Gori, Pietro (1865–1911)

Pietro Gori was born in Messina, Italy on August 14, 1865. He was a lawyer, writer, and poet, but above all he was one of the most important leaders of Italian and international anarchism from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. While studying in Pisa, he became an anarchist and wrote political pamphlets, one of which, “Pensieri ribelli” (Rebel Thoughts) (1889), became famous because of his subsequent arrest and trial. On May 1, 1890, after a demonstration of workers in Livorno, Gori and other students and workers were arrested. He was sent to the prisons of Livorno and Lucca, finally being released in 1890. In 1891, he took part in the congress to create the Revolutionary Anarchist Socialist Party, along with other anarchist leaders such as Errico Malatesta. In December the same year, he founded the magazine L‘Amico del popolo (The People's Friend), which was forced to close after six issues. Gori wrote for many anarchist magazines and translated the Communist Party manifesto. He also published poetry in Prigioni e battaglie (Prisons and Battles). During a conference in 1892, he expounded anarchism's critical position regarding authoritarian socialism. During a national congress the same year, he defended, along with Galleani, the anti‐parliament faction's intransigent position against reformist socialists. He was expelled with Cipriani from the congress of the Socialist International. On July 8, 1894, a few days before the approval of Crispi's laws against anarchists, Gori went to Lugano, escaping the libelous theory that linked him with the outrage of Caserio against the French president, Carnot.