Anarchist Bomb kills Police in Chicago
At a labor convention held in October 1884, unions unanimously set May 1, 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard. When May 1, 1886 approached, U.S. labor unions prepared for a general strike in support of the eight-hour day.
Rallies were held throughout the United States. It has been estimated that the total number of striking U.S. workers was somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000. The movement was centered in Chicago where an estimated 40,000 workers went on strike. The founder of the International Working People’s Association was Albert Parsons. He, along with his wife and children, led a march of 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue.
On May 3, striking workers in Chicago rallied at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant where union molders had been locked out since early February. When the bell rang marking the end of the workday a group of striking workers surged to the gates to confront strikebreakers. Despite calls for the workers to remain calm, gunfire erupted as police fired on the crowd. In the end, two McCormick workers were killed
Outraged by the police violence, local anarchists quickly printed and distributed fliers calling for a rally the next day at Haymarket Square. These fliers alleged that police had murdered the strikers on behalf of business interests. Some of the fliers said, “Workingmen Arm Yourselves and Appear in Full Force!”
Haymarket Rally
The rally scheduled to start at 7:30 pm, began peacefully. August Spies, German immigrant and anarchist labor activist, rallied the crowd from an open wagon. According to witnesses, Spies began by assuring the crowd that the rally was not intended to incite violence. Historians recount Spies as saying, “There seems to prevail the opinion in some quarters that this meeting has been called for the purpose of inaugurating a riot, hence these warlike preparations on the part of so-called ‘law and order.’ However, let me tell you at the beginning that this meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour movement and to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it.”
The crowd was so calm that Mayor Carter Harrison, who had come to assure a peaceful evening, left for home early. As the last speaker was finishing his speech the police ordered the rally to disperse. They then began marching in formation towards the speakers’ wagon. A pipe bomb was thrown at the police line and exploded, killing a policeman. The police immediately opened fire. It is said that the incident lasted less than five minutes.
Several police officers appear to have been injured by the bomb, but most of the police casualties were caused by bullets, largely from friendly fire. In his report on the incident, John Bonfield wrote he “gave the order to cease firing, fearing that some of our men, in the darkness might fire into each other”. An anonymous police official told the Chicago Tribune “a very large number of the police were wounded by each other’s revolvers. … It was every man for himself, and while some got two or three squares away, the rest emptied their revolvers, mainly into each other.”
About sixty officers were wounded and in all, eight policemen and at least four workers were killed. It is unclear how many civilians were wounded since many were afraid to seek medical attention, fearing arrest.
Eight people connected with the rally or its anarchist organizers were arrested charged with the murder of a policeman.
At the trial, the prosecution failed to show credible evidence connecting any of the defendants with the bombing. They argued that the person who had thrown the bomb was not discouraged to do so by the defendants so therefor, they were equally responsible.
The jury found all eight defendants guilty- sentencing seven of the men to death.
History Repeats Itself
A similar trial will soon be under way in Minnesota. This time it wasn’t a labor rally that got out of hand it was the protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. Eight anarchist organizers are being tried for conspiracy to commit crimes they were not even present for. We’ll see if history repeats itself.
A 3 part PBS documentary on the Haymarket Martyrs (Part 2), (Part 3)
