80th anniversary of the executions of Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

(An announcement from the radical geographer Michael Marchman)

Today is the 80th anniversary of the executions of Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, in Massachusetts in 1927. Drink a toast to the good fellars (pardoned in 1977 by Michael Dukakis) today -- if you get the chance and have the inclination, that is.

Two Good Men Lyrics
By Woody Guthrie, from The Ballads Of Sacco & Vanzetti

Say, there, did you hear the news?
Sacco worked at trimmin' shoes;
Vanzetti was a peddlin' man,
Pushed his fish cart with his hand.
Two good men a long time gone,
Two good men a long time gone,
Two good men a long time gone,
Left me here to sing this song.

Sacco's born across the sea,
Somewhere over in Italy;
Vanzetti born of parents fine,
Drank the best Italian wine.
Sacco sailed the sea one day,
Landed up in the Boston Bay.
Vanzetti sailed the ocean blue,
An' landed up in Boston, too.

Sacco's wife three children had;
Sacco was a family man.
Vanzetti was a dreamin' man,
His book was always in his hands.

Sacco earned his bread and butter
Bein' the factory's best shoe cutter.
Vanzetti spoke both day and night,
Told the workers how to fight.

I'll tell you if you ask me
'Bout this payroll robbery.
Two clerks was killed by the shoe fact'ry,
On the streets in South Braintree.

Judge Thayer told his friends around
That he had cut the radicals down.
"Anarchist bastard" was the name
Judge Thayer called these two good men.

I'll tell you the prosecutor's name,
Katzman, Adams, Williams, Kane.
The Judge and lawyers strutted down,
They done more tricks than circus clowns.

Vanzetti docked in nineteen eight;
Slept along the dirty street,
Told the workers "Organize,"
And on the 'lectric chair he dies.

All you people ought to be like me,
And work like Sacco and Vanzetti,
And everyday find ways to fight
On the union side for the workers' rights.

Well, I ain't got time to tell this tale,
The dicks and bulls are on my trail.
But I'll remember these two good men
That died to show me how to live.

All you people in Suassos Lane,
Sing this song and sing it plain.
All you folks that's comin' along,
Jump in with me and sing this song.

Two good men a long time gone,
Two good men a long time gone,
Two good men a long time gone,
Left me here to sing this song.
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Also Democracy Now has a profile:

* Sacco and Vanzetti: 80 Years After Their Execution, A Look At The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind *

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed eighty years ago on August 23, 1927, in Boston, Massachusetts. The trial of the two Italian immigrant anarchists was one of the most controversial in American history. Protests rocked every major city across the world in the days leading up to the execution. We speak with Bruce Watson, author of "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind."

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