Gaetano Bresci
Gaetano Bresci was born in 1869 in Tuscany where he began his working life at a young age, becoming a silk weaver. Tuscany in the early 1880s was a stronghold for the political theory of anarchism, and many workers in the region organized into small groups which demonstrated against the organized government. Bresci was one such worker, and was imprisoned for a time for taking part in a demonstration which grew unruly. Upon his release he emigrated to the United States, finding work and a wife in Hoboken, New Jersey. Shortly after his marriage in 1897 he moved to Paterson, NJ, where a large Italian community thrived, and worked as a weaver in the city’s mills.
Anarchist groups existed in the United States at the time, especially among industrial workers, and Bresci and some of his friends decided to start a newspaper which supported their beliefs and spread their message. The Italian language newspaper was called La Questione Social (The Social Question) and Bresci became a major contributor to its copy, developing the local reputation of being a good propagandist. Although Bresci continued to work as a weaver he spent much of his free time writing for the paper and setting up various anarchist groups around Paterson.
In Italy the political situation was becoming increasingly unstable, and anarchist and other groups were participating in more violent demonstrations. Bresci reported the situation in Italy to his readers in the United States. On May 6 1898 a demonstration in Milan, Italy, grew violent when workers protesting the increasing cost of living were confronted by government troops led by General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris which fired into the crowd. More than 90 demonstrators were killed. Subsequent to the killings, the General was commended by Italy’s King Umberto I, who called Bava-Beccaris a defender of the Royal House and the public.
Bresci had lent his newspaper money when it was set up, and following the Milan demonstration he called in his loan, effectively ending the paper. He then used the money to return to Italy in May of 1900. In July he traveled to the town of Monza, some ten miles north of Milan. On July 29 King Umberto was in Monza to attend a sporting event and decorate the athletes. As the King was approaching the athletes, Bresci emerged from the crowd, drew a revolver, and shot Umberto from close range. Some reports claim he was shot four times, others three, but in either case the King was killed instantly.
Bresci was tried and convicted for the murder, but at the time Italy had no death penalty and he was sentenced to life in prison. He died less than one year after arriving at the penal colony on Santo Stefano Island, possibly by suicide and possibly murdered by his guards. The assassination of King Umberto I was not the only one committed by an anarchist in the early twentieth century. In September 1901 anarchist Leon Czolgosz assassinated American President William McKinley, inspired in part by the assassination of King Umberto I by Gaetano Bresci.