December 10 - August Spies is Born

On this day in labor history, the year was 1855. That was the day Haymarket Martyr August Spies was born.

 

He immigrated to America from Germany in 1872 and became involved in the Chicago labor movement while working as an upholsterer.

The Panic of 1873 and the Great Strikes of 1877 radicalized Spies.

He soon joined the Socialist Labor Party but soon left over the issue of electoral politics.

He and others favored revolutionary action instead and threw their weight to the emerging anarcho-syndicalist movement.

Spies and his comrade, Albert Parsons, believed that trade unions must work towards ending capitalism, rather than simply fighting for economic gains.

They soon became leaders of the International Working People’s Association in Chicago.

Spies became editor of the radical, German language newspaper, Arbeiter-Zeitung.

The worker’s newspaper decried the incredible wealth of a few, amidst the immense poverty and suffering workers faced.

It became a rallying point for the Eight-Hour Day campaign.

Spies and other anarchist leaders, who would soon be known as the Haymarket Martyrs, became involved in organizing the Mayday strike in 1886.

Spies gave the impassioned speech at McCormick Reaper Works 

He witnessed the Chicago police shoot down two workers as they confronted scabs at the gate and organized a protest rally in response.

The rally took place at the Haymarket Square the next evening.

When the fateful bomb was thrown, Spies and his comrades were immediately arrested.

They were tried and convicted for their political views.

There was no evidence linking any of them to any crime.

As he walked to the gallows, Spies shouted “The Day Will Come When Our Silence Will Be More Powerful Than the Voices You Are Throttling Today.”