Gaetano Bresci

Gaetano Bresci (11 November 1869 – 22 May 1901) was an Italian American anarchist who killed Italian King Umberto I. He is still considered a hero by many anarchists and republicans.

Life

Bresci was born in Tuscany, later emigrating from Italy to the United States, spending much time living in Paterson, New Jersey, where there was a large Italian-American community. He was one of the founders of La Questione Sociale, the Italian language anarchist paper published in Paterson.

In 1898, high bread prices led to demonstrations over much of Italy. In Milan, an unarmed group of workers, women, and children marched together in protest, near the palace, which was surrounded by a strong military force under command of General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris. The people ignored an order to stop, so the General gave the signal to fire on them with rifles and cannons, resulting in a massacre of innocent people. Ninety people died, one of whom was Bresci's sister.

Umberto I's killing

King Humbert later decorated Bava-Beccaris, and the king after said thanks to him,for "the defense of the royal house", the king did not do anything for the innocent people died, he decorated the murder, this is the reason that made Bresci 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 29 July 1900, he shot him three 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 29 August 1900, to life imprisonment on the jail of Santo Stefano Island near Ventotene, where lot of 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.

Other websites

Gaetano Bresci Page in the Anarchist Encyclopedia Archived 2004-06-03 at the Wayback Machine