The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti

Ben Shahn was an american painter deeply affected, like many americans in the 1920s, by the murder of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The two anarchists got unfairly executed by the state and riots were sparked around the country and even around the world! Ben Shahn denounces the injustice in this painting.
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[@victoriabaghdian]

It is my first time hearing about the Sacco and Vanzetti case. Great video once again! Keep it up!

[@missyrivas8623]

When I was a kid, my mom- being a communist & artist, introduced me to the poetry of Ginsberg- that's where I first heard of this case. She taught me all about this stuff. I was raised in the 80s so there was a lot of anti communism still. She was also an artist, so she also showed me this painting while I was learning about this case. I kinda wish I had the internet as a kid because I had to do a lot of work to learn about this stuff as a kid. Lots of libraries etc- but I sure as shit remember the painting and the poem and how they made me go do work to learn.

[@Scriven42]

Yeah, "America" is a gobsmacking poem.

[@ItsSpecialHands]

Weirdly I learned of them from the metal gear series of video games

[@brunocazzuli]

Great video, thanks for posting!

[@nikakobaliani9514]

This was very interesting. I am glad that I discovered this channel.

[@walliegrab9746]

may I ask where you found the painting of Errico Malatesta at around the 0:49 mark? he's one of my favourite anarchist theorists and I'd love to know more about the painting

[@mortalclown3812]

Brilliant. Points folks should consider. Our 2 party system has become laughable.

[@fahadsaeed136]

Great Video!

[@qazifaran]

This agony is our triumph

[@giovannilee2602]

The lobby of the powerful and wealthy seems unstoppable and their greedy hands getting dirtier and dirtier …..no wonder this one painting could be considered a classic

[@glenknapke6771]

larry aniel and marv carver netspend jc whitney catalog 1990s

[@nayraalejandracarrillomate1033]

keep going!

[@nathanielrohde]

Should they be innocent even though they committed a robbery and a double homicide?

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

H.G. Wells wrote:
"The guilt or innocence of these two Italians is not the issue that has excited the opinion of the world. Possibly they were actual murderers, and still more possibly they knew more than they would admit about the crime. ... Europe is not "retrying" Sacco and Vanzetti or anything of the sort. It is saying what it thinks of Judge Thayer. Executing political opponents as political opponents after the fashion of Mussolini and Moscow we can understand, or bandits as bandits; but this business of trying and executing murderers as Reds, or Reds as murderers, seems to be a new and very frightening line for the courts of a State in the most powerful and civilized Union on earth to pursue."
The importance of this case, as underlined by Wells, lies not in the guilt or innocence of the men, but in the strong political bias (anti-socialism) which expedited the deaths of these men. The trial was botched, as recognized by the authorities in 1977 (botched because of the ethnic and political biases) and the guilt of the two anarchists is still debated. This is one of my first videos and, perhaps, I didn't make my case clear enough.
I hope this answers your question :)

[@Marco-1997]

Except they were proven innocent after, scapegoated just for their political thought just like it always happened in the US

[@stephenwright8824]

@@Marco-1997 I think this is relevant to your comment. It's from Vanzetti's speech at their sentencing:
_This is what I say: I would not wish to a dog or to a snake, to the most low and misfortunate creature of the earth--I would not wish to any of them what I have had to suffer for things that I am not guilty of. I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian, and indeed I am an Italian; I have suffered more for my family and for my beloved than for myself; but I am so convinced to be right that you can only kill me once but if you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already._

[@alarcon99]

@@stephenwright8824 wow. Thanks for this quote!

[@BeefZupreme]

THE WERE INNOCENT

[@budgetseagull]

And nothing of value was lost

[@stephenwright8824]

_Any man's death diminishes me because i am involved in mankind._ - John Donne

[@panama2468]

And you right wingers wonder why ppl wish to get rid of you.