At 1:35 p.m. on Saturday 10 September 1898, empress elisabeth of austria left the hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva #switzerland.

They were walking along the promenade when the 25-year-old Italian anarchist #LuigiLucheni approached them, attempting to peer underneath the empress's parasol. Lucheni seemed to stumble and made a movement with his hand, as if he wanted to maintain his balance. In reality, in an act of propaganda of the deed, he had stabbed elisabeth with a sharpened needle file that was 4 inches (10 cm) long (used to file the eyes of industrial needles).

Lucheni originally planned to kill the duke of Orléans. Failing to find him, Lucheni selected elisabeth when a Geneva newspaper revealed that the person was the empress of austria.

'I am an anarchist by conviction. I came to Geneva to kill a sovereign, with object of giving an example to those who suffer and those who do nothing to improve their social position; it did not matter to me who the sovereign was whom I should kill. It was not a woman I struck, but an empress; it was a crown that I had in view.'

#PropagandaOfTheDeed #NoKings

Today in Labor History October 19, 1910: Luigi Lucheni hanged himself in his prison cell. He was an Italian anarchist and the assassin of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His head was preserved in formaldehyde displayed in Vienna's Narrenturm until 2000. The assassination began an international conference of 21 nations, where anarchism was defined as terrorism and nations resolved to surveil suspected anarchists and permit capital punishment for assassination of sovereigns.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #luigilucheni #prison #assassination #terrorism #repression #freespeech

Today in Labor History September 10, 1898: Anarchist Luigi Lucheni assassinated Empress Elisabeth of Austria with a sanded-down file. The authorities promptly caught Lucheni. He claimed he had come to Geneva to kill any sovereign as an example for others (Propaganda by the Deed). He said he used the file because he couldn’t afford a stiletto. During his trial, he discovered that capital punishment had been banned in Geneva. Furious, he demanded that his trial be moved to a less civilized canton so he could be martyred. On October 19, 1910, he was found hanged in his cell. The authorities cut off his head and stuck it into formaldehyde and transferred to Vienna, where it was put on display in the Narrenterm pathology museum. They displayed it there until 2000.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #assassination #atentat #LuigiLucheni #austria

Today in Labor History October 19, 1910: Luigi Lucheni hanged himself in his prison cell. He was an Italian anarchist and the assassin of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His head was preserved in formaldehyde displayed in Vienna's Narrenturm until 2000. The assassination began an international conference of 21 nations, where anarchism was defined as terrorism and nations resolved to surveil suspected anarchists and permit capital punishment for assassination of sovereigns.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #luigilucheni #prison #assassination #terrorism #repression #freespeech

Today in Labor History October 19, 1910: Luigi Lucheni hanged himself in his prison cell. He was an Italian anarchist and the assassin of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His head was preserved in formaldehyde displayed in Vienna's Narrenturm until 2000. The assassination began an international conference of 21 nations, where anarchism was defined as terrorism and nations resolved to surveil suspected anarchists and permit capital punishment for assassination of sovereigns.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #assassination #prison #LuigiLucheni

Today in Labor History September 10, 1898: Anarchist Luigi Lucheni assassinated Empress Elisabeth of Austria with a sanded-down file. The authorities promptly caught Lucheni. He claimed he had come to Geneva to kill any sovereign as an example for others (Propaganda by the Deed). He said he used the file because he couldn’t afford a stiletto. During his trial, he discovered that capital punishment had been banned in Geneva. Furious, he demanded that his trial be moved to a less civilized canton so he could be martyred. On October 19, 1910, he was found hanged in his cell. The authorities cut off his head and stuck it into formaldehyde and transferred to Vienna, where it was put on display in the Narrenterm pathology museum. They displayed it there until 2000.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #assassination #atentat #LuigiLucheni #austria