![]() ![]() The following day, a meeting held in the city's Haymarket Square turned even bloodier. By May 3, the protests turned violent when police - "which were basically the armed force of the capitalist masters," according to historian Linebaugh - attacked workers demonstrating near the McCormick Reaper plant. On that May date, anarchists and labor activists in Chicago began a multi-day strike in what became known as the Haymarket affair of 1886. The court held that the "inflammatory speeches and publications" of these eight incited the actions of the mob.The Two-Way May Day Marchers Around The World Celebrate Workers, Immigrants Despite the fact that the bomb thrower was never identified, and none of these eight could be connected with the crime,the judge imposed the death sentence on seven and the eighth was given fifteen years in prison. Eight men were arrested without warrants and brought to trial for conspiracy. They seized records and closed socialist and labor press offices. The following day, under the direction of State's Attorney, police began a fierce roundup of radicals, agitators and labor leaders. Degan died almost instantly seven other officers died later. Toward the end of this 6 hour meeting police tried to disperse the crowd, and a bomb exploded. Mayor Carter Harrison addressed the crowd briefly, then left, believing everything was orderly. Speakers exhorted the crowd from a wagon which was used for a makeshift stage. Some hecklers threw rocks, so police responded with gunfire, killing two strikers.Ī bomb explodes!! May 4, a rally turned riot! Haymarket Square was the sight of this protest meeting called to denounce the events of the preceding day at the McCormick Works. A police patrol wagon and 75 policemen rushed to protect the replacement workers. As if on cue, many of the workers hurried off to heckle the scabs leaving the factory. A union representative spoke to several thousand workers near the plant gates, the factory bell sounded, signaling the end of a shift. On May 3, a violent clash at the Reaper Works. Key point: Key point: Management-in an act of desperation-promised replacement workers an eight-hour day, while refusing to extend the same offer to its original union workers. During the May 1 strikes, even the nonunion workers were swept up in the enthusiasm, and half left work. As the plant reopened, striking workers gathered near the factory to listen to speeches by union leaders. McCormick bribed the mayor and police and hired an army of 400 police officers to guard the strikebreakers. He hired scabs and was so desperate for workers that he agreed to let them work an eight-hour day, which was what the strike was all about. McCormick ordered a lockout to shut out the unionists in response to a call for a strike. In 1886, the union demanded higher pay and better conditions. McCormick didn't care he thought he had broken the union. But the machines broke down they cost more than the workers had. In 1885, he installed expensive machinery, designed to eliminate workers. ![]() McCormick agreed to go back to the old pay scale. McCormick hired guards, but a crowd captured and burned their rifles. McCormick hired strikebreakers, scabs, to take their places. ![]() (That was the year his company made a 71% profit.) In 1884 Cyrus McCormick, Jr., said he was cutting workers' pay in order to decrease corporate expenses. In one year 25,000 workers died in the US. Miners worked underground with explosives but without safety regulations. Textile workers-worked sixty to eighty hours a week. In the 1880s, steel laborers worked twelve hour days, six days a week, for little pay. He treated workers as if they were commodities. died, his factory covered twelve acres, and 1,300 men worked ten-hour days, six days a week. The McCormick Factory made 1,000 reapers a year by 1850. Nowhere were conditions more combustible than at the McCormick Reaper Works. ![]() Labor conditions at various plants around Chicago were tense. Chicago workers struck for one day for shorter hours. UnionsMAY DAY Unions called for general strike on May 1, 1886, MAY DAY. Some factories in Chicago granted 8 hour days with pay cuts. It is a shopping center busy with trade.Įarly in 1886 labor unions were beginning a movement for an eight- hour day. It is a shopping center busy with trade."- Presentation transcript:Ĭhicago, Illinois 1886 Haymarket is a marketplace in Chicago. Chicago, Illinois 1886 Haymarket is a marketplace in Chicago. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |