- Dimitris Troaditis
- English
On 3 November 1896, in Patras, sandal-maker Dimitris Matsalis (or Matsanis by some, originated from Argos, a town of Eastern Peloponnese), who had attended the theatre play " William the Porter" which was played on in Patras at the time by an Italian troupe, and in which the power of wealth revealed outweighing any feeling of justice, attacked by a knife at Independence Avenue (todays Gerokostopoulos Street) against two renowned local figures. By his hits was killed on the spot the banker Dionysis Frangopoulos and seriously injured raisin trader Andreas Collas.
Matsalis was immediately arrested and during the initial interrogation he explained clearly his anarchist ideas, saying: "I would kill Collas or anyone else. I have nothing with him, as I have nothing with Frangopoulos. But I am against this society’s inequalities and whoever was in front of me would pay for this ...».
The first interrogation of Dimitris Matsalis lasted several hours. There, he defended his ideas, saying: "What I did was for the sake of the idea. Nobody pushed me. I did it by myself. By killing them I didn’t aim to the particular people, but I struck Capital. I am an anarchist, and anarchists are for violence. Christogiannopoulos * and the other socialists are ridiculous and nothing links me with those. They want to impose their ideas by persuasion, while I, as an anarchist, support terrorist violence".
On 6 November 1896, Dimitris Matsalis transferred to the prison in fortress of Patras. To the guards who accompanied him said: "I do not fear death. When I started to kill someone from this society, I knew that I would die at the end".
Since his first moments into prison he started propaganda to his fellow prisoners telling them that this society is unacceptable, that there should be a true and absolute freedom and that the laws are unnecessary and powers of all kinds must be destroyed. He was also sharing his food with the others. He did not betray or gave the name of anyone.
The event got an immense and huge publicity. Everyone everywhere began to see conspiracies. The time chronicler of the Athenian newspaper "Empros" (“Forward”) ** Yiannis Kondylakis wrote ironically enough for the anarchist movement of Patras and the rural population of the region, while most journalists named the event "The tragedy of Independence Street”.
In 5 November 1896 in “Neologos” (a daily mainstream newspaper in Patras, published a small 'interview' of D. Matsalis, from which we forward here the following excerpt:"Neologos: What is your impression by the way the press wrote about your case? Are you unhappy?Matsalis: No. The press could not write otherwise. They completed their task. If we had anarchist newspapers would write differently!Neologos: You will not disappointed by the outcome of the trial whatever will be?Matsalis: I will be unsatisfied only if they will convict me to life imprisonment. I want to be convicted to death and this will require it!“
At the same time other mainstream newspapers ("Paligennesia”, "Efimeris","Nea Efimeris",...
- Dimitris Troaditis
- English
Despite we know today some of his writings, yet we have not been able to form an insufficient data on the life of Giannis Magkanaras. We know, however, that he and everyone else with the surname Magkanaras originate from Ioannis Magkanaros, who was a French, graduate of the French Military School of Paris, an officer of Napoleon and a philhellene. He arrived in Greece, probably through the island of Kefallinia during the Revolution against Ottoman Empire of 1821, apparently for fighting for Greek independence and participated in Lord Byron's unit in Mesollogi. He and the family he made remained in...
- Dimitris Troaditis
- English
Dimitris Karampilias born in the village of Mintilogli Achaia (outside of Patras) in 1872. He was one of the most active anarchists in “Epi Ta Proso” newspaper/collective and the anarchist movement of Patras during 1890's. After the dissolution of the anarchist movement of Patras, moved to Athens together with Giannis Magkanaras where they both participated in the anarchist groups and activities.
In 1901, he settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where he worked as a cigarette maker and participated in the labor and anarchist movement, collaborating with Greek and Italian anarchists who had been settled there before him.
We do...
- Anarchists and radicals in 1890s Patras
- Greek, Italian and other Anarchists in Egypt - A historical chronicle
- Revolutionary syndicalism and organization
- 1941-1945: Andartiko - the Greek Resistance
- Socialist, anarchist and revolutionary movements in Patras in 1880s
- The Democratic Association of People in Patras and the newspaper “Hellenic Democracy”
- Stavros Kouchtsoglous - A Greek anarchist communist with anarchosyndicalist ideas
Στο κτήριο της Ελληνικής κοινότητας της Μελβούρνης στις 18/07/2019
Με τον Ελευθεριακό στο Αυτοδιαχειριζόμενο Στέκι Πέρασμα, 22/01/2018
