Haymakers in the Haymarket: Labor Day Digest 4/6

     Halfway down, halfway to go.  Let's turn our eyes to Chicago's old Haymarket Square for our next entry.

      If there's one thing that almost everyone who works has in common, it is the 8-hour workday.  Some of us might work more than that on occasion, and some of us may work less, but 8 hours is the standard.  But it wasn't always this way.  The 8-hour workday is yet another result of the acts of unions throughout the years.  Today we're talking about one particular instance where the 8-hour day was crusaded for.

     It all starts in October of 1884, when the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions met and declared that by May 1, 1886, all employers would be using the 8-hour workday as a template for the hours of their employees.  As the date approached and employers did nothing, the powers that be called for a general strike so as to show support for the 8-hour workday.  On the morning of May 1, roughly 40,000 workers in Chicago walked off the job and started marching in favor of the new hours.  On the third day of the strike, the workers gathered near the McCormick(a relative of the Tribune's McCormick) Machine Company plant and rallied there.  They heard speeches from various people there, including several beseeching them to keep the peace.  And up until that point, they did.  And for the rest of that day, they did.

     But on the 4th day of the rally, things started out pretty calmly.  For that matter, even Mayor Carter Harrison Sr. stopped by for a time.  Later on in the evening, the weather was worsening, so many folks went home.  At about 10:30, the police came in to force the ceasing of the speeches.  As the officers were advancing towards the stage, there was a small homemade bomb thrown directly in front of the officers.  The force of the blast killed 7 officers, injured several more, and touched off a straight-up riot in the middle of the street.

     In the fracas, more than 100 marchers were arrested.  Eventually 8 of them were charged with various crimes carrying sentences up to and including the death penalty.  1 person was sent to prison for 15 years, while the other 7 were sentenced to die.  While on Death Row, one of the condemned men committed suicide, while 2 more had their sentences commuted to life in prison(and were eventually given full pardons)by the governor of Illinois.  On November 11, 1887, the remaining four men were hung, carrying out the death sentence.

     In the years since then, the Haymarket Affair has become a common rallying cry and shibboleth amongst supporters of organized labor.  In fact, one particular aspect of the strike is commemorated every year in May.  There will be more on that in another entry later on this week though.  For now, we see now that the Haymarket Affair is yet another linchpin in the history of organized labor coming to us from Chicago.