Haymarket+Affair

=Company and Workers= It was declared that on May 1st, 1886, an 8 hour-work-day for industrial employees would become standard. Many anarchists, or men who rebel against authority, promoted the 8-hour workday. In their current situation, many industrial workers were receiving only two to three hours pay for over ten hours of work. While most workers proposed receiving eight ours pay for an eight-hour day, anarchists demanded that they receive ten hours pay for an eight-hour day. Anarchists made this demand knowing that employers would not accept it. They hoped this would compel the workers to rebel and strike. This demand was particularly strong in Chicago, where many Anarchists such as August Spies and Albert Parsons rallied workers to join unions such as the Central Labor Union and the Trades and Labor Assembly. A flyer for the Knights of Labor, an up and coming labor union with a strong presence in Chicago. Employers were upset with the newunions forming and the workers demand for an eight-hour workday with ten hours pay. The businesses interesting were the complete opposite of the laborers, as they needed to reduce workers wages due to a recent depression. Employers in Chicago insisted that an anti-labor police inspector be appointed, and they got their wish when John Bonfield was appointed inspector in 1885. Bonfield strongly opposed strikes, and was not would order his men to suppress them. With tensions rising between laborers and workers in, and the police force growing ever present on strike scenes, chaos was shaping up to ensue in Chicago.

**May Day and McCormick Riot On May 1st, in anticipation of the standardization of the eight-hour workday, thousands of workers across the country went on strike. In Chicago alone 40,000 labors refused to work. Albert Parsons led a march of over 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue, a major road in Chicago. One strike that was taking place was that of McCormick Harvesting Company workers. On May 3rd, McCormick decided to reopen his factory, only allow non-union laborers to work. This sparked outrage from the strikers, as they threatened the scabs, or employees who went to work despite he strike. Bonfield brought in 350 armed officer to guard the scabs as they entered the factories. The strikers were growing angry and loudly intimidating the scabs. This led the officers to attack the strikers, and two of the strikers were fatally wounded. Augustus Spies, who had been rallying workers at the strike, immediately ran back to his office and drafted a flyer that read, “Revenge! Workingmen to Arms!!!” He saw this as the laborers opportunity to strike back, and he began planning the Haymarket Riot. **** A copy of the flyer drafted by August Spies immediately after the McCormick Riot. It is shown here in both English and German. **

=** Anarchists Organize **=

Anarchists met that night at Grief’s Hall to discuss a planned response to brutal police attacks that day. Over 25,000 copies of the flyer that Augustus Spies had drafted had been distributed. The flyer urged workers to “avenge the atrocious murder that has been committed.” The anarchists planned to call a meeting the next night at 7:30 at Haymarket Square. They sent out another flyer announcing the meeting, and urging all the strikers to gather. They planned to have men speak to denounce the acts of the police. The anarchists were sure that this meeting would result in conflict between the strikers and the police, and that is exactly what they wanted.

A copy of the flyer distributed the morning of the Haymarket Riot. This flyer notified workers of the meeting and urged them to come armed.

=The Strike: Chaos at Haymarket=

On May 4, 1886, anarchy erupted at Haymarket Square. The day began peacefully under a light rain as the masses gathered. August Spies, a German born anarchist labor activist, spoke to the crowd regarding the reasons they had gathered. The riot was never intended to spark violence and Spies was even quoted in as saying, "There seems to prevail the opinion in some quarters that this meeting has been called for the purpose of inaugurating a riot…let me tell you at the beginning that this meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour movement and to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it." As the day wore on more and more speakers had their grievances heard, and it looked to be shaping up as an ideal peaceful strike, but when the last speaker was finishing up with his speech, police that had previously assembled themselves around the riot attempted to disperse the crowd. Violence erupted and an unknown person threw a bomb into a group of police. The policemen then engaged the crowd in a bloody fire fight that ultimately dispersed the riot. 7 policemen were killed by the bomb and following gunfire while 70 lay injured. An unknown number of civilians were killed or injured because many feared seeking medical treatment because of arrest. Despite the unknown number, it was reported in the Chicago Herald the next day that “Fifty or more of the strikers were dead and wounded.”

An artists depiction of the Haymarket Square Riot

=Aftermath: Trial and Riots=

The bloodshed at Haymarket square was a major damage to the labor movement’s image and received considerable national attention. It was thought of as political anarchy instead of a reasonable and peaceful protest for workers rights and livelihood. Following the incident eight men, August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe, were tried for conspiring or instigating the bomb throwing at the at the rally. Of the eight, all were found guilty, 4 were hanged and one committed suicide in prison. The remaining three men were pardoned by the recently elected Illinois governor Richard James Oglesby, who claimed that the men never received a fair trial and were innocent of their accusations.

August Vincent Theodore Spies, a leading speaker at the Haymarket Square Riot, was one of the 4 men hanged of conspiracy following the violence.

=Back to Work=

After the trials and pardons that followed the riot, work resumed. Ultimately the eight hour workday that the men had been fighting for was achieved, however Cyrus McCormick remained a monstrous figure to his workers. In addition, a statue of a policeman was erected in Haymarket square in 1889. The statue caused much controversy, which led to a motorist crashing into the statue and ruining it. The motorist later said that he was "sick of seeing that policeman with his arm raised". The statue was later restored but remained a controversial landmark in Chicago for some time.

The statue of a policeman erected at Haymarket Square.

References

Chicago Herald. 'Account of the Haymarket Riot' in the 'Chicago Herald, 05 May 1886'. Chicago: Chicago Herald Co., 1886. [format: newspaper], [genre: article]. Permission: Northern Illinois University. Persistent link to this document: []

McCormick Harvester." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 10 May 2010. .

"John Peter Altgeld: Pardon of the Haymarket anarchists (1893)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 10 May 2010. .

"The Haymarket Bomb in Historical Context." Illinois Historical Digitization Projects: Northern Illinois University Libraries. Web. 11 May 2010. .

Shaack, Michael J. //Anarchy and Anarchists.// Chicago: F.J. Schulte and Company, 1889.

//The Supreme Court of Illinois, Northern Grand Division. March Term, 1887. August// //Spies, et al. v. The People of the State of Illinois. Abstract of Record//. Chicago: Barnard & Gunthorpe. vol. II, p. 129. quoted in Avrich. //The Haymarket Tragedy//. pp. 199–200.

Pictography

“Mass Meeting, Tonight as 7:30 o’clock.” []

“Revenge! Workingmen to Arms!!!” []

“Knights of Labor Flyer” [|http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/images2/union18.jpg&imgrefurl=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/labor.html&usg=__mOBr03FbReIIH5UQE758zl-OsWE=&h=581&w=800&sz=72&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=bdnXXYmz3CPuFM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcentral%2Blabor%2Bunion%2Bchicago%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1]

“Haymarket Riot” []

“August Spies” []

“Statue at Haymarket” []