YESTERDAY IN HISTORY:

THE EXECUTION OF SACCO AND VANZETTI:

Yesterday, August 23rd, was the anniversary of the 1927 execution of Italian American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolemo Vanzetti by the state of Massachusetts. A collection of platformist groups have released a statement about the significance of this anniversary on the A-Infos site. Even though the anarchists were eventually "pardoned" by the then-Governor of Massachusetts in 1977 (well, thanks guy, a little too late) the case still resonates today. From opera, to popular music, from painting to mentions in the TV series 'Family Guy', from films about the case to poetry , from the stage to mentions in novels the massive injustice of the case has resonated down the years.

Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927) were both Italian born immigrants to the USA who joined the anarchist movement of the day. They were attracted to the politics of Luigi Galleani who advocated violent action against the ruling class. The rather pathetic actions of the Galleanists attracted massive police repression, and most of his followers went underground. The author of the ideology was deported on June 24th, 1919. His followers were hardly dealt with as mercifully. On the morning of May 3rd, 1920 the anarchist Andrea Salsedo was 'defenestrated' through a window on the 14th floor of the NY Dept. of Justice building. Sacco and Vanzetti were part of the anarchists who called a public meeting in Boston to protest this murder. On May 5th they were arrested for this protest. The charges rapidly escalated to murder as they were accused of a robbery the previous April in which two security guards had been killed.

The resulting trail was a total judicial farce. The political views of the accused were raised over and over as "evidence". There was immense disagreement over forensic evidence presented at the trial, evidence that was of very poor quality overall. Eyewitness testimony disagreed about identifying the pair, and some had obviously been "planted" by the police. Witnesses changed their stories over and over under pressure. The judge, Webster Thayer, exhibited the grossest sort of bias. He ended this by remarking after the trial, "Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards ?" to one of his friends. There was even a confession by another criminal whom Sacco met in prison. All appeals for a new trial were denied.

On April 8th, 1927 the pair were sentenced to death. The case brought worldwide condemnation on the part of both the labour movement and prominent intellectuals such as Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Bertrand Russell, John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. The execution sparked worldwide strikes, protests and riots. The US Embassy in Paris had to be surrounded by tanks to protect it. Shortly before his execution Vanzetti said, "The last moment belongs to us- that agony is our triumph". Both men refused the ministrations of a priest before their executions. In the final moments Vanzetti shook hands with his guards, thanked them for their kind treatment and read a statement proclaiming his innocence, finishing with, "I wish to forgive some people for what they are now doing to me". Sacco's final words were, "Viva l'anarchia" and "Farewell, mia madre".

Further historical dissection of the Sacco and Vanzetti case has generally pointed to their innocence of the crimes for which they were accused. For an overview of the whole event see the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti . For an excellent overview of the legalities of the case see 'The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti' at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrails/SaccoV/SaccoV.htm . For one anarchist view amongst many on the matter see the WSM article at http://libcom.org/history/articles/sacco-vanzetti

For an immensely valuable and comprehensive source of information on Sacco and Vanzetti and the response to their trial, both past and present, see Eugene Plawiuk's entry for Thursday, August 23rd at Le Revue Gauche. There's a wealth of information there for those interested in this case and, as briefly touched on above, how 'The Never Ending Wrong' has echoed down through the years.

Catching Up With the Days:
Sept 27th in History:
Today is the festival of Varuni, goddess of wine in Hindu mythology. Also called Varunani, Mada or Sura. Varuni is also a given name in India. Like Aphrodite and Venus Varuni is sometimes considered to have arisen from the churning waves of the ocean. The name means "
heavenly nectar". Wife of Varuna in the Rig Veda. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigvedic_deities for a short intro to the various gods and goddesses of ancient rather than modern idea. Then take a break and have a glass in her honour.
1540: Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola. Considered the "elite commando unit" of the Catholic Church for centuries. Very controversial history. Once banned in most of Europe. See http://www.jesuit.org for the official view. See also http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Society_of_Jesus for an overview. Look at Joseph McCabe's critical history at http://www.archive.org/details/ACandidHistoryOfTheJesuits for a sensible critic. When searching down the Jesuits on the Internet look out for evangelist nutters who think they see them as a counterpoint to the Illuminati. It actually fact one Jesuit equals 25 masons in bare handed intellectual combat. Did I say that they were the elite ?
Often take the "long view" of the Church's interests in contrast to the temporary politics of the Vatican. Hence their opposition historically to the savage policies of the Spanish Crown in Latin America (see the 'Jesuit plantations), their historical rivalry with the quasi-fascist Opus Dei organization, their support for 'liberation theology" in the recent past and their lack of favour from the present Pope and his predecessor.
Famous people educated by the Jesuits...Lenin, Mussolini, Castro and...ME.
Often stylized as the model for Leninism, but the paternity has never been acknowledged.
1880:USA invades Columbia. Later leads to the new creation of the country of Panama. All in the name of "justice,freedom,liberty,democracy,etc.,etc.,etc.". A canal obviously had nothing to do with it, just like the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with oil. How could you think such a thing?
1892:Patent awarded for the invention of the match book to Josua Pusey of Pennsylvania.
1907: Death of Andalusian anarchist Fermin Salvochea Alvarez(1842-1907). Fifty thousand people attend his funeral. People still place flowers on his grave to this day.
1932:Home of Judge Thayer bombed, presumably for his "judgement" in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti.
1950: Invention of the answering machine. President Truman announces the seizure of American railroads to prevent a general strike. Presumably he tried phoning first but got nothing but a recorded message.
1960:Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst(1882-1960) dies. Feminist but also the very model of the "useful idiot" in terms of her apologetics for the Communist Empire. The term "useful idiot", by the way was not coined by Lenin, no matter how much it may have expressed his real views. It was first !! used in the USA !! to describe an event in Italian politics in 1948 and only later became used to describe fellow travellers. See http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_Idiot and also 'They Never Said It:A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes and Misleading Attributions' by Paul F. Boller and John George.
1962: Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' is published. It is preceded, however, by 'Our Synthetic Environment' by then-anarchist Murray Bookchin writing under the pseudonym of Lewis Herber. See the 'Institute for Social Ecology' website under the links section of this blog for any details that might gladden your heart.
1988:Shroud of Turin proven to be medieval forgery. Well maybe, but probably. See http://www.shroud.com for the miracle that will not die despite the fact that the church craftily hedges its bets by refusing to authenticate the shroud.
1992:Bob Dylan plays for the Catholic Youth Rally in Bologna, Italy. Vatican spokesman says that Dylan "was chosen for his sincere religious sentiments". You don't need an Inquisitor to know which way the wind blows from the auto da fe ?
2000:Anti-IMF/World Bank protests in Prague. See http://www.pixiefighters.com/px-photo/prague for your daily fix of riot porn.
Molly, spinning her tiny little legs to catch up with the days on Sept. 30th.