Biographical Material
Born: March 9, 1879 in Sulmona Italy
Died: January 11, 1943 on a New York street. Murdered by an unknown assailant.
Carlo Tresca was born in Italy and moved to the United States in 1904 to escape a jail sentence for libal associated with the paper he was editing at the time.
While he started as a Socalist, Tresca died an Anarchist. He edited a number of papers which stood up for workers rights and denounced the hipocracy and corruption of those in power. One of his favorite targets was the clergy who he attacked relentlessly. Tresca was also a skilled labor agaitator, leading strikes and urging workers to stand up for their rights.
Gallagher says in her preface, "to thousands of Italian immigrants Tresca was a hero; to the FBI he was 'notorious'; to a number of American intellectuals and labor leaders he was a counsel; to American and Italian fascists, a serious adversary; to the Communist party of the 1930's a renegade and Trotskyite; to rival anarchists, a spy and traitor; to his friends a joy; to women, overpoweringly attractive; to the man who killed him, little more then a contract." Given this, there can be little doubt that Tresca was a man who was much respected and much hated. Hated enough for someone to murder him.
Dorothy Gallagher's book All the Right Enemies--The Life and Murder of Carlo Tresca is an excellent history of Tresca's life.
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