Galleani, Luigi, 1861-1931

Luigi Galleani (Italian: [luˈiːdʒi ɡalleˈaːni]; 12 August 1861 – 4 November 1931) was an Italian insurrectionary anarchist best known for his advocacy of "propaganda of the deed", a strategy of political assassinations and violent attacks. Born in Vercelli, he became a leading figure in the Piedmont labor movement, for which he was sentenced to exile on the island of Pantelleria. In 1901, he fled to the United States and he joined the Italian immigrant workers movement in Paterson, New Jersey. He subsequently moved to Vermont and Massachusetts, where he launched the radical newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva. He gained many dedicated followers among Italian American anarchists, known as the Galleanisti, who carried out a series of bombing attacks throughout the United States. For his involvement in the anti-war movement during World War I, he was deported back to Italy, where he was subjected to political repression following the rise of fascism. During the final years of his life, he published The End of Anarchism?, a defense of anarchist communism from criticisms by reformist socialists. He rejected reformism, in favor of "continuous attack" against institutions of capitalism and the state, and opposed any form of formal organization, which he saw as inherently corrupting and hierarchical.