Haymarket Square Riot

 

Our verdict this morning cheers the hearts of tyrants throughout the world, and the result will be celebrated by King Capital in its drunken feast of flowing wine from Chicago to St Petersburg. Nevertheless, our doom to death is the handwriting on the wall, foretelling the downfall of hate, malice, hypocrisy, judicial murder, oppression and the domination of man over his fellowman. The oppressed of earth are writhing in their legal chains. The giant Labor is awakening. The masses, aroused from their stupor, will snap their petty chains like reeds in the whirlwind.

Haymarket Martyr Albert Parsons’ last words to his wife

 

The Haymarket Square Riot, which took place in Chicago, Illinois, on May 4, 1886, is the inception of the international May Day observances. Although the causes of the riot are still not fully known, it is believed that it was the division between the business and working classes in the late 19th century that probably brought about the disaster.

Prosperity was starting to return to the city of Chicago following the years after the Great Fire, but many activitists were annoyed that the wealth was staying in the hands of the privileged few. Companies such as the McCormick Reaper Works experienced constant unrest among their workers over their working conditions, the paltry amount of pay and the long hours they were required to work. There was no doubt, especially in the slaughterhouses, that men were working six days a week, 10–12 hours a day, for very little remuneration. In 1886 strikes and protests had become commonplace, and bad feeling had been brewing since the end of the Civil War. Trade Unions began to form to protect the rights of the worker, and many of the organizers were blatant socialists, which helped spark the event that was to change the face of the labour movement forever.

Violence erupted on May 3, 1886, during a meeting of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works, and as a result anarchists turned Chicago into a city just waiting to boil over. On the evening of May 4, a meeting was called to protest against the action the police had taken against striking employees at the McCormick factory the day before. In the ensuing scuffles the police had killed one man and injured many others. The workers had been striking in an effort to reduce their working day to eight hours.

They expected around 20,000 to turn up for the meeting, but the rain had kept many of them indoors. In truth only around 2,500 rather tired spectators showed up to listen to speeches from Albert Parsons, Samuel Fielden and August Spies, all three of whom were considered to be dangerous anarchists by the city authorities. Despite this, Mayor Carter Henry Harrison issued a permit to allow the meeting to take place, believing that there would be no real reason for concern. Others in authority were not so sure, and in response to local businessmen 600 police officers were put on duty that night in West Chicago. Police Inspector John Bonfield told his men to be prepared for a riot. Believing that the trouble might be citywide, he arranged for a further 100 police officers to be on hand should they be required.

The rally began at Haymarket Square at around 8.30 p.m. The crowd were fairly subdued, partly due to the wet weather, and when Mayor Harrison rode his horse through the crowds, he was satisfied that it was going to be a peaceful gathering. He told Inspector Bonfield to send his reserve officers home. However, Bonfield wasn’t convinced that there wouldn’t be trouble and ignored the Mayor’s request.

The rally was starting to draw to a close at around 10 o’clock, and Inspector Bonfield, accompanied by 176 policemen, went in rather heavy-handedly, demanding immediate dispersal of the remaining

200 workers. Without warning, a crude hand-made bomb was thrown into the police column from a foyer in Des Plaines Street. Officer Mathias Degan was killed in the blast and six other officers were seriously wounded. The police, who were initially stunned, quickly responded by firing wildly into the fleeing crowd of workers. This random firing continued for up to five minutes and in the ensuing chaos six officers were killed and at least 60 others injured. Medical evidence later showed that most of the injuries received by the police were caused by their own bullets.

Following the days of the riot, despite the Mayor’s pleading for calm, Bonfield and Police Inspector Michael Schaak decided to take the matter into their own hands. They were determined to find the person or persons responsible for the throwing of the bomb, or who had made the bomb in the first place. The police started a reign of terror among the working class citizens of Chicago. Hundreds of well-known anarchists and socialists were rounded up, beaten and interrogated at all hours of the night. They were so determined to get their man that they forced false confessions by using violence. Of course, by this time, whoever the real bomber was, had probably faded away into the distance anyway. Out of all the men the police arrested, 31 were named in criminal indictments and eight were held for trial.

Out of the eight that were charged with causing the riot, seven of them received the death sentence, with the eighth being sentenced to 15 years in prison. They were all sentenced on conspiracy charges to incite violence that led to the subsequent deaths of the police officers. The sentencing sparked more outrage in labour circles and resulted in protests around the world, making the defendants into international political heroes. The eight men appealed to the state supreme court, but their appeal got them nowhere.

One of the men, Louis Lingg, tried to kill himself by blowing himself up, and mortally wounded he died soon after. Four of the men charged, August Spies, Albert Parsons, George Engel and Adolph Fischer, were hanged on November 11, 1997. Two of the men had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment and one remained in prison even though there was no firm case against him.

In 1893 Judge Altgeld was chosen as the Democratic candidate for the office of governor in the state of Illinois. Unlike his predecesor, Altgeld looked at the defendants’ appeals claiming that they had not received a fair trial, and they were subsequently pardoned. Judge Altged was criticized by the media, calling him an ‘anarchist’ for pardoning the three labour union activists, an act which made him very unpopular and one which risked his political career. John Peter Altgeld simply said he was doing what he thought was right, and that he fought for the underdog, won, and paid the price of what sometimes comes with justice. He was criticized and hated by many for what he did.

On May 4, 1889, the city of Chicago erected a monument of a police officer in Haymarket Square. For many years the police were seen as the victims of the riot, but with the formation of the labour unions opinions started to change. The statue was defaced in the 1960s, blown up twice, repaired, and finally it was moved to the Chicago Police Training Academy.

A second monument was erected in German Waldheim Cemetery, Illinois, and it depicts Justice preparing to draw a sword while placing a laurel wreath on the brow of a fallen worker. At the base of the statue are the final words of August Spies just before his execution:

 

The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.

 

On the other hand, the inscription below the monument of the police officer reads:

 

In the name of the people I command peace.

 

But somehow peace has not been very forthcoming since its dedication in 1889.