The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America: From its Incipient Stage to the First Bomb Thrown in ChicagoMcLean, George N.
History
The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America: From its Incipient Stage to the First Bomb Thrown in Chicago
McLean, George N.
Anarchists -- United States; Haymarket Square Riot, Chicago, Ill., 1886
"Now," said Foster, "you say you were a proletariat. What do you mean
by that term?"--"I understand it to be a man without any means of
support."
"And you, having no money, had your mail sent to Justus Schwab because
you had no home, eh?"--"Yes, sir."
"Now," asked Mr. Ingham, "I'll ask you if you did not use the term
proletariat in the sense in which Socialists always employ that
term?"--"No, sir, I did not."
SAMUEL FIELDEN.
Samuel Fielden, one of the defendants who was speaking at the time
of the bomb explosion, testified that he did not know who threw the
bomb, and denied that he fired at the police with a revolver. He was
cross-examined by Mr. Ingham for the State, who asked: "At what age did
you come to the United States?"--"Twenty-one."
"Did you have any business before you came to the United States?"--"I
went to work in a cotton mill at eight years of age, and worked in that
mill until I left the country to come to the United States."
"How long have you been a Socialist?"--"I joined the Socialistic
organization in July, 1884."
"How long have you been a revolutionist?"--"In the sense of an
evolutionary revolutionist, I have been so for a number of years."
"How long have you been of the belief that the existing order of things
should be overthrown by force?"--"I don't know that I have ever been
convinced. I am of the opinion that the existing order of things must
be overturned, but whether by force I don't know."
"How long have you believed in Anarchy?"--"Well, I believed in it
shortly after I joined the organization--as soon as I came to think on
the subject."
"You have been progressing from Socialism to Anarchism; and if you
cannot convince the majority of the United States to your opinions,
you propose to compel them by force?"--Objected to.
"How long have you preached Anarchy?"--Objected to.
"Was there any English-speaking group in the city that you know
of?"--Objected to.
"Did you ever attend any meeting of any English-speaking group other
than the American group in this city of that kind?"--"We tried to found
one a year ago last winter on West Indiana street. I think we only held
two meetings, and then we abandoned it."
"Any other group of them that you attended?"--"I don't remember any
now."
"You have for the last two or three years been making speeches of
Socialistic and Anarchistic character?"--"I have been making labor
speeches; they were not always Socialistic or Anarchistic speeches."
"But you have made Socialistic and Anarchistic speeches?"--"Well, I
have touched on Anarchy and Socialism, and sometimes my speeches might
have been considered from the ordinary trades union standpoint, for all
the anarchy there was in them."
"Have you ever made speeches on the Lake front and other Socialistic
meetings?"--"Yes, on the Lake front, some on Market square, Twelfth
street, Turner hall, and at No. 106 Randolph street."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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