Reconstruction, Expansion, and the Triumph of Industrial Capitalism 43unarmed workers who attempted to keep scabs from entering the factory and
then beat many others. Labor radicals called for another huge demonstration
in Haymarket Square the next day to protest the murders. Attendance was
small due to hasty organization and bad weather, and before the rally even
began, police rushed in to bust heads. An unidentified person tossed a bomb
into the crowd, killing one cop and mortally wounding [causing damages that
would lead to death later] six others. Panic ensued and police officers became
increasingly violent, shooting wildly—even shooting other cops—in what a
Chicago Herald reporter called a “wild carnage.” Hundreds were trampled
and shot as they attempted to escape the chaos.
Whipped into frenzy, Chicago demanded “justice.” Police arrested eight
anarchists who were charged with plotting and carrying out the bombing.
Seven of the eight men accused were foreign-born—six were German and
one was from England. The eighth man, Albert Parsons, was born in Alabama,
had served in the Confederate army, and had edited a Republican newspaper
in Texas during Reconstruction. He was also married to an African-American,
Lucy Parsons. Parsons moved to Chicago in 1870 because he feared political
repression and racist attacks for being married to a Black woman in the South.
All eight of the accused labor leaders received the death penalty despite no
evidence that they knew about or had anything to do with bombing. Parsons,
who had attempted to escape persecution in the South, was hanged along
with three others for a crime that they did not commit. August Spies, one of
the four hanged, testified in court, “I knew from experience of the past that
this butchering of people was done for the express purpose of defeating the
eight-hour movement.” During the week before his execution, Parsons urged
workers to remain strong. “Falter not,” he said. “Lay bare the inequalities of
capitalism; expose the slavery of law; proclaim the tyranny of government;
denounce the greed, cruelty, abominations of the privileged class who riot and
revel on the labor of their wage-slaves.” Three of the other accused were
imprisoned until Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned them in 1893.
One, Louis Lingg, died by suicide while in prison. Lingg spoke eloquently
about the struggle between capital and labor after his conviction:
I tell you frankly and openly, I am for force. I have already told Captain
Schaack, “if they use cannons against us, we shall use dynamite against
them.” I repeat that I am the enemy of the “order” of today, and I repeat