Haymarket Riot of 1886

Haymarket Riot of 1886
January. 19, 2010

    
    The date was Tuesday May.1, 1886. On this misty evening, a group of workers stood on strike in front of the McCormick Reaper Works building on Haymarket Square, Chicago. They stood calmly, many men took turns propping themselves on a wagon to give speeches. They all wanted one thing; to decrease their normal 10 to 16 hour workdays to an easier 8 hours.
    One of the most important speakers was called August Spies. A large goal of his was for everyone to stand their ground. He also wanted the rally to be non-violent, on the workers part. This was very difficult for him to control, because there were at east 40,000 men total on strike.
    Even though everything was going smoothly, McCormick Reaper Works had to do something about the rally taking place outside their factory. So, they paid policemen to break up the rally. These policemen were not getting paid to stand around, so they weren’t treating the workers very well.
    Two days after the rally had begun, the protests were still going strong. By this time, strikebreakers were hired to replace the past McCormick strikers. They were not at all pleased by their jobs being filled in. Every morning, when the scabs were going through the crowds to their new jobs, they were continually given a hard time, being yelled at, pushed, ect. Police even had to guard the men for their safety.
    At the end of May.3, when the workday had ended, the original Irish-American workers had nothing else to do but attack the strikebreakers as they left the factory. Gun shots were fired by the police, killing two McCormick workers. The deaths outraged the strikers.
    So, the next day, fliers were being pinned all around the city advertising a “Mass Meeting at 7:30” that night. They planned on meeting to give more speeches on the deaths, and actions of the police. Again, Spies informed everybody that this gathering was not aiming towards violence, but to get their workers an 8-hour work day, and their jobs back. The crowd was so calm, that when the mayor stopped by to check on the strikers, he went home early feeling it was under control.
    At about 10:30 that night, policemen had enough. After a man had finished his speech, the police formed a line, and started cornering the rioters against the speech wagon so they would leave. This angered the crowed, and an unknown person threw a pipe-bomb at the line, killing one police. Instantly, they started shooting wildly, sometimes catching the man in front of them, it was so dark. About 60 police and an unknown amount of rioters were injured. A total of eight police were killed, along with around four workers dead. The injured rally men were also refused to go to the hospital in fear of being arrested for participating in the riot.
    Afterwards, eight of the men who had organized the rally were arrested for the fatality of the policeman who was killed in the bomb. One man named Lingg got 15 years in prison where he brutally committed suicide. One other man fled the country, two didn’t have enough evidence to be brought to trial, and the other four were hung in front of the public. One of them being August Spies, the man who did not want any violence.
    In the end, American Federation of Labor president Samuel Gompers passed a resolution for the eight-hour day after making this cause known around the world. It was set on May.1, 1890.