Mussolini, Sacco-Vanzetti, and the Anarchists: The ... - Libcom

Mussolini, Sacco-Vanzetti, and the Anarchists 47
opportune moment nothing must be overlooked in obtaining clemency."63 But
when a socialist deputy protested the expulsion of Lyons and the government's
failure to help Sacco and Vanzetti, Rome responded that the radicalization of
the case had worked against the defendants, and that Lyons had been
"invited" to leave Italy because of his subversive activities. Ambassador
Rolandi Ricci underscored the government's position, reporting a growing
sense of American irritation over the foreign protests. When Judge Thayer
eventually denied the first defense motion, Ferrante blamed the "deplorable
agitation. 964
Toward the end of 1921, the defense committee issued a public criticism of
the Italian government for the first time, and Vanzetti became convinced that
Rome was working against their interests. Some members of the defense
committee advised Moore to cut off all contact with Italian authorities, and
when Felicani insisted that a formal diplomatic protest be lodged in Washington
and Rome, Ferrante told him that was impossible.65 In March, after
Mucci raised further questions in parliament, Ferrante asked Moore to try to
stop his criticisms of the American legal system. Nevertheless, as Sacco and
Vanzetti awaited the outcome of appeals and motions, Ferrante acted on his
own initiative to aid the defense by soothing public opinion in Boston.66
63
Moore to Ferrante, January 18, 1921, AFC/4A; Ferrante to embassy, October 26,
1921, Ambasciata, f. "Sacco e Vanzetti- 1921," ASMAE; Rolandi Ricci to ministry
of foreign affairs, November 11, 1921, ASMAE, Serie "B," b. 1810, f. 212425/1921;
Russell, p. 113; and Joughin and Morgan (n. 1 above), p. 225. Both note that
"somehow" Lopez managed to avoid deportation; Valvassori Peroni to Rolandi Ricci,
October 27, 1921, and della Torretta to Rolandi Ricci, October 29, 1921, Ambasciata,
f. "Sacco e Vanzetti- 1921," ASMAE. Lopez was finally deported to his native Spain
in 1925 but smuggled himself back into the United States, where he lived out his life,
dying in the 1960s.
64 Prime minister's secretary to foreign ministry, November 24, 1921, "Interpellanza
N. 90 [by deputy Michele Maitilasso]," November 18, 1921, and Rolandi Ricci
to ministry of foreign affairs, November 29, 1921, Serie "B," b. 1810, f. 212425/1921,
ASMAE; Valvassori Peroni to director general of public security, November 24, 1921,
and director general to Valvassori Peroni, November 28, 1921, MI, 1926, Cat. C-2, f.
"Agitazioni pro Sacco e Vanzetti," ACS.
65 The committee's criticism appeared in its publication L'Agitazione. See Ferrante
to embassy, October 13, 1921, and December 27, 1921, Serie "B," b. 1810, f.
212425/1921, ASMAE; Ferrante to Rolandi Ricci, January 25, 1922, Ambasciata, f.
"1922," ASMAE; Vanzetti to his sister, April 4, 1922, in his Non piangete (n. 35
above), p. 79; Ferrante to Rolandi Ricci, February 2, 1922, Serie "B," b. 1810, f.
212425/1922, ASMAE. The anarchist Erasmo Abate, one of the founders of the Arditi
del Popolo, wrote that "the Italian government, while doing nothing for Sacco and
Vanzetti, tries hard to stop the agitation in their favor." See "Il proletariato d'Italia per
Sacco e Vanzetti," II Martello (May 20, 1922).
66 Ferrante to Rolandi Ricci, March 22, 1922, and April 6, 1922; Rolandi Ricci to
Ferrante, March 23, 1922; and Peter F. Tague to Rolandi Ricci, June 7 and 9, 1922,