The rapid industrialization after the Civil War led to unregulated capitalist development, resulting in cycles of boom and bust, widespread inequality, and lack of welfare provisions. Workers often faced unemployment and poor conditions, leading to increasing protests and unionization, which were met with violent repression by employers and the state.
Chicago became the epicenter of American industrial relations due to its rapid growth as a manufacturing and trade hub. It was a key city for railroads, steel, and other industries, making it a focal point for labor disputes. The city's explosive growth and lack of adequate governance mechanisms exacerbated tensions between workers and employers.
Many immigrants, especially Germans, were refugees from failed revolutions in 1848 and brought radical ideologies like anarchism and Marxism to America. They became key figures in the labor movement, advocating for workers' rights and challenging the status quo through radical activism.
The rally was called to protest the police killing of striking workers at the McCormick Reaper Works on May 3, 1886. It was also part of the broader movement for an eight-hour workday, which had sparked a nationwide general strike.
August Spies and Albert Parsons were prominent anarchists at the rally. Spies was a member of the International Working People's Association and edited a German-language newspaper, while Parsons was a Texan-born anarchist and editor of The Alarm, an English-language anarchist paper.
Johann Most was one of the most famous anarchists in America before Haymarket. He advocated for 'propaganda by the deed,' which involved using physical force against state violence. He wrote a pamphlet on bomb-making and was a key figure in the International Working People's Association, influencing figures like Parsons and Spies.
A bomb was thrown into a regiment of police marching into the rally, killing one policeman and sparking chaotic shooting that resulted in more deaths and injuries. The identity of the bomber was never confirmed, but the incident led to widespread fear and the arrest of anarchists.
The anarchists were charged with inciting murder through conspiracy, based on their advocacy of armed self-defense and articles about dynamite in their newspapers. The prosecution argued that their rhetoric led to the violence, even though there was no direct evidence linking them to the bomb.
The trial became a global cause because the anarchists were convicted despite a lack of evidence connecting them to the bombing. Their execution in 1887, despite international appeals for clemency, turned them into martyrs for the labor movement, leading to the creation of May Day as an international workers' holiday.
The Haymarket Affair exposed the repressive nature of labor relations in the U.S. and inspired future labor activists like Eugene V. Debs. It also led to the creation of May Day as an international workers' holiday, though it is not widely celebrated in the U.S. The trial marked a turning point in the struggle for workers' rights and the recognition of labor unions.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notorious attack of 4th of May 1886 at a workers rally in Chicago when somebody threw a bomb that killed a policeman, Mathias J. Degan. The chaotic shooting that followed left more people dead and sent shockwaves across America and Europe. This was in Haymarket Square at a protest for an eight hour working day following a call for a general strike and the police killing of striking workers the day before, at a time when labour relations in America were marked by violent conflict. The bomber was never identified but two of the speakers at the rally, both of then anarchists and six of their supporters were accused of inciting murder. Four of them, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies were hanged on 11th November 1887 only to be pardoned in the following years while a fifth, Louis Ling, had killed himself after he was convicted. The May International Workers Day was created in their memory.
With
Ruth Kinna Professor of Political Theory at Loughborough University
Christopher Phelps Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham
And
Gary Gerstle Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy (Princeton University Press, 1984)
Henry David, The History of the Haymarket Affair (Collier Books, 1963)
James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America (Pantheon, 2006)
Carl Levy and Matthew S. Adams (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), especially 'Haymarket and the Rise of Syndicalism' by Kenyon Zimmer
Franklin Rosemont and David Roediger, Haymarket Scrapbook: 125th Anniversary Edition (AK Press, 2012)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production