Sacco & Vanzetti

On August 23rd, 1927, the State of Massachusetts executed immigrant anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, after an international campaign to stop their execution. This page is a tribute to their memory.

Nicola Sacco was born in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1908. With Bartolomeo Vanzetti he was arrested on charges of murdering a shoe factory paymaster and guard at South Braintree, Massachusetts. They were tried and convicted in an atmosphere of anti-radical hysteria. The trial ended July 14, 1921, and they were electrocuted August 23, 1927. During the years of their incarceration, widespread doubt of their guilt reached worldwide proportions resulting in protest. Many books and articles, written by those in and out of the legal profession, have left detailed accounts of one of the most controversial and best known cases in United States history.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti was arrested with Nicola Sacco on charges of murdering a shoe factory paymaster and guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts, and convicted on July 14, 1921, Vanzetti left a most moving articulate statement of the vindication of Sacco and himself in an atmosphere of hysteria the two were sentenced to die and were electrocuted on August 23, 1927. With the encouragement of supporters, Vanzeffi issued letters and articles from his prison cell and displayed a highly sensitive intelligence despite the fact that he was largely self-educated. The Sacco-Vanzetti case inspired controversy reaching worldwide proportions. Belief in their innocence became widespread as they were seen to be victims of antianarchist hatred.

Neither has been officially cleared of the charges against them in the State of Massachusetts although considerable pressure has periodically mounted to bring this about.

(Irving Horowitz, The Anarchists, 1964, Dell Publishing)

From the Prominent Anarchists and Left-Libertarians page.

News and Commentary

Still Controversial - Sacco & Vanzetti

Sacco and Vanzetti finally find their streets of gold

Boston to honor Sacco and Vanzetti

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Links

The Blackest Hour

Musical composition by Stephen J. Grieco honoring Sacco and Vanzetti.

Prominent Anarchists and Left-Libertarians

The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti [Atlantic Unbound]

by Felix Frankfurter, Atlantic Magazine, 1927

Vanzetti's Last Statement [Atlantic Unbound]

The Never-Ending Wrong, by Katherine Anne Porter [Atlantic Unbound]

Another perspective on the Sacco and Vanzetti case, by a famous author.

The Trial of The Century? [Atlantic Unbound]

A comparison between the O.J. and the Sacco and Vanzetti trials.

The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti

Overview of The Sacco-Vanzetti Case from the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sacco
and Vanzetti Trial

The
Sacco Vanzetti Case & The Grim Forces

Sacco-Vanzetti
and The Red Peril

The
Story of the Sacco-Vanzetti Case including an analysis of the
trial

There
is justice: a summary of the Sacco-Vanzetti case.

Labor's martyrs : Haymarket 1887, Sacco and Vanzetti 1927 / by Vito Marcantonio ; introduction by Wm. Z. Foster.

Background
of the Plymouth trial

The
Case of Sacco and Vanzetti in Cartoons from The Daily Worker

Conspiracy
against Sacco and Vanzetti

Decision
of Gov. Alvan T. Fuller in the matter of the appeal of Bartolomeo
Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco from sentence of death imposed under
the laws of the commonwealth.

President
A. L. Lowell of Harvard, President S. W. Stratton of M.I.T., Judge
Robert Grant and Governor Fuller of Massachusetts in the presence
of Vanzetti. Historic analysis of their murderous unreason made
by Vanzetti just before they strapped him in the electric chair
and threw the switch.

Ten
Questions That Have Never Been Answered!

Bibliography

The Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Nicola Sacco, Marion Denman Frankfurter (Editor), Gardner Jackson. Rpt Edition Paperback, 320 pages. Published by Penguin USA (Paper). Publication date: August 1, 1997. Dimensions (in inches): 7.80 x 5.12 x .91. ISBN: 0141180269. List: $13.95

Sacco and Vanzetti: the anarchist background by Paul Avrich. Hardcover, 265 pages. Published by Princeton Univ Press. 1991

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