The Haymarket Riot photo by Harper’s Weekly

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Haymarket Riot (1886)


 

The Haymarket affair was also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident. It was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
 
 It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day. This was the day after the events at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company . That resulted to one person being killed and several workers injured.
 
An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the meeting, and the bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; dozens of others were wounded.
 
The following are the Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Haymarket Riot (1886)
 

 1. The Haymarket affair was the origin of International Workers Day

 
The Haymarket Affair was generally considered significant as the origin of International Workers’ Day. It is held on May 1. Also the Haymarket affair was the climax of the social unrest among the working class in America known as the Great Upheaval. This was after the incident that took place at a labor demonstration at the Haymarket square 
 

2. Haymarket Square was designated a Chicago landmark

 

wagon sculpture echoing the wagon on which the labor leaders stood in Haymarket Square to champion the eight-hour day photo by Laurajnash 

The site of the incident was designated a Chicago landmark in 1992. Also a sculpture was dedicated there in 2004. In addition, the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997 at the defendants’ burial site in Forest Park.

 

3. The decline and end of knight of labor

 Knight of labor was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also in Great Britain and Australia.
 
Its most important leader was Terence V. Powderly. The Knights promoted the social and cultural uplift of the worker, and demanded the eight-hour day.
 
After a rapid expansion in the mid-1880s, it suddenly lost its new members and became a small operation again. The Knights of Labor had served as the first mass organization of the working class of the United States.
 
It was battered by charges of failure and violence and calumnies of the association with the Haymarket Square riot. Most members abandoned the movement in 1886鈥�1887, leaving at most 100,000 in 1890.
 
 Many opted to join groups that helped to identify their specific needs, instead of the KOL which addressed many different types of issues. The Panic of 1893 terminated the Knights of Labor’s importance. Remnants of the Knights of Labor continued in existence until 1949, when the group’s last 50-member local dropped its affiliation.

4. The rise of American Federation of labor movement

 The establishment of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was in December 1886. It focused on winning economic benefits for its members through collective bargaining. As a federation, it represented several national craft unions that each retained autonomous operations.
 

5. The founder of AFL was a cigar maker

 

Samuel Gompers, American labor leader photo by James Edward Purdy

Samuel Gompers was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization’s president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924. 

 
He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted thorough organization and collective bargaining in order to secure shorter hours and higher wages, which he considered the essential first steps to emancipating labor. 

6. A number of bombs and bomb-making materials were found the premises of Louis Lingg and was not charged 

Police searched the premises of Louis Lingg where they found a number of bombs and bomb-making materials. Lingg’s landlord William Seliger was also arrested but cooperated with police and identified Lingg as a bomb maker and was not charged.
 
 An associate of Spies, Balthazar Rau, suspected as the bomber, was traced to Omaha and brought back to Chicago. After interrogation, Rau offered to cooperate with police. He alleged that the defendants had experimented with dynamite bombs and accused them of having published what he said was a code word, “Ruhe” (“peace”), in the Arbeiter-Zeitung as a call to arms at Haymarket Square.

7. The Haymarket Affair created widespread hysteria directed against immigrants and labor leaders

The Haymarket Affair created panic and hysteria in Chicago and increased anti-labor and anti-immigrant sentiment and suspicion of the international anarchist movement, throughout the country (several Chicago labor leaders were anarchist immigrants from Germany).  This was because it was accused of involvement in the violence, the Knights of Labor, then the largest union organization in the U.S., declined and soon disbanded, as many locals joined the new less-radical American Federation of Labor.

8.The protest at the Haymarket Affair killed 7 police officers and injuring 60 others

Explosion that set off the Haymarket Riot in 1886 photo by Michael J. Schaack

There was a violent confrontation between the police and labor protester in Chicago. The Radical unionist had a called a mass meeting in Haymarket square to protest police brutality in a strike action.

A bomb was thrown to the crowd that resulted to killing 7 police officers and injuring 60.Police and workers started to fired on each other

9. 8 Anarchist were arrested and charged for conspiracy 

The anarchist-labor troubles in Chicago photo by unknown author

The identity of the bomb thrower is still a mystery, but eight men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit the act. All eight were convicted of the conspiracy charge even though it was understood none had made or thrown the bomb.

August Spies, a German anarchist, laborer, and activist, and Albert Parsons, a socialist laborer, activist, and former Confederate soldier from Texas, had been among the fiery and well-known speakers at the rally. Spies and Parsons, along with Adolph Fischer and George Engel, were executed by hanging.

Louis Lingg, the fifth condemned to die, committed suicide while awaiting his sentence by biting down on a blasting cap in his cell. Three other defendants Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, and Michael Schwab鈥攚ere sentenced to prison terms, but were pardoned in 1893.

10. The four of the dependents anarchist  were hanged  and Two sentenced to death

Two death sentences were commuted, but in1887, four defendants were hanged in the Cook County jail; one committed suicide. Hundreds of thousands turned out for the funeral procession of the five dead men.

In 1893, Governor John Peter Altgeld granted the three imprisoned defendants absolute pardon, citing the lack of evidence against them and the unfairness of the trial.

Planning a trip to 麻豆APP ? Get ready !

These are聽础尘补锄辞苍’蝉听产别蝉迟-蝉别濒濒颈苍驳聽travel products that you may need for coming to 麻豆APP.

Bookstore

  1. The best travel book : Rick Steves – 麻豆APP 2023 –听
  2. Fodor’s 麻豆APP 2024 –听

Travel Gear

  1. Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack –听
  2. Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage –听
  3. Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle聽–听

We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.