Haymarket riot Created By

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Haymarket riotCreated By
BRANDON FLOWERS
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On May 4, 1886, a bomb went off in Chicago that
ignited one of the nation's first red scares. The
blast killed seven police officers and led to the
hanging of four anarchists accused of plotting
the attack.
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On Saturday May 1 rallies were held throughout
the United States. There were an estimated 10,000
demonstrators in New York and 11,000 in Detroit.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin some 12,000 workers
turned out. Four days later, Wisconsin National
Guard troops opened fire on the crowd of
protesters, killing seven people in what came to
be known as the Bay View Massacre. The biggest
rally was in Chicago, where an estimated 90,000
people participated. Albert Parsons was an
anarchist and founder of the International
Working People's Association. He and his wife
Lucy Parsons along with their seven children led
marchers down Michigan Avenue. Over the next few
days an estimated 350,000 workers nationwide went
on strike at 1,200 factories
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On May 3 striking workers in Chicago met near the
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant. A fight
broke out when replacement workers attempted to
cross the picket lines. Chicago police intervened
and attacked the strikers, killed four and
wounded several others, sparking outrage in the
city's working community.
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Local anarchists quickly printed and distributed
fliers calling for a rally the following day at
Haymarket Square (also called the Haymarket),
which at the time was a bustling commercial
center near the corner of Randolph Street and Des
Plaines Street in what was later called Chicago's
West Loop. These fliers alleged police had
murdered the strikers on behalf of business
interests and urged workers to seek justice. One
surviving flyer printed in both German and
English contains the words "Workingmen Arm
Yourselves and Appear in Full Force. A memorial
service is held for those whom died in the riot.
(LEFT)
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• Through much of the 1870's and 1880's Chicago was
  a leading center of labor activism and radical
  thought. Early in 1886 labor unions were
  beginning a movement for an eight-hour day. Union
  activists called a one day general strike in
  Chicago.

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• On May 1 many Chicago workers struck for shorter
  hours. An active group of radicals and anarchists
  became involved in the campaign. Two days later a
  shooting and one death occurred during a riot at
  the McCormick Reaper plant when police tangled
  with the strikers.
• (This tomb stone is a victim that died during the
  riot.)

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Q'S AND A'S

• What is the legacy of Haymarket? Does it still
  resonate today?
• Haymarket resonates today more than it has at any
  other time in recent years. The original
  Haymarket affair of 1886 was part and parcel of a
  massive, national May Day rally and strike led,
  by and large, by America's immigrant workers.
  Today, precisely 120 years later, the May 1, 2006
  Immigrant General Strike -- also known as the
  "Day without Immigrants" and the "Great American
  Boycott" -- looks set to inherit and reinvigorate
  the legacy of Haymarket. Then, as now, employers
  launched an aggressive drive to undermine wages
  and living standards. In 1886 workers from around
  the world responded with an aggressive campaign
  of their own an international movement for less
  work and more pay.

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THE END.....