the verdict, and Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller denied the men clemency.
During the several years of appeals, the case became an international cause célèbre because it was deemed a miscarriage of justice, prejudiced by anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist sentiment.They were among the many immigrants living in poverty, who fed up by what they saw as the exploitation of workers in the capitalist system in the U.S were drawn to meetings where people thought that the solution was to overthrow the government and start from scratch.The judge Webster Thayer , who presided over the trial, said to the jury at the outset. "Although this man (Sacco) may not have committed the crime attributed to him, he is nonetheless culpable because he is the enemy of our exiting institutions." An individual who openly hated anarchists and was overheard saying, “I’m going to get those anarchist bastards good and proper.”
The jury was made up exclusively of white native-born people, and the jury foreman was a former police chief who saluted the American flag every time he entered the courtroom. This was the jury that, in the midst of an incredible anti-immigrant backlash, was supposed to impartially decide the fate of two Italian immigrants who were avowed anarchists.
Today their trial and conviction is widely regarded as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history.In spite of conflicting ballistic evidence and despite the testimonies of numerous eyewitnesses,as many as 180, that they were elsewhere at the time of the alleged crime,more than a dozen people took to the stand to verify that Vanzetti had delivered fish to their homes miles away from the scene of the crime on the day of the killing, they were convicted of first degree murder the following year.
The socialist and labor movement did not forget them, recognising them as one of their own, and proceeded to rally on their side, many being convinced of their innocence, seeing them as scapegoats, singled out, because of anti-italian feeling and prejudice that was currently doing the rounds, and chiefly were being persecuted for their passionate personal beliefs in anarchism.
Incidentally both men had no criminal record prior to this incident.
Protests were carried out in every major city in the US and across Europe on their behalf, and even in places as faraway as Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg, such was the strength of feeling that Saccco and Vanzetti garnered,sparking international outrage and raising questions that are still timely. Many writers, artists, academics, people from all walks of life pleaded for their pardon or at least for a new trial.
As Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St.Vincent Millay, formed the injustice, " the men were castaways upon our shore, and we, an ignorant savage tribe, have put them to death because their speech and their manner were different from our own, and because to the untutored mind that which is strange in its infancy ludicrous, but in its prime evil, dangerous, and to be done away with."
During their 6 years on death row, their letters from prison endeared the two to the general public and persuaded many people of their innocence. They came to be seen as philosophers not criminals. One example from Sacco, a father of two who enjoyed gardening in his spare time, shows his attempt to remain optimistic, and he notes that "between thee turbulent clouds, a luminous path run always towards the truth."
For a sizable portion of the American intellectual community their case symbolised the fight for justice for ethnic minorities, the poor, and the politically unorthodox. Sadly after years of appeals, the two were scheduled or execution in April.
The jury was made up exclusively of white native-born people, and the jury foreman was a former police chief who saluted the American flag every time he entered the courtroom. This was the jury that, in the midst of an incredible anti-immigrant backlash, was supposed to impartially decide the fate of two Italian immigrants who were avowed anarchists.
Today their trial and conviction is widely regarded as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history.In spite of conflicting ballistic evidence and despite the testimonies of numerous eyewitnesses,as many as 180, that they were elsewhere at the time of the alleged crime,more than a dozen people took to the stand to verify that Vanzetti had delivered fish to their homes miles away from the scene of the crime on the day of the killing, they were convicted of first degree murder the following year.
The socialist and labor movement did not forget them, recognising them as one of their own, and proceeded to rally on their side, many being convinced of their innocence, seeing them as scapegoats, singled out, because of anti-italian feeling and prejudice that was currently doing the rounds, and chiefly were being persecuted for their passionate personal beliefs in anarchism.
Incidentally both men had no criminal record prior to this incident.
Protests were carried out in every major city in the US and across Europe on their behalf, and even in places as faraway as Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg, such was the strength of feeling that Saccco and Vanzetti garnered,sparking international outrage and raising questions that are still timely. Many writers, artists, academics, people from all walks of life pleaded for their pardon or at least for a new trial.
As Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St.Vincent Millay, formed the injustice, " the men were castaways upon our shore, and we, an ignorant savage tribe, have put them to death because their speech and their manner were different from our own, and because to the untutored mind that which is strange in its infancy ludicrous, but in its prime evil, dangerous, and to be done away with."
During their 6 years on death row, their letters from prison endeared the two to the general public and persuaded many people of their innocence. They came to be seen as philosophers not criminals. One example from Sacco, a father of two who enjoyed gardening in his spare time, shows his attempt to remain optimistic, and he notes that "between thee turbulent clouds, a luminous path run always towards the truth."
For a sizable portion of the American intellectual community their case symbolised the fight for justice for ethnic minorities, the poor, and the politically unorthodox. Sadly after years of appeals, the two were scheduled or execution in April.
In the days leading up to the execution, protests were held in cities around the world, and bombs were set off in New York City and Philadelphia. On August 23, Sacco and Vanzetti were finally executed by electrocution..
Shortly before he was executed Vanzetti said: " If it had not been for this thing, I might have lied out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our careers and our triumph. Never in our full life can we hope to do so such work for tolerance and justice, for mans understanding of man, as now we do by accident. Our words-our lives-our pains nothing! Th taking of our lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddlar. The last moment belongs to us- that agony is triumph!"
He also expressed his own personal belief in peaceful struggle and they both continued to plea their innocence . News of the executions led to riots in Paris and London, and other cities, such was the sense of international outrage that their cause inflamed at the time. If the justice system had started out by making an example of the pair, it ended up making martyrs of them.
Shortly before he was executed Vanzetti said: " If it had not been for this thing, I might have lied out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our careers and our triumph. Never in our full life can we hope to do so such work for tolerance and justice, for mans understanding of man, as now we do by accident. Our words-our lives-our pains nothing! Th taking of our lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddlar. The last moment belongs to us- that agony is triumph!"
He also expressed his own personal belief in peaceful struggle and they both continued to plea their innocence . News of the executions led to riots in Paris and London, and other cities, such was the sense of international outrage that their cause inflamed at the time. If the justice system had started out by making an example of the pair, it ended up making martyrs of them.
7000 people joined Sacco and Vanzetti’s funeral procession as it marched for eight miles across Boston. Almost 200,000 onlookers had gathered on the streets to watch the bodies pass by, while another 10,000 assembled in the cemetery. Many came to protest what they viewed as injustice perpetrated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Some of the spectators wore armbands that read, “Remember Justice Crucified August 22, 1927.”
Their names still resonate with controversy but In 1977, Massachussets Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation declaring that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that 'any disgrace should be forever removed from their names.'
Their names still resonate with controversy but In 1977, Massachussets Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation declaring that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that 'any disgrace should be forever removed from their names.'
We will continue to remember Sacco and Vanzetti and all other victims of miscarriages of justice.Their story timeless, and is still relevant today as we remember too across many lands, those that are still persecuted, because of their beliefs..Serious doubts still remain about misconduct by the police and prosecutors and whether the two men received a fair trial.
Various works of fiction and poetry were inspired by their case. Folksinger Woody Guthrie wrote a series of songs about them.The struggle continues.
"Oh martyr!
Dead, dead. You are dead
But your human tree and your human root
Are budding
Blooming
Growing!
Listen to the war cries of your living brothers!
This is the incense we are burning to you."
From Sacco Vanzetti - H.T. Tsaing
Daily Worker, August 20, 1928
Various works of fiction and poetry were inspired by their case. Folksinger Woody Guthrie wrote a series of songs about them.The struggle continues.
"Oh martyr!
Dead, dead. You are dead
But your human tree and your human root
Are budding
Blooming
Growing!
Listen to the war cries of your living brothers!
This is the incense we are burning to you."
From Sacco Vanzetti - H.T. Tsaing
Daily Worker, August 20, 1928
“Anarchists are the radical of the radical – the black cats, the terrors of many, of all the bigots, exploiters, charlatans, fakers and oppressors. Consequently, we are also the most slandered, misrepresented, misunderstood and persecuted of all.” — Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Christy Moore - Sacco and Vanzetti (W.Guthrie)
Christy Moore - Sacco and Vanzetti (W.Guthrie)
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