Haymarket Anarchists Chapter Summary

The Haymarket bombing occurred on May 4, 1886. The leaders of the labor movement in Chicago called for a public meeting in Haymarket Square after police had shot and killed two workers at the McCormick Reaper Works plant on May 3rd. In The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists: Terrorism and Justice in the Gilded Age Timothy Messer-Kruse uncovers the truth about the Haymarket bombing and the trial that followed. He walks his readers through the bombing, the investigation, the trial, the execution, and the pardon. In preparation for this book, he studied the complete original transcript of the trial, instead of solely depending on the Abstract of Record and other historian’s interpretations, as most of his predecessors had done. In doing so he discovered and effectively proved that contemporary understandings about this historical event are utterly flawed.
Degan. “All told, at least seven policemen and three civilians were killed near Haymarket Square that night of May the Fourth.” The eight men charged were August Spies, Albert Parsons, Samuel Fielden, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, Oscar Neebe, George Engel, and Louis Lingg. Messer-Kruse explains the significance of knowing the experiences and influences that led these anarchist men to devise this act of violence against the Chicago police. For example, August Spies was influenced by the writings of Karl Marx. George Engel came to America with his wife and child, after struggling as an orphan in Germany and a young man searching for work throughout Europe. He found good paying work in America but became needy, after becoming ill and losing his job. He became involved with the socialist and anarchist movements, after moving to Chicago for a new job at a wagon