What Was the Importance of the Sacco & Vanzetti Case?

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What was the importance of the Sacco & Vanzetti Case? What was the RED SCARE? The term "Red Scare" has been applied to two distinct periods of strong anti- Communism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, which signified the entrance into the Cold War.! Both periods were characterized by the suspicion of widespread infiltration by communists and fears of communist influence on U.S. society. The first Red Scare also included fear of anarchists and aggressive labor unions! I. The Red Scare! • Begins in America 4 years after the overthrow of the Russian government by Communists (1917). • Most Communists were immigrants • During the 1920s Americans fear a Communist takeover. • Communism: Property and goods belong to the state. • Anarchy: no government. • Representative Democracy: the people are the government** • Capitalism--you earn it, you get to keep it!(as long as you pay your taxes) • Some anarchists resort to violence. • Most anarchists are immigrants. • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer arrests over 5,000 suspected communists and has them deported(kicked out of U.S.) Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and electrocuted in Massachusetts in 1927 on charges of murder of Frederick Parmenter, a shoe factory paymaster, and Alessandro Berardelli, a security guard, and of robbery of $15,766.51 from the factory's payroll, although there was popular doubt regarding their guilt, stirred in part by Upton Sinclair's novel "Boston." The murder and robbery occurred in April of 1920, with three robbers. Both Sacco and Vanzetti had alibis, but they were the only people accused of the crime. As a result of what many historians feel was a blatant disregard for civil liberties, and a strong anti-Italian predjudice, Sacco and Vanzetti were denied a retrial. Judge Webster Thayer, who heard the case, allegedly described the two as "anarchist bastards". Sacco was a shoe-maker born in Torremaggiore, Foggia, Puglia. Vanzetti was a ﬁsh seller born in Villafalletto, Cuneo, Piemonte.! II. The Sacco & Vanzetti Case! • A robbery ($16,000) & two murders in Braintree, Mass 1920 • 2 Italian Immigrants arrested and charged • They were draft dodgers, anarchists, & poor in the English language • There was a huge nativist attitude in America--Why? FEAR OF CHANGE!! • Cries for Sacco & Vanzetti could be heard throughout America & the world! • Both were sent to the electric chair! • Prejudice against Italians and fear of anarchy leads to conviction. • The case was an example of American fear & suspicion in the 1920s I would not wish to a dog or a snake, to the most low and misfortunate creature of the earth — I would not wish to any of them what I have had to suffer for things that I am not guilty of. But my conviction is that I have suffered for things that I am guilty of. I am suffering because I am a radical, and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I am an Italian, and indeed I am an Italian... If you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already. (Vanzetti spoke on 19 April, 1927, in Dedham, Massachusetts, where their case was heard in the Norfolk County courthouse. ! What is nativism? ! • What is an anarchist? • What was the red scare? • Who were Sacco & Venzetti?!.

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Justice Crucified* a Synopsis, Chronology, and Selective Bibliography of the Sacco and Vanzetti Case
Differentia: Review of Italian Thought Number 8 Combined Issue 8-9 Spring/Autumn Article 21 1999 Remember! Justice Crucified: A Synopsis, Chronology, and Selective Bibliography Gil Fagiani Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/differentia Recommended Citation Fagiani, Gil (1999) "Remember! Justice Crucified: A Synopsis, Chronology, and Selective Bibliography," Differentia: Review of Italian Thought: Vol. 8 , Article 21. Available at: https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/differentia/vol8/iss1/21 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Differentia: Review of Italian Thought by an authorized editor of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Remember! Justice Crucified* A Synopsis, Chronology, and Selective Bibliography of the Sacco and Vanzetti Case Gil Fagiani ____ _ The Enduring Legacy of the Sacco and Vanzetti Case Two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, became celebrated martyrs in the struggle for social justice and politi cal freedom for millions of Italian Americans and progressive-minded people throughout the world. Having fallen into a police trap on May 5, 1920, they eventually were indicted on charges of participating in a payroll robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts in which a paymas ter and his guard were killed. After an unprecedented international campaign, they were executed in Boston on August 27, 1927. Intense interest in the case stemmed from a belief that Sacco and Vanzetti had not been convicted on the evidence but because they were Italian working-class immigrants who espoused a militant anarchist creed.
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