Difference between revisions of "August Spies"

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August Spies (1855-1887)

August Vincent Theodore Spies (December 10, 1855 – November 11, 1887) was an anarchist labor activist hanged under doubtful circumstances following a bomb attack on police at the Haymarket Riot.

Birth[edit]

Spies was born in Germany in 1855 and emigrated to America in 1872 with his mother, Christine, and his five siblings, Henry, Kenny, Maggie, Willy, and Adolph. His father had died in 1871.

Chicago[edit]

He settled in Chicago, where he became an upholsterer. Involving himself in trade union activities due to the injustices he witnessed, Spies joined the Socialist Labour Party in 1877, where he began his deep involvement with labor causes and ultimately became editor of the anarchist daily newspaper, the Arbeiter-Zeitung, in 1880.

Anarchist[edit]

Known for his aggressive rhetoric, an enraged Spies published a leaflet on May 4 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"

Haymarket Square[edit]

On May 4, 1886, Spies spoke during a rally at Haymarket Square. Contrary to the mayor's explicit instructions, police intervened, sending units into the crowd in an attempt to disperse it. Violence erupted and a pipe-bomb was thrown, killing seven policemen. Seven men were arrested, including Spies. Later, Albert Parsons turned himself in.

Witnesses testified that none of the eight men charged threw the bomb. According to The Press on Trial, Spies had finished his speech but was still on stage when the bomb went off. However, all eight were found guilty, and seven were sentenced to death. One, Oscar Neebe, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Selected quotations[edit]

Laws are cobwebs for the rich, and chains of steel for the poor.

Anarchism does not mean bloodshed; it does not mean robbery, arson, etc. These monstrosities are, on the contrary, the characteristic features of capitalism. Anarchism means peace and tranquility to all.

Trial[edit]

The trial of Spies and his associates was highly controversial. The jury was selected specifically by a special bailiff; one of the jury members was a relative of one of the slain policemen. Julius Grinnell, the State's Attorney, told the jury, "Convict these men, make examples of them, hang them, and you save our institutions." During the trial, the jury was allowed by the judge to read articles in support of political violence written previously by the defendants as evidence. While in prison, Spies wrote an autobiography.

In 1887, Spies and his co-defendants appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court (122 Ill. 1), then to the Supreme Court of the United States. At the Supreme Court they were represented by John Randolph Tucker, Roger Atkinson Pryor, General Benjamin F. Butler and William P. Black. Their petition for certiorari was denied (123 U.S. 131).

Two of the defendants, Michael Schwab and Samuel Fielden, asked for clemency and their sentences were commuted to life in prison on November 10, 1887, by Governor Richard James Oglesby. (The three were pardoned and released on June 26, 1893, by John Peter Altgeld, the governor of Illinois.) Of the remaining five, Louis Lingg killed himself in his cell with a cigar bomb on November 10, 1887. Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel were hanged the next day (November 11, 1887). As he faced his demise on the gallows, Spies shouted, "the day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."

Marriage[edit]

In January 1887, while still in prison, Spies married Nina van Zandt (1862-1936). She was a graduate of Vassar college and the only child of a wealthy Chicago chemist. She published an article on the trial for the Chicago Knights of Labor. After Spies's death she married Stephen A. Malato, an attorney, in 1895. They divorced in 1902, and she reverted to the surname Spies.

See also[edit]

• 1880 US Census with Spies in Chicago, Illinois
• May day
• Boston Punk Rock band - August Spies (band)

References[edit]