Michael
Schwab
was born in Mannheim, Germany, on 9th
August, 1853. He worked as a bookbinder before emigrating to the United
States in 1879. He settled in Chicago
where he joined the Socialist Labor Party
and became active in trade union activities.
On 1st May, 1886 a strike was began throughout the United States in
support a eight-hour day. Over the next few days over 340,000 men
and women withdrew their labor. Over a quarter of these strikers were
from Chicago and the employers were so
shocked by this show of unity that 45,000 workers in the city were
immediately granted a shorter workday.
The campaign for the eight-hour day was organised by the International
Working Peoples Association (IWPA). On 3rd May, the IWPA in Chicago
held a rally outside the McCormick Harvester Works, where 1,400 workers
were on strike. They were joined by 6,000 lumber-shovers, who had
also withdrawn their labour. While August Spies,
one of the leaders of the IWPA was making a speech, the police arrived
and opened-fire on the crowd, killing four of the workers.
The following day August Spies, who was
editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung,
published a leaflet in English and German entitled: Revenge!
Workingmen to Arms!. It included the passage: "They
killed the poor wretches because they, like you, had the courage to
disobey the supreme will of your bosses. They killed them to show
you 'Free American Citizens' that you must be satisfied with whatever
your bosses condescend to allow you, or you will get killed. If you
are men, if you are the sons of your grand sires, who have shed their
blood to free you, then you will rise in your might, Hercules, and
destroy the hideous monster that seeks to destroy you. To arms we
call you, to arms." Spies also published a second leaflet calling
for a mass protest at Haymarket Square that evening.
On 4th May, over 3,000 people turned up at
the Haymarket meeting. Speeches were
made by August Spies, Albert
Parsons and Samuel Fielden. At 10
a.m. Captain John Bonfield and 180 policemen arrived on the scene.
Bonfield was telling the crowd to "disperse immediately and peacebly"
when someone threw a bomb into the police ranks from one of the alleys
that led into the square. It exploded killing eight men and wounding
sixty-seven others. The police then immediately attacked the crowd.
A number of people were killed (the exact number was never disclosed)
and over 200 were badly injured.
Several people identified Rudolph Schnaubelt as the man who threw
the bomb. He was arrested but was later released without charge. It
was later claimed that Schnaubelt was an agent provocateur
in the pay of the authorities. After the release of Schnaubelt, the
police arrested Samuel Fielden, an Englishman,
and six German immigrants, George Engel,
August Spies, Adolph
Fisher, Louis Lingg, and Oscar
Neebe. The police also sought Albert
Parsons, the leader of the International Working Peoples Association
in Chicago, but he went into hiding and
was able to avoid capture. However, on the morning of the trial, Parsons
arrived in court to standby his comrades.
There were plenty of witnesses who were able to prove that none of
the eight men threw the bomb. The authorities therefore decided to
charge them with conspiracy to commit murder. The prosecution case
was that these men had made speeches and written articles that had
encouraged the unnamed man at the Haymarket
to throw the bomb at the police.
The jury was chosen by a special bailiff instead of being selected
at random. One of those picked was a relative of one of the police
victims. Julius Grinnell, the State's Attorney, told the jury: "Convict
these men make examples of them, hang them, and you save our institutions."
At the trial it emerged that Andrew Johnson, a detective from the
Pinkerton Agency, had infiltrated
the group and had been collecting evidence about the men. Johnson
claimed that at anarchist meetings
these men had talked about using violence. Reporters who had also
attended International Working Peoples Association meetings also testified
that the defendants had talked about using force to "overthrow
the system".
During the trial the judge allowed the jury to read speeches and articles
by the defendants where they had argued in favour of using violence
to obtain political change. The judge then told the jury that if they
believed, from the evidence, that these speeches and articles contributed
toward the throwing of the bomb, they were justified in finding the
defendants guilty.
All the men were found guilty: Albert Parsons,
August Spies, Adolph
Fisher, Louis Lingg and George
Engel were given the death penalty. Whereas Schwab, Oscar
Neebe and Samuel Fielden were
sentenced to life imprisonment. On 10th November, 1887, Lingg committed
suicide by exploding a dynamite cap in his mouth. The following day
Parsons, Spies, Fisher and Engel mounted the gallows. As the noose
was placed around his neck, Spies shouted out: "There will be
a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you
strangle today."
Many people believed that the men had not been given a fair trial
and in 1893, John Peter Altgeld, the
new governor of Illinois, pardoned Schwab, Oscar
Neebe and Samuel Fielden.
(1)
Michael Schwab, Autobiography
of Michael Schwab (1887)
It was a beautiful morning when the Wester, on which I had
taken passage, landed in New York. As everybody knows, the harbor
of New York affords a grand sight and as it is a well known fact that
this city is as dirty as can be, anyhow in the neighborhood of the
Castle Garden. I did not stay very long in New York, but after three
days delay, I went to Chicago.
(2) Michael Schwab, speech
at his trial (September, 1887)
According to our vocabulary Anarchy is a state of society in which
the only government is reason; a state of society in which all human
beings do right for the simple reason that it is right, and hate wrong
because it is wrong. In such a society no compulsion will be necessary.
Anarchy is a dream, but only in the present. It is entirely wrong
to use the word Anarchy as synonymous with violence. Violence is something,
and Anarchy is another. In the present state of society violence is
used on all sides, and therefore we advocated the use of violence
against violence, but against violence only as a necessary means of
defense.
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