THE HAYMARKET BOMB AND THE RED SCARE History
THE HAYMARKET BOMB AND THE “RED SCARE” History 350 June 2, 2015
Announcements • The final exam is scheduled for Monday, June 8 at 12: 30. Instructions and essay questions are now online at http: //pages. uoregon. edu/dapope/350 final--spring 15. htm • If you’re doing the take-home, bring hard copy to my office, 366 Mc. Kenzie by 12: 15 Monday, June 8. After that, bring it to our classroom by the 12: 30 start of the in-class exam. • The fourth forum question (on radical labor) is now available. The deadline for posts is 11: 59 p. m. Wed. , June 10. • Late papers will be accepted until class time Thursday (June 4). Bring hard copy to my office, 366 Mc. Kenzie, or to class. They’ll be penalized one grading notch for each weekday they’re late. • Note: Last Thursday, I showed the three You. Tube clips about Haymarket listed on the next slide. They provide a brief overview of the bombing and its context. Although they’re much less complete than Duberman’s novel, you may want to watch them to complement your reading of the book. Here are the links : part 1 part 2 part 3 (about 15 min. total)
Some Websites of Interest • PBS American Experience documentary Chicago: City of the Century website—note the section on anarchists. • The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 video (12 min. ) • Preamble and Declaration of Principles of the Knights of Labor • Excerpts from Chicago: City of the Century on Haymarket affair: part 1 part 2 part 3 (about 15 min. total) • An archive of material on Haymarket. (This is part of a massive “Anarchy Archives”— “an online research center on the history and theory of anarchism”. • An extensive site on “The Dramas of Haymarket”
Map: “Labor Unrest in Chicago, April 25 -May 4, 1886” • [Link for the map: http: //www. encyclopedia. chicagohistory. org/ pages/1769. html]
Mc. Cormick Reaper Works: May 3
The Revenge Circular
A Conspiratorial Meeting?
The Protest and the Bomb
The Bomb—People’s Exhibit 129 a
Cartoon Depiction of the Bombing
Martial Law
Arresting Louis Lingg
The Trial: Judge and Jury
The Courtroom
Juror Selection: Juror accepted for service
Instructions to the Jury
The March to the Grave, Nov. 13, 1887
Gallows Pin Worn by Opponents of the Executions
Were They Innocent? • Recently, historian Timothy Messer-Kruse has published two books, both indicating that the Haymarket anarchists were in fact guilty of a conspiracy. • He sees them as part of a trans-Atlantic network of anarchists who had rejected the possibility of achieving power by electoral politics and adopted theory of “attentat, ” or “propaganda of the deed. ”
Johann Most
Anarchism and Dynamite
Louis Lingg and the Bombs • Louis Lingg, who committed suicide in prison the day before he was scheduled to be hanged, was an eager bomb-maker. “Louis Lingg and the Bombs” is a French punk band. Among their songs: “Conspiracy”, “Louis Lingg, Anarchist” and “Death in the Haymarket”. Here’s a link to some of their songs.
Did Their Guilt or Innocence Matter? • • For public opinion? For understanding the criminal justice system? For later radical workers’ organizations? For the Haymarket anarchists as symbols of an unjust system?
America’s First “Red Scare” • New York Times headline: • Anarchy’s Red Hand • Rioting and Bloodshed in the Streets of Chicago. • Police mowed down with dynamite • Strikers killed with volleys from revolvers. • The slaughter following an anarchist meeting-twelve policemen dead or dying – the number of killed or injured civilians unknown but very large – the bravery of the police force. • Chicago Tribune headline: A Hellish Deed A Dynamite Bomb Thrown Into a Crowd of Policemen It explodes and covers the street with dead and mutilated officers –A storm of bullets follows- The police return the fire and wound a number of rioters- Harrowing scenes at the Desplaines Street Station- A night of terror. • Chicago Times editorial: "Let us whip these slavic wolves back to the European dens from which they issue, or in some way exterminate them. "
Controlling Labor Unrest • In the aftermath of Haymarket, business interests in Chicago donated land to the Federal government to build a military fort, later named Fort Sheridan, in what is now suburban Chicago.
1889: Anarchy and Anarchists • In 1889, Captain Michael Schaack of the Chicago Police published Anarchy and Anarchists, which luridly described the bombing and the anarchists’ terrorist conspiracies behind it.
1893: Altgeld Pardon • In 1893, with three Haymarket defendants still in prison, Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld issued a pardon, releasing them from prison. • The “Red Scare” mood was still strong. Altgeld’s pardon was political suicide and it ended the career of a politician who had been talked about as a future Presidential candidate.
Labor Violence Continues • 1892: Homestead Steel Strike near Pittsburgh – Pinkerton private police battle workers, dozens of casualties – Anarchist Alexander Berkman attempts an attentat—tries to assassinate the General Manager of the steel mill. – Berkman and his lover, Emma Goldman, had become anarchists in response to the hanging of the Haymarket martyrs. Emma became the most prominent anarchist in America. • 1894: Pullman Strike—National railroad strike beginning at Pullman, Illinois factories for making sleeping cars. About thirty deaths in Chicago area alone. • Army troops from Fort Sheridan called on to suppress the strike • One study found 700 instances of labor conflict in the U. S. with deaths recorded. In 160 conflicts, the U. S. military intervened to suppress strikes.
The Legacy of Haymarket Police Monument Martyrs’ Monument
Monumental Histories: The Police Monument • 1889: Chicago Tribune, the city’s leading newspaper, leads fundraising campaign for a police monument • 1927: Streetcar crash damages monument. Motorman says he’s "sick of seeing that policeman with his arm raised. ” • 1969 and 1970: Monument bombed, statue moved to Police Department Headquarters • 2007 Monument rededicated near Haymarket Square
Labor Monuments • Martyrs’ Monument • It’s still controversial. dedicated 1893 in Note anarchist graffiti Waldheim Cemetery. on monument plaque. Rededicated 2011 on 125 th anniversary of the bombing.
A New Memorial: Dedicated 2004
A Souvenir Photograph for You
Into the Twentieth Century • The meanings of equality – The limits of equality of opportunity – Is equality sameness? • Do rights make sense? – “Rights talk” as political rhetoric? – Rights and the existing power structure • Sources of radicalism in capitalist America • And in post-industrial society?
- Slides: 34
