Sacco and Vanzetti: the never-ending wrong.

• Author: Normey, Rob
• Position: Law and Literature - Execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for robbery and murder

I've got no time to tell this tale the dicks and bulls are on my trail But I'll remember these two good men That died to show me how to live

--Woody Guthrie, Two Good Men, from Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti

I have long been fascinated by the American case that was undoubtedly the cause celebre of the early twentieth century: the trial and conviction of Sacco and Vanzetti for murder, followed by their executions in 1927. While the judiciary and the state apparatus in Massachusetts no doubt hoped that the death penalty would bring finality and a quelling of the roar of discontent, the reality was rather different. Marches and protests continued, with violent scuffles in Boston and major protests in capitals around the globe. Further, a steady stream of articles, books and dramas for stage and screen have been penned throughout the twentieth century.

One of the most helpful accounts of the trial is that of crusading attorney William Kunstler, in Politics on Trial: Five Famous Trials of the Twentieth Century. The editors of this volume introduce Kunstler's account with a quote from Richard Nixon, who had been asked to account for his remarkable political success. "Fear" answered Nixon, "I use fear, and they don't teach you that in Boy Scouts."

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were, respectively, a shoe-maker and fish-monger, who were vocal about the oppression that the working class were experiencing as part of the "Red Scare" that engulfed the nation after World War I.

A proper consideration of the 1921 trials for robbery and first degree murder is to see them as part of a deliberate desire to punish "the usual suspects"--in this case, recent Italian immigrants and known members of the Galleani anarchist group that was creating turmoil in the State in a time of deep divisions and labour unrest in America. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were, respectively, a shoe-maker and fish-monger, who were vocal about the oppression that the working class were experiencing as part of the "Red Scare" that engulfed the nation after World War I. They had no criminal records when they were apprehended after fleeing an auto repair shop that may have housed the second getaway car used in a robbery. The arresting officer found a .38 caliber revolver on Vanzetti along with some shotgun shells. Sacco had denied having a weapon but later at the station was found to have an automatic .32 Colt revolver in his belt together with cartridges.

While the case...