The Black Flag: A Look Back at the Strange Case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

220 Pages·2013·1.648 MB·English

by  Brian Jackson

Routledge Revivals
The Black Flag
First published in 1981, this book reassesses the case of Sacco and Vanzetti,
two Italian immigrant anarchists living in Boston in 1920. The pair were
accused of a payroll robbery and the murder of two guards for which they
were arrested and, after a long trial based on inadequate and prejudiced
evidence, executed in 1927. In 1977, on the fiftieth anniversary of their
deaths, the Commonwealth of Massachusettes issued a proclamation which
acknowledged a miscarriage of justice. The Black Flag provides an account
of the controversial trial and a re-evaluation of the celebrated case of the
Commonwealth’s decision. Brian Jackson puts the trial in the social context
of the period and exposes the nature of anarchism by looking at the lives of
two of its exponents, resulting in a moving exploration of a series of events
that continue to trouble the conscience of America.
The Black Flag
A look back at the strange case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Brian Jackson
First published in 1981
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

This edition first published in 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 1981 Brian Jackson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
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any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.

Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be
apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and
welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 81005859

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-83821-4 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-78458-7 (ebk)
Brian Jackson
The Black Flag
A look back at the strange case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
First published in 1981
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02108, USA,
39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and
Broadway House, Neivtown Road,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN
Set in ll/13pt Palatino by
Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
and printed in the United States of America

© Brian Jackson 1981

No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism

ISBN 0-7100-0897-X
‘Man carries in his heart the principle of a morality superior to himself.
This principle does not come from outside. It is secreted within him. It is
immanent’
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (‘Master of us all,’ said Michael Bakunin,
surveying the leaders of anarchy)
‘Berardelli, with three bullets in him, was on his knees and coughing blood,
in the gutter. A gunman stood over him, and, under a hundred eyes, shot
him twice more’
Common to every other day to me. I peddled fish’
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
‘There's no story in it – just a couple of wops in a jam’
News reporter quoted by Eugene Lyons, defence lawyer
For
Dominic, Christian, Rebecca, Lucy, Ellen, Seth
Contents
Prelude
Acknowledgments
Part one A winter’s tale
Chapter 1 Christmas Eve 1919
2 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
3 A crime punishable by death
4 Cross-examination
5 Eels and the electric chair
6 In Death Row
Interlude A long shadow
Part two Half a century later
7 In State House
8 Little secrets in little boxes
9 ‘There seemed to be no doubt at all’
10 ‘Have you agreed upon your verdict?’
11 Culture or anarchy
12 ‘The storming of heaven’
Background sources
1 Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Tuesday August 23, 1977
2 Other sources
1 Documentation
2 Books and papers on the case
3 Books on the social background
4 Other references cited
5 Literature on anarchy