Chicago's Haymarket Affair: The Bloody Birth of May Day

On May 4, 1886, a peaceful labor demonstration in Chicago's Haymarket Square erupted into violence when an unknown person threw a bomb into the police line. Seven officers died, dozens of workers were injured, and eight men were condemned in a trial that historians now recognize as deeply flawed. What began as a push for the eight-hour workday transformed into an international symbol of workers' rights and radical politics. While Americans celebrate May 1st with flowers and springtime festivals, most of the world commemorates the Haymarket martyrs and the ongoing struggle for labor dignity. This is the forgotten American origin of International Workers' Day—a story of violence, injustice, and the power of ordinary people demanding fair treatment.

Discover why May Day means something very different outside America's borders. New episodes every Tuesday.

The Haymarket Affair and May Day's Origins

May Day celebrations around the world honor the memory of workers killed during the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago—an event that transformed labor history forever. This episode explores how a peaceful demonstration for the eight-hour workday ended in violence, controversy, and the execution of men whose guilt remains disputed.

KEY LOCATIONS

• Haymarket Square (Randolph Street and Desplaines Street, Chicago) - Site of the May 4, 1886 bombing and riot
• McCormick Reaper Works - Scene of earlier labor conflict on May 3, 1886
• Des Plaines Street - Where the Haymarket memorial statue stands today
• Waldheim Cemetery (Forest Park, Illinois) - Burial site of the Haymarket martyrs

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

May 1, 1886

• Nationwide general strike begins for eight-hour workday
• 350,000 workers across America walk off their jobs
• 40,000 workers demonstrate in Chicago

May 3, 1886

• Police kill at least two striking workers at McCormick Reaper Works
• August Spies witnesses the violence, writes inflammatory handbill

May 4, 1886

• Evening rally at Haymarket Square draws 3,000 people
• Crowd dwindles to 300 as speakers finish
• Police advance to disperse remaining crowd
• Unknown person throws bomb into police line
• Seven police officers ultimately die from bomb and gunfire
• At least four civilians killed in chaos

May-June 1886

• Eight anarchists arrested and charged with murder
• Trial becomes international sensation

November 11, 1887

• Four men hanged: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel
• Louis Lingg commits suicide in jail day before execution

June 26, 1893

• Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardons three surviving defendants
• Declares trial fundamentally unfair

1889

• Second International (socialist organization) designates May 1st as International Workers' Day
• Holiday spreads across Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa

KEY FIGURES

• August Spies - German immigrant, newspaper editor, executed despite no evidence linking him to bombing
• Albert Parsons - American-born anarchist, voluntarily surrendered for trial, executed
• Louis Lingg - Youngest defendant, suicide by dynamite cap day before execution
• Adolph Fischer & George Engel - Executed alongside Spies and Parsons
• Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab - Imprisoned, later pardoned by Gov. Altgeld
• Governor John Peter Altgeld - Courageously pardoned survivors in 1893, ending his political career

THE UNKNOWN BOMBER The identity of the person who threw the bomb remains one of Chicago's greatest mysteries. No one was ever definitively identified. Theories include:

• A radical protester seeking to escalate conflict
• A police agent provocateur attempting to discredit the labor movement
• A civilian reacting to police violence at McCormick the previous day

INTERNATIONAL IMPACT While Americans associate May 1st with flowers and springtime celebrations, International Workers' Day is observed in over 80 countries as a commemoration of labor rights and the Haymarket martyrs. The United States celebrates Labor Day in September instead, partly to distance the holiday from its radical Chicago origins.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The Haymarket Affair represents a turning point in American labor history:

• Demonstrated the willingness of workers to risk their lives for better conditions
• Exposed deep class divisions in industrializing America
• Illustrated the power of the state to suppress radical movements
• Created martyrs whose memory inspired labor organizing globally
• Led to gradual acceptance of eight-hour workday over following decades

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

1. Green, James. Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America. Pantheon, 2006.
2. Avrich, Paul. The Haymarket Tragedy. Princeton University Press, 1984.
3. Illinois Labor History Society - Haymarket Archive: https://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/
4. Chicago History Museum - Haymarket Affair Digital Collection
5. Chicago Tribune coverage, May 5-12, 1886
6. The Alarm (anarchist newspaper edited by Albert Parsons), 1884-1886
7. Governor John Peter Altgeld's Pardon Message, June 26, 1893
8. Smith, Carl. Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman. University of Chicago Press, 1995.
9. Nelson, Bruce C. Beyond the Martyrs: A Social History of Chicago's Anarchists, 1870-1900. Rutgers University Press, 1988.
10. Foner, Philip S. May Day: A Short History of the International Workers' Holiday, 1886-1986. International Publishers, 1986.

MODERN CONTEXT The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument in Waldheim Cemetery remains a pilgrimage site for labor activists worldwide. The eight-hour workday that workers died for in 1886 was not achieved federally until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938—52 years after Haymarket.

VISIT A bronze memorial sculpture marks the approximate site of the bombing at Desplaines and Randolph Streets in Chicago. The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at Waldheim Cemetery (Forest Park, Illinois) honors the executed anarchists and features a statue designed by Albert Weinert.

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