thumb|right|280px|august spies as he appeared at the time of his conviction of conspiracy to commit murder in 1886. august vincent theodore spies (, ; 1855â1887) was an american upholsterer, radical labor activist, and newspaper editor. spies is remembered as one of the anarchist leaders in chicago who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder following a bomb attack on police in an event remembered as the haymarket affair. spies was one of four who were executed in the aftermath of this event. == background == august spies was born on december 10, 1855 in a ruined castle converted into a government building on the mountain landeckerberg in the central german state of hesse.august spies, august spies' auto-biography; his speech in court and general notes. chicago: niÃ±a van zandt, 1887; pg. 1. his father was a government forestry official. spies later recalled that he had a pleasant and privileged childhood, one filled with recreation and study.spies, august spies' auto-biography, pg. 7. he was educated by private tutors and trained for a career following in his father's footsteps as a government forester.spies, august spies' auto-biography, pp. 7-8. his father died suddenly in 1871, however, ending the comfortable financial situation for his mother, and august determined to set out for a new life in america, a country in which he already had a number of financially successful relatives.spies, august spies' auto-biography, pg. 8. == in chicago == spies settled in chicago, where he became an upholsterer, involving himself in trade union activities. due to the injustices he witnessed, spies joined the socialist labour party in 1877. he emerged as a leader of the slpâs radical tendency, a faction that provoked a split in the party by parading through the streets in military uniforms and shouldering muskets. after the english-speaking section of the slp attempted to combine with the reformist greenback labor party in 1880, spies helped engineer a takeover of the partyâs executive committee and ousted the compromisers. when the national leadership of the slp denounced the chicago radicals and removed their newspaper the arbeiter-zeitung from its list of party organs, spies led the formation of a revolutionary alternative to the slp. in 1883, spies was a leader in the revolutionary congress held in pittsburgh that formally launched the international working peopleâs association. spies had joined the staff of the arbeiter-zeitung in 1880, becoming editor in 1884.{{cite book |last=messer-kruse |first=timothy |title=the trial of the haymarket anarchists |year=2011 |publisher=palgrave macmillan |l
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