Epilogue

This concluding chapter discusses the aftermath of the Haymarket affair and the ironic twist to the legacies of the Haymarket bombers. The Haymarket bomb, the chapter argues, failed to ignite the popular insurrection that anarchists had dared to hope for, though its blast had snuffed out the very movement that had created it. The swift arrest and trial of eight anarchist activists for the murder of patrolman Mathias Degan shifted the priorities of Chicago's anarchist movement from ratcheting up class tensions to defending their imperiled leaders. Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates in more detail how the legacies of these activists have since been twisted by various historical forces throughout the years, leaving behind the enduring memory of them as victims rather than soldiers for a cause.