Today marks the 91st anniversary of the murder of a security guard during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. The crime set the wheels in motion for the trial, conviction and execution of anarchist activists Sacco and Vanzetti. To this day, there is a widespread belief that they were executed because of their political ideas and the men were innocent.

Art Poster via. The words are attributed to Vanzetti a few days before his execution. “If it had not been for this thing, I might have lived out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life can we hope to do such work for tolerance, justice, for man’s understanding of man, as now we do by accident. Our words – our lives – our pains – nothing! The taking of our lives – lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddler – all! That last moment belong to us – that agony is our triumph”. On 23rd August 1927, the day of execution, over 250,000 people took part in a silent demonstration in Boston. Fifty years later, on 23rd August, 1977, Michael Dukakis, the Governor of Massachusetts, issued a proclamation, effectively absolving the two men of the crime.

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