The Vanzetti-Sacco Trial

This document was produced in the “Death House of the Massachusetts State Prison” in August 21, 1927, only two days before its writers were executed. The letter’s authors, Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco, were two anarchists accused of murdering a guard and a paymaster in an armed robbery near Braintree, Massachusetts. Their quick trial led to numerous appeals and an international interest in their case, yet ultimately led to failure. Both Vanzetti and Sacco were executed via the electric chair on August 23, 1927. They addressed the paper to the “Friends and Comrades of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee,” asking them to “have heart” in this defeat and to continue the fight for their “ideal” of anarchism that they believed “will live by [the] millions.” The Vanzetti-Sacco trial and execution has been regarded as one of the prime examples of the first Red Scare during the time period between the First World War and the Great Depression. There was a large amount of distrust against anarchists, who in previous years had been suspected in sending letter bombs and the like to various government and industrial officials. Also very disliked were immigrants, due to the nativist movement of the time

However, it is likely that one or both of the men realized that this, their final document, would be widely circulated; and so potentially tailored this document in accordance. This makes clear the biases the source holds; for as ardent anarchists, Vanzetti and Sacco are clearly using this document to primarily defend their cause, not to thank their defenders for their fruitless efforts. This bias therefore colors the entire document in a certain light, as the two men are painting themselves as martyrs for the cause of anarchism, cause they are urging to continue as fervently as