Galleanisti
Galleanists | |
---|---|
Galleanisti | |
Leader | Luigi Galleani |
Dates of operation | 1914 | –1920
Country | United States |
Ideology | Insurrectionary anarchism |
Political position | Far-left |
Notable attacks | Preparedness Day bombing 1919 United States anarchist bombings Wall Street bombing |
This article is part of a series on |
Anarchism in the United States |
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Galleanisti (Italian for Galleanists) are followers or supporters of the
Galleani and his group promoted radical anarchism by speeches, newsletters, labor agitation, political protests, secret meetings, and, above all, direct action, often referred to as
Composition
The Galleanisti were a group of Italian anarchists and radicals in the United States who followed Luigi Galleani and his message of "heroic" violence in the face of capitalist oppression. Galleani was a figurehead in the Italian anarchist movement who, following the violence of the 1913 Paterson silk strike, turned from promoting a general strike to promoting individual acts of violence against capitalist targets. He believed that the spectacle of terrorism would trigger popular revolt.[1] For the part of his followers, Galleani prompted a symbolic war that continued after his deportation and the raid on his newspaper.[2]
The police used La Salute è in voi, Galleani's Italian-language bomb-making handbook, to profile anarchist attackers. Historians later used the handbook as proof of Galleanist responsibility for crimes[1] and detectives referenced it as evidence of Galleanist conspiracy. Its invocation represented a power through threat of violence.[3]
Galleani attracted numerous radical friends and/or followers into the Galleanisti, including
Activities
Galleanists were primary suspects in a campaign of bombings between 1914 and 1920. Instances included mail bombs to business and government officials and the 1920
Bresci Circle
New York City Galleanisti formed the Bresci Circle in honor of Gaetano Bresci, the anarchist assassin of Umberto I of Italy.[6] By 1914, almost 600 members met regularly at a rundown house in East Harlem. A plot to bomb the Rockefellers increased police interest in the group.[7]
Several months after the 1914
While no group took responsibility for four additional bombings in 1914, the police continued to suspect the Bresci Circle.
1916
One
On December 6, 1916, the Galleanist Alfonso Fagotti was arrested for stabbing a policeman during a riot in Boston's North Square. The next day Galleanists exploded a bomb at the Salutation Street station of the Boston harbor police. Fagotti was convicted, imprisoned, and later deported to Italy.[4]
Some historians have also suspected the Galleanists of perpetrating the Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco on July 22, 1916.[4] No known Galleanists were among those indicted for the attack, but the time bomb's design and construction – a cast steel pipe packed with explosives, a timing mechanism, and metal slugs designed to act as shrapnel and increase casualties – was typical of later Galleanist bombing campaigns, the work of Mario Buda in particular.[4] Additionally, in an ominous apparent reference to the earlier mass poisoning by the Galleanist Nestor Dondoglio, San Francisco police recovered two unsigned letters urging the headwaiter at the St. Francis Hotel to poison soup served to Police Commissioner James Woods, one of the organizers of the Preparedness Day march.[15]
Mexico
About 60 Galleanisti left for Mexico following the April 1917
1917–1918
Mario Buda is thought to have constructed[17][18][19] the large black powder bomb[20] with an acid "delay" detonator[21] that exploded on November 24, 1917 at a Milwaukee police station. Patrolmen had taken it there after its discovery in a church basement.[17][18][22][23] The blast killed nine policemen and a female civilian, one of the worst incidents of terrorist violence in the United States up to that time. The bomb appeared to have been directed at Reverend August Giuliana, who had recently led a street revival meeting opposed by local anarchists.[24]
In late 1917 and early 1918, bombings occurred in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Milwaukee that were later attributed to Galleanists, but no criminal prosecutions followed. In February 1918, U.S. authorities raided the offices of Cronaca Sovversiva, suppressed publication, and arrested its editors. Although a staff member hid the subscription list, officials gained more than 3,000 names and addresses of subscribers from an issue already prepared for mailing.
On January 17, 1918, a 19-year-old Galleanist, Gabriella Segata Antolini, was arrested for transporting a satchel filled with dynamite, which she had received from Carlo Valdinoci.[25][26] When questioned, Antolini gave a false name and refused to cooperate with the police; she was imprisoned for fourteen months before being released.[26] While in prison, Antolini met the noted anarchist Emma Goldman, with whom she became friends.
On December 30, 1918, the
In response to the violence and social unrest, in October 1918, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1918, a law that expanded the list of activities that defined someone as an anarchist and justified deportation. In turn, Galleani and his followers distributed a flyer in February 1919 that said: "Deportation will not stop the storm from reaching these shores. The storm is within and very soon will leap and crash and annihilate you in blood and fire... We will dynamite you!"[4] A series of bombings of prominent businessmen and officials followed, including a bomb at the home of Judge von Moschzisker, who in 1908 had sentenced four Italian anarchists to long prison terms.[4]
1919
On February 27, 1919, Galleani spoke to an anarchist gathering in Taunton, Massachusetts.[27][28] The next night four Galleanists who had attended the rally attempted to place a bomb at the American Woolen Co. mill in nearby Franklin, whose workers were on strike.[27][2] The bomb exploded prematurely, killing all four of the men.[27][28][29][2]
In late April 1919,
In June 1919, the Galleanists managed to explode eight large bombs nearly simultaneously in several different U.S. cities. Targets included the homes of judges, businessmen, a mayor, an immigration inspector, and a church. The new bombs used up to twenty-five pounds of dynamite[30] packed with metal slugs to act as shrapnel, all contained in a cast steel pipe.[4] Among the intended victims were politicians who had endorsed anti-sedition laws and deportation, or judges such as Charles C. Nott, who had sentenced anarchists to long prison terms.[30][31] The homes of Mayor Harry L. Davis of Cleveland, Judge W.H.S. Thompson, Massachusetts State Representative Leland Powers, and Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, already a previous target of a Galleanist mail bomb, were attacked. None of the officials was killed, but the explosions killed William Boehner, a 70-year-old night watchman, who had stopped to investigate the package left on Judge Nott's doorstep,[30][31] as well as one of the most wanted Galleanists – Carlo Valdinoci, a former editor of Cronaca Sovversiva, and a close associate of Galleani, who blew himself up as he laid a package bomb at the door of Attorney General Palmer's home.[4][32][33]
Though not injured, Palmer and his family were shaken by the blast and their house was largely destroyed. The blast hurled several neighbors from their beds. Either Valdinoci tripped over his bomb or it went off prematurely as he was placing it on Palmer's porch. The police collected his remains over a two-block area. All of the bombs were accompanied by a flyer that read:[4]
War, Class war, and you were the first to wage it under the cover of the powerful institutions you call order, in the darkness of your laws. There will have to be bloodshed; we will not dodge; there will have to be murder: we will kill, because it is necessary; there will have to be destruction; we will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions.
Police eventually traced a flyer accompanying the bombs to the print shop where Andrea Salsedo, a typesetter, and Roberto Elia, a compositor, were arrested. Salsedo was questioned intensively (some say tortured) by federal agents. After providing some information, he was said to have become increasingly distraught. He died after jumping or being pushed by his compatriot Elia out of the window in the 14th-story room where he was being held.[34] Although Salsedo had admitted he was an anarchist and had printed the flyer, no other arrests for the bombings followed. The police lacked evidence and other Galleanists refused to talk. Elia was deported; according to his lawyer, he turned down an offer to remain in the United States if he would deny his connection to the Galleanists, asserting that his refusal to talk "is my only title of honor".[4]
After Valdinoci's death, Coacci and Recchi appeared to have taken more prominent roles in the group; both were bombmakers.[35] Recchi lost his left hand to a premature explosion, but kept making bombs.[19] Postal workers and police also found bombs before they detonated or failed, including many of the 36 mail bombs in 1919.[5]
With the public and the press clamoring for action,
Wall Street bombing
Following Galleani's deportation and the indictment of Sacco and Vanzetti for murder, more bombings occurred in the U.S. Followers of Galleani, especially Buda, were suspected in the Wall Street bombing of 1920, which killed 38 people and severely wounded 143.[36][3] Historians believe Galleanist Mario Buda to be the bomber, as revenge for the indictment of Sacco and Vanzetti, his friends. Buda possibly had experience with dynamite from work in Michigan. The Wall Street explosion was timed for noon, a busy time of day. An extortionist leaflet found nearby demanded the release of political prisoners.[3]
Later activities
In 1927, more bombings were attributed to Galleanists, especially as several court and prison officials were targeted, including Webster Thayer, the trial judge in the Sacco-Vanzetti case.[37] and their executioner, Robert Elliott. In 1932, Thayer was a target again; the front of his house was destroyed by a package bomb, and his wife and housekeeper were injured, but he was unscathed.[37] Thayer lived in the Boston University Club until his death, guarded by a private bodyguard and police.
After being deported to Italy, Coacci and Recchi quickly departed for Argentina. There Coacci joined forces with the Argentine anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, another advocate of violence. Di Giovanni was executed for his crimes and Coacci was deported from Argentina. After World War II, he returned and lived there for the rest of his life. Buda returned to Italy shortly after the Wall Street bombing, and lived there until his death in 1963.[38]
Citations
- ^ a b c Larabee 2015, p. 37.
- ^ a b c d Larabee 2015, p. 44.
- ^ a b c Larabee 2015, p. 46.
- ^ ISBN 0-691-02604-1.
- ^ a b c Larabee 2015, p. 45.
- ^ Avrich 1996, p. 97.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8050-6737-8.
- ^ a b c d e Larabee 2015, p. 41.
- ^ Lardner & Reppetto 2001, pp. 173–174.
- ^ a b c Larabee 2015, p. 42.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8014-8618-0.
- ^ Larabee 2015, pp. 43–44.
- ISBN 0-252-06989-7, p. 154
- ^ "Boasts of Poison Plot, Threatens Deaths in Letter; "Jean Crones"," New York Times, February 17, 1916
- ^ Bomb Hurled Through Air, Says Physician Who Was Witness to Saturday Outrage, Reno Evening Gazette, 24 July 1916, pp. 1–2
- ^ McCormick 2005, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, Princeton: Princeton University Press (1996)
- ^ a b Dell'Arte, Giorgio, La Storia di Mario Buda, Io Donna 26 January 2002, http://www.memoteca.it/upload/dl/E-Book/Mario_Buda.pdf Archived October 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 978-0-670-06353-6, p. 15
- ISBN 978-1-878569-47-9, p. 113
- ISBN 978-1-878569-47-9, p. 113: The bomb's homemade "fuse" used sulfuric acid dripping from a glass vial onto a metal plate to ignite its black powder charge, a touchy mechanism at best.
- ^ Memorial Page: The Most Tragic Day in Law Enforcement History Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Indianapolis Star, "Bomb Mystery Baffles Police", November 26, 1917
- ^ Passante, Anna, Anarchy in Bay View, Bay View Compass, 5 November 2008
- ^ Avrich, Paul, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, Princeton: Princeton University Press (1996): The dynamite was believed to be on its way to Buda, the chief bombmaker.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7618-3133-4
- ^ ISBN 978-1-889833-76-7(2005), p. 10
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-31651-4(2006), p. 204
- ISBN 978-1-904859-27-7, p. 107
- ^ a b c Plotter Here Hid Trail Skillfully; His Victim Was A Night Watchman, The New York Times, 4 June 1919: The body of the night watchman, William Boehner, was torn to shreds by the blast and scattered from the basement of the Nott home to rooftops across the street; police at first thought that the bomber himself might have been the victim, until later identification of the night watchman was made by his two sons.
- ^ a b Wreck Judge Nott's Home, The New York Times, 3 June 1919
- ISBN 978-1-904859-27-7(2005), p. 496
- ^ Plumbe, George Edward, Langland, James, and Pike, Claude Othello, Anarchistic Bomb Plots in the United States, The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook for 1920 (Vol. 36), Chicago Daily News Co. (1919), p. 741
- ^ McCormick, Charles H., Hopeless Cases, The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers, Lanham Maryland: University Press of America, p. 61: Elia claims to have been soundly asleep when Salsedo allegedly climbed out the window a few feet away from him, then silently jumped into eternity. Nor did he hear the agents running into his room to find out what had happened; he was snoring loudly when they entered.
- ^ Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press (1991), p. 210: A visitor to Coacci's home in Italy in 1921 noted that "the man's shelves were lined with brochures on the manufacture of bombs, and he professed himself a terrorist of the Galleani school."
- ^ Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009; pp. 160–61
- ^ a b New York Times, "Bomb Menaces Sacco Trial Judge", 27 September 1932
- ISBN 978-1-904859-27-7, pp. 107, 132
General and cited references
- ISBN 978-0-691-02604-6.
- Larabee, Ann (2015). "Sabotage". OCLC 927145132.
Further reading
- Crossland, James (September 2020). "The Enemies Within". EBSCOhost 145123529.
- D'Attilio, Robert (1982). "La Salute è in Voi: The Anarchist Dimension". Sacco-Vanzetti: Developments and Reconsiderations—1979. Boston Public Library. OCLC 7672624.
- Gage, Beverly (2009). The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror. New York: Oxford University Press. OCLC 779913767.
- Hoyt, Andrew D. (June 2018). And They Called Them 'Galleanisti': The Rise of the Cronaca Sovversiva and the Formation of America's Most Infamous Anarchist Faction (1895–1912) (Ph.D.). University of Minnesota. hdl:11299/200170.
- McCormick, Charles H. (2005). Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. OCLC 60358652.
- Neville, John F. (2004). Twentieth-Century Cause Cèlébre: Sacco, Vanzetti, and the Press, 1920–1927. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. OCLC 54350494.
- Pernicone, Nunzio (1993). "Luigi Galleani and Italian Anarchist Terrorism in the United States". Studi Emigrazione/ Études Migrations. 30 (111): 469–488.
- Pernicone, Nunzio (2003). "War among the Italian Anarchists: The Galleanisti's Campaign against Carlo Tresca". In Cannistraro, Philip V.; Meyer, Gerald (eds.). The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. pp. 77–98. OCLC 52335014.
- Rapoport, David C., ed. (2006). Terrorism: The First or Anarchist Wave. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-31651-4.
- Wellbrook, Christopher (2009). "Seething with the Ideal: Galleanisti and Class Struggle in Late Nineteenth-Century and Early Twentieth-Century USA". ISSN 1743-4580.