''The Alarm'' was an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

newspaper published in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

during the 1880s. The weekly was the most prominent English-language anarchist periodical of its day. The paper was famously edited by

Albert Parsons Albert Richard Parsons (June 20, 1848 – November 11, 1887) was a pioneering American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist. As a teenager, he served in the military force of the Confederate States of Americ ...

, who was wrongfully executed in response to the

Haymarket affair The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square (C ...

of 1886.

Publication history

Establishment

The first issue of ''The Alarm'' appeared on October 4, 1884 in Chicago, Illinois as the weekly voice of the

International Working People's Association The International Working People's Association (IWPA), sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England. In America the group is best r ...

(IWPA)."The Alarm,"
OCLC 10478576, www.worldcat.org/ At the time of its launch ''The Alarm'' was one of eight newspapers in the United States to declare their allegiance to the

IWPA — and the only paper published in English.Henry David, ''The History of the Haymarket Affair.''

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Second Edition. New York: Russell and Russell, 1958; pg. 113. Editor of the paper was the Southern-born Albert R. Parsons, formerly the assistant editor of the English-language weekly of the

Socialist Labor Party of America The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

, ''The Socialist.'' Parsons had first come north from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1873 to take a job as a printer for the '' Chicago Inter-Ocean'' before moving to a more steady job in a similar capacity working for the '' Chicago Times.''Herbert G. Gutman, "Alarm (Chicago and New York, 1884-1889)," in Joseph R. Conlin (ed.), ''The American Radical Press, 1880-1960: Volume 2.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974; pg. 385. A pioneer member of the American Typographical Union as well as the

Knights of Labor Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...

, the gifted orator Parsons soon emerged as among the leading English-speaking radical trade unionist in the city of Chicago, a position even more firmly established with the launch of ''The Alarm.''

Development

Of the eight newspapers affiliated nationwide with the IWPA, five were published in Chicago alone. Joining ''The Alarm'' as Chicago-based IWPA publications were the German-language daily ''Arbeiter-Zeitung'' (Workers' Newspaper) and weeklies ''Der Vorbote'' (The Harbinger) and ''Der Fackel'' (The Torch), as well as the Czech-language weekly ''Budoucnost'' (The Future).Gutman, "Alarm (Chicago and New York, 1884-1889)," pg. 380. The paper claimed a circulation of 3,000 during the first part of 1886 — a figure well exceeded by its non-English compatriots. By way of comparison, the ''Arbeiter-Zeitung'' maintained a circulation of between 5,000 and 6,000 in the same period, while the ''Vorbote'' ranged between 7,000 and 8,000. ''Der Fackel'' was the largest publication yet, with an 1886 circulation topping the 12,000 mark. While ''The Alarm'' was Albert Parsons' paper, he was assisted in its production by Lizzie M. Holmes, who wrote variously under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"May Huntley," as well as under her

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...

, "Lizzie M. Swank." Other contributors of written material included his activist wife

Lucy Parsons Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (born Lucia Carter; 1851 – March 7, 1942) was an American labor organizer, radical socialist and anarcho-communist. She is remembered as a powerful orator. Parsons entered the radical movement following her marriage ...

, C.S. Griffin, and

Dyer D. Lum Dyer Daniel Lum (February 15, 1839 – April 6, 1893) was an American anarchist, labor activist and poet. A leading syndicalist and a prominent left-wing intellectual of the 1880s, Lum is best remembered as the lover and mentor of early anarcha- ...

. The paper's finances were tenuous throughout its existence. Financing came in the form of a publishing society which sold benefactors "shares" of the paper in addition to a stream of fundraisers, including picnics and benefit evenings.David, ''The History of the Haymarket Affair,'' pg. 114.

Ideology

''The Alarm'' styled itself as the official English-language voice of the International Working People's Association and very frequently reprinted the political platform of the IWPA in its pages. The paper inceasingly railed against private ownership of productive capital and the system of wage labor — depicted as the root cause of a wide range of social maladies. The paper consistently argued that the state was a mechanism for the perpetuation of this unjust social order as well as an instrument for the suppression of individual political

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

.David, ''The History of the Haymarket Affair,'' pg. 115. Parsons and his co-thinkers proclaimed as their task the destruction of private property in the means of production.David, ''The History of the Haymarket Affair,'' pg. 118. If this were to be eliminated, it was argued, social ills such as poverty, crime, and war would fall away in tandem with the collapse of the old economic order. Physical force would be necessary to bring about this destruction of the old order, in the view of Parsons and ''The Alarm.''

Propaganda of the deed Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution. It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pro ...

would inspire a revolutionary upsurge of the impoverished majority against their opulent masters, the anarchists believed. ''The Alarm'' advised:

"Workingmen of America, learn the manufacture and use of
dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
. It will be your most powerful weapon; a weapon of the weak against the strong.... Then use it unstintingly, unsparingly. The battle for bread is the battle for life.... Death and destruction to the system and its upholders, which plunders and enslaves the men, women, and children of toil."

''The Alarm's'' advocacy of the use of explosives as a tool for social change was not limited to abstract discussion. Practical advice in the manufacture and use of dynamite,

nitroglycerine Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...

, and explosive devices, including such articles as a piece on bomb-making entitled "The Weapon of the Social Revolutionist Placed Within the Reach of All," and another on the creation of dynamite in home laboratories, "A Practical Lesson on Popular Chemistry: The Manufacture of Dynamite Made Easy."''The Alarm,'' April 4, 1885, cited in David, ''The History of the Haymarket Affair, pg. 120. This political orientation and practical advocacy would make the paper itself a target in the aftermath of a fatal bombing in Chicago on May 4, 1886, remembered to history as the "

Suppression

''The Alarm'' was suppressed on May 4, 1886, a period during which Albert Parsons was still in hiding prior to his voluntary surrender to the Chicago police for trial in the Haymarket affair. The last edition of the paper to see print under Parsons' editorship was dated April 24 of that year.

Re-launch and demise

On November 5, 1887, just one week before Parson's execution by hanging in connection with the Haymarket bombing, political activist and editorial contributor Dyer D. Lum relaunched ''The Alarm,'' beginning the numbering system fresh as "Volume 1, Number 1.""About The Alarm (microform), Chicago, Ill., 1884-188?"
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Lum managed to continue the paper without interruption until April 22, 1888, at which time publication was temporarily suspended. A restart was made on June 16, 1888, but the effort proved short-lived and ''The Alarm'' was terminated in February 1889.

Legacy

''The Alarm'' is available to scholars and activists on

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...

, with the master negative being held by the

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Footnotes

Articles

* Lucy E. Parsons
"A Word to Tramps,"
''The Alarm,'' vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 4, 1884), pg. 1. * Albert R. Parsons
"Equal Rights,"
''The Alarm'' hicago vol. 1, no. 7 (Nov. 15, 1884), pg. 2.