Rosario Garibaldi Bosco

Rosario Garibaldi Bosco (Palermo, July 28, 1866 - Turin, December 2, 1936) was an Italian politician and writer; a Republican-inspired socialist. He was one of the leaders of the Fasci Siciliani (Sicilian Leagues), a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration in 1891-1894.

Early life

Born in Palermo, the son of Nicola and Teresa Patorno, he obtained a diploma in accounting in 1886. He married Concetta Seminara and became a political activist in socialist circles inspired by Napoleone Colajanni, known as the father of Sicilian socialism.^[1][2]

Fasci Siciliani

He founded the Fasci dei lavoratori in Palermo (June 29, 1892) and was part of the central committee of the Fasci Siciliani (1893-1894).^[3] He was the keenest socialist among the Fasci leaders. In August 1892 he attended the Italian Socialist Party congress at Genoa and on his return obediently purged his fascio of its anarchist and other non-socialist members. His ideal of a united democratic front was shared by the Colajanni.^[4]

Following the repression by the government of Francesco Crispi, he was arrested on January 16, 1894 and was brought to trial. Acquitted on charges of armed conspiracy, he was nevertheless sentenced to 12 years for incitement to civil war.^[5][6] After two years he was released in March 1896 as the result of a pardon recognizing the excessive brutality of the repression.^[7][8] After his release, Bosco and the other Fasci leaders Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida and Nicola Barbato were met by a large crowd of supporters in Rome, who released the horses form their carriage and dragged them to the hotel, cheering for socialism and denouncing Crispi.^[9]

Elected in Parliament

On May 26, 1895, while still in prison for the Fasci revolt, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the district of Palermo in a local by-election. He was a candidate in protest against the repression of the Fasci Siciliani in many national electoral districts. His appointment was canceled because his age was less than that required by law.^[2][10]

In 1896 he founded the Socialist Federation of Palermo (Italian: Federazione socialista palermitana). Initially he joined the revolutionary current but passed over to more moderate positions. He wrote regularly for the news outlet of the organisation, Il Giornale dei lavoratori.^[3][11]

As a result of his more moderate politics that advocated alliances with bourgeois parties, Bosco became active in municipal politics in his home-town Palermo. in July 1900, 18 socialist deputies were elected in the Palermo city council. He became a councilor and vice-mayor in consecutive city administrations.^[1]

Camera del Lavoro

Garibaldi Bosco had gone to Paris (France) to study the organizational model of Bourse du travail (French for "labour exchanges"), a kind of labour council, where working class organizations encouraged mutual aid, education, and self-organization amongst their members.^[3] As a result, he founded the Camera del Lavoro in Palermo in September 1901. In his inaugural speech he urged moderation to the workers and to take an interest organization, rather than strikes.^[11]

The objective of Bosco – "more organization in stead of strikes" – became more difficult as workers' demands increased and the idea of the general strike matured. He warned that workers should have an interest in the consolidation of industries as well. Accused of "worker parasitism," he had to leave the direction of the Camera del Lavoro. Shortly thereafter he resigned from the socialist club and founded his own short-lived journal, Il Giornale dei lavoratori (The Journal of Workers) in 1903. He became the spokesman of a moderate line, looking to the general interests of Sicily.^[1]

Playwright

He was also a realist writer, and his play Il giorno di San Sebastiano (Saint Sebastian Day) was the namesake feature film written and directed by Pasquale Scimeca in 1993. The play is based on the Caltavuturo massacre on January 20, 1893, when during the celebration of Saint Sebastian, a firing squad killed 13 peasants who claimed their right to state-owned land.^[12][13] The play, a monologue depicting a peasant woman whose husband was killed in the events at Caltavuturo, was first performed on February 2, 1893, in Palermo to raise money for the victims.^[14]

During a trip in Libya he contracted a kidney disease (nephritis) exacerbating his already weak physical condition due to his imprisonment in 1894-1896. He left political life and took up his accountancy work. He died in Turin on December 2, 1936.^[1]

References

• Debouzy, Marianne (1992). In the Shadow of the Statue of Liberty: Immigrants, Workers, and Citizens in the American Republic, 1880-1920, Champaign (IL): University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-06252-3
• Seton-Watson, Christopher (1967). Italy from liberalism to fascism, 1870-1925, New York: Taylor & Francis, 1967 ISBN 0-416-18940-7