The older generation of people who studied in Soviet schools, the names of Sacco and Vanzetti (Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti) are well acquainted, almost like Dolce and Gabbana (Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.) Are familiar to the current generation of young people . Surnames, with the names of the heroes, the situation was more complicated then and now.
Workers, victims of the political game
If we turn to the facts, then the story looks like this. Two workers, immigrants from Italy (Nicola Sacco, born in the city of Torremaggiore in the province of Foggia, lived from home from 1888 to 1905, and Bartolomeo Vacatty was born in Piedmont in 1891), were just unknown to the workers' rights movement. They belonged to the anarchist group "Circolo di Studi Sociali". On the day of the robbery of a shoe factory, Vanzetti, a fish merchant, was generally fishing. There was an eyewitness to this fact, a teenage boy, whose testimony was not taken into account. Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested two days after the robbery. Everything went in violation of legal norms. Why the process began to attract more and more public attention in all countries of the world. After the announcement of the first death sentence, the movement for the rights of innocent prisoners acquired a planetary scale.
Unfairly accused
Almost a hundred years have passed, and this process has remained for US justice one of the most unpleasant and compromising American legal system. For all mankind, Italian immigrants, unknown to anyone, have become symbols of innocently condemned. Yes, they were rank-and-file participants in the labor movement, and who then they were not, if the feast of "International Solidarity, May Day" was born in the butchers of Chicago. In addition, Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, which, of course, the Soviet schoolchildren did not know. And, as was later proved, they did, or rather one of them, namely Nikola Sacco, participated in the attack and murder. Despite the alleged later confession of the judges of his apparent guilt, the letters that Nikola wrote from prison to his son Dante deserve attention. A person who preaches such ideas cannot be a killer, or he is the greatest hypocrite in the world.
What is the reason
However, it was no longer Sacco and Vanzetti, they simply became the banner of the universal struggle for justice. Millions of people all over the world went to demonstrations, demanding freedom for them, anarchists blew up bombs in the subway, set fire to trams. All this continued until 1927, in which the case was reconsidered, and a second conviction was passed, after which, on the night of August 22-23, it was carried out.
And what, in fact, was the essence of what was happening? Why did the communists and fascists (Mussolini took an active part in the liberation) defend the victims of arbitrariness shoulder to shoulder, why did Sacco and Vanzetti street appear in dozens of cities of the Soviet Union? Probably because the process was certainly political.
Political Background
It was 1920. In American society, as well as throughout the world, the fear of the “red plague” was as great as the discontent with immigrants who filled the country, on the one hand, and the revolutionary moods of the workers, on the other. Demonstrative flogging was needed. In South Braintree (Massachusetts), there is an ordinary robbery of a shoe factory with the murder of a cashier and two security guards. On, as it seemed then to many, false accusations, the participants of the labor movement — the shoemaker Sacco and the fish merchant Vanzetti — are seized. They fit perfectly - Italian immigrants and representatives of the working class. The outrage began to build up when the federal authorities rejected the defense's arguments and all the requests for review of the case.
Boiled up
The defense was sensible, supporters of prisoners raised $ 400,000 to cover its costs. It has been proven that there is no solid evidence base. The process began to take on a political connotation; many began to think that they were punished not for a specific criminal offense, but for beliefs.
But no one expected such a wave of indignation throughout the world. 10,000 people tried to take Charleston Prison by attack and release the prisoners. Now, after so many years and events that shook the world, after demonstrations against the US war in Vietnam, it is difficult to imagine the indignation of that time.
Fought the whole world
Newspapers were full of just indignation among the working class of planet Earth. Not only the workers were indignant, all significant figures of all walks of life around the world demanded a review of the case. For seven years in prison, Sacco and Vanzetti deserved pardon, said Pope Pius XI. How then could the Soviet people support the innocently convicted? Take to the thousands of demonstrations and name the street in honor of the political victims. And it was a truly sincere impulse, a massive expression of solidarity. But that was then, and what now? In this regard, discussions of the tragic history of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti by modern young people on the net are very interesting. One young man opened a website on the topic of illegally convicted anarchist workers Sacco and Vanzetti. Of course, he recognized who he was when he became interested in their biography and was very surprised at the “learned”. To the question "why did I open the site" he answered - "the song about them is very beautiful." So the people live about the fighters for the rights of low-paid immigrants.
Remember now
In Italy, in 1971, a film of the same name was staged, which told how Sacco and Vanzetti are famous, who they are, what they have suffered for, and so on. The tape of the famous director Giuliano Montaldo has been awarded many awards, especially noted the performer of the role of Sacco - Ricardo Cucciola. Got the "Silver Ribbon" and the author of a wonderful song for the film the legendary Ennio Marricone. The question “Sacco and Vanzetti - who is it” can be answered in different ways. But most importantly, what caused the outrage of millions of people around the world is the injustice of the US judicial system. The first sentence was pronounced in 1920. There were no concentration camps, there was no Vietnam. And so the fate of the people who were captured on the street and put on an
electric chair stirred the whole world.
Reasons for the name
Pupils in Soviet schools did not wonder, “Sacco and Vanzetti, who is this.” They were perceived as fighters for justice, for the rights of workers. Then many foreign names were remembered. Children were named after popular foreign peace activists. There was no internet. M. Bulgakov’s “Dog’s Heart”, where the manager Shvonder offers to name the girls “simply”, was never heard in honor of
Rosa Luxemburg and Klara Liebknecht. In honor of the fighters for equality and the brotherhood of all peoples, sanatoriums, schools, highways were called. In this particular case, the name sounded beautiful - Sacco street and Vanzetti.
Tribute
In order to imagine the passions of that time, to understand why there are so many st. Sacco and Vanzetti, and just have a good time and usefully, you need to watch a wonderful film of the same name, in which everything related to the situation around this ambiguous process is brilliantly transmitted. Now there is talk about the need to rename these streets, despite the unnecessary expenses associated with this venture. In the end, these names symbolize not only indignation at the ever-present American arbitrariness, but also the idea of kindness, justice and complicity in innocent victims uniting Russian people.
Heroes of Russia
This is the part of our story when the emotions of most people were single and most sincere. There was no such cynicism. These feelings made hundreds of volunteers go to Spain. St. Sacco and Vanzetti are a monument to our history, not American or Italian. Although, of course, the “local excess” always belonged to Russian traditions - 38 streets in Russia, 15 in Ukraine, 3 in Kazakhstan, 4 in Belarus, maybe a bit too much. But you don’t have to worry about the former Soviet republics - they did not rename it only because the names are Italian, not Russian. Well, in Russia it’s the business of the inhabitants of each individual city.
Beautiful old streets
For example, Saratov. Sacco and Vanzetti - one of the ancient and central streets of the city with its history and sincere fans. In the network under the heading “My Street” there is a wonderful article about the former Dmitrovskaya, called “by the name of the wife of the adviser to the treasury chamber A.I. Dmitrieva, who made large donations for the construction of the bell tower of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, then Malaya Dvoryanskaya, later Bolshoi Kostridskaya. The article is just an example of how, at the initiative of workers of one enterprise, in this case, the cooperative artel Globus, sincerely supported by all the inhabitants of the city, in 1927 the old, not clear street name was changed to a new, clear, concrete and meeting the aspirations the majority. Thus, the inhabitants of the city are in solidarity with the whole country, actively discussing the famous process. For almost 90 years of existence under this name, the street has acquired its very glorious history. It is proud of the street with the same name Saratov - Sacco and Vanzetti. The clinic located here is not alone. There is also a dental polyclinic on this city highway (building 12), which belongs to Volga-Stom, clinic No. 8 (building 51). Here is located Children's City Hospital №2 (building 41). Under No. 61, there is a self-supporting polyclinic well-known throughout the city, which is a medical and consulting center of MMUP (municipal medical unitary enterprise). The clinic has a special status and has existed for 24 years. The city of Voronezh also has a reserved, ancient corner with the same name. Sacco and Vanzetti - a street that is a landmark of the city. There are only 14 historical and architectural monuments here. Previously, it was called the Great Virgin in honor of a convent located nearby. Residents called it Enlightenment Street - there were schools, the first printing house and a public library.
One of many
There is another old and beautiful street named after Sacco and Vanzetti. Yekaterinburg surrounded it on all sides with new buildings. But there are very beautiful mansions on the street, in one of which, the former house of the Agafurov merchants, is a representative office of Tatarstan. In another house there is a museum of merchant life. The story is the same - in 1930, Usoltsevskaya Street was renamed at the request of the workers. Even earlier, it was called Polkovskaya, in honor of a man named Polkov, who was the first to build a house here. Simple and clear. If the street will be returned to its former name "Usoltsevskaya", I would like to know from the initiators what the name means. It should be noted that the street is recognized as a protected area.
There is a science city Korolev in the Moscow region. Sacco and Vanzetti - a street built up mainly by residential buildings on the 5th and 12th floors (1974). An ordinary residential street with a school and a gymnasium.