The Bulldog Detective by Jeffrey D. Simon

Author:Jeffrey D. Simon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Globe Pequot
Published: 2023-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

THE GALLEANISTS

Luigi Galleani and William Flynn had a lot in common. Both were towering figures, each with a commanding presence. Both men loved to write, and they built loyal followings among those who came in contact with them. Both also knew how to use the media to their advantage. But that is where the similarities ended. Galleani was educated in European universities, Flynn in the streets of New York. Galleani worked to bring about an anarchist revolution in America. Flynn was dedicated to preventing it and ridding the country of all who practiced anarchist doctrines. It made for a classic battle of wits between the two men and their formidable organizations.3

Flynn would later write of Galleani that he was one of the most difficult individuals the U.S. government ever had to deal with “because he was the brainiest.” He was a gifted writer and speaker, a charismatic figure who won a loyal following among many Italian immigrants who were experiencing discrimination, low wages, and long working hours (for those able to find jobs) instead of the better life they’d hoped for when they came to America. Those who heard Galleani speak described him as a “forceful orator,” a “most effective debater,” and the “soul of the movement.” One anarchist recalled that “you hung on every word when he spoke,” while another said that “he spoke directly to my heart.” Still others said that “he expressed what I wanted to say but couldn’t because I didn’t have the words” and that “you heard Galleani speak and you were ready to shoot the first policeman you saw.”

The anarchist leader was born on August 12, 1861, in Vercelli, a city in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. He grew up in a middle-class family with his father, an elementary school teacher, pressuring him to study law at the University of Turin. Galleani didn’t see himself as a lawyer and never graduated, instead becoming an outspoken militant who denounced government and capitalism. He was also rebelling against his father, who he described as the “son of a solider who had the cult of authority in his blood.” Galleani wrote articles for democratic, socialist, and anarchist publications and was also active in the Italian labor movement, leading a number of strikes. In 1889, he fled Italy to avoid arrest, settling in Paris, where he soon ran into further trouble. He was imprisoned there for several months and then expelled in 1890 for taking part in a May Day celebration. (May 1 is a date that annually honors working-class solidarity around the world and has sometimes been marked by violent demonstrations.)

Getting expelled from countries became a familiar way of life for Galleani, who, after moving to Switzerland, was soon forced to leave that country too after the Swiss government labeled him a dangerous agitator. He returned to Italy, where he delivered spellbinding speeches throughout the country calling for the creation of a society with no restrictions at all. A police report stated that he was “a very ardent advocate of that anti-social existence in which each person has a law of their own.

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