Gaetano Bresci

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Gaetano Bresci

Gaetano Bresci (November 11, 1869 - May 22, 1901), was an Italian American anarchist who assassinated Italian King Umberto I. He is still considered a hero by many anarchists and republicans. Bresci was the first person to kill a European monarch (without toppling the regime) and not be executed.[1]

Contents

[edit] Militancy

Bresci was born at Coiano, near Prato, Tuscany, and emigrated from Italy to the United States, making his living as a weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, which had a large Italian-American community.[2] He was one of the founders of La Questione Sociale, the Italian language anarchist paper published in Paterson. According to Emma Goldman:

“ he was a skillful weaver, considered by his employers a sober, hard-working man, but his pay averaged only fifteen dollars a week. He had a wife and child to support; yet he managed to donate weekly contributions to the paper. He had even saved a hundred and fifty dollars, which he lent to the group at a critical period of La Questione Sociale. His free evenings and Sundays he used to spend in helping with the office work and in propaganda. He was beloved and respected for his devotion by all the members of his group. ”

In 1898, high bread prices led to demonstrations all over Italy. In Milan, an unarmed crowd of protestors marched toward the palace, which was surrounded by a strong military force under command of General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris. The people ignored the order to disperse, whereupon the General gave the signal of fire with muskets and cannons, resulting in a massacre of the demonstrators. Ninety people died, one of whom was Bresci's sister.

Gaetano Bresci during his trial

[edit] Umberto I's killing

King Humbert later decorated Bava-Beccaris, complimenting him upon his "brave defense of the royal house" —as a result of which Bresci became determined to kill the king. Bresci had his loan to the paper returned (without telling his comrades why), and with the money he went to Italy. In Monza, where the king was visiting on July 29, 1900, he shot him four times.

Bresci was captured and put on trial, where he was defended by the anarchist lawyer Francesco Saverio Merlino. 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 he was found dead in prison. It is not clear whether he committed suicide, as officially announced, or whether he was murdered by his guards.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Allen, John L., Jr. 2001, September 14. "He executed justice - papal execution Giovanni Battista Bugatti's life and work". National Catholic Reporter.
  2. ^ "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.

[edit] External links

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