1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. We have an upcoming episode that's going to 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: make some references to the Haymarket affair also called the 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:13,399 Speaker 1: Haymarket massacre or the Haymarket Riot, so we are bringing 4 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: out our episode on that event for Today's Classic. As 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: a note, Lucy Parsons is a big part of this episode, 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: and we also have an episode about her that came 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: out on February sixteenth, twenty twenty two. This episode originally 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: came out on June's second, twenty twenty one. Enjoy Welcome 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, 10 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and 11 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frye. Lately, I've been reading a lot of 12 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: articles about the purported labor shortage in the United States. 13 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: I feel like you maybe need to have been under 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: a rock. You have seen none of this discussion and discourse. 15 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: I was gonna make a fake like, what I haven't 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: heard about this, but it's two on the nose. Yeah, 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: So there's just I mean, there's been a lot of 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: conversation about whether there's a labor shortage and whether it's 19 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: not a labor shortage. It's late it's like a shortage 20 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: of jobs that are paying a living wage and have 21 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: decent working conditions. But then I've read a bunch of 22 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: other articles that are about how even that idea is 23 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: a little oversimplified. And it's more that in the wake 24 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: of the ongoing COVID nineteen pandemic, people just all across 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: the socioeconomic spectrum are reevaluating their lives and what they 26 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: want to do with them and what kind of work 27 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: they want to do. So all of that discourse has 28 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: led me to just think a lot about how here 29 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: in the United States we arrived at a work week 30 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: being at least theoretically forty hours long, with a work 31 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: day again theoretically eight hours long, and a weekend that 32 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: falls on Saturday and Sunday. Like all of that is 33 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: just kind of random and arbitrary, and yet it feels 34 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: almost like a given at this point, Right, That's just 35 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: how the world works. Yeah, even even if you're in 36 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,799 Speaker 1: an industry or a job where you work on Saturdays 37 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: and Sundays like I have been in those jobs before, 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: like Saturday and Sunday, we're still the weekend. Even though 39 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 1: my weekend might be on a Tuesday and a Thursday, 40 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: which or not even consecutive days off. Yes, in any conversations, 41 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: because I too have had those jobs, people are always like, oh, 42 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: you have to work the weekend, Like you are always 43 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: clearly the outlier if you have a job that doesn't 44 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: fall on that Monday to Friday. Right. So you know, 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: I've just I've been thinking about that a lot and 46 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: how as a society that became a thing. And really 47 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: there are a whole lot of different interconnected people and 48 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: movements and events that have all been connected to this 49 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: basic idea of what a full time job is, and 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: some of them particularly stand out. One is the Haymarket Riot, 51 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: also called the Haymarket affair or the Haymarket massacre. I 52 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: really feel like none of those three terms really encapsulate 53 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: what happened. That's been on our listener suggestion list for 54 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: a long time, and it's what we are going to 55 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: talk about today after all of my navel gazing about 56 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: what a work week is. Oh yeah, we could get 57 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: into a whole thing. Maybe we will on Friday. The 58 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: Haymarket riot took place in Chicago in eighteen eighty six, 59 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: during a period of widespread labor activism in Chicago and 60 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: across the United States, workers were facing a lot of 61 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: the same issues that have come up pretty much every 62 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: time we have discussed labor rights and the labor movement, 63 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: so things like long hours and low pay and unsafe 64 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: or otherwise poor working conditions. Yeah, this also clearly was 65 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: not just in the US, but that's where we're talking 66 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: about today, and the United States had also been rapidly industrializing. 67 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: People had been losing their jobs in the wake of 68 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: that industrialization. Sometimes whole positions had just been eliminated as 69 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: workplaces had become more mechanized, and in other cases, tasks 70 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: that required some kind of specialized training or skills had 71 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: been mechanized in a way that allowed employers to replace 72 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: those workers with ones who had less training and could 73 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: be paid lower wages. So the US Civil War had 74 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: ended a little more than twenty years before in eighteen 75 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: sixty five, followed by the abolition of slavery except in 76 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: punishment for a crime. This had contributed to huge shifts 77 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: all across the nation, as industries that had relied on 78 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: enslaved workers having to adjust to an economy where slavery 79 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: was outlawed. This also led to demographic shifts nationwide as 80 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: freed people from former slave states tried to move north 81 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: to find work. In the eighteen seventies and eighteen eighties, 82 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: huge numbers of people had also immigrated to the United 83 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: States from Europe, especially from England, Ireland, and Germany. These 84 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: are the same years that the US was also trying 85 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: to curb immigration from Asia, especially from China. We have 86 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,119 Speaker 1: talked about that on several previous episodes of the show, 87 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: including our recent one on Chai Chanping. Most of these 88 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: new arrivals were fleeing some kind of financial or economic hardship, 89 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: and so this all led to even more competition for 90 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: paying work. Economic factors compounded these job shortages, including the 91 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: Panic of eighteen seventy three and the economic depression that 92 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,799 Speaker 1: followed it. For Chicago specifically, these changes in the economic 93 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: conditions connected to them were massive. In eighteen thirty, about 94 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: thirty years before the start of the Civil War, Chicago 95 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: had basically been a small outpost with the population of 96 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: only about one hundred people, and then over the next 97 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: sixty years it became the second largest city in the US, 98 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: with a population of more than a million people. For comparison, 99 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: the largest city in the world at that point. Was London, 100 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: with a population of about five million, and in the 101 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century more than forty percent of Chicago's population 102 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: were immigrants. At some points that number was as much 103 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: as half. So working in most of Chicago's industries generally 104 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: involved low pay and long hours. Ten to twelve hour 105 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: work days six days a week were really common. At 106 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: packing houses, shifts were often between twelve and sixteen hours long, 107 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: and mills usually ran in twelve hour shifts. So the 108 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 1: idea of a shorter work day had become a big 109 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: issue for labor activists, coalescing around the idea that a 110 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: day should be eight hours long. One popular slogan basically 111 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: divided the twenty four hour day into thirds. It was 112 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours 113 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: for what we will. Robert Owen, who we talked about 114 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: in our episode on the New Harmony Utopia, is often 115 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: credit with coining this phrase as eight hours labor, eight 116 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: hours recreation, eight hours rest. So by eighteen eighty six, 117 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: labor organizations in Chicago and elsewhere in the US had 118 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: been working to shorten the workday for decades, and in 119 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:18,239 Speaker 1: theory they had some success. On May first, eighteen sixty seven, 120 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby signed a law establishing an 121 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,239 Speaker 1: eight hour day for workers in Illinois. On June twenty fifth, 122 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight. Congress passed an act doing the same 123 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: for some federal workers. Other governments passed similar laws as well, 124 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: but our focus here is Illinois. So that federal law 125 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: only applied to laborers, workmen, and mechanics who were being 126 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: paid by the federal government, so that was not everyone 127 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: by any stretch, and the Illinois law contained some really 128 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: big loopholes. It applied only quote where no special contract exists, 129 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: and that meant employers could just completely get around it 130 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: by getting their workers to sign spec contracts. Employers threatened 131 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: to close if their employees didn't agree to work longer shifts, 132 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: or they made new job offers contingent on the worker 133 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: signing a waiver that just required that person to accept 134 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: longer working hours. Labor activists in Illinois didn't think this 135 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: law was good enough for obvious reasons, so they organized 136 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: a statewide strike to begin on May first, eighteen sixty seven. 137 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: This strike partially nearly shut down the city of Chicago, 138 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: and it lasted for about a week, but the strike 139 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: eventually crumbled, and the eight hour law, which was already 140 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: full of holes, wasn't really enforced after that. Yeah, I 141 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: found conflicting accounts about whether the city of Chicago was 142 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: just totally brought to a standstill or if it was 143 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: more like specific sectors of Chicago grounds to a halt. 144 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: For the next two decades, though, activists and organizers in 145 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: Chicago and in the rest of the US kept working 146 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: toward an eight hour workday, even though these two long 147 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: h were already supposedly guaranteeing that for at least some people. 148 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: Aside from this focus on an eight hour day, though 149 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: a lot of these people who were doing this work 150 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: did not share the same political perspectives. Some labor organizations 151 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: were focused on the idea of collective bargaining and trying 152 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: to secure better working conditions, shorter hours, and higher pay 153 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: for workers while operating within the structures of capitalism. But 154 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: there were also socialists, communists, and anarchists who worked more 155 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: from the idea that capitalism was inherently corrupt and exploitive 156 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: and that the capitalist system needed to be dismantled entirely. 157 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: I'm just marveling at the ongoing discussion that remains the 158 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: same forever. Yeah, the thing that led me to this 159 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: episode was this whole thing about like, what's a work week? Why? 160 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: Why is it this way? But so many of the 161 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:56,199 Speaker 1: things in this episode have parallels to discussions and events 162 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: still happening now. For sure. Anarchists in particular were focusing 163 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: on the idea of an eight hour work day at 164 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: a ten hour pay rate. This was something that employers 165 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: were not likely to accept at all, and it was 166 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: more of a tool to try to push workers to 167 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: demand more radical changes. People who opposed these groups generally 168 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: saw communists, socialists, and anarchists is indistinguishable from one another 169 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: and as antithetical to so called American values. So we 170 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: noted earlier that about forty percent of Chicago's population were immigrants, 171 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: and many of these immigrants were from Germany. Many of 172 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: the labor movements, communists, socialists, and anarchist members were also German. 173 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: But Chicago's German immigrant community was just it was not 174 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: monolithic at all. They represented a whole spectrum of the 175 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: population of Germany. They had arrived in the US for 176 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: a range of reasons and in pursuit of a range 177 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: of goals, but especially after the events that were going 178 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: to talk about German immigrants were also grouped together as 179 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: like one indistinct, wishable mass, regardless of their individual politics 180 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: or backgrounds, once again under the idea that they were 181 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: opposing American values. In eighteen eighty four, nearly two decades 182 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: after the federal government in Illinois had each passed laws 183 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: setting a workday as eight hours, the Federation of Organized 184 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,080 Speaker 1: Trades and Labor Unions called for May first, eighteen eighty six, 185 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: to mark the start of a massive nationwide movement for 186 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: an eight hour workday for everyone. The Nights of Labor 187 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:34,079 Speaker 1: and the International Working People's Association IWPA, which was an 188 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: anarchist organization, were also part of this eight hour workday movement. 189 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,439 Speaker 1: The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions organized a 190 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: national strike and huge demonstrations, rallies, parades, and other events 191 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: were held all over the United States. The Haymarket riot 192 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: took place just a few days after the start of 193 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: this national event, and we will talk about it after 194 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Before the break, we talked about activism 195 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: that had been ongoing for just decades before this national 196 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: strike started on May first of eighteen eighty six. But 197 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: we didn't get into how those same decades were often 198 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: very violent. In general. Business owners, political leaders, and the 199 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: public saw striking workers as a threat, so police, militia, 200 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: pinkerton detectives, and sometimes even the National Guard frequently tried 201 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: to disperse striking and demonstrating workers with force, or to 202 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,599 Speaker 1: intimidate and terrify them into backing down on their demands. 203 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,199 Speaker 1: Leading up to the Haymarket incident in May of eighteen 204 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: eighty five, Illinois militia had killed two striking workers in 205 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: Lamont and today that's a suburb of Chicago. Three months later, 206 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: bystanders were beaten during a strike at the West Division 207 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: Railway Company. Time there was a labor demonstration of any size, 208 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: law enforcement tended to be on edge, regardless of who 209 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: was there and whether the demonstration itself was peaceful. But 210 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: parts of this movement were also employing violent rhetoric and 211 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: actual violence. Dynamite had been invented in eighteen sixty seven 212 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: and had made it a lot easier for people to 213 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: make and transport bombs. Anarchist publications in particular, did everything 214 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: from waxing rhapsodic about the potential political power of dynamite 215 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: to actually printing instructions on how to make bombs. August Schpiez, 216 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: who was editor of the German language anarchist newspaper Arbiter Zeitung, 217 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,719 Speaker 1: kept a pipe on his desk that he said was 218 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: a bomb. In April of eighteen eighty five, the radical 219 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: newspaper The Alarm printed a piece that read, in part quote, 220 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: dynamite is a peacemaker because it makes it unsafe to 221 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: harm our fellows. Although they were happening in this incredibly 222 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: tense atmosphere at first, the events in Chicago around the 223 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: May first, eighteen eighty six national strike proceeded mostly without incident. 224 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: May first was a Saturday, and about thirty five thousand 225 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: workers walked off the job. That day, about eighty thousand 226 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: people participated in a march down Michigan Avenue. This march 227 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: was organized largely by husband and wife team Albert and 228 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: Lucy Parsons. Lucy had been born in Virginia and enslaved 229 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: from birth, and her enslaver had moved his enslaved workforce 230 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: to Texas shortly before the end of the Civil War. 231 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: Albert had fought for the Confederacy before becoming a radical 232 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: Republican after the war was over. Albert and Lucy had 233 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: married in eighteen seventy two, and they moved to Chicago 234 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: together in eighteen seventy three. Albert had become a typesetter 235 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: and had joined Chicago's socialist movement, later becoming editor of 236 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: the periodical The Alarm. So marches and demonstrations continued on 237 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: May second, which was a Sunday. Monday, May third would 238 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: have been the first day back to work. First had 239 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: been considered a workday even though it was a Saturday, 240 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: because Saturdays were not considered a weekend day yet at 241 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: that point, so Sunday was the only day off that 242 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 1: people typically had. So on Monday May third, August Spiez 243 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: spoke at a rally to support the lumber Shovers union, 244 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: which was on strike, and then after that rally, some 245 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: of the attendees joined union workers from the nearby McCormick 246 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: Harvesting Machine company, who had been locked out of their 247 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: workplace since February. After they went on strike. McCormick had 248 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: brought in non union replacement workers, and so the striking 249 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: members of both of these unions, along with members of 250 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: the IWPA who were there basically to support them, they 251 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: all started heckling these strike breakers at McCormick as they 252 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: left the building. And as a side note, yes, this 253 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: harvesting machine company was owned by the same McCormick family, 254 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: whose fortune Catherine Dexter McCormick inherited part of, and that 255 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: was money that she used to fund the development of 256 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: the first oral contraceptives. So it's not entirely clear what 257 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: happened outside the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company on May third, 258 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: but at some point about two hundred police attacked the 259 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: demonstrators and at least one demonstrator was killed. I've seen 260 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: sources say anything from one to two, all the way 261 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: up to as many as six people. After this, spies 262 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: went to the arbeiter Zeitung office and wrote up a 263 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: handbill in both German and English. It read, workingmen to arms. 264 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: Your masters sent their bloodhounds the police. They killed six 265 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: of your brothers at McCormick's this afternoon. They killed the 266 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: poor wretches because they, like you, had the courage to 267 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: disobey the supreme will of your bosses. They killed them 268 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: because they dared ask for the shortening of the hours 269 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: of toil. They killed them to show you, free American 270 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: citizens that you must be satisfied and contented with whatever 271 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: your bosses condescend to allow you, or you will get killed. 272 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: You have four years endured the most abject humiliations. You 273 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: have four years suffered unmeasurable inequities. You have worked yourself 274 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: to death. You have endured the pangs of want and hunger. 275 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: Your children, you have sacrificed to the factory lords. In short, 276 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: you have been miserable and obedient slave all these years. 277 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: Why to satisfy the insatiable greed to fill the coffers 278 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: of your lazy, thieving master. When you ask them now 279 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: to lessen your burden, he sends his bloodhounds to shoot you. 280 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,239 Speaker 1: Kill you. If you are men, if you are the 281 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: sons of your graham sires who have shed their blood 282 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: to free you, then you will rise in your might 283 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: hercules and destroyed the hideous monster that seeks to destroy you. 284 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: To arms. We call you to arms. So, when he 285 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: was setting the type for this handbill, the types that 286 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: are added the word revenge and all capital letters up 287 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: at the top of the page. Meanwhile, anarchists George Engel 288 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: and Adolph Fischer started planning and advertising a rally to 289 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: be held May fourth in Haymarket Square, posters in English 290 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: and German announced a mass meeting to begin at seven 291 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: point thirty, featuring quote good speakers who would be present 292 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: to quote denounce the latest atrocious act of the police, 293 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: the shooting of our fellow workmen. This also read, in 294 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: bold letters, workingmen, arm yourselves and appear in full force. 295 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: Fischer invited Spiez to speak at this rally, and Spiez 296 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: actually refused unless that last sentence was removed from the poster, 297 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: and it was and the posters were reprinted, but a 298 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: few that still had that line in there did wind 299 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 1: up in distribution. Although the language promoting this demonstration was 300 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: deliberately incendiary, the event itself was relatively subdued. Only about 301 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: thirteen hundred people attended, a fraction of the number who 302 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 1: had attended other events earlier in the week, and the 303 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: whole thing started more than an hour late. Chicago Mayor 304 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: Carter Harrison, who was pro union, was in attendance, both 305 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: to verify that it was a peaceful gathering and to 306 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: encourage it to remain that way. As the speeches went on, 307 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: he repeatedly ReLit his cigar to make sure the assembled 308 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 1: crowd saw him and knew that he was there. Three 309 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: men spoke at this rally, August Speed's Albert Parsons and 310 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: Samuel Fielden. After a while, it started to reign and 311 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: people started leaving. Eventually only three hundred people or so 312 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: still remained. Spiez, Parsons, and the mayor all left before 313 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: the rally was over. A little after ten thirty pm, 314 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: as Fielden was getting to the end of his speech, 315 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: more than one hundred and seventy five police officers moved 316 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: in and Captain William Ward ordered the crowd to disperse. 317 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: At first, Fielden told them that he was almost done 318 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: with his speech and that the crowd was peaceful, so 319 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: they should be allowed to stay. Ward insisted that the 320 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: crowd disperse immediately. Field And agreed, but just after that 321 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 1: someone threw a bomb into the police ranks. It detonated 322 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: and Officer Mattias J. Degan was killed instantly, dozens more 323 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: were injured, and the police opened fire on the crowd. 324 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: Some of the people in the crowd were armed and 325 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: returned fire, and this previously peaceful protest just turned into 326 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: a riot or a melee like it was a whole 327 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,679 Speaker 1: huge incident. In addition to officer Degan. Seven other police 328 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: officers died, including one whose death two years later was 329 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: attributed to the injuries that he sustained. At least sixty 330 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: officers were wounded. It's estimated that about the same number 331 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: of attendees at the rally were injured and killed, but 332 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: that number is a lot harder to determine. Samuel Fielden 333 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,840 Speaker 1: was shot, as was August SPIE's brother Henry, but both 334 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: of those men survived. In general, people feared retribution for 335 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: having been at the rally, so many of the injured 336 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: people were patched up in one another's homes. This incident 337 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: led to a huge crackdown against labor activists, anarchists, and 338 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: German immigrants, and we'll talk more about that after a 339 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: sponsor break. After the bombing in Haymarket Square, rumors spread 340 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: that it had been part of a much bigger plot, 341 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: one that had been planned as a coordinated attack on 342 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: police stations and on freight houses where strike breaking workers 343 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: were staying. Labor meetings were banned, and police raided the 344 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,919 Speaker 1: homes and workplaces of anarchists, labor organizers and German immigrants, 345 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 1: arresting people en mass. This included a raid on the 346 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:52,440 Speaker 1: arbiters Zeitung offices. Illinois State's Attorney Lewis Grinnell was reported 347 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: as saying, make the raids first and look up the 348 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: law afterward. Sometimes this response to the Haymarket bombing is 349 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: described as the first Red Scare, although the first Red 350 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: Scare label is a lot more often used to describe 351 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: the period that followed World War One and included the 352 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: Palmer Raids, which we've talked about on the show before. 353 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: During these raids in eighteen eighty six, officers found radical texts, pistols, daggers, 354 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: and other weapons, along with explosives, bomb making materials, and 355 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 1: instructions on making bombs at various locations all around the city. 356 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: Detective Hermann Schudler said that while he was trying to 357 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: arrest anarchist Lewis ling, Ling cocked his revolver and tried 358 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: to fire at him. Shudler said that he only stopped 359 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: Ling by biting his thumb while the two men fought. 360 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: Although labor organizers, anarchists, socialists, and others protested against this crackdown, 361 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: for the most part, there was a public surge of 362 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,880 Speaker 1: support for police and approval of the wide scale raids 363 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: and arrests. They were not finding weapons at everyone's homes, 364 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: but since they were fire weapons that anyone's homes, people 365 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,919 Speaker 1: felt like it was a good thing that this mass 366 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,440 Speaker 1: sweep was being done. The Chicago business community generally approved 367 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: of this crackdown as well, with some of the city's 368 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: wealthiest and most prominent men vocally supporting it, people whose 369 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: names people may still recognize today, including Marshall Field, George Pullman, 370 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: and Cyrus McCormick Junior. On May twenty seventh, eighteen eighty six, 371 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: a grand jury indicted thirty one men on charges of 372 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: rioting and unlawful assembly. The grand jury also delivered a 373 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: sixty nine count indictment of nine purported ringleaders, August Schpies, 374 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: Albert Parsons, Samuel Fielden, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, 375 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: Louis ling oscar Nebe, and Rudolph Schnaubelt. These nine men 376 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: were charged with the murder of Mattias J. Deagan. Even 377 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: though other officers were killed, the men were not charged 378 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: in their deaths, possibly because it wasn't clear whether they 379 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,160 Speaker 1: were killed by the bomb or by gunfire, and if 380 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: it was gunfire, whether the shots had been fired by 381 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:10,159 Speaker 1: demonstrators or by other officers. Yeah, there's been some debate 382 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: over the decades since this happened about exactly how many 383 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: of the officers were killed by shots that were fired 384 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: by other officers and not by the crowd. It's not 385 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: one hundred percent resolved question, I think. So we have 386 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,199 Speaker 1: mentioned some of these men and their work already. Spee's 387 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: and Parsons had both been speakers at the rally, but 388 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,199 Speaker 1: both had left before the bomb was thrown. Parsons and 389 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: his wife Lucy had actually brought their children with them, 390 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: something you would not expect them to do if they 391 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: knew about a violent plot that was going to be 392 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: put into play during the night. The last speaker, Samuel Fielden, 393 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: had been wrapping up his speech at the time of 394 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: the bombing. Although Speeze, Parsons, and Fielden all spoke at 395 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:55,880 Speaker 1: this rally, none of them was involved in the planning 396 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: of it. George Engel and Adolf Fischer had organized the 397 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: rat as we mentioned, but also had not been there 398 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: when the bomb was thrown. Engel had not attended at all, 399 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: and he was home playing cards at the time along 400 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 1: with lewis Ling, who regularly practiced with a rifle, had 401 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: learned how to make bombs, and advocated resisting violence with violence. 402 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,919 Speaker 1: Engel and Fisher were probably the most radical of the 403 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:24,719 Speaker 1: men charged with Degan's murder. Michael Schwab had been at 404 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: the rally, but had also left before the bombing. Police 405 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: had also focused on his brother in law, Rudolph Schnaubelt, 406 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: as a suspect in throwing the bomb, but he seems 407 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: to have fled to Europe and was never seen in 408 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: the US again. Of the nine men who were indicted 409 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 1: in the murder, Schnaubelt was the only one who did 410 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: not stand trial. Oscar neb was a labor organizer and 411 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: a communist, and he worked with Spe'es, Parsons field In, 412 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: and Schwab pretty regularly, but he wasn't involved with the 413 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: rally at all, and he was not there. Although there 414 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: were suspicion that lewis Ling had built the bomb, he 415 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: also had nothing to do with the actual rally. Although Shpie's, 416 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,400 Speaker 1: Parsons field In, Schwab, and nib were frequent collaborators, they 417 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: didn't really know Angel and Fisher that well, and none 418 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: of the other indicted men really had much contact with 419 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: ling at all. Of all of these men, Samuel Parsons 420 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: was the only one who had been born in the 421 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,119 Speaker 1: United States. Samuel Fielden had been born in England and 422 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: had emigrated to the US in eighteen sixty eight. The 423 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: other men who were indicted in the murder were all 424 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,919 Speaker 1: immigrants from Germany, and most of them had emigrated to 425 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: the US in the eighteen seventies or early eighteen eighties. 426 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: With Schnaubelt having disappeared, the eight remaining defendants were tried 427 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,160 Speaker 1: as a group. Their trial began on June twenty first, 428 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six, with jury selection stretching all the way 429 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: until July fifteenth, nine hundred eighty one Potential jurors were questioned, 430 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,920 Speaker 1: and the transcript of those seatings is about four thousand 431 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: pages long. Ultimately, only two of the twelve selected jurors 432 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 1: had a working class background. The rest were businessmen, clerks, 433 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: or salesmen. All had acknowledged that they were prejudiced against 434 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: the defendants, but said that they thought they could hear 435 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: the case impartially in spite of that prejudice. This jury 436 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: selection continues to be pretty controversial. Some historians have concluded 437 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: that it was unfairly biased against the defendants, with the 438 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 1: judge refusing to dismiss potential jurors who were obviously and 439 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: unchangeably biased against them. A special bailiff had selected the 440 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: potential jurors, which has led to speculation that the pool 441 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: itself was biased, so like they started with people who 442 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 1: were probably going to find the defendants guilty and picked 443 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: the jurors from there, But it was actually the defense 444 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: counsel who requested a special bailiff after the original pool 445 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: of potential jurors had been totally exhausted without finding twelve 446 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: propriate people. The defense team was headed by William Perkins Black, 447 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: who argued that all eight men had alibis for the bombing. 448 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: Only two of the defendants were even at the rally 449 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: when the bomb was thrown. Both of them were on 450 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: the wagon that was being used as a stage, and 451 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,920 Speaker 1: one of them was speaking. Black also argued that the 452 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,120 Speaker 1: violent rhetoric in some of the men's writings and materials 453 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: confiscated from their homes was just that rhetoric. Although Rudolph 454 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: Schnaubelt was not on trial, Black introduced evidence showing that 455 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 1: he was not at the rally when the bomb was thrown. 456 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: Black also argued that there was no reason to send 457 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: more than one hundred seventy police officers to try to 458 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: disperse a crowd of about three hundred people at an 459 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,959 Speaker 1: event that was nearly over. But the prosecution, led by 460 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: Julius S. Crennell, argued that the small crowd and the 461 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: generally non threatening speeches were a trap, one that was 462 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: meant to lure police into complacency and then bomb them. 463 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 1: The prosecution also argued that this was an international anarchist 464 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: conspiracy introduced by foreign agitators. The prosecution did not establish 465 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: who had thrown the bomb, but this entire case rested 466 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: on the idea that the eight defendants were part of 467 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: a conspiracy with that unknown person. The trial continued until 468 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,400 Speaker 1: August eleventh. By that point, two hundred and twenty seven 469 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: witnesses had testified, including fifty four members of the Chicago 470 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: Police Department and four of the defendants themselves. The Workingmen 471 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: Arm Yourselves version of the flier advertising the rally was 472 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: introduced as evidence. One of the witnesses for the defense 473 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: was Mayor Carter Harrison, who described the rally as tame. 474 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 1: The jury deliberated for about three hours before finding all 475 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: eight defendants guilty. Oscar Neibe, who had no clear involvement 476 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: with the rally in addition to not being there, was 477 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: sentenced to fi fifteen years of hard labor, and the 478 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: other seven men were all sentenced to death on October 479 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: seventh through the ninth of eighteen eighty six. The men 480 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: who had been sentenced to death were allowed to speak 481 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: before the judge to give any reason why they should 482 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: not be put to death. The most vehement of these 483 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: speeches came from lewis Ling, who said, quote, I despise 484 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: your order, your laws, your force propped authority. Hang me 485 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: for it. In the end, the sentence of death was 486 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: upheld for each of the men. To raise money for 487 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: their appeals, the men's supporters published their speeches and sold 488 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 1: copies of them, as well as printing and selling autobiographies 489 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 1: that the men had written from prison. Parsons also whittled 490 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: a small wooden boat that was auctioned off to provide 491 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: some money for his family. From prison, Spiez had a 492 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: relationship with Nina van Zandt, who married him by proxy 493 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: on January twenty ninth of eighteen eighty seven. She was 494 00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 1: the daughter of a prominent businessman, leading fears that this 495 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: relationship would skew public opinion against the convicted men even further, 496 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: basically with this idea that he was corrupting the good 497 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: daughter of a prominent citizen. The men's appeals were unsuccessful. 498 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: On September fourteenth, eighteen eighty seven, the Illinois Supreme Court 499 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: upheld the conviction. The defense petitioned the U. S. Supreme 500 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: Court for a writ of error, but the Supreme Court 501 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: denied it on November two, eighteen eighty seven. A movement 502 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: for clemency had been growing throughout all of this. People 503 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: increasingly started to see the trial as unfair and as 504 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: a serious miscarriage of justice. Fielden and Schwab both asked 505 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: for mercy, and Governor Richard Oglesby reduced their sentences to 506 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 1: life in prison. Oglesby said he couldn't offer clemency to 507 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: any of the other men because they had not asked 508 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: for it. This whole movement for clemency was also kind 509 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: of undermined when pipe bombs were found under Ling's bed 510 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: in his prison cell. The execution was scheduled for November eleventh, 511 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty seven. On November tenth, lewis Ling took his 512 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: own life using a blasting cap that had been smuggled 513 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 1: into his cell. George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and 514 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: August Spiez were all hanged on the eleventh. On November thirteenth, 515 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: the funeral procession for the executed men drew enormous crowds. 516 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: Estimates that you read will place the number at anywhere 517 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: from one hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand people. 518 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: By this point, the general public still largely approved of 519 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: the trials and the hanging, but to the labor movement, anarchists, socialists, 520 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: and other supporters, those men had become martyrs. For decades 521 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: after all of this, historians have generally interpreted the trial 522 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: and the executions as an enormous miscarriage of justice. But 523 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: in twenty eleven and twenty twelve, historian Timothy Messer Cruz 524 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: published two books on this. One is The Haymarket Conspiracy 525 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: Transit lit. Anarchist Networks, and the other is The Trial 526 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: of the Haymarket Anarchists, Terrorism and Justice in the Guild 527 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,560 Speaker 1: and Age. In these two interconnected books, he argues that 528 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: the trial would not be considered fair by today's standards, 529 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: but that it was reasonably fair given the standards of 530 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: the time, and he also argues that there really was 531 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: an international violent anarchist conspiracy at work. Messercruz drew these 532 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: conclusions after pouring over the trial transcripts that had been 533 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: digitized by the Chicago Historical Society, along with other primary 534 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: source documents. However, critics of his work have noted that 535 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: trial transcripts and police records are not inherently unbiased. Basically, 536 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,240 Speaker 1: can't use them to just correct the earlier record without 537 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: more context than analysis of that, and they've also noted 538 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: that his books essentially argue the same case that the 539 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,360 Speaker 1: prosecution argued in eighteen eighty six, which other history brands 540 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: have already poked various holes in. In eighteen eighty nine, 541 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,919 Speaker 1: socialist and labor rights groups designated May first as International 542 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: Worker's Day, choosing the date in commemoration of the Haymarket incident. 543 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: That same year, a statue in honor of the police 544 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: who had been killed was dedicated in Haymarket Square, unveiled 545 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,960 Speaker 1: by Officer Degan's teenage son. In eighteen ninety three, another 546 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: monument to the executed men, known as the Haymarket Martyrs 547 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:33,720 Speaker 1: Monument was dedicated in Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park. Albert 548 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: Parson's son, Albert Junior, unveiled that statue the next day. 549 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:43,480 Speaker 1: Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardon Samuel Fielden, Michael Schwab, 550 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: and Oscar neb Because several of the men who were 551 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: tried in the wake of the Haymarket bombing had all 552 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,320 Speaker 1: been involved with the Knights of Labor, that organization was 553 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 1: viewed with increasing suspicion. After all of this, a lot 554 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: of its chapters ultimately moved over to the American Federation 555 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: of La Labor. The bombing also stoked anti union sentiments 556 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 1: and xenophobia, and it really fueled a perception that anarchism 557 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: was intrinsically connected to violence and terrorism, although as we 558 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: noted up at the top of the show, anarchists were 559 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: kind of all over the map in terms of what 560 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 1: they thought about violence. The Haymarket riot also caused a 561 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: temporary pause in the national campaign for an eight hour 562 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: work day. About four years passed after the bombing before 563 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: the American Federation of Labor renewed its calls for an 564 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: eight hour work day. Although workers in some industries and 565 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: places did wind up securing that eight hour day. At 566 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: this point, it's still not universal. The Fair Labor Standards Act, 567 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,800 Speaker 1: passed into law in nineteen thirty seven, sets a forty 568 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: hour maximum for some workers with work beyond forty hours 569 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: requiring overtime pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to most, 570 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,359 Speaker 1: but not all, businesses, and some types of employees are 571 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 1: exempt from the overtime rule, including executives, professionals, administrative employees, 572 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 1: and highly compensated employees. In more recent decades, the Haymarket 573 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,840 Speaker 1: area of Chicago has been home to both pro labor 574 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: and pro police rallies. After Weather Underground bombed the Police 575 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 1: Memorial repeatedly in nineteen sixty nine and nineteen seventy, that 576 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: memorial was relocated to the Chicago Police Department's training Academy. 577 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,400 Speaker 1: A new Haymarket Memorial, designed by Mary Broger, was unveiled 578 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 1: in two thousand and four. This was commissioned by the 579 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,280 Speaker 1: City of Chicago, the Illinois Federation of Labor History, Chicago 580 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:42,160 Speaker 1: Fraternal Order of Police, and the Chicago Department of Transportation. 581 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 1: It depicts figures both on and under a wagon that 582 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:48,640 Speaker 1: is a nod to the wagon that was used as 583 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: a stage at the rally. So that's the Haymarket incident, 584 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:56,359 Speaker 1: or the Haymarket riot, or the Haymarket affair. Again, as 585 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: I said at the top of the show, I don't 586 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 1: think any of those terms are perfect terms for it 587 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:06,880 Speaker 1: at all. The complicated Haymarket I don't know what to 588 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:18,560 Speaker 1: call it. Yeah, none of them completely work in my opinion. Yeah, 589 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. If 590 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,800 Speaker 1: you'd like to send us a note, our email addresses 591 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe 592 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 593 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:33,760 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.