es.
This was the danger point, the stretching of the conspiracy. But that
danger-point was never reached. Through its spy-system the Iron Heel
got wind of the Revolt and prepared to teach us another of its bloody
lessons. Chicago was the devoted city selected for the instruction, and
well were we instructed.

Chicago* was the ripest of all--Chicago which of old time was the city
of blood and which was to earn anew its name. There the revolutionary
spirit was strong. Too many bitter strikes had been curbed there in the
days of capitalism for the workers to forget and forgive. Even the
labor castes of the city were alive with revolt. Too many heads had
been broken in the early strikes. Despite their changed and favorable
conditions, their hatred for the master class had not died. This spirit
had infected the Mercenaries, of which three regiments in particular
were ready to come over to us en masse.

* Chicago was the industrial inferno of the nineteenth
century A.D. A curious anecdote has come down to us of John
Burns, a great English labor leader and one time member of
the British Cabinet. In Chicago, while on a visit to the
United States, he was asked by a newspaper reporter for his
opinion of that city. "Chicago," he answered, "is a pocket
edition of hell." Some time later, as he was going aboard
his steamer to sail to England, he was approached by another
reporter, who wanted to know if he had changed his opinion
of Chicago. "Yes, I have," was his reply. "My present
opinion is that hell is a pocket edition of Chicago."

Chicago had always been the storm-centre of the conflict between
labor and capital, a city of street-battles and violent death, with a
class-conscious capitalist organization and a class-conscious workman
organization, where, in the old days, the very school-teachers were
formed into labor unions and affiliated with the hod-carriers and
brick-layers in the American Federation of Labor. And Chicago became the
storm-centre of the premature First Revolt.

The trouble was precipitated by the Iron Heel. It was cleverly done. The
whole population, including the favored labor castes, was given a course
of outrageous treatment. Promises and agreements were broken, and most
drastic punishments visited upon even petty offenders. The people of
the abyss were tormented out of their apathy. In fact, the Iron Heel was
preparing to make the abysmal beast