THIS YEAR MARKS THE 126TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MAY DAY HAYMARKET FRAMEUPS. HONOR THE MEMORY OF AUGUST SPIES, ALBERT PARSONS, ADOLPH FISCHER, GEORGE ENGEL, LOUIS LINGG, MICHAEL SCHWAB, SAMUEL FIELDEN, OSCAR NEEBE- CLASS WAR VICTIMS OF AN EARLIER TIME. ALSO REMEMBER LUCY PARSONS WHO CARRIED ON THE STRUGGLE FOR VINDICATION AFTER HER HUSBAND’S EXECUTION. LET US REDOUBLE OUR EFFORTS TO FREE TODAY’S CLASS-WAR PRISONERS.
Politically, the writer of these lines is far distance from the politics of the Haymarket Martyrs. Their flag was the black flag of anarchism, the writer’s is the red flag of socialism. Notwithstanding those political differences, militants must stand under the old labor slogan that should underscore all labor defense work now as then- "An injury to one is an injury to all." Unfortunately that principle has been honored far more in the breech than in the observance by working class organizations.
Additionally, in the case of the Haymarket Martyrs today’s militants must stand in solidarity and learn about the way those militants bravely conducted themselves before bourgeois society in the face of the witch hunt against them and their frame-up in the courts of so-called bourgeois ‘justice’. Not for the first time, and most probably not for the last, militants were railroaded by the capitalist state for holding unpopular and/or dangerous (to the capitalists) views. Moreover, it is no accident that most of the Haymarket Martyrs were foreigners (mainly Germans) not fully appreciative of the niceties of 19th century American ‘justice’.
This same ‘justice’ system framed the heroic anarchist immigrant militants Sacco and Vanzetti in the early 20th century and countless other militants since then. As we struggle in the fight for full citizenship rights for immigrants today we should keep this in mind. Although, as we know, this American system of ‘justice’ will not forget the occasional uppity ‘native’ political dissenter either.
Most importantly, we must not forget that the Haymarket Martyrs at the time of their arrest were fighting for the establishment of a standardized eight hour work day. It is ironic that 126 years later this simple, rational, reasonable demand should, in effect, still be necessary to fight for by working people. All proportions taken into account since the 1880’s, a very high percentage of the working-class still does not have this luxury- given the necessity of two wage-earner families, two job wage-earners, dramatic increases in commute time in order to gain employment, unpaid but mandatory work time (note especially the Walmartization of labor time) and a high rate of partially or fully unemployed able-bodied workers.
To do justice to the memory of the Haymarket Martyrs this generation of labor militants must dust off another old labor slogan that used to be part of the transitional demands of the socialist movement- 30 hours work for 40 hours pay. TODAY THIS IS A REASONABLE DEMAND. Obviously such a demand cannot be implemented in isolation. To even propose such a demand means we need to build a workers party to fight for it. Moreover, and let us not have illusions about this; this capitalist state does not want to and will not grant such a demand. Therefore, we must fight for a workers government. That would be a true monument to the memory of the Haymarket Martyrs.
Showing posts with label haymarket martyrs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haymarket martyrs. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
From The "Common Struggle" Newspaper #7-EL ORIGEN DEL 1° DE MAYO:La huelga general de 1886
EL ORIGEN DEL 1° DE MAYO:La huelga general de 1886
Nosotros, los que laboran en los Estados Unidos, no siempre han tenido un di'a laboral de 8 horas. Esto, como la mayor parte del progreso, fue logrado por medio de una lucha popular. Durante la epoca de los anos mil ochocientos, los trabajadores, incluyendo ninos, podrian sufrir trabajando 16 horas o mas al dfa bajo condiciones peligrosas y sofocantes «sweatshops.» Ellos ganaban sueldos miserables y trabajaban en condiciones muy estrechos. Tal como hoy en dfa, los patrones y el gobierno mantenfan a la clase trabajadora en un estado debil y acentuando las divisiones de raza, genero, el estatus migratorio y otras diferencias artificiales. En 1886 sin embargo, los trabajadores arrasaron con estas divisiones y se unieron en una clase, comenzando la lucha que logro el dfa laboral de 8 horas.
En Chicago, un fuerte movimiento laboral presiono por esto y fue premiado con una legislacion de 8 horas en 1867. Esto se suponfa que deberfa haber sido el 1° de mayo de ese ano pero, cuando vino ese dfa, los patrones ignoraron la ley y el gobierno no se impuso a que esto se cumpliera. Aunque cuando los trabajadores militantes de Chicago se pusieron en huelga, el gobierno envio a la policfa para destruir brutalmente la resistencia del pueblo. Los trabajadores desanimados volvieron a los trabajos. Para ellos, nada habfa cambiado excepto su conflanza en que los cambios pueden ser logrados por medio de las legislatures
En 1886, otro movimiento mas radical de las 8 horas gano popularidad, siendo guiado en Chicago por trabajadores inmigrantes y otros trabajadores en la organization anarquista la Asociacion Internacional de Trabajadores ("IWPA"). Una coalition nacional de uniones llamo a una huelga general para el 1° de Mayo, dicha huelga consiste en la participation de todos los trabajadores, sin importar su profesion, dejan de trabajar. Los trabajadores demuestran su poder al paralizar la economfa puesto que la sociedad no puede continuar funcionando; por otro lado, los jefes y el resto de la clase dominante, son inservibles e incluso son perjudiciales para una sociedad sana.
El 1° de Mayo de 1886, una cantidad de 750,000 trabajadores hicieron una huelga a traves de todo el pais-400,000 en Chicago solamente. 11,000 marcharon en Detroit, 25,000 en la
ciudad de Nueva York y 80,000 marcharon por las calles de Chicago. Esas manifestaciones de unidad aterrorizaron a la clase del poder. Con la determination de no ceder ninguna cosa y con la idea de mantener su riqueza mezquinamente, anteriormente robada del pobre, el rico se prepara para aplastar el movimiento con violencia.
El impetu de los trabajadores continue con las huelgas y manifestaciones. El 3 de Mayo los de la union de «empujadores madereros» en huelga tuvieron una junta de 6,000 cerca de la planta McGormick, La policfa ataco a los asistentes de la junta con el uso de pistolas y bastones matando a un trabajador y hiriendo a otros. Indignados, los anarquistas anunciaron una llamada en su periodico de lengua aleman, el Arbeiter-Zeitung (El Periodico de los Trabajadores), para una protesta el 4° de Mayo en la Plaza Haymarket.
Esa noche, miles se reunieron en Haymarket para denunciar la violencia policial. La multitud escucharon calmamente los discursos por los trabajadores anarquistas migrantes tal como August Spies y Samuel Fielden. Incluso el alcalde de Chicago, quien asistio a la primera mitad de la demostracion dijo: "nada parecfa que iba a suceded como para requerir la intervention de la policfa,» y el le aconsejo al capitan de policfa Bonfleld, que enviara a sus fuerzas a sus casas. Bonfleld no lo hizo. Alrededor de las diez de la noche, despues de que el alcalde y muchos de los asistentes se fueron, mientras Fielden anunciaba que la reunion concluiria, las fuerzas de 200 oflciales de Bonfleld marcharon hacia la concertacion de personas, amenazando violencia y exigiendo su termino. Una bomba exploto en las fllas de policfa, matando a uno de ellos instantaneamente e hiriendo a otros. En el caos, la policfa disparo sin hacer ninguna distincion, matando a 7 de sus propios oflciales y a muchos de los que participaban en la demostracion, aunque ellos nunca contaron a cuantos trabajadores mataron.
Esto fue seguido por un reino de terror durante la noche mientras el fiscal estatal recomendo publicamente a la policfa que se fljaran en los anarquistas: "primero hagan las redadas y despues revisen las leyes." La policfa arresto a todos los anarquistas conocidos y allanaron las salas de reuniones, oflcinas de imprenta y casas. Gomo resultado, 8 anarquistas discursantes prominentes, editores de periodicos y sindicalistas—August Spies, Sam Fielden, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg y Oscar Heebe—fueron acusados por el bombardeo de HaymarKet. De los 8 hombres, 7 de ellos eran inmigrantes y solo 3 estaban en HaymarKet esa noche. El fiscal estatal escogio de manera individual a un jurado parcial y no presento ninguna evidencia conectandoles con las bombas.
Tal cual la flscalfa discutid en la corte: «E1 anarquismo esta en juicio. Estos hombres nan sido seleccionados, escogidos por el Gran Tribunal y ban sido arrestados porque eran Ifderes. Ellos no son mas culpables que los miles que los siguen. Senores del jurado, sentencien a estos hombres, hagan de ellos un ejemplo, cuelguenlos y ustedes salvaran nuestras instituciones, nuestra sociedad.» Y asf lo hicieron. Todos recibieron la pena de muerte excepto Neebe, al cual se le dieron 15 anos de carcel. Una campana masiva internacional forzo al estado a acortar las sentencias de Schawab y Fielden a cadena perpetua pero, en Noviembre 11,1887, los Sres. Parsons, Engel, Spies y Fischer fueron ahorcados. El feroz carpintero aleman, Louis Lingg, engano al carcelero al suicidarse antes de que lo ejecutaran. Hubo usa asistencia de 600,000 personas a los funerales.
Mientras el incidente de HaymarKet fue visto inicialmente como un retroceso para el movimiento de las 8 horas, el evento logro a radicalizar mas personas, incluyendo a ciertos anarquistas influyentes como Emma Goldman y Voltairine de Gleyre. La Federacion Americana del Trabajo y los anarquistas de IWPA se lanzaron a las calles nuevamente el 1° de Mayo de 1890 y el movimiento de las 8 horas continue. Teniendo como legado a los Martires de HaymarKet, los sindicatos comenzaron a progresar. El sindicato de mineros, Los Trabajadores Unidos de las Minas, lograron un dfa laboral de 8 horas en su contracto laboral en 1898, como tambien el sindicato El Gonsejo de Gonstructores de San Francisco en 1900, los sindicatos de imprenta a traves de los EE.UU. en 1905 y los trabajadores de la companfa automotriz Ford Motor en 1914. En 1916, con la amenaza nacional de una huelga general, los trabajadores de ferrocarriles forzo al gobierno a pasar el Ley de Adamson, el cual les otorgo el dfa laboral de 8 horas, con pago adicional despues de las 8 horas.
Finalmente, en 1938, un movimiento masivo de trabajadores y de cesantes forzaron al gobierno de Roosevelt a que pasara la Ley Estandar Justa Laboral, estableciendose para muchos el dfa laboral de 8 horas con pago de sobretiempo, como tambien un salario mi'nimo y la abolicion de «la labor infantil opresiva.»
Nosotros, los que laboran en los Estados Unidos, no siempre han tenido un di'a laboral de 8 horas. Esto, como la mayor parte del progreso, fue logrado por medio de una lucha popular. Durante la epoca de los anos mil ochocientos, los trabajadores, incluyendo ninos, podrian sufrir trabajando 16 horas o mas al dfa bajo condiciones peligrosas y sofocantes «sweatshops.» Ellos ganaban sueldos miserables y trabajaban en condiciones muy estrechos. Tal como hoy en dfa, los patrones y el gobierno mantenfan a la clase trabajadora en un estado debil y acentuando las divisiones de raza, genero, el estatus migratorio y otras diferencias artificiales. En 1886 sin embargo, los trabajadores arrasaron con estas divisiones y se unieron en una clase, comenzando la lucha que logro el dfa laboral de 8 horas.
En Chicago, un fuerte movimiento laboral presiono por esto y fue premiado con una legislacion de 8 horas en 1867. Esto se suponfa que deberfa haber sido el 1° de mayo de ese ano pero, cuando vino ese dfa, los patrones ignoraron la ley y el gobierno no se impuso a que esto se cumpliera. Aunque cuando los trabajadores militantes de Chicago se pusieron en huelga, el gobierno envio a la policfa para destruir brutalmente la resistencia del pueblo. Los trabajadores desanimados volvieron a los trabajos. Para ellos, nada habfa cambiado excepto su conflanza en que los cambios pueden ser logrados por medio de las legislatures
En 1886, otro movimiento mas radical de las 8 horas gano popularidad, siendo guiado en Chicago por trabajadores inmigrantes y otros trabajadores en la organization anarquista la Asociacion Internacional de Trabajadores ("IWPA"). Una coalition nacional de uniones llamo a una huelga general para el 1° de Mayo, dicha huelga consiste en la participation de todos los trabajadores, sin importar su profesion, dejan de trabajar. Los trabajadores demuestran su poder al paralizar la economfa puesto que la sociedad no puede continuar funcionando; por otro lado, los jefes y el resto de la clase dominante, son inservibles e incluso son perjudiciales para una sociedad sana.
El 1° de Mayo de 1886, una cantidad de 750,000 trabajadores hicieron una huelga a traves de todo el pais-400,000 en Chicago solamente. 11,000 marcharon en Detroit, 25,000 en la
ciudad de Nueva York y 80,000 marcharon por las calles de Chicago. Esas manifestaciones de unidad aterrorizaron a la clase del poder. Con la determination de no ceder ninguna cosa y con la idea de mantener su riqueza mezquinamente, anteriormente robada del pobre, el rico se prepara para aplastar el movimiento con violencia.
El impetu de los trabajadores continue con las huelgas y manifestaciones. El 3 de Mayo los de la union de «empujadores madereros» en huelga tuvieron una junta de 6,000 cerca de la planta McGormick, La policfa ataco a los asistentes de la junta con el uso de pistolas y bastones matando a un trabajador y hiriendo a otros. Indignados, los anarquistas anunciaron una llamada en su periodico de lengua aleman, el Arbeiter-Zeitung (El Periodico de los Trabajadores), para una protesta el 4° de Mayo en la Plaza Haymarket.
Esa noche, miles se reunieron en Haymarket para denunciar la violencia policial. La multitud escucharon calmamente los discursos por los trabajadores anarquistas migrantes tal como August Spies y Samuel Fielden. Incluso el alcalde de Chicago, quien asistio a la primera mitad de la demostracion dijo: "nada parecfa que iba a suceded como para requerir la intervention de la policfa,» y el le aconsejo al capitan de policfa Bonfleld, que enviara a sus fuerzas a sus casas. Bonfleld no lo hizo. Alrededor de las diez de la noche, despues de que el alcalde y muchos de los asistentes se fueron, mientras Fielden anunciaba que la reunion concluiria, las fuerzas de 200 oflciales de Bonfleld marcharon hacia la concertacion de personas, amenazando violencia y exigiendo su termino. Una bomba exploto en las fllas de policfa, matando a uno de ellos instantaneamente e hiriendo a otros. En el caos, la policfa disparo sin hacer ninguna distincion, matando a 7 de sus propios oflciales y a muchos de los que participaban en la demostracion, aunque ellos nunca contaron a cuantos trabajadores mataron.
Esto fue seguido por un reino de terror durante la noche mientras el fiscal estatal recomendo publicamente a la policfa que se fljaran en los anarquistas: "primero hagan las redadas y despues revisen las leyes." La policfa arresto a todos los anarquistas conocidos y allanaron las salas de reuniones, oflcinas de imprenta y casas. Gomo resultado, 8 anarquistas discursantes prominentes, editores de periodicos y sindicalistas—August Spies, Sam Fielden, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg y Oscar Heebe—fueron acusados por el bombardeo de HaymarKet. De los 8 hombres, 7 de ellos eran inmigrantes y solo 3 estaban en HaymarKet esa noche. El fiscal estatal escogio de manera individual a un jurado parcial y no presento ninguna evidencia conectandoles con las bombas.
Tal cual la flscalfa discutid en la corte: «E1 anarquismo esta en juicio. Estos hombres nan sido seleccionados, escogidos por el Gran Tribunal y ban sido arrestados porque eran Ifderes. Ellos no son mas culpables que los miles que los siguen. Senores del jurado, sentencien a estos hombres, hagan de ellos un ejemplo, cuelguenlos y ustedes salvaran nuestras instituciones, nuestra sociedad.» Y asf lo hicieron. Todos recibieron la pena de muerte excepto Neebe, al cual se le dieron 15 anos de carcel. Una campana masiva internacional forzo al estado a acortar las sentencias de Schawab y Fielden a cadena perpetua pero, en Noviembre 11,1887, los Sres. Parsons, Engel, Spies y Fischer fueron ahorcados. El feroz carpintero aleman, Louis Lingg, engano al carcelero al suicidarse antes de que lo ejecutaran. Hubo usa asistencia de 600,000 personas a los funerales.
Mientras el incidente de HaymarKet fue visto inicialmente como un retroceso para el movimiento de las 8 horas, el evento logro a radicalizar mas personas, incluyendo a ciertos anarquistas influyentes como Emma Goldman y Voltairine de Gleyre. La Federacion Americana del Trabajo y los anarquistas de IWPA se lanzaron a las calles nuevamente el 1° de Mayo de 1890 y el movimiento de las 8 horas continue. Teniendo como legado a los Martires de HaymarKet, los sindicatos comenzaron a progresar. El sindicato de mineros, Los Trabajadores Unidos de las Minas, lograron un dfa laboral de 8 horas en su contracto laboral en 1898, como tambien el sindicato El Gonsejo de Gonstructores de San Francisco en 1900, los sindicatos de imprenta a traves de los EE.UU. en 1905 y los trabajadores de la companfa automotriz Ford Motor en 1914. En 1916, con la amenaza nacional de una huelga general, los trabajadores de ferrocarriles forzo al gobierno a pasar el Ley de Adamson, el cual les otorgo el dfa laboral de 8 horas, con pago adicional despues de las 8 horas.
Finalmente, en 1938, un movimiento masivo de trabajadores y de cesantes forzaron al gobierno de Roosevelt a que pasara la Ley Estandar Justa Laboral, estableciendose para muchos el dfa laboral de 8 horas con pago de sobretiempo, como tambien un salario mi'nimo y la abolicion de «la labor infantil opresiva.»
From The "Common Struggle" Newspaper #7- THE ORIGIN OF MAY DAY:The 1886 General Strike
THE ORIGIN OF MAY DAY:The 1886 General Strike
We workers in the United States have not always had the eight-hour day. This, like most progress, was won through popular struggle. In the late 1800s, workers, including children, could suffer 16 or more hours a day under dangerous, stifling sweatshop conditions. They earned starvation wages and lived in cramped quarters. Like today, the bosses and the government kept the working class weak by sharpening the divisions of race, gender, immigration status, and other artificial differences. In 1886, however, workers obliterated these divisions and stood together as a class, beginning the fight that won the eight-hour day.
In Chicago, a strong labor movement pressed for, and was rewarded with, 8-hour legislation in 1867. This was supposed to be enacted on May 1st. When that day came, however, the bosses ignored the law and the government wouldn't enforce it. But when Chicago's militant workers went on strike to protest, the government did send the police to brutally crush the peoples' resistance. The despondent workers returned to their jobs. Nothing had changed for Chicago's toilers except their confidence that change could be achieved through legislation.
In 1886 another more radical 8-hour movement gained momentum, led in Chicago by migrant and other workers of the anarchist International Working People's Association (IWPA). A national coalition of unions called for a general strike for May 1st. A general strike is when all workers, regardless of profession, stop working. By crippling the economy workers demonstrate their power - without the workers, society could not continue; the bosses and the rest of the ruling class, on the other hand, are completely useless and even detrimental to the health of human society.
On May 1st, 1886 750,000 workers went on strike across the country— 400,000 in Chicago alone. Eleven-thousand marched in Detroit, 25,000 in New York City, and 80,000 marched through Chicago's streets. Their demonstration of unity terrified the ruling class. Determined not to concede anything and to greedily hoard all of the wealth they had robbed from the poor, the rich set out to crush the movement with violence.
The workers' momentum continued with strikes and demonstrations. On May 3rd, the striking "lumber shovers" union held a public meeting of 6,000 near the McGormick plant. The police attacked the meeting with guns and batons, killing one worker and wounding more. Outraged, anarchists posted a call in their daily German-language paper, the Arbeiter-Zeitung ("Workers'
Newspaper") for a May 4th protest meeting at Haymarket Square.
That night, thousands gathered at Haymarket to denounce police violence. The crowd listened calmly to speeches by migrant anarchist workers, such as August Spies and Samuel Fielden. Even the mayor of Chicago, who attended the beginninghalfoftherally,said,"nothinglookedlikely to happen to require police interference," and he advised police captain Bonfield to send his forces home. Bonfield didn't. Around 10PM, after the mayor and many attendees left, and as Fielden was calling the meeting to a close, Bonfield's force of 200 officers marched on the rally, threatening violence and demanding it break up. A bomb exploded in the police ranks, killing one instantly and injuring many. In the chaos, police fired indiscriminately, killing seven of their own officers and numerous demonstrators, though they never counted how many workers they slaughtered.
A reign of terror followed while the state prosecutor publicly advised the police to target anarchists: "make the raids first and look up the law afterwards." Police arrested all known anarchists and raided meeting halls, printing offices, and homes. Eight prominent anarchist speakers, newspaper editors, and unionists-August Spies, Sam Fielden, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg, and Oscar Neebe—were charged with the Haymarket bombing. Of the 8 men, 7 were immigrants, and only 3 were at Haymarket that night. The state prosecutor handpicked a biased jury and presented no evidence connecting them to the bomb.
As the prosecution argued in court, "Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, Jiang them and you saviour institutions, our society/'l3o they" did." All received death sentences except Neebe, who was given 15 years. A massive international campaign forced the state to commute the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment, but on November llth, 1887, Parsons, Engel, Spies, and Fischer were hanged. The fiery young German carpenter, Louis Lingg, cheated the hangman, committing suicide in his cell the day before his execution. Six-hundred thousand attended their funeral.
While the Haymarket incident was initially seen as a set-back for the 8-hour movement, the event radicalized many more, including influential anarchists Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Gleyre. The American Federation of Labor and the anarchist IWPA took the streets again on May Day, 1890, and the movement for the 8-hour day pressed on. Carrying the legacy of the Haymarket Martyrs, organized labor began to make headway. The United Mine Workers achieved the eight-hour day in 1898, as did the Building Trades Council of San Francisco in 1900, printing trades across the US in 1905, and Ford Motor workers in 1914. In 1916, threatening a nationwide general strike, US railroad workers forced the government to pass the Adamson Act, which won them an eight-hour day, with additional pay for overtime.
Finally in 1938, massive militant movements of workers and unemployed forced the Roosevelt government to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing for many the 8-hour day with extra overtime pay, as well as a national minimum wage and the abolition of "oppressive child labor."
We workers in the United States have not always had the eight-hour day. This, like most progress, was won through popular struggle. In the late 1800s, workers, including children, could suffer 16 or more hours a day under dangerous, stifling sweatshop conditions. They earned starvation wages and lived in cramped quarters. Like today, the bosses and the government kept the working class weak by sharpening the divisions of race, gender, immigration status, and other artificial differences. In 1886, however, workers obliterated these divisions and stood together as a class, beginning the fight that won the eight-hour day.
In Chicago, a strong labor movement pressed for, and was rewarded with, 8-hour legislation in 1867. This was supposed to be enacted on May 1st. When that day came, however, the bosses ignored the law and the government wouldn't enforce it. But when Chicago's militant workers went on strike to protest, the government did send the police to brutally crush the peoples' resistance. The despondent workers returned to their jobs. Nothing had changed for Chicago's toilers except their confidence that change could be achieved through legislation.
In 1886 another more radical 8-hour movement gained momentum, led in Chicago by migrant and other workers of the anarchist International Working People's Association (IWPA). A national coalition of unions called for a general strike for May 1st. A general strike is when all workers, regardless of profession, stop working. By crippling the economy workers demonstrate their power - without the workers, society could not continue; the bosses and the rest of the ruling class, on the other hand, are completely useless and even detrimental to the health of human society.
On May 1st, 1886 750,000 workers went on strike across the country— 400,000 in Chicago alone. Eleven-thousand marched in Detroit, 25,000 in New York City, and 80,000 marched through Chicago's streets. Their demonstration of unity terrified the ruling class. Determined not to concede anything and to greedily hoard all of the wealth they had robbed from the poor, the rich set out to crush the movement with violence.
The workers' momentum continued with strikes and demonstrations. On May 3rd, the striking "lumber shovers" union held a public meeting of 6,000 near the McGormick plant. The police attacked the meeting with guns and batons, killing one worker and wounding more. Outraged, anarchists posted a call in their daily German-language paper, the Arbeiter-Zeitung ("Workers'
Newspaper") for a May 4th protest meeting at Haymarket Square.
That night, thousands gathered at Haymarket to denounce police violence. The crowd listened calmly to speeches by migrant anarchist workers, such as August Spies and Samuel Fielden. Even the mayor of Chicago, who attended the beginninghalfoftherally,said,"nothinglookedlikely to happen to require police interference," and he advised police captain Bonfield to send his forces home. Bonfield didn't. Around 10PM, after the mayor and many attendees left, and as Fielden was calling the meeting to a close, Bonfield's force of 200 officers marched on the rally, threatening violence and demanding it break up. A bomb exploded in the police ranks, killing one instantly and injuring many. In the chaos, police fired indiscriminately, killing seven of their own officers and numerous demonstrators, though they never counted how many workers they slaughtered.
A reign of terror followed while the state prosecutor publicly advised the police to target anarchists: "make the raids first and look up the law afterwards." Police arrested all known anarchists and raided meeting halls, printing offices, and homes. Eight prominent anarchist speakers, newspaper editors, and unionists-August Spies, Sam Fielden, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg, and Oscar Neebe—were charged with the Haymarket bombing. Of the 8 men, 7 were immigrants, and only 3 were at Haymarket that night. The state prosecutor handpicked a biased jury and presented no evidence connecting them to the bomb.
As the prosecution argued in court, "Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, Jiang them and you saviour institutions, our society/'l3o they" did." All received death sentences except Neebe, who was given 15 years. A massive international campaign forced the state to commute the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment, but on November llth, 1887, Parsons, Engel, Spies, and Fischer were hanged. The fiery young German carpenter, Louis Lingg, cheated the hangman, committing suicide in his cell the day before his execution. Six-hundred thousand attended their funeral.
While the Haymarket incident was initially seen as a set-back for the 8-hour movement, the event radicalized many more, including influential anarchists Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Gleyre. The American Federation of Labor and the anarchist IWPA took the streets again on May Day, 1890, and the movement for the 8-hour day pressed on. Carrying the legacy of the Haymarket Martyrs, organized labor began to make headway. The United Mine Workers achieved the eight-hour day in 1898, as did the Building Trades Council of San Francisco in 1900, printing trades across the US in 1905, and Ford Motor workers in 1914. In 1916, threatening a nationwide general strike, US railroad workers forced the government to pass the Adamson Act, which won them an eight-hour day, with additional pay for overtime.
Finally in 1938, massive militant movements of workers and unemployed forced the Roosevelt government to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing for many the 8-hour day with extra overtime pay, as well as a national minimum wage and the abolition of "oppressive child labor."
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