The case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti -- who were executed after coming under suspicion in a 1920 robbery in Braintree, Massachusetts, mostly since they were Italian and interested in anarchist politics -- has long stood as a symbol of injustice. But in the aftermath of the aspersions being cast following September 11, the Sacco-Vanzetti case takes on even more resonance. As put by Scott Malloy, a professor who specializes in labor history at the University of Rhode Island's Schmidt Labor Research Center, "They became in some ways like the Arab-Americans of today."

The Sacco-Vanzetti case will be the focus of a labor history conference being sponsored by the Rhode Island Labor History Society this Saturday, April 6, from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the UFCW Hall, 278 Silver Spring St., in Providence. The event is free and open to the public. Those taking part include Mary Ann Sorrentino, who will discuss "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Case That Will Not Die," and Robert D'Attilio, director of the Sacco & Vanzetti Project sponsored by the Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts.

August 23 will mark the 75th anniversary of the execution of the two men, an event that "became the last of a long train of events that had driven any sense of utopian vision out of American life," according to an essay by D'Attilio. "The workings of American democracy now seemed to many Americans as flawed and unjust as many of the older societies of the world, no longer embodying any bright ideal, but once again serving the interests of the rich and powerful."

The Rhode Island Labor History Society, which was organized in 1987, sponsors a labor conference every spring aimed at a general audience. Past topics have included the Dorr War, the building of the Scituate Reservoir, industrial baseball leagues in the Blackstone Valley, and Rhode Island labor in the 1830s.

Although some revisionists question the innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti, the case remains a potent example of the kind of undue suspicion that can be unfairly focused on immigrant and ethnic groups. As Malloy notes, similar instances can be found for virtually any group of newcomers to America. "It's kind of an opportunity for Italian-Americans and labor activists to see how this came together," he says. "One group after another got gunned down for labor activity. It's a good opportunity to learn that you're group wasn't the only one that got discriminated against. We all, unfortunately, share a common bond in that way."

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: April 5 - 11, 2002