The
Haymarket
Martyr's
Monument
Dedicated June 25, 1893
Rededicated June 26th, 1993
Rededicated May 3, 1998
A NationalHistoric Landmark
The Martyr's monument, by sculptor
Albert weinert, takes its inspiration from the
the figure, La Liberte, from the French
Revolution
THE STORY OF THE HAYMARKET MARTYRS and their monument in Forest Home Cemetery, begins at a convention of the Federaton of Organized Trades and Labor Union in 1884. The Federation (predecessor to the American Federation of Labor) called for a great movement to win the 8-hour workday, which would climax on May 1, 1886.
80,000 MARCHED
The plan was to spend two years urging all American employers to adopt a standard 8-hour day, instead of the 10 to 12, even up to 16-hour days that were prevalent. After May 1st, of 1886, all workers not yet on the 8-hour system were to cease work in a nationwide strike until their employer met the demand.
Although a great many employers did meet the deadline, most did not. Accordingly, great demonstrations took place all across the country. Chicago's was the biggest with an estimated 80,000 marching on Michigan Avenue, much to the alarm of Chicago's business leaders and the newspapers, They saw it as forshadowing "revolution" and demanded a police crackdown.
In fact, the Anarchists and some other political radicals in Chicago were reluctant to have anything to do with the 8-hour movement which they saw as merely reformist;but they were prevailed upon by the unionists to participate because Albert Parsons and others were such powerful orators and possessed a substantial following.
A mass meeting was called for the night May4, 1886, in the city haymarket at Randolph and Desplaines, its purpose was to protest a police action from the precious day in which strikers and their supporters at the McCormick Reaper plant on Blue Island had been killed and injured by police
The mass meeting in the haymarket was so poorly planned that the organizers had to round up speakers on the spur of the moment. A rain began to fall, the crowd had dwindled and the last speaker was concluding, when a large force of 176 police arrived with a demand that the meeting disperse
BOMB THROWN
Someone, unknown to this day, then threw a bomb at the massed police. In their confusion, the police began firing their weapons in the dar, killing at least four in the crowd and wounding many more. Several police died (only one by the bomb), the rest probably by police fire. The myth of the Haymarket Riot was born.
In the aftermath of the event, unions were raided across the country. The 8-hour movement was derailed, and it was not until 1935 that the 8-hour day became the national standard under the Fair Labor Standards act passed furing President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
Albert Parsons and seven others associated with radical organizations were prosecuted in a show trial. None were linked to the unknown bomb thrower, and some were not even present at the time. They were held to bge responsible for the bomb thrower's act because their public criticism of corporate America, the political structure, and the use of police power against the working people, was alleged to have inspired the bomber.
GOVERNOR'S PARDON
They were found guilty in a trial which Governor John Peter Altgeld subsequently held to be grossly unfair. the Haymaket case became a worldwide outrage. Gov. Richard J. Oglesby was petitioned by hundreds of thousands, including AF of L president Samuel Gompers. It was to no avail. Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, August Spies, and George Engel were hanged, and Louis Lingg was an apparent suicide. Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielding, and Michael Schwab were sent to prison. They were pardoned by Governor Altgeld June 26, 1893, therby causing a ferocious uproar.
THE MONUMENT
The Martyrs' Monument in Forest Home Cemetery is now a National Historic Landmark, so designated by the National Park Service. It is held in trust by the Illinois Labor History Scoiety, the legacy of Irving S. Abrams, the sole surviving member ot the organization which ahd erected the Monument and dedicated it on June 25, 1893.
Today, the Monument can be seen as a shrine to the Bill of Rights, specifically to the right of free speech and assembly as guaranteed by the Constitution. It is a symbol of the continuing struggle for social justice and the American Standard of Living. Accordingly, the people must resolve to build their organizations strong, and to press on in the struggle for a just and better world.
On This site
Rolling Mills the Massacre At Bay View
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The Illinois Labor History Society
28 E. Jackson, Rm 1012
Chicago, Il. 60604
Phone:(312)663-4107
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