Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.133.2.3
Object Name
Poster
Title
l'asino 1st May 1901 poster
People
Bettino Craxi
Events
May Day
Date
1901
Description
This is part of a larger collection of fifty posters produced for the Italian socialist party from 1892 to 1970. This is a poster made of white card - there is an image on the front. This is an image from a magazine called "I'asino." The image says I'Asino 1 Maggio" at the top, and proceeds to show an image of a group of people marching, some are playing the trumpet. The group goes down a long road, and the person at the front is holding a hat and a stick with a red flag. The bottom right of the poster has a poem reading "Festa Del I Maggio 1901, Marcia Del Lavoro. Su, Fratelli! su, compagne! su venite in fitta schiera; sulla libera bandiera splende il sol dell'avvenir. nelle pene e nell'insulto ci stringemmo in mutuo patto; la gran causa del riscatto niun di noi vorra tradir. Il riscatto del lavoro de' suoi figli opra sara." This translates to "Feast of the 1st of May 1901, March of Labor. Come on, Brothers! come on, comrades! come on in a dense group; on the free flag the sun of the future shines. in the punishments and in the insult we made a mutual agreement; the great cause of the ransom none of us will want to betray. The redemption of the work of his children will be opra." The top of the poster has smaller text with the date and page number. This magazine "L'Asino (The Donkey) was an Italian magazine of political satire founded in Rome on November 27, 1892, by Guido Podrecca (1865â1923) and Gabriele Galantara (1867â1937), a former mathematics student, designer and cartoonist, both with a socialist background. The two took the pseudonyms "Goliardo" (Podrecca) and "Ratalanga" (Galantara), and with these nicknames signed the outputs of the weekly. The magazine's title was from a saying of Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi that said that "the donkey is like the people: useful, patient and stubborn" (in Italian: "come il popolo è l'asino: utile, paziente e bastonato), which became the subtitle and the motto of the editors."
