On a bright sunny day last April I paid a visit to my favorite bakery in San Franciso, the
Arizmendi Bakery. Among the the beautiful baguettes and the sumptuous scones, I saw a sign stating that the bakery would be closed on May 1 to celebrate Labor Day - the same day it is celebrated in Europe and many other places.
Since Arizmendi Bakery is a worker owned cooperative it didn't surprise me that they would chose the May 1 observation. (I always figured the US had a different date for cold-war reasons). But as I read the flier and took a bite out of my raspberry scone, I learned the reason my favorite bakery would be closed wasn't as simple as I thought. It was to commemorate a hard fought, yet forgotten victory for labor and immigrant workers that took place right here in the United States.
Join me past the fold for a story of one of the most important labor moments in the history of the modern world, one that is almost unknown to Americans: the May 1, 1886 Haymarket Protest in Chicago.
After that day at the bakery I decided to research the events of the Haymarket Square protest. What I found is a 120 year old story of workers and immigrants demanding their rights from the companies they worked for.
I'll let dkos's own dannyinla - who did a set of 4 diaries on the subject - set the scene:
It was a pleasant Saturday - May 1, 1886 - in Chicago. It was not the beginning of the weekend - many workers in the city (and across the nation) were still toiling six days a week...Across America, workers marched for the enforcement of the 8-hour work day and better child labor protections. Our government had already passed legislation for the 8-hour day, but there was virtually no enforcement.
From
Wikipedia:
[L]abor unions organized a strike for an eight-hour work day in Chicago. Albert Parsons, head of the Chicago Knights of Labor, with his wife Lucy Parsons and two children, led 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue in what is regarded as the first May Day Parade. In the next few days they were joined nationwide by 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago, who went on strike at 1,200 factories.
On May 3 striking workers met near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant. A fight broke out on the picket lines, and Chicago police intervened and attacked the strikers, killing two, wounding several others and sparking outrage in the city's working community.
Anarchists posted fliers announcing a protest against the killngs, to be held at the center of commerce: Haymarket Square. Local anarchist August Spies published his famous pamphlet "Revenge! Workingmen to Arms!"
Rally at Haymarket Square
The rally began peacefully under a light rain on the evening of May 4. August Spies spoke to the large crowd while standing in an open wagon on a side street. According to many witnesses Spies said he was not there to incite anyone. Meanwhile a large number of on-duty police officers watched from nearby. The crowd was so calm that Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., who had stopped by to watch, walked home early. Some time later the police ordered the rally to disperse and began marching in formation towards the speakers' wagon. A bomb was thrown at the police line and exploded, killing a policeman...; seven other policemen later died from their injuries...The police immediately opened fire on the crowd, injuring dozens. Many of the wounded were afraid to visit hospitals for fear of being arrested. A total of eleven people died. Wikipedia
dannyinla: Within hours..., the mayor of Chicago - Carter Harrison - who just hours before had described the Haymarket meeting as "tame", now declared that:
"Our great city cannot expect another day of lawlessness at the hands of the Anarchist forces that endanger our way of life."
Even more succinctly, District Attorney Julius Grinnell stated to the press:
"We're making the raids first, and looking up the law later!"
And that's exactly what they did.
(The above) 19th century engraving showing exaggerated flames and smoke was published in popular newspapers and magazines during the days and weeks following the Haymarket riot. It also appeared in some history textbooks. Wikipedia
Roundup, Trial and Death
Immigration was a big a factor in labor issues then as it is now. Of the 8 people arrested and charged with the murder of the police officer, 5 of them were German immigrants: August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Micheal Schwab and Louis Lingg. Oscar Neebe was German-American. The other two were Americans Albert Parsons and Samuel Fielden.
Parsons, Spies, Fischer, and Engel were hanged on November 11, 1887. Lingg committed suicide in prison. The remaining three escaped hanging and were finally pardoned in 1893.
The prosecution did not offer evidence connecting any of the defendants with the bombing, but argued that the person who had thrown the bomb had been incited to do so by the defendants, who as conspirators were equally responsible.
The jury returned guilty verdicts for all eight defendants, with death sentences for seven. Neebe...received a sentence of 15 years in prison. The sentencing sparked outrage from budding labor and workers movements, resulted in protests around the world, and made the defendants international political celebrities and heroes within labor and radical political circles. Meanwhile the press had published often sensationalized accounts and opinions about the incident, all of which tended to polarize public reaction. Wikipedia
Aftermath
According to dannyinla, "The execution of the Haymarket martyrs effectively stalled the American labor movement for decades."
The fame of the defendants led to the estabishment of May 1 as a commeration of the events and a day for labor and workers all over the world.
But in the United States in the late 1880's, in order to disassociate labor movements from the "radical" left, a new Labor Day was established in September.
[P]resident Grover Cleveland believed that a May 1 holiday could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Thus, fearing that it might strengthen the socialist movement, he quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day. Wikipedia
In 2006, proving that they understood history and that they appreciated the long-standing ties between immigrants and the labor movement, immigrant groups in the United States chose May 1 for a protest:
Many Americans are not even aware that May 1 is when Labour Day is celebrated throughout the rest of the world. However, in 2006, May 1st was chosen by immigrant groups in the United States as the day for the Great American Boycott, an attempted general strike of immigrant workers to protest H.R. 4437. Wikipedia
The immigrant labor movement has come full circle. The next time that someone tries to tell you that immigrant laborers have some nerve protesting for fair working conditions in the United States, you tell them that it's as American as apple pie. The immigrants are from different countries and the jobs have changed some but the issues are the same as they ever were.
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Reference
Arizmendi Bakery:
Why the Name Arizmendi?
gloriana's diary:
Top Comments of the Day / Labor Edition
dannyinla's diaries:
May Day, 1886... and how four citizens came to hang
May 3rd, 1886 - WORKINGMEN, TO ARMS!!
May 4th, 1886 - The Haymarket Bombing
May 5th, 1886 - Rounding up the Haymarket martyrs
Wikipedia articles:
May Day
Labor Day (United States)
Haymarket Riot