The Hay Market Riot of 1870

The Hay market Riot of 1870

The strong industrial growth that was witnessed in America between the year 1870’s and 1880’s saw the emergence of unions formed to represent and protect the right of the workers. At around this time, industrial workers strikes were a common occurrence in the United States.  The increase in the number of industrial strikes coincide with the poor working conditions, low wages, lack of safety in the factories, lack of workers benefits and long working hours which were between 10 to 12 hours 6 days in a week. The pioneer labor movement at this time was the Knights of Labor (K.O.L) which had a membership of more than 700,000 workers. The labor movement during these times consisted of three radical factions, the socialists, communists, and anarchists. Most of the members of the K.O.L wanted the capitalist system mode of governance dismantled for promoting the exploitation of workers. Majority of the members of the labor radicals were immigrants from Germany. The K.O.L main focus was aimed at reduction of working hours to a maximum of 8 hours per day.

On the 3rd of May 1886, workers from the Mc Cormick Company Ltd staged a strike which was aimed at agitating for the reduction of working hours to a maximum of 8 hours. In the course of the strike, a confrontation ensued between the police and the demonstrators. In the aftermath, one person was killed and much more injured. To protest the alleged police cruelty of 3rd May, the anarchist faction of the K.O.L planned a protest rally where more than 20,000 demonstrators were expected to take part (Kallman, 758). The venue of the demonstration was Haymarket Square. Because of bad weather on that day, the number of the demonstrators dwindled to about 1500 and 2000 (Kallman  760). The mayor who was also in attendance gave the strike a clean bill of health and left the venue. The gathering was continued peacefully until when a contingent of policemen arrived and forcefully attempted to disperse the crowd in contravention of the mayor’s orders. At that time a pipe bomb was thrown at where the policemen had assembled killing seven police officers instantly and wounding more others. Police in retaliation fired abruptly into the crowd killing four workers along the way.

The period that followed the Haymarket Square riot was followed by panic and xenophobic attacks aimed at radical immigrants and the leadership of the Knights of Labor movement. The police operation saw detention of many workers, who were beaten up in an effort by police to obtain a confession; at the end of this police operation, eight  anarchists were arraigned in court for plotting to commit murder. Out of the eight, seven were convicted to hang by a biased judge who relied on the antagonistic jurors despite. This took place despite the obvious lack of evidence of the eight involvement in the bombing (Linder 15).

Reacting to this unfortunate judgment James Henretta and David Brody renowned historians in their book America: A Concise History states that the Haymarket defendants were “ victims of the great miscarriage of American Justice. Another textbook authored by a Historian  H.W. Brands titled The American Stories was of the opinion that there was no proof that those people who were prosecuted were indeed guilty. Brands continue to argue that the incident only exposed the gross hypocrisy that was bedeviling the government and the judiciary of the day.  A historian of great repute called Messer – Kruse has tried to rebut this argument that the, eight who were prosecuted were innocent workers. To rebut this analogy he has published two books titled The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists, and The Haymarket Conspiracy. Messer- Kluse argues that the eight men received a fair trial depending on the legal standards that were existing during those days (Messer-Kruse 16). He continues to argue that blame should be shifted to the legal defense team which according to him, were committed more to political show off more than defending the course of their clients.

The Haymarket incidence however never ended with the prosecution and execution of some of the defendants, the critics of the harsh judgment continued to seek for clemency of the remaining three victims. They argued that there victims of government witch hunting. Their continued agitations bored fruits when Governor John Altered of Illinois after reviewing the trial documents sighted that the case was raced with judicial bias and inspired by the public interest. These resulted in the unconditional pardon and release of the prisoners namely Neebe, Schwab and Fielden

Despite the unfortunate turn of events, the Haymarket riot has gone on to inspire generation after generation of labor movement leaders across the globe. The photos of the three gentlemen otherwise known as the “Haymarket Martyrs” have found their way into many labor movement halls all over the world.  Diego Rivera, an artist, made an exhibition of the three alongside another picture of the Mayday protest in a mural that appeared in the Mexico City. Courtesy of the May protest it is an internationally recognized practice that an employee should work for a maximum of 8 hours per day. Also, 1st May has been set aside as a day to Commemorate International Workers Day.

Despite the founding father of the pioneer Labor movement paying the ultimate cost for their contribution towards the protection and representation of the workers, Most of the workers are now enjoying the fruits of what they fought for. Across the globe, the working condition has improved dramatically, with the safety of the worker becoming a priority, workers now work for lesser hours (maximum of 8 hours), and they are entitled to a number work-related benefits.

Works cited

Linder, D. The Haymarket Riot and Subsequent Trial: An Account. SSRN Electronic Journal. (2007).

Kallman, M. Making the cosmopolitan canopy in Boston's Haymarket Square. Ethnic And Racial Studies,

Messer-Kruse, T. The trial of the Haymarket anarchists. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (2011).