by Sharon Gardner, USA Communications Committee
Now is the chance to strike for the existence of the oppressed classes. The oppressors want us to be content.
– August Spies, speech held at Haymarket Square, May 4, 1886
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=342466
The Haymarket Affair took place in Chicago on May 4, 1886, during a protest for an eight-hour workday. The rally was peaceful until someone threw a bomb at police who were trying to break up the crowd, causing deaths and injuries among both police and civilians. Eight anarchists were arrested and found guilty of conspiracy, even though only two were at the scene, and none were proven to have thrown the bomb. Some were sentenced to death, while others had their sentences reduced or died by suicide. Years later, the remaining defendants were pardoned because people questioned whether the trial had been fair. The Haymarket Affair was a pivotal point in labor’s fight for a fair workday, and the American Federation of Labor chose May 1st to commemorate this event.
There are two remembrance sites dedicated to the Haymarket Affair. One is a memorial at the site of the protest, and the other is a martyrs’ monument.
If interested in learning more, check out this book available at the Du Bois Library: The history of the Haymarket affair: a study in the American social-revolutionary and labor movements by Henry David, Ph. D. which can be found here: The History of the Haymarket Affair
More books that may interest you (that include chapters about the Haymarket Affair!) are Fight Like Hell and There is Power in a Union!, both available through the Libby platform and easy to log into using your UMass NetID credentials.
