- Carlo Tresca
Infobox Person
name = Carlo Tresca
image_size = 180px
caption =
birth_date = 1879
birth_place =Italy
death_date = death date|1943|1|11|mf=y
death_place =New York City ,United States
occupation = Newspaper editor and labor leader.
spouse =
parents =
children =Carlo Tresca (
1879 -january 11 ,1943 New York City ) was an Italian-born American anarchist, newspaper editor, and labor agitator.Labor organizer
He was active as the branch secretary of the Italian Railroad Workers' Federation and editor of the newspaper "Il Germe". Tresca moved to the United States in 1904, to escape a prison term for his radical political activities in Italy. He settled in
Philadelphia , where he became the editor of "Il Proletario", the official newspaper of theItalian Socialist Federation (ISF). Tresca helped shift the political orientation of the ISF toSyndicalism .Tresca and anarchism
Tresca's political views became increasingly more radical and he soon came to identify himself as an anarchist. Tresca resigned as editor of "Il Proletario" and began publishing his own newspaper, "La Plebe". He would later transfer "La Plebe" to Pittsburgh and, with it, revolutionary ideas to Italian miners and mill workers in Western
Pennsylvania .Tresca joined the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1912, when he was invited by the union toLawrence, Massachusetts to help mobilize the Italian workers during a campaign to free strike leadersJoseph Ettor andArturo Giovannitti , who were in prison on false murder charges. After the victorious strike in Lawrence, Tresca was active in several strikes across the United States; theLittle Falls, New York textile workers' strike (1912), theNew York City hotel workers' strike (1913), the Paterson silk strike (1913), and theMesabi Range ,Minnesota , miners' strike (1916).Opposition to fascism, Stalinism, and the Mafia
, and frequently spoke in their defense at rallies and in articles.
During the 1930s, Tresca became an outspoken opponent of Soviet Communists and
Stalinism , particularly after theSoviet Union had engineered the destruction of the anarchist movement inCatalonia andAragon during theSpanish Revolution . Prior to this, Tresca had supported theBolsheviks , reasoning that aCommunist state was preferable to a capitalist state, regarding Soviet Communists as allies in the fight against Fascism.In early 1938 Tresca publicly accused the Soviets of
kidnap pingJuliet Poyntz to prevent her defection from theCommunist Party USA underground apparatus. Tresca alleged that, before she had disappeared, Poyntz had talked to him about her disgust overJoseph Stalin 's Great Terror. In 1941 Tresca, in a revealing moment, admitted toMax Eastman thatNicola Sacco was guilty of the crime with which he was charged, though Vanzetti was innocent.In New York, Tresca also began a public campaign of criticism of the Mafia in his weekly newspaper, "Il Martello". Tresca appeared to be well aware of the risk he was running to his life. At the end of an article published shortly before his death, Tresca stated, "Morris Ernst, my attorney, knows all the facts. He knows that if an anti-fascist is assaulted or killed, the instigator is Generose Pope" (this is believed to be a reference to Generoso Pope Sr., a New York political power broker with ties to mobster
Frank Costello , whose Italian-American newspaper interests included the "Corriere d'America" and the daily "Il Progresso Italo-Americano").Assassination
By 1943 Tresca, on parole at the time, was under police surveillance. On January 9, 1943, his surveillance team witnessed an incident in which a speeding car attempted to run Tresca over.
Two days later, Tresca was leaving his parole officer's offices when he dodged surveilling officers by jumping into a car that was waiting for him. Two hours later, Tresca was crossing Fifth Avenue on foot when a black Ford pulled up beside him. A short, squat gunman in a brown coat jumped out and shot Tresca in the back and head with a handgun, killing him instantly. The black Ford was later found abandoned nearby with all four doors open. It was widely believed at the time that Mafia enforcer
Carmine Galante was the suspected assassin, acting on orders fromVito Genovese , who was at the time intent on gaining Mussolini's favor by eliminating a long-time enemy.Others have theorized that Tresca was eliminated by the
NKVD as retribution for criticism of the Stalin regime of the Soviet Union.ee also
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Industrial Workers of the World External links
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n10_v20/ai_6809764 Review of "All the Right Enemies: The Life and Murder of Carlo Tresca" from Washington Monthly]
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