Haymarket Riot, The. 2 titles in one slipcase.
Rare Souvenirs Of The Haymarket Riot
[Haymarket Riot]. The Accused The Accusers: The Famous Speeches of the Eight Chicago Anarchists in Court. When Asked if they had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon them. On October 7th, 8th and 9th, 1886. Chicago, Illinois. Chicago: Scholastic Publishing Society, 1886.
8vo.; occasional pages foxed; pink printed wrappers, stapled; a well-loved copy of a fragile publication.
Boxed together with:
[Haymarket Riot]. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Eleventh of November Memorial Edition. Souvenir Edition of the Famous Speeches of our Martyrs, delivered in court when asked if they had anything to say why the sentence of death should not be passed upon them. November 11, 1887-1912. Chicago: Lucy E. Parsons, Publisher, 1912.
8vo.; red printed wrappers, stapled; staples rusted; wrappers lightly worn, with some darkening.
First edition of a landmark pamphlet printing the speeches of the 8 convicted anarchists; and “sixth edition of 30,000 in four years” of an anniversary keepsake commemorating the eight convicted anarchists.
Together, these two pamphlets serve as bookends to the historic tragedy that was the Haymarket Riot. The earlier piece was published contemporary to the riot by the anarchists’ supporters, who felt that all should be able to read the arguments given by these men in court. The later item is a much later effort to memorialize them; the publisher, Lucy E. Parsons, was the widow of one of the men killed.
The Haymarket or Haymarket Square Riot is the common title used to refer to an episode of tremendous violence and anti-leftist repression in the distant American past. In October 1886, a protest at Chicago’s McCormick Harvester Works culminated in a riot in which 100 people were wounded and several died. Eight anarchists were convicted of incitement to murder, and four were hanged. The international sympathy aroused for the accused led Governor John P. Atgeld to pardon the surviving four anarchists on the grounds of judicial prejudice and mass hysteria.
From 1886 on, the term “Haymarket Riot” or “Haymarket Martyrs” would serve to remind left-leaning political activists of the repressive, even deadly, potential of the State. That this idea bore as much resonance in 1912 as in 1886 is evident from the swift sales (“30,000 in four years”) of the sixth edition of Lucy Parsons’ anniversary keepsake.
Items from or relating to the Haymarket Riot are notoriously scarce; these two pamphlets are the only such ones we have ever come across.
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