Pietro Gori
Encyclopedia
Pietro Gori was an Italian
lawyer, journalist, intellectual
and anarchist poet
. He is known for his political activities, and as author of some of the most famous anarchist
songs of the late 19th century, including Addio a Lugano ("Farewell to Lugano
"), Stornelli d'esilio ("Exile Songs"), Ballata per Sante Caserio ("Ballad for Sante Geronimo Caserio").
of Tuscan
parents in 1878, he moved with his family to Livorno
. At a young age he joined a Monarchist Association but was expelled for dishonourable conduct. Gori then began writing for a moderate journal La Riforma. In 1886 he enrolled in the University of Pisa
. He soon joined the Anarchist movement there and quickly becoming one of its most influential figures. In 1887, Gori was arrested for having written about the Chicago
protesters killed in the Haymarket Square Riot, and having protested the presence of United States
ships in the port of Livorno.
The next year, as secretary of the students' union
, he organized a memorial for philosopher Giordano Bruno
. Gori received a law degree in 1889 with a thesis called La miseria e il delitto ("Poverty and Crime
"). In November, under the pseudonym Rigo (an anagram of his last name), he published the texts of his first conferences in a booklet called Pensieri ribelli ("Rebel Thoughts"), resulting in his arrest for "inciting class hatred
". A legal team composed of his professors and fellow students defended him; he was cleared of the charges and released.
On May 13, 1890, he was arrested again, this time for helping to organize May Day
demonstrations in Livorno. He was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison (later reduced in appeal
), remaining in jail until November 10, first in Livorno, then in Lucca
.
. In January 1891, he was a supporter of Errico Malatesta
in the Congress of Capolago
during which the Socialist Revolutionary Anarchist Party
(Partito Socialista Anarchico Rivoluzionario) was founded. That year he also attended the Italian Workers' Party
Congress in Milan. He translated Karl Marx
' and Friedrich Engels
' Communist Manifesto
into Italian
for the Popular Socialist Library. Towards the end of that year, he began publishing L'amico del popolo, a "Socialist-Anarchist" periodical. He published 27 issues, all of which were seized by the authorities, which netted him more arrests and trials.
On April 4, 1892, he attended the Legal Socialism and Anarchist Socialism conference, at the "Labor Embassy" in Milan. There he presented Socialist views strongly critical of the reformist Socialism
, which he considered authoritarian
and parliamentarian
. The August 14 of that year he attended the National Congress of Worker's and Socialist Organizations in Genoa
where, unsurprisingly, he was among the strongest opponents to the majority of reformers who decided to create the Italian Workers' Party.
By then Gori was well known to the police: a secret memorandum from the Luigi Pelloux
's Ministry of the Interior
of November 22, 1891, sent to all the Italian regions, requested that he be kept under special surveillance
. As a precaution, authorities regularly arrested him just before demonstrations each May Day
. During one of these detentions, in 1892, in San Vittore prison, he wrote the lyrics for one of his best known songs: Inno del primo maggio ("Hymn to the 1st of May"). Gori published his first poetry books in the following months: Alla conquista dell’Avvenire ("Conquering the Future") and Prigioni e Battaglie ("Jails and Battles"). Despite a print run of 9,000 copies, they quickly sold out. In the meantime he continued legal work, defending his political comrades.
In August 1893 he attended the Socialist Congress in Zürich
, from which he was expelled. He then founded Lotta Sociale magazine, but because it was constantly seized by the authorities it was short-lived.
passed three anti-anarchist laws limiting civil rights
in July 1894. Afterwards, the middle-class press accused Gori of inspiring the murder of French president
Sadi Carnot
. To avoid a five-year jail term, he escaped to Lugano
, in Switzerland
. In January 1895, he was arrested there, along with 17 other political exiles, all of whom were expelled after two weeks in jail. These events inspired him to compose the lyrics of the best known Italian anarchist song: Addio a Lugano.
After traveling through Germany
and Belgium
, he arrived in London
, where he met the foremost representatives of the international anarchist movement. After a short while, he traveled to New York City
, and from there went on a speaking tour (more than 400 engagements in one year) in Canada
and in the United States
. During this time he wrote for La Questione Sociale magazine.
In the summer of 1896, he returned to London to attend the Fourth Congress of the Second International
, as a representative of the United States trade union
s, and presented it with his anarchist ideas. In London, he became severely ill, and recovered at the National Hospital
.
Due to the intervention of some members of Italian Parliament, the government there allowed him to end his exile, though initially he was restricted to the island of Elba
. Back in Italy, he reestablished contact with anarchists, again worked as a lawyer defending comrades, and resumed contributing to anarchist publications, among which L'Agitazione in Ancona
.
to 12 years in prison.
From Marseille
, he sailed to Argentina
. There, he became known not only for his political activities, but also for his scientific work. He was a union organizer, taught courses in criminology at the University of Buenos Aires
in Buenos Aires
and started the magazine Modern Criminology.
Thanks to an amnesty
, and for family and health reasons, he was able to return to Italy in 1902. The next year, he founded the magazine Il pensiero with Luigi Fabbri
. Other that a trip to Egypt
and Palestine
in 1904, he spent his remaining years in Italy, pursuing his usual activities: political activism, writing, and providing legal support for his jailed comrades. He died 8 January 1911 in Portoferraio, leaving behind a large body of literary work, ranging from the political essays to theater, from criminology to poetry, from harangues to conferences.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
lawyer, journalist, intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
and anarchist poet
Anarchism and the arts
Anarchism has long had an association with the arts, particularly in music and literature. It shares this trait with other political movements, such as socialism, communism, liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism and even fascism....
. He is known for his political activities, and as author of some of the most famous anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
songs of the late 19th century, including Addio a Lugano ("Farewell to Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
"), Stornelli d'esilio ("Exile Songs"), Ballata per Sante Caserio ("Ballad for Sante Geronimo Caserio").
Early years
Born in MessinaMessina, Italy
Messina is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy and the capital of the province of Messina. It has a population of about 250,000 inhabitants in the city proper and about 650,000 in the province...
of Tuscan
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
parents in 1878, he moved with his family to Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
. At a young age he joined a Monarchist Association but was expelled for dishonourable conduct. Gori then began writing for a moderate journal La Riforma. In 1886 he enrolled in the University of Pisa
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa , located in Pisa, Tuscany, is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It was formally founded on September 3, 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI, although there had been lectures on law in Pisa since the 11th century...
. He soon joined the Anarchist movement there and quickly becoming one of its most influential figures. In 1887, Gori was arrested for having written about the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
protesters killed in the Haymarket Square Riot, and having protested the presence of United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ships in the port of Livorno.
The next year, as secretary of the students' union
Students' union
A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...
, he organized a memorial for philosopher Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno , born Filippo Bruno, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited...
. Gori received a law degree in 1889 with a thesis called La miseria e il delitto ("Poverty and Crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
"). In November, under the pseudonym Rigo (an anagram of his last name), he published the texts of his first conferences in a booklet called Pensieri ribelli ("Rebel Thoughts"), resulting in his arrest for "inciting class hatred
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
". A legal team composed of his professors and fellow students defended him; he was cleared of the charges and released.
On May 13, 1890, he was arrested again, this time for helping to organize May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
demonstrations in Livorno. He was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison (later reduced in appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
), remaining in jail until November 10, first in Livorno, then in Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
.
In Milan
After prison, Gori moved to Milan and worked as a lawyer with Filippo TuratiFilippo Turati
Filippo Turati was an Italian sociologist, poet and Socialist politician.-Early life:Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and participated in the Scapigliatura movement with the most important artists of the period in Milan, publishing poetry...
. In January 1891, he was a supporter of Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta was an Italian anarcho-communist. He was an insurrectionary anarchist early in his life. He spent much of his life exiled from his homeland of Italy and in total spent more than ten years in prison. He wrote and edited a number of radical newspapers and was also a friend of...
in the Congress of Capolago
Capolago
Capolago was a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, but is now part of the municipality of Mendrisio. On 25 November 2007 the municipalities of Arzo, Capolago, Genestrerio, Mendrisio, Rancate and Tremona voted to merge into the municipality of Mendrisio...
during which the Socialist Revolutionary Anarchist Party
Socialist Revolutionary Anarchist Party
The Socialist Revolutionary Anarchist Party was a short-lived Italian political party.Founded in January 1891 at the Congress of Capolago, at which around 80 delegates from Italian socialist and anarchist groups participated. Notable figures included, Errico Malatesta, Luigi Galleani, Amilcare...
(Partito Socialista Anarchico Rivoluzionario) was founded. That year he also attended the Italian Workers' Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
Congress in Milan. He translated Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
' and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
' Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party is a short 1848 publication written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the...
into Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for the Popular Socialist Library. Towards the end of that year, he began publishing L'amico del popolo, a "Socialist-Anarchist" periodical. He published 27 issues, all of which were seized by the authorities, which netted him more arrests and trials.
On April 4, 1892, he attended the Legal Socialism and Anarchist Socialism conference, at the "Labor Embassy" in Milan. There he presented Socialist views strongly critical of the reformist Socialism
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
, which he considered authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
and parliamentarian
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
. The August 14 of that year he attended the National Congress of Worker's and Socialist Organizations in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
where, unsurprisingly, he was among the strongest opponents to the majority of reformers who decided to create the Italian Workers' Party.
By then Gori was well known to the police: a secret memorandum from the Luigi Pelloux
Luigi Pelloux
Luigi Gerolamo Pelloux was an Italian general and politician, born of parents who retained their Italian nationality when Savoy was annexed to France....
's Ministry of the Interior
Italian Minister of the Interior
This is a list of Italian Ministers of the Interior since 1861.-Kingdom of Italy:-Italian Republic:...
of November 22, 1891, sent to all the Italian regions, requested that he be kept under special surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
. As a precaution, authorities regularly arrested him just before demonstrations each May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
. During one of these detentions, in 1892, in San Vittore prison, he wrote the lyrics for one of his best known songs: Inno del primo maggio ("Hymn to the 1st of May"). Gori published his first poetry books in the following months: Alla conquista dell’Avvenire ("Conquering the Future") and Prigioni e Battaglie ("Jails and Battles"). Despite a print run of 9,000 copies, they quickly sold out. In the meantime he continued legal work, defending his political comrades.
In August 1893 he attended the Socialist Congress in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, from which he was expelled. He then founded Lotta Sociale magazine, but because it was constantly seized by the authorities it was short-lived.
First exile
The Italian government of Francesco CrispiFrancesco Crispi
Francesco Crispi was a 19th-century Italian politician of Arbëreshë ancestry. He was instrumental in the unification of Italy and was its 17th and 20th Prime Minister from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.-Sicily:Crispi’s paternal family came originally from the small agricultural...
passed three anti-anarchist laws limiting civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in July 1894. Afterwards, the middle-class press accused Gori of inspiring the murder of French president
President of the French Republic
The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....
Sadi Carnot
Marie François Sadi Carnot
Marie François Sadi Carnot was a French statesman and the fourth president of the Third French Republic. He served as the President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894.-Early life:...
. To avoid a five-year jail term, he escaped to Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In January 1895, he was arrested there, along with 17 other political exiles, all of whom were expelled after two weeks in jail. These events inspired him to compose the lyrics of the best known Italian anarchist song: Addio a Lugano.
After traveling through Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, he arrived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he met the foremost representatives of the international anarchist movement. After a short while, he traveled to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and from there went on a speaking tour (more than 400 engagements in one year) in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. During this time he wrote for La Questione Sociale magazine.
In the summer of 1896, he returned to London to attend the Fourth Congress of the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
, as a representative of the United States trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s, and presented it with his anarchist ideas. In London, he became severely ill, and recovered at the National Hospital
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
.
Due to the intervention of some members of Italian Parliament, the government there allowed him to end his exile, though initially he was restricted to the island of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. Back in Italy, he reestablished contact with anarchists, again worked as a lawyer defending comrades, and resumed contributing to anarchist publications, among which L'Agitazione in Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
.
Second exile and return
A sudden increase in the price of bread in 1898 led to riots throughout Italy. The government responded with a crackdown; in Milan, General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris ordered his troops to fire into the crowds, and somewhere between 80 and 300 people were killed (depending on the account). The concommitant repression of leftist political organizations and unions was even more fierce, and Gori was forced to flee again, after which he was condemned in absentiaIn absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
to 12 years in prison.
From Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, he sailed to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. There, he became known not only for his political activities, but also for his scientific work. He was a union organizer, taught courses in criminology at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and started the magazine Modern Criminology.
Thanks to an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, and for family and health reasons, he was able to return to Italy in 1902. The next year, he founded the magazine Il pensiero with Luigi Fabbri
Luigi Fabbri
Luigi Fabbri , was an Italian anarchist, writer, agitator and propagandist who was charged with defeatism during the World War I. He was the father of Luce Fabbri....
. Other that a trip to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1904, he spent his remaining years in Italy, pursuing his usual activities: political activism, writing, and providing legal support for his jailed comrades. He died 8 January 1911 in Portoferraio, leaving behind a large body of literary work, ranging from the political essays to theater, from criminology to poetry, from harangues to conferences.