Here, he was received as a hero; a great mass meeting in
his honor was held in Cooper Union, New York, in December, 1882;
and when he toured the country he everywhere addressed large
meetings.
In October 1883, a convention of social revolutionists and
anarchists was held in Chicago, at which a national organization
was formed called the International Working People's Association.
The new organization grew much faster than the Socialist party
itself, which now almost disappeared. Two years later, the
International had a party press consisting of seven German, two
Bohemian, and only two English papers. Like the Socialist party,
it was, therefore, mainly foreign in its membership. It was
strongest in and about Chicago, where it included twenty groups
with three thousand enrolled members. The anarchist papers
exhorted their adherents to provide themselves with arms and even
published instructions for the use of dynamite.
Political and industrial conditions thus supplied material for an
explosion which came with shocking violence. On May 4, 1885,
towards the close of an anarchist meeting held in Chicago, a
dynamite bomb thrown among a force of policemen killed one and
wounded many. Fire was at once opened on both sides, and,
although the battle lasted only a few minutes, seven policemen
were killed and about sixty wounded; while on the side of the
anarchists, four were killed and about fifty were wounded.
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