The Anarchist Peril: Industrial Violence and the Propaganda of Fear in Turn of the Century America, 1886-1908

Between 1886 and 1908, in the crossover between the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, people all across America felt the growing pains wrought by the second industrial revolution. Overproduction, exploitative working conditions, labor shortages, and increased rural and foreign immigration all made the country ripe for civil unrest to burst through the cracks of the Gilded Age. In particular, assassinations and bombings followed by murmurs of anarchist conspiracies within the labor movement gave social elites cause to fear for the stability of their nation-building project. The Anarchist Peril examines five sets of violent outbursts that disrupted the status quo: the 1886 Haymarket bombing, the 1892 assault on Henry Clay Frick, President William McKinley's assassination in 1901, the assassination of Frank Steunenberg in 1905, and the 1908 anarchist scare. In reaction to these events, journalists, police officers, court officials, and state and federal legislators, who feared the effects of the anarchist tactic of Propaganda by Deed, used their powers to shape public opinion against anarchy. These acts of violence, which were endorsed by a minority within radical circles, took on greater significance when emerging ranks of middle-class professionals reshaped the meaning of anarchists' deeds to legitimize their own competing claims to power. Since they placed so little value on anarchism's political critique, social elites ignored the class implications of anarchists' words and deeds and instead examined their bodies for signs to marginalize their actions, silenced them in the courtroom, and legislated against further acts of violence. While this approach did disrupt the propaganda of their deeds, it did not deter further acts of violence.Ph.D