Celso Ceretti (13 January 1844 – 12 January 1909) was an Italian supporter of
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
, an internationalist
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
and then a
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
politician.
Early years
Celso Ceretti was born on 23 January 1844 in
Mirandola
Mirandola ( Mirandolese: ) is a city and ''comune'' of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, northeast of the provincial capital by railway.
History
Mirandola originated as a Renaissance city-fortress. For four centuries it was ...
,
Emilia-Romagna
egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title ...
, at the time part of the
Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, the son of Luigi Ceretti and Maria Malagodi. His father had been imprisoned for the riots of 1831 and educated his children in democratic ideals. When he was fourteen, he enlisted in Garibaldi's expedition to
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. He joined in 1859. In 1860–1861, he served in Sicily and the mainland with the rank of sergeant. In 1862, he was in
Aspromonte
The Aspromonte is a mountain massif in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Calabria, southern Italy). The literal translation of the name means "rough mountain". But for others the name more likely is related to the Greek word Aspros ( Ά ...
. In 1866, he became an officer of the 9th regiment. In 1867, he served in
Agro Romano The Ager Romanus (literally, "the field of Rome"') is the geographical rural area (part plains, part hilly) that surrounds the city of Rome. Politically and historically, it has represented the area of influence of Rome's municipal government. It ...
. He became one of Garibaldi's closest followers and later served as a link between him and the
labor movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
.
Activist
In 1870, Cerretti joined Garibaldi's
Army of the Vosges
The Army of the Vosges (french: Armée des Vosges) was a volunteer force placed under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi, formed in order to ensure the defense of the road to Lyon from the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian war.
Background
...
. In 1871, he participated in the defense of France and the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
. That year, he founded the Anti-Catholic Republican Society in Mirandola. Ceretti was one of the founders of the Italian Section of the
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
(IWA).
By 1871, Garibaldi was still respected by socialists elsewhere in Italy, but it was only in
Romagna
Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...
that his leadership was seen as essential for a people's republic. At first, Ceretti,
Lodovico Nabruzzi
Lodovico Nabruzzi (25 June 1846 – 12 February 1916) was an Italian journalist and anarchist. He played a leading role in the dissensions between the revolutionary and evolutionary Italian socialists. He spent several years in exile in Switzerlan ...
and
Paride Suzzara Verdi
Paride Suzzara Verdi (1 April 1826 – 7 August 1879) was an Italian patriot, journalist and politician.
Early years
Paride Suzzara Verdi was born in San Giorgio di Mantova in the Province of Mantua on 1 April 1826 to a wealthy and patriotic f ...
shared this view. Garibaldi planned to call a democratic congress, but he canceled it due to the factional squabbles. With
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
's support, Nabruzzi, Ceretti,
Andrea Costa
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...
and others arranged a conference on 17 March 1872 in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, where most of the internationalist sections of Romagna were represented. The congress rejected
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...
's view that the question of social reform could follow creation of a republic and also voted against participating in elections, in effect moving towards Bakunin's position.
On 11 March 1873, Ceretti was arrested for his IWA activities and imprisoned for five months. He was then tried for "conspiracy" and acquitted. Later that year, he tried to organize a second IWA Congress in Mirandola, but this was forbidden by the authorities. In 1873, he commanded a force in Spain against the
Carlist
Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...
s. In 1874, he was assistant to
Mićo Ljubibratić
Mihajlo "Mićo" Ljubibratić ( sr-cyr, Мићо Љубибратић; 1839 – 26 February 1889) was a Serbian ''voivode'' (military commander), Orthodox priest, writer and translator that participated in the many uprisings in the Herzegovina regio ...
in
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
. In 1875, he commanded the Italian Legion in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
with the rank of major in the struggle against
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
rule.
Later years
In 1886, Ceretti founded the Society of Radical Veterans. In 1888, he survived a knife attack in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. The Italian embassy accused the anti-legal anarchist Vittorio Pini of the attack because some sections of the anarchist movement thought Ceretti was a police informer. That year in Mirandola, he founded the socialist periodical ''Il Sole dell'Avvenire (The Sun of the Future)''. In 1890, he was the first socialist to enter the municipal council of Mirandola.
Ceretti died on 12 January 1909 in
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceretti, Celso
1844 births
1909 deaths
Italian anarchists
People from Mirandola