Carlo Tresca Portrait of a Rebel

In his heyday, Carlo Tresca ranked among the most important radicals and labour activists in the United States, often sharing the spotlight with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, 'Big Bill' Haywood, and Emma Goldman. A charismatic Italian anarchist who became a folk hero to immigrant and native-born workers alike, Tresca was described by comrades as a 'freelance revolutionary' because of his independent spirit and militant activism. During his wild and adventurous career spanning nearly forty years (1904-1943), Tresca pursued a range of activities unmatched by any of his radical contemporaries: independent newspaper editor, labour agitator and organizer, civil libertarian, foremost leader of the Italian American anti-fascist resistance, and an indomitable foe of Stalinism. Culminating over a decade of research, this fast-paced and vivid biography brings to life the volatile world of radical politics in early twentieth-century America through one of its foremost figures.

Introduction Revolutionary Apprenticeship 'Il Proletario' Freelance of Revolution Tresca and the IWW Tresca and Flynn War and Repression Tresca and the Sacco-Vanzetti Case Postwar Activities Tresca the Anti-Fascist Frameup Fighting the Blackshirts The Town Anarchist Tresca the Anti-Communist The Twilight Years Murder in the Dim-Out Epilogue

NUNZIO PERNICONE is Associate Professor of History, Drexel University, USA. His area of research specialization is Italian and Italian-American radicalism. He is the author or of Italian Anarchism, 1864-1892 and the editor of The Autobiography of Carlo Tresca. Professor Pernicone has appeared in documentaries devoted to the Sacco-Vanzetti case that appeared on the History Channel and Court TV.