Mussolini, Sacco-Vanzetti and the Anarchists

42 CannistraroBut as Mussolini penned these lines, anarchists became the center of astorm of controversy when Milan was rocked by a powerful explosion at theTeatro Diana. The blast killed twenty-one people and injured 172. Threeyoung anarchists had planted the bomb in protest against the govemment'streatment of Malatesta and his comrades, who had begun a hunger strike inprison.44 Feeling the pressure of the tremendous outcry that arose against theanarchists, both among the middle classes and among the hard-liners withinhis own Fascist movement, Mussolini reversed his previously indulgent stanceand sprang to the defense of the established order. Fascist squads destroyedthe editorial offices of Umanita Nova as well as of the Socialist Party's Avanti!and attacked the syndicalist headquarters of the Unione Sindacale Milanese.Denouncing the "barbaric" act, Mussolini blustered that innocent blooddemanded "vengeance." 45In the reaction that followed the Diana bombing, Italian authorities expelledEugene Lyons with the tacit approval of the American embassy. Lyons leftItaly on May 25, just as the Sacco-Vanzetti trial opened in Boston.46Italian consul Agostino Ferrante, concerned that Sacco and Vanzetti'sanarchist beliefs would hurt their case, insisted on portraying them simply ascriminal defendants, and when he visited them in prison before the trial beganhe urged them to avoid appearing "subversive" in court. Ferrante also seemsto have gone to Judge Thayer's home in Worcester to explain the Italiangovernment's position, which he later described to a reporter this way: "TheItalian authorities are deeply interested in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, andthis trial will be closely followed by them. They have complete confidencethat the trial will be conducted solely as a criminal proceeding, withoutreference to the political or social beliefs of anyone involved."47 Ambassador44 Mussolini's In Popolo d'Italia had supported the purpose of Malatesta's hungerstrike, which was to force the government to bring his case to trial. Mantovani, p. 388.45 "L'orrenda strage anarchica d'ieri sera al Teatro Diana a Milano" (March 24,1921), in 00, 16:214-15; Mussolini's other reactions are in ibid., pp. 219-28;Giulietti to Mussolini, March 25, 1921, in De Felice, Mussolini ilfascista, 1:51-52, n.3. On the Diana incident see Mantovani; L'attentato al Diana: Processo agli anarchicinell'assise di Milano (Rome, 1973); Un trentennio (n. 15 above), p. 53; Santarelli,Storia del movimento (n. 29 above), 1:59-60; Mariani (n. 22 above). The three menresponsible for the bombing were Mariani, Ettore Aguggini, and Giuseppe Boldrini.46 Director of public security to police chief of Rome, March 25, 1921; police chiefto director of public security, April 15, 1921; director of public security to police chief,April 19, 1921; and questura to director of public security, May 28, 1921, all in MI,1926, Cat. C-2, f. "Agitazioni pro Sacco e Vanzetti," ACS.47 Ferrante to Rolandi Ricci, May 4, 1921; Rolandi Ricci to Ferrante, May 31, 1921;Ferrante to Rolandi Ricci, June 1, 1921, all in Ambasciata, f. "Sacco e Vanzetti-1921," ASMAE. Ferrante's statement is in Herbert B. Ehrmann, The Case That WillNot Die: Commonwealth vs. Sacco and Vanzetti (Boston, 1969), pp. 461-62. When