Brief History Of The Haymarket Riot Of 1886 Which Serves As The Origin of International Workers' Day

May Day which can also be called International Workers' Day is celebrated in more than 80 countries over the world on the 1st of May every year, the main purpose of this particular day is to commemorate the efforts made by the labour movement and the victories of the working class, and to acknowledge the gains that have drastically shaped the ideas of basic rights and social justice in the workplace.


According to history.com in the 1970s and early 1980s workers were subjected to 15 hours of workdays, then on May 1st, 1886 workers in Chicago started a strike which called for 8 hours of workdays as opposed to the previous 15 hours, this led to police killing one and getting to injure some workers.


This event led over 1,500 radical unionists and labour radicals to organise a labour demonstration on the 4th of May 1886 at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, this protest began as a peaceful rally against the 15 hours of workdays and also to protest against police brutality over the killing of a striker by the Chicago police the day before.


Just halfway into the rally, which have started thinning out as a result of the heavy rain, a force of about 200 policemen arrived at the scene to disperse the remaining protesters, as the policemen started advancing towards the remaining workers protesting an individual who was never really identified threw a bomb at the policemen, this led to the death of seven policemen and injuring about 60 others after the explosion, gunfire ensured among the crowd and the policemen, this action led to the death of over a dozen people and left more than 100 injured.


After the incident, archive.iww.org stated that 8 anarchists; August Spies, Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, George Engel, Adolph Fischer and Oscar Neebe were arrested and charged with murder however only 3 of them were at Haymarket during the bombing.
In a very controversial and sensational trial Judge Joseph E. Gary, sentenced 7 to death and the eighth one was sentenced to 15 years in prison, 4 were executed, 1 committed suicide before his execution, 2 had their death sentence changed to life imprisonment by Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby, however, Governor Richard J. Oglesby's successor, Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned Fielden, Schwab and Neebe 6 years later and publicly reprimanded Judge Joseph E. Gary on his travesty of justice.
Ultimately in 1889 organisation of socialist and labour parties declared May 1st as International Workers' Day which commemorated the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in the year 1886. Although the massacre happened on the 4th of May the protest which triggered the whole event started on May 1st, with time the day became a symbol of workers' rights all over the world.




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