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The “Social Revolution” in America? European Reactions to the “Great Upheaval” and to the Haymarket Affair

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Hubert Perrier ,
Catherine Collomp ,
Michel Cordillot  and
Marianne Debouzy
Hubert Perrier
Affiliation:
Université de Grenoble
Catherine Collomp
Affiliation:
Université de Paris-XII
Michel Cordillot
Affiliation:
Lyceé de Montbéliard
Marianne Debouzy
Affiliation:
Université de Paris-VIII
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Extract

When the Statue of Liberty, a gift of the French government to the American Republic, was inaugurated in the New York harbor on October 28, 1886, the French radical press felt that the ceremony, held as it was on the eve of the executions of the Chicago martyrs, was more of an insult to labor than a tribute to freedom. Indeed, the French anarchists suggested that this statue should be renamed “the Goddess of Murder.” Was this just an outburst of anarchist rhetoric or does it tell us something about the depth of feeling created in the European radical movement by the dramatic events that marked the year 1886?

Type
The Haymarket
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 29 , Spring 1986 , pp. 38 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 1986

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References

NOTES

This study would not have been possible without the generous and efficient help of the following scholars to whom we extend our warmest thanks. Belgium: Marinette Bruwier, University of Mons; Robert Flagothier, Institut E. Vandervelde, Brussels. Denmark: Gerd Callesen, Arbejder-bevaegelsens Bibliotek og Arkiv, Copenhagen; Jens Bjerre Danielsen, University of Aarhus; Therkel Straede, University of Copenhagen. France: René Bianco, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme, Marseilles; Gilbert Astoin, Toulon. Hungary: János Jemnitz, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Budapest. Netherlands: L. Karstens, University of Groningen. Spain: Michel Ralle, University of Besançon. Sweden: Martin Grass, Arbetarrörelsens Arkiv, Stockholm; Claudius H. Riegler, Ystad. Switzerland: Marianne Enckell, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme, Geneva; Karl Lang, Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv, Zurich; Marc Vuilleumier, University of Geneva. We are indebted to Harvey Goldberg who read the manuscript and offered valuable advice for improvement.

The following abbreviations have been used for the most often-cited newspapers: CDP for Le Cri du Peuple; Nép for Népszava; Rév for Le Révolté (which became La Révolte in September 1887); RS for La Revue Socialiste; Danish SD for Danish Social-Demokraten; Swedish SD for Swedish Social-Demokraten; Sa for El Socialista; Se for Le Socialiste.

1. Rév, 27 November, 1887.

2. The decision to concentrate primarily on France was deliberate, if only for reasons of availability of sources, the four authors being French. The focus on Spain and Denmark is the result of the invaluable assistance of M. Ralle, who made available to us his personal library and collection of microfilms, and of G. Callesen and J. Bjerre Danielsen, each of whom sent us an unpublished survey of the Danish case. Our reports on The Netherlands and on Hungary are based on unpublished surveys sent to us by L. Karstens and J. Jemnitz.

3. For instance, W. L. Rosenberg in the case of Se. From the end of 1886 onward, the American correspondents of RS was Laurence Gronlund, and the same journal published (May through October 1887) an important 50-odd page survey of the American labor movement by Frédéric Tufferd, former member of the French-speaking sections of the First International and contributor to the Chicago Alarm in 1885–86.

4. The exception was Le Prolétariat, which did not cover American events until its issue of May 1886 and only provided the scarcest coverage of them in the following months.

5. There was, however, genuine admiration in some socialist reports about such American institutions as the Bureaus of Labor Statistics and legislation on working hours. See RS 4 (April 1885), 313 and ff.; 7 (July 1885), 612–22; Se, 20 February 1886.

6. Rév, 13 September 1885, 14 February 1886; RS 1 (January) 1885, 63, 9 September 1885, 842; 11 November 1885, 1039.

7. Se, 20 February, 13 March, 1886; Rév, 3 September 1885.

8. Se, 17 April 1886; RS 10 (October 1885), 946–47. See also Danish SD, October and November 1885, passim; Swedish SD, 30 April 1886.

9. Rév, 20 December 1885.

10. See note 5.

11. Se, 16, 30 January 1886. See Perrot, Michelle and Kriegel, Annie, Le Socialisme française et le pouvoir (Paris, 1966), 12–40.Google Scholar

12. Se, 16, 30 January 1886; RS 13 (January 1886), 58.

13. Sa, 16 April 1886. See also ibid., 19 March, 30 April 1886; Brey, Gérard, “Crisis económica, Anarquismo y sucesos de Jerez, 1868–1892,” in Brey, ed., Seis Estudios sobre el Proletario Andaluz 1868–1939 (Cordoba 1984), 98Google Scholar; Junco, José A., La Ideologia Política del Anarquismo Español, 1868–1910 (Madrid 1976), 549.Google Scholar

14. Bandera Social, 18 March 1886.

15. Ibid., 22 April 1886.

16. Danish, SD, 12 11 1885, 11 02, 25 04 1886Google Scholar; Swedish, SD, 30 04 1886Google Scholar. See Nilsson, Fred, Emigrationen från Stockholm till Nordamerika 1880–1893 (Stockholm, 1970), 206–25.Google Scholar

17. Le Peuple (daily organ of the Parti Ouvrier Belge), May 5 through 10 1886; CDP, May 6 through 13 1886; Danish, SD, 05 5 1886Google Scholar and most following issues; Swedish, SD, 7 05 1886Google Scholar; Sa, 7, 14 May 1886.

18. CDP, 12 May 1886. On the Knights, see also ibid., 13 May 1886; RS 17 (May 1886), 475–77.

19. Danish, SD, 21 05 1886Google Scholar; Swedish, SD, 28 05 1886Google Scholar; Népszava (official weekly of the General Workers' Party of Hungary), 6 June 1886.

20. Danish, SD, 9, 15, 30 05 1886Google Scholar; Swedish, SD, 28 05, 4 06 1886Google Scholar; Se, 22 May 1886; Sa, 28 May 1886; Typographia (organ of the Hungarian printers), 4 June 1886; Nép, 6, 20 June 1886.

21. Se, 29 May 1886. See also Rév, 15 May, 5 June 1886; Swedish, SD, 28 05 1886.Google Scholar

22. CDP, 14 June, 28 October 1886; Rév, 19 June 1886; RS 21 (September 1886), 855; Swedish, SD, 4 06, 2 07 1886Google Scholar; Danish, SD, 23 07 1886, 7 01 1887Google Scholar; Nép, 20 June, 4 July, December 1886. In Spain interest in the American labor movement was exceptionally sustained. See Sa (at least 21 articles, exclusive of Haymarket), from June 1886 to January 1888; Acracia (libertarian monthly), June 1886 to April 1888; El Productor (Barcelona anarchist labor weekly), 2 February 1887 (issue 1) to June 1888.

23. For special interest in the boycott as a form of action see Danish, SD, 30 01, 8 07, 18 08 1886Google Scholar; Nép 20 June 1886; Typographie Française 1 April, 16 May, 16 June 1887.

24. Sa, 5 November 1886; RS 18 (June 1886), 561–63; ibid., 32 (August 1887), 122–36. A pervasive idea among socialists was that the Order was bound to move in the right ideological direction (that was Engels's view, see Se, 9, 16, 23 July 1887 and Sa, 2 September, 7 October 1887), or even that it was already growing into a socialist organization: RS 34 (October 1887), 414. Although socialist reports on the Order also included criticisms (e.g., Danish, SD, 25 06 1886Google Scholar), the harshest comments came from anarchists: Prod, 10 April 1887; Rév, 27 November 1886 and five articles from 13 August 1887 to 20 January 1888. Some commentators stressed the need for unity among all American organizations: Nép, 6 June 1886; Tufferd in RS 34 (October 1887), 414.

25. Prod, 3 February, 4 March, 2 September 1887; Sa, 1 October, 3 December, 1886, 30 September, 14 October 1887; Se, 21 August, 8, 22 October 1886, 3, 17 September, 3, 22 October 1887; CDP, 26 July 1886, 2 July 1887; Le Prolétariat, 6 November 1886; Danish, SD, 09 to 12 1886, esp. 14 DecemberGoogle Scholar; Nép, December 1886.

26. Rév, 15, 29 May 1886; Se, 22 May, 5 June, 24 July 1886.

27. CDP, 27, 30 July, 5, 13, 22, 23 August 1886. The Danish SD also abundantly covered the trial and its background.

28. Rév, 16 October 1886.

29. Se, 16 October, 4 December 1886; CDP, 14 June 1886; RS 24 (December 1886), 1136–37; Sa, 8 October 1886; Danish, SE, 14 12 1886.Google Scholar

30. Nép, 6 June 1886; Se, 24 July, 2 October 1886; Danish, SD, 6, 11, 13, 05 1886, 5 01 1887Google Scholar. For some more favorable evaluations of American anarchists, in the Danish, SD, see 21 05, 24, 25 06 1886.Google Scholar

31. Danish, SD, 8, 21 05 1886Google Scholar; Swedish, SD, 4 06, 2 07 1886Google Scholar; RS 21 (September 1886), 844–45; Nép, December 1886.

32. CDP, 23 August 1886.

33. Ibid., 4 October 1886; Danish, SD, 25 09 1886Google Scholar; RS 21 (September 1886), 844; Se, 2 October 1886.

34. Se, 4 December 1886; Rév, 16 October 1886.

35. CDP, 6 July, 9, 13 September 1887; Rév, 26 February, 5 March 1887; Prod, 1 December 1887.

36. Prod, 23, 30 September, 14 October, 11 November 1887; Rév 24 September, 4, 15 October, 5, 12 November 1887; CDP, 30 October, 2, 3, 6 November 1887.

37. Recht voor Allen (Dutch social-democratic weekly), 28 October, 2, 9 November 1887; Danish, SD, 5 11 1887Google Scholar and most following issues; Swedish, SD, 5 11 1887Google Scholar; Arbeiterstimme (weekly organ of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions), 12 November 1887; Se, 22 October 1887.

38. CDP, 14, 15 November 1887; Prod, 17 November 1887; Rév, 19 November 1887; Arbeiterstimme, 19 November 1887. In the following weeks there were many special issues, editorials and other items about the martyrs' lives, speeches in court, and last moments: Rév, 26 November, 10 December 1887, 4 February 1888; Danish, SD, 27 11 1887 through 3 01 1888Google Scholar; Acracia, January 1888; Prod, 23 November, 2 December 1887; RS 36 (December 1887), 660.

39. Prod, 17 November, 1887; Rév, 19 November 1887, 4 February 1888; Sa, 18 November 1887; Acracia, October 1887; Recht voor Allen, 16 November 1887.

40. Se, 19 November 1887; Rév, 5, 19 November 1887.

41. L'Intransigeant, 27 November 1886; Se, 4 February 1886.

42. L'Intransigeant, 30 November 1886. For evidence of French anarchist attempts to organize protest actions, see Archives de la Préfecture de Police (hereafter APP), Paris, BA 74, reports for 15 October 1886; BA 75, reports for 26, 30 January 1887.

43. Rév, 5, 12 November 1887. APP, BA 75, reports for 12 October, 8 November 1887.

44. Rév, 5, 12 November, 1887; Recht voor Allen, 28 October 1887; Danish, SD, 16 11 1887Google Scholar; Prod, 2 December 1887.

45. For lack of space it is impossible to provide even a partial list of those publications here.

46. Acracia, October 1887; Prod, 7, 21, 28 October, 9, 16, 23 December 1887, 27 January 1888; Brey, 104.

47. Prod, 9 November through 14 December 1888, 19 November 1891 through 7 January 1892; Brey, 103, 111; Rév, 11 November 1888, 9 November 1889, 15 November 1890; APP, BA 75, reports for 6, 15 November, 9 December 1888.

48. Prod, 17 August 1888, 25, 28 September, 16 November 1888, 29 November 1889, 11 November 1891; Segundo Certamen Socialista, [11 Nov.] 1889: Celebrado en honor “Martires de Chicago” (Barcelona, 1890), 373–438; Junco, 554.

49. Prod, 10 January 1890, 26 November 1891; Fonseca, Carlos Da, Introduction A l'histoire du mouvement libertaire au Portugal (Lausanne, 1973), 13 and ff.Google Scholar

50. Brey, 103.

51. Congrès International Ouvrier Socialiste de Paris, 07 1889, “Congrès possibiliste,” in Histoire de la IIo Internationale (Genève 1976), Minkoff reprint (hereafter Minkoff), VII, 272Google Scholar; Rossel, André, Le Premier Mai, 90 Ans de luttes populaires dans le monde (Paris, 1977), 164.Google Scholar

52. Sa, 9 November 1888, 15 November 1889, 14 November 1890, 13 November 1891.

53. Welcker, J.M., Heren en arbeiters in de vroege Nederlandse arbeidersbewegung, 1870–1914 (Amsterdam, 1978), 389Google Scholar; Nieuwenhuis, F.Domela, Van Christen tot Anarchist (Amsterdam 1920), 135Google Scholar. For a Danish example, see Straede, Therkel, ed., Rolf Hammer, anarchister Arzt in Kopenhagen, 1865–1910 (Copenhagen, 1983), 2.Google Scholar

54. “Résolutions votées au Congrès International ouvrier socialiste de Paris,” Minkoff, 6, 38–39. Even the most complete report of proceedings, the German-language “Protokoll…,” has no mention of the 1886 events in the U.S. Ibid.

55. Deville, Gabriel, “Historique du ler Mai,” Le Devenir Social, 04 1896, 289–309Google Scholar; Guesde, Jules, “Le Premier Mai et ses origines,” Se, 7 05 1899.Google Scholar

56. For a description of the February 1889 movement see the pioneering work on the history of the 1st of May by Dommanget, Maurice, Histoire du Premier Mai (Paris, 1972) 56–85Google Scholar. See also Perrot, Michelle, “The First of May 1890 in France,” in Thane, Pat et al. , eds., The Power of the Past: Essays for Eric Hobsbawm, (Cambridge, Mass., 1984), 143–71.Google Scholar

57. “Report of the International Trade Union Congress, London, Oct. 1888,” in Minkoff, 7, 284–308. Together with Bebel, Liebknecht, and Lafargue among others, Anseele took part in the Hague conference held in February 1889. Minkoff, 6, 3–7.

58. CDP, 21 January 1889.

59. Paul Lafargue quoted in Dommanget, 44.

60. Brey, 90.

61. Prod, 18 May 1891.

62. Fédération Nationale des Syndicats, “2o Congrès tenu à Montluçon, 23–28 Oct. 1887” (Montluçon, 1888), 40, 41, 65–67. See also Brécy, Robert, Le Mouvement syndical en France (Paris, 1963), 18–19Google Scholar. See also Brécy, , La grève générale en France (Paris, 1969).Google Scholar

63. Rév, 12 November 1887.

64. Grave, Jean, L'Anarchie, son but, ses moyens (Paris, 1899), 278–79Google Scholar. See also Pouget's, E. articles in Le Père Peinard, 11 05 1890, 26 04, 3 05 1891, 24 04, 8 05 1892, etc.Google Scholar

65. Pouget's, decisive articles are in Le Père Peinard, 3 05 1891, 2 05 1897Google Scholar; La Voix du Peuple, 1 May 1901, 1 May 1902, 1 May 1903; Le Mouvement Socialiste, 15 March 1905. See also Dommanget, 226–28; Goustine, Christian De, Pouget: Les Matins noirs du syndicalisme (Paris, 1972).Google Scholar