Gaetano Bresci
Gaetano Bresci | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | |
Died | May 22, 1901 | (aged 31)
Nationality | Italian |
Occupation | Weaver |
Conviction(s) | Murder of Umberto I |
Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
Gaetano Bresci (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaeˈtaːno ˈbreʃʃi]; November 10, 1869 – May 22, 1901) was an Italian-American anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I of Italy on July 29, 1900. Bresci was the first European regicide offender not to be executed, as capital punishment in Italy had been abolished in 1889.[1]
Militancy[]
Bresci was born on November 10, 1869, at Coiano, in Prato, Tuscany,[2] and emigrated from Italy to the United States in his late twenties. In the United States, he made his living as a weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, which had a large Italian-American community.[3] He became involved with and was later a leading member of an Italian political group called "Gruppo diritti all' esistenza".[3] He was one of the founders of La Questione Sociale, the Italian language anarchist paper published in Paterson.[4]
Bresci had thought of killing Italian King Umberto I when he lived in Italy. After emigrating to the United States, he was introduced to anarchist and propaganda of the deed advocate Giuseppe Ciancabilla via the anarchist organizer Errico Malatesta. While Bresci was influenced by Ciancabilla and the continued suppression of popular revolt in Italy, he was particularly affected by the 1898 Bava Beccaris massacre, in which dozens of people were murdered during the Milanese bread riots over the rising price of bread, for which the king awarded a medal to General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris.[5]
Assassination[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Gaetano_Bresci_arrested.jpg/220px-Gaetano_Bresci_arrested.jpg)
Bresci requested the return of a loan to La Questione Sociale and with the money he went to Italy. While the king was visiting Monza, on July 29, 1900, Bresci shot him four times with a five-shot .32 revolver.[6] A monument, the Cappella Espiatoria, was later erected on the spot where the king was murdered.[citation needed]
Trial and death[]
Bresci was captured and put on trial, where he was defended by the anarchist lawyer Francesco Saverio Merlino. There being no capital punishment in Italy at the time, he was sentenced in Milan on August 29, 1900, to penal servitude for life on Santo Stefano Island near Ventotene, where numerous other anarchists had also been sent over the years. Less than a year later, on May 22, 1901, he was found dead in prison at the age of 31.[7] Biographer Arrigo Petacco described the circumstances of Bresci's death as mysterious. While Bresci was reported to have hanged himself, many believed that he had been murdered.[5]
Legacy[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Monumento_Bresci.jpg/220px-Monumento_Bresci.jpg)
Anarchists quickly regarded Bresci as a martyr and raised money to support his widow and two daughters.[8] Bresci's regicide inspired anarchist Leon Czolgosz to kill United States President William McKinley later that year.[9] New York City anarchists congregated as the Bresci Circle in his honor. The group, which reached 600 participants in 1914, were involved in numerous examples of propaganda of the deed, including bombing St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan and attempting to assassinate John D. Rockefeller, the richest person of the modern era.[10]
In the 1970s through the 1980s, Tuscany anarchists commissioned a monument to Bresci for his hometown but were blocked by the government.[11][12] It was erected overnight in Carrara's in 1990.[13]
The Italian underground rap band , known for his political commitment, quotes Bresci in the song , with others famous left-wing rebels from all around the world.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Allen, John L., Jr. 2001, September 14. "He executed justice – papal execution Giovanni Battista Bugatti's life and work". National Catholic Reporter.
- ^ Michael Kemp (2018). Bombs, Bullets and Bread: The Politics of Anarchist Terrorism Worldwide, 1866–1926. McFarland. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-4766-3211-7.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "ASSASSIN'S LOT FELL UPON ANARCHIST HERE; Gaetano Bresci, the King's Murderer, Lived in Paterson. WAS IN AMERICA SIX YEARS His Identity Established, and His Membership in an Italian Anarchistic Group in the New Jersey Town.", The New York Times, July 31, 1900. Accessed May 19, 2008.
- ^ Michael Kemp (2018). Bombs, Bullets and Bread: The Politics of Anarchist Terrorism Worldwide, 1866–1926. McFarland. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-4766-3211-7.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Vecoli 1999.
- ^ New York Evening World (August 3, 1900)
- ^ Bresci Commits Suicide; Murderer of King Humbert Hangs Himself in Prison, The New York Times, May 24, 1901
- ^ Tom Goyens (2017). Radical Gotham: Anarchism in New York City from Schwab's Saloon to Occupy Wall Street. University of Illinois Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN 978-0-252-09959-5.
- ^ Nash, Jay Robert (1998). Terrorism in the 20th Century: A Narrative Encyclopedia From the Anarchists, through the Weathermen, to the Unabomber. M. Evans. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-4617-4769-7.
- ^ Lardner, James; Reppetto, Thomas (2001). NYPD: A City and Its Police. Macmillan. pp. 173–174. ISBN 978-0-8050-6737-8.
- ^ Paul Hofmann (1991). That Fine Italian Hand. Henry Holt and Company. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8050-1729-8.
- ^ "Lost their marbles". The Economist. August 30, 1986. p. 38. ISSN 0013-0613 – via Gale.
- ^ "'A Gaetano Bresci, Gli Anarchici' in Piazza La Statua Contestata". La Repubblica. May 4, 1990. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
Bibliography[]
- Vecoli, Rudolph J. (1999). "Bresci, Gaetano (1869–1901), silk weaver and regicide". In Garraty, John A.; Carnes, Mark C. (eds.). American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1501197. ISBN 0-19-520635-5.
Further reading[]
- Jensen, Richard Bach (2014). "The Assassination of Umberto I of Italy". The Battle Against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878-1934. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-03405-1. OCLC 936070232.
- Lurie, Maxine N.; Mappen, Marc (2004). "Bresci, Gaetano". Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8135-3325-4.
- Pernicone, Nunzio; Ottanelli, Fraser M (2018). "Fatti di Maggio and Gaetano Bresci". Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe. ISBN 978-0-252-05056-5. OCLC 1050163307.
- 19th-century Italian criminals
- 1869 births
- 1901 deaths
- 1901 suicides
- Anarchist assassins
- Illegalists
- Italian anarchists
- Italian assassins
- Italian emigrants to the United States
- Italian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
- Italian people convicted of murder
- Italian people who died in prison custody
- Italian regicides
- Italian revolutionaries
- People convicted of murder by Italy
- People from Paterson, New Jersey
- People from the Province of Prato
- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Italy
- Prisoners who died in Italian detention
- Regicides
- Unsolved deaths