Two anti-fascist Italian-born workers, Luigi Barra and Angelo Lentucchia, jeer a blackshirt parade in Detroit on Columbus Day, 1928 and are shot by fascists. Barra died, while Lentucchia seriously wounded. Throughout the 1920s a small scale civil war raged between fascist and anti-fascist Italians in U.S. communities.

‘Bloody Fascist Hand Reaches into America’ by Nicola Napoli from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 249. October 20, 1928.

Fascists Fire on Workers. October 15, 1928.

One Victim Dying, Other in Critical State

DETROIT, Mich., Oct. 14. The bloody hand of Mussolini reached out to this city on Columbus Day and as a result one militant Italian worker is dying, another is in a critical condition in the hospital and two others are in jail on framed-up charged.

The worker who is dying is Luigi Barra, while Angelo Lentucchia is in a critical condition. Both were shot down by fascists who fired into a group of anti-fascists who had come to protest, at a black-shirt parade on Columbus Day.

Fascists Open Fire.

Barra and Lentucchia were standing on the corner of Russell and Vernon Highway with other fascists. As the parade passed they shouted in Italian various anti-fascist slogans. Out of the mass of parading blackshirts skillfully concealed revolvers replied. Barra and Lentucchia dropped, blood spouting from them. They were both rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared that there was little hope for Barra’s recovery. His companion is also in a critical condition and he may be permanently incapacitated.

A panic broke out in the crowd when the shooting started, women and children screamed and everybody rushed for cover. The fascists immediately raised a cry that the anti-fascists had done the shooting.

Police Aid Terrorists.

The police who had arrived on the scene co-operated completely with the blackshirts and arrested two anti-fascist workers, Richard Ruffini and Leon Boccoloni, on the charge that they had fired on their own comrades.

Bloody Fascist Hand Reaches into America by Nicola Napoli. October 20, 1928

The bloody hand of the fascist regime has reached into the United States. Mussolini is arming his “squadristi” with guns to be used against those workers who dare protest against fascism even outside of Italy.

Slowly but persistently the fascist monster has penetrated the Italian communities here and, to some extent, has succeeded in obtaining the support of public authorities, police officials and influential bourgeois personalities in persecuting and threatening the Italian workers in the United States who have escaped the fascist terror and jails in Italy.

Fire on Workers.

In Detroit, last Friday, during the Columbus Day parade, in which many Italian organizations participated, an emissary of Mussolini fired on two workers, Tony Barra and Angelo Lentricchia. These two workers, together with other anti-fascisti wanted to prevent the display of the fascist symbol—the littorio—the unfurling of the fascist gagliarditto in the streets of Detroit. Barro paid for his protest with his life. Sylvester, the bearer of the fascist flag had fired a mortal bullet and wounded Lentricchia who is now lying in the hospital in serious condition.

Criminal Fascism.

But the murder of Barro, at this time, while Mussolini has started a new terroristic offensive against the Italian working class by pressing the danger of Gramsci, Terracini and other political victims, by putting into practice the death penalty (remember the case of Michele Della Maggiore, a Communist, who was executed the other day in Lucca) is indicative of a vast criminal plan which the fascisti have been ordered to carry out systematically in all foreign countries.

Mussolini had a proof of devotion by the American judicial machine in the case of Greco and Carillo. This frame-up fell short of its mark and Greco and Carillo were freed because the working class of this country stood ready to defend these two workers.

New Frame-up.

Now, a new frame-up is being prepared. The stage is set. Two anti-fascists, Lino Boccalon and R. Ruffini, have been arrested for some “obscure” purpose. Meanwhile, the fascisti are trying to prove that Sylvester, the fascist who admitted (there are twenty eye-witnesses to prove that) having killed Barro and wounded Lentricchia, had taken the gun away from anti-fascisti who were threatening him. The attempt to turn the responsibility of the murder against the anti-fasists is evident.

Must Protest.

It is imperative, therefore, that; all anti-fascisti and workers in this country unite to protest against this frame-up. Moral as well as material support is necessary to carry on the agitation. Not only is it necessary to foil the attempted frame-up but also to start at once a nation-wide campaign against the criminal activities of fascism in the United States

Workers to Protest Murder by Fascists. October 20, 1928.

Tomorrow at the Peoples House, 7 East 15th St., at 2 p.m. a mass meeting will take place to protest against the fascist murder which occurred in Detroit last week during the Columbus Day parade as a result of which Tony Barro, a worker was killed and Angelo Lentricchia wounded. Among the speakers will be N. Napoli, G. Serio and C. Tresca.

Will Protest Two Fascist Murders. November 6, 1928.

The recent murder of Della Maggiore, Italian Communist, by Mussolini’s regime and the assassination of Tony Barra, anti-fascist worker, by parading blackshirts in Detroit on Columbus Day will be protested at a mass meeting Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock in Webster Manor, 125 E. 11th St. The meeting is being arranged by the New York Section of the International Labor Defense, 799 Broadway, and the Anti-Fascist Alliance of North America.

The “crime” of Maggiore was that he defended his life against two fascists who attacked him. Barra was shot down while standing with a group of anti-fascists watching the blackshirt parade. He died after hovering for several days between life and death. With him was also shot down Angelo Lentriccia, who is now in a serious condition at a prison hospital.

The resolution protesting against the Mussolini terror passed at the huge Workers (Communist) Party demonstration at Madison Square Garden Sunday is expected to add impetus to the protest movement and a large crowd of workers is expected at Sunday’s meeting. Prominent speakers will address the meeting in English and Italian.

Will Hit Fascist Terror at Meet. November 7, 1928.

Workers to Protest 2 Deaths Tomorrow

“We will stop this terror!” will be the cry of several thousand New York workers at a great mass meeting tomorrow to protest against the Italian fascist terror. The meeting will be held at Webster Hall, 119 E. 11th St„ at 2 p.m., under the auspices of the New York Section of the International Labor Defense and the Anti-Fascisti Alliance of North America.

The meeting has been called particularly to protest against the recent execution in Italy of the Italian Communist, Michele Della Maggiora, and the murder in cold blood of Tony Barra, anti-fascist worker, during a blackshirt parade in Detroit on Columbus Day. These two murders are evidence of the international scope of Mussolini’s terror machine.

Speakers at the meeting will include Robert Minor, editor of the Daily Worker; John J. Ballam, secretary of the New York local, Trade Union Educational League; V. Motana. national organizer of the Italian Bureau of the Workers (Communist) Party; Carlo Tresca, editor of “II Martello” and Arturo Giovannitti, secretary of the Italian Chamber of Labor. Karl Reeve, editor of the Labor Defender, will act as chairman.

The meeting will also be in commemoration of the murder 41 years ago of the victims of the Haymarket frame-up.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.