Haymarket: Eight Hours, a Bomb and a Trial That Became a Global Symbol
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Transcript
Haymarket is one of the most influential labor-history sites in the world.
It is also one of the easiest to simplify badly.
In May 1886, workers across the United States were campaigning for an eight-hour workday.
Chicago had a large and militant labor movement, including many immigrant workers and anarchist organizers.
After police killed workers during a confrontation at the McCormick plant, activists called a protest meeting at Haymarket Square on May 4.
The gathering was winding down when police moved toward the crowd.
Someone threw a bomb.
Police opened fire.
Police and civilians died.
The identity of the bomber was never conclusively established.
Authorities prosecuted prominent anarchists.
The trial became internationally controversial because several defendants were convicted despite weak evidence tying them directly to the bombing.
Four were executed.
Others received prison sentences.
Years later, Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the surviving prisoners and condemned the trial's fairness.
Haymarket became a global labor symbol, helping give May Day its significance in workers' movements outside the United States.
The site therefore belongs to international history as much as Chicago history.
For visitors, avoid the easy choice between “terrorists attacked police” and “workers were innocent martyrs.”
The bomb killed people.
The justice process was deeply flawed.
Both facts matter.
Haymarket's enduring lesson is about what happens when labor conflict, political fear, immigration prejudice and state power collide in one public space.