thirty-seven, among them being Cafiero, Malatesta, Ceccarelli, Lazzari,
Fortini (cure of Letino), Tomburri Vincenzo (cure of Gallo), Starnari,
and others. On December 30 the Chamber of Arraignment of Naples rendered
its decision. The two priests and a man who had served as guide to the
insurgents were exempted from punishment, but the thirty-four others
were sent before the court of assizes on the charge of conspiracy
against the security of the State. As these were political crimes, which
were covered by a recent amnesty, there remained only the murder of a
carabineer, of which the court of assizes of Benevent finally acquitted
Cafiero, Malatesta, and their friends in August, 1878.[10]
By the above series of events the Propaganda of the Deed was launched,
and from this day on it became a recognized method of propaganda.
Neither money, nor organization, nor literature was any longer
absolutely necessary. One human being in revolt with torch or dynamite
was able to instruct the world. Bakounin and Nechayeff had written their
principles, and had, in fact, in some measure, endeavored to carry them
into effect. But the Propaganda of the Deed was no more evolved as a
principle of action than these four daring youths put it into practice.
In the next few years it became the chief expression of anarchism, and
little by little it made the very name of anarchism synonymous with
violence and crime. Surely these four zealous youths could hardly have
devised a method of propaganda that could have served more completely to
defeat their purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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