American anarchist Lucy Parsons writes on what it means to be an anarchist in 1913.
I am an anarchist. I suppose you came here, the most of you, to see
what a real, live anarchist looked like. I suppose some of you expected
to see me with a bomb in one hand and a flaming torch in the other, but
are disappointed in seeing neither. If such has been your ideas
regarding an anarchist, you deserved to be disappointed. Anarchists are
peaceable, law abiding people. What do anarchists mean when they speak
of anarchy? Webster gives the term two definitions chaos and the state
of being without political rule. We cling to the latter definition. Our
enemies hold that we believe only in the former.
Do you wonder why there are anarchists in this country, in this great
land of liberty, as you love to call it? Go to New York. Go through the
byways and alleys of that great city. Count the myriads starving; count
the multiplied thousands who are homeless; number those who work harder
than slaves and live on less and have fewer comforts than the meanest
slaves. You will be dumbfounded by your discoveries, you who have paid
no attention to these poor, save as objects of charity and
commiseration. They are not objects of charity, they are the victims of
the rank injustice that permeates the system of government, and of
political economy that holds sway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its
oppression, the misery it causes, the wretchedness it gives birth to,
are found to a greater extent in New York than elsewhere. In New York,
where not many days ago two governments united in unveiling a statue of
liberty, where a hundred bands played that hymn of liberty, 'The
Marseillaise.' But almost its equal is found among the miners of the
West, who dwell in squalor and wear rags, that the capitalists, who
control the earth that should be free to all, may add still further to
their millions! Oh, there are plenty of reasons for the existence of
anarchists.
But in Chicago they do not think anarchists have any right to exist
at all. They want to hang them there, lawfully or unlawfully. You have
heard of a certain Haymarket meeting.' You have heard of a bomb. You
have heard of arrests and of succeeding arrests effected by detectives.
Those detectives! There is a set of men nay, beasts for you! Pinkerton
detectives! They would do anything. I feel sure capitalists wanted a man
to throw that bomb at the Haymarket meeting and have the anarchists
blamed for it. Pinkerton could have accomplished it for him. You have
heard a great deal about bombs. You have heard that the anarchists said
lots about dynamite. You have been told that Lingg made bombs. He
violated no law. Dynamite bombs can kill, can murder, so can Gatling
guns. Suppose that bomb had been thrown by an anarchist. The
constitution says there are certain inalienable rights, among which are a
free press, free speech and free assemblage. The citizens of this great
land are given by the constitution the right to repel the unlawful
invasion of those rights. The meeting at Haymarket square was a
peaceable meeting. Suppose, when an anarchist saw the police arrive on
the scene, with murder in their eyes, determined to break up that
meeting, sup¬pose he had thrown that bomb; he would have violated no
law. That will be the verdict of your children. Had I been there, had I
seen those murderous police approach, had I heard that insolent command
to disperse, had I heard Fielden say, 'Captain, this is a peaceable
meeting,' had I seen the liberties of my countrymen trodden under foot, I
would have flung the bomb myself. I would have violated no law, but
would have upheld the constitution.
If the anarchists had planned to destroy the city of Chicago and to
mas¬sacre the police, why was it they had only two or three bombs in
hand? Such was not their intention. It was a peaceable meeting. Carter
Harrison, the mayor of Chicago, was there. He said it was a quiet
meeting. He told Bonfield [Captain John Bonfield, Commander of
Desplaines Police Station] to send the police to their different beats. I
do not stand here to gloat over the murder of those policemen. I
despise murder. But when a ball from the revolver of a policeman kills
it is as much murder as when death results from a bomb.
The police rushed upon that meeting as it was about to disperse. Mr.
Simonson talked to Bonfield about the meeting.' Bonfield said he wanted
to do the anarchists up. Parsons went to the meeting. He took his wife,
two ladies and his two children along. Toward the close of the meeting,
he said, 'I believe it is going to rain. Let us adjourn to Zeph's hall.'
Fielden said he was about through with his speech and would close it at
once. The people were beginning to scatter about, a thousand of the
more enthusiastic still lingered in spite of the rain. Parsons, and
those who accompanied him started for home. They had gone as far as the
Desplaine's street police station when they saw the police start at a
double quick. Parsons stopped to see what was the trouble. Those 200
policemen rushed on to do the anarchists up. Then we went on. I was in
Zeph's hall when I heard that terrible detonation. It was heard around
the world. Tyrants trembled and felt there was something wrong.
The discovery of dynamite and its use by anarchists is a repetition
of history. When gun powder was discovered, the feudal system was at the
height of its power. Its discovery and use made the middle classes. Its
first discharge sounded the death knell of the feudal system. The bomb
at Chi¬cago sounded the downfall of the wage system of the nineteenth
century. Why? Because I know no intelligent people will submit to
despotism. The first means the diffusion of power. I tell no man to use
it. But it was the achievement of science, not of anarchy, and would do
for the masses. I suppose the press will say I belched forth treason. If
I have violated any law, arrest me, give me a trial, and the proper
punishment, but let the next anarchist that comes along ventilate his
views without hindrance.
Well, the bomb exploded, the arrests were made and then came that
great judicial farce, beginning on June 21. The jury was impaneled. Is
there a Knight of Labor here? Then know that a Knight of Labor was not
considered competent enough to serve on that jury. 'Are you a Knight of
Labor?' 'Have you any sympathy with labor organizations?' were the
questions asked each talisman. If an affirmative answer was given, the
talisman was bounced. It was not are you a Mason, a Knight Templar? O,
no! [Great applause.] I see you read the signs of the times by that
expression. Hangman Gary, miscalled judge, ruled that if a man was
prejudiced against the defendants, it did not incapacitate him for
serving on the jury. For such a man, said Hangman Gary, would pay closer
attention to the law and evidence and would be more apt to render a
verdict for the defense. Is there a lawyer here? If there is he knows
such a ruling is without precedent and contrary to all law, reason or
common sense.
In the heat of patriotism the American citizen sometimes drops a tear
for the nihilist of Russia. They say the nihilist can't get justice,
that he is condemned without trial. How much more should he weep for his
next door neighbor, the anarchist, who is given the form of trial under
such a ruling.
There were 'squealers' introduced as witnesses for the prosecution.
There were three of them. Each and every one was compelled to admit they
had been purchased and intimidated by the prosecution. Yet Hangman Gary
held their evidence as competent. It came out in the trial that the
Haymarket meeting was the result of no plot, but was caused in this
wise. The day before the wage slaves in McCormick's factory had struck
for eight hours labor, McCormick, from his luxurious office, with one
stroke of the pen by his idle, be ringed fingers, turned 4,000 men out
of employment. Some gathered and stoned the factory. Therefore they were
anarchists, said the press. But anarchists are not fools; only fools
stone buildings. The police were sent out and they killed six wage
slaves. You didn't know that. The capitalistic press kept it quiet, but
it made a great fuss over the killing of some policemen. Then these
crazy anarchists, as they are called, thought a meeting ought to be held
to consider the killing of six brethren and to discuss the eight hour
movement. The meeting was held. It was peaceable. When Bonfield ordered
the police to charge those peaceable anarchists, he hauled down the
American flag and should have been shot on the spot.
While the judicial farce was going on the red and black flags were
brought into court, to prove that the anarchists threw the bomb. They
were placed on the walls and hung there, awful specters before the jury.
What does the black flag mean? When a cable gram says it was carried
through the streets of a European city it means that the people are
suffering—that the men are out of work, the women starving, the children
barefooted. But, you say, that is in Europe. How about America? The
Chicago Tribune said there were 30,000 men in that city with nothing to
do. Another authority said there were 10,000 barefooted children in mid
winter. The police said hundreds had no place to sleep or warm. Then
President Cleveland issued his Thanksgiving proclamation and the
anarchists formed in procession and car¬ried the black flag to show that
these thousands had nothing for which to return thanks. When the Board
of Trade, that gambling den, was dedicated by means of a banquet, $30 a
plate, again the black flag was carried, to signify that there were
thousands who couldn't enjoy a 2 cent meal.
But the red flag, the horrible red flag, what does that mean? Not
that the streets should run with gore, but that the same red blood
courses through the veins of the whole human race. * It meant the
brotherhood of man. When the red flag floats over the world the idle
shall be called to work. There will be an end of prostitution for women,
of slavery for man, of hunger for children.
Liberty has been named anarchy. If this verdict is carried out it
will be the death knell of America's liberty. You and your children will
be slaves. You will have liberty if you can pay for it. If this verdict
is carried out, place the flag of our country at half mast and write on
every fold 'shame.' Let our flag be trailed in the dust. Let the
children of workingmen place laurels to the brow of these modern heroes,
for they committed no crime. Break the two fold yoke. Bread is freedom
and freedom is bread.
The Kansas City Journal, December 21, 1886, p. 1.