Haymarket+Riot+of+1886

__ What was the first movement that helped to shift the labor movement toward “bread-and-butter unionism? __ It started with a labor strike at the McCormick farm equipment works at Chicago’s Haymarket square on May 1, 1886.
 * The Haymarket Riot of 1886 **



__ Why? __ Thousands of people in Chicago were presenting demonstrations on behalf of eight hour work days. Marchers’ slogans stated, “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what we will.”

__ How did the riot start? __ On May 4, 1886 a confrontation between police and protestors turned deadly when police and Pinkerton security guards shot several workers.



__ What went on during the Haymarket Square Riot? __ During the madness, a public demonstration was started to protest the violence brought on by police and Pinkerton security guards. People who were there claimed that the protest was a “peaceful gathering of upwards of 1,000 people listening to speeches and singing songs when authorities began to move in and disperse the crowd.”

The peaceful demonstration against violence suddenly ended when a bomb erupted. After the bomb exploded it was followed my more madness and exchanges of gunfire. Eleven people were killed, seven of which were police officers, and more than one hundred people were injured.

__ Who was responsible for the bombing? __ The //Chicago Tribune// believed that the “McCormick insurrectionists” were responsible for the bombing. Many people had suspicions of what groups of people were responsible, but no one had a clue who was solemnly responsible. Even so, police and other authorities gathered up 31 suspects. Later on eight men, with “foreign sounding names” were blamed for conspiracy and murder, even though there was zero evidence and some of the men never even attended the rally.

__ What were the consequences for those who were “responsible” for the bombing? __ Even with no evidence, all eight accused men were sentenced to death. The first four men were hanged, and the fifth man committed suicide in his jail cell. Richard Ogelsby pardoned the remaining men sentencing them to life in prison instead of death because he expressed doubts that any of the blamed men were even responsible.

// “The deed to sentencing the Haymarket men was wrong, a miscarriage of justice. And the truth is that the great multitudes annually arrested are poor, the unfortunate, the young and the neglected. In short, our penal machinery seems to recruit its victims from among those who are fighting an unequal fight in the struggle for existence.” –Altgeld // Altgeld, a German immigrant in the Union Army saw the injustice the men accused of the bomb faced.

__ Long Term Affects __ In 1889, the American Federation of Labor made May 1st the International Labor Day. On that day, workers marched for an eight hour work day and march to immortalize the eight “Martyrs of Chicago.”

__ Immediate Affects __ The Haymarket Square Markets' immediate affects included killing and injuring many. Also, the Haymarket Square Riot damaged the image of the growing labor movement.
 * __Sources__**

[|Bomb Explosion]

[|ABC-CLIO Haymarket Reading]

[|Haymarket Square Riot Image]

The Haymarket Affair, Digital History

Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, Chicago Historical Society

The Dramas of Haymarket, Chicago Historical Society

[|Death in the Haymarket, James Green]

Cahn, William. //Pictorial History Of American Labor//. New York, 1972.