The Haymarket Riot, also known as the Haymarket Affair, took place on May 4, 1886, but it is important to remember the circumstances that preceded it as well to fully understand the situation. Workers celebrated Governor Richard Oglesby’s signing of the first 8-hour statute in the country on May 1, 1866. (Whaples, 2006, p. 90).

The Haymarket Riot, also known as the Haymarket Affair, took place on May 4, 1886, but it is important to remember the circumstances that preceded it as well to fully understand the situation. Workers celebrated Governor Richard Oglesby’s signing of the first 8-hour statute in the country on May 1, 1866. (Whaples, 2006, p. 90).

However, several employers disregarded the rule because it was not upheld by the government. As an illustration, companies in Illinois required employees to sign legal releases as a condition of employment (The Haymarket Affair, n.d., para 2). In reaction to such measures, activists like Lucy and Albert Parsons planned nonviolent protests that descended into violent incidents. Parsons and other organizers were even dubbed radicals by some.

When Chicago Police began beating and murdering picketing employees at the McCormick Reaper Plant at Western and Blue Island Avenues on May 3, 1886, a peaceful demonstration descended into bloodshed (The Haymarket Affair, n.d., para 5). The Haymarket Riot occurred in retaliation for the strikers’ deaths on that particular day.

There were 1,500 Chicago employees who first turned up to protest; however, by the time 200 officers arrived, only 300 protestors remained because of the weather. Unknown someone tossed a bomb towards the policeman as they were moving forward.

The Haymarket Affair started to fight for the 8-hour workdays that employees were promised, but it ended with fatalities and injuries. Numerous firms often want their workers to work 8 to 10-hour days, even if it is not an issue nowadays. Even when I was serving in the military, our leadership looked for methods to change the 12-hour hours that our troops were required to perform at our home stations to 8-hour shifts.

Hallgrimsdottir, H. K., & Benoit, C. (2007). From Wage Slaves to Wage Workers: Cultural Opportunity

References

Hallgrimsdottir, H. K., & Benoit, C. (2007). From Wage Slaves to Wage Workers: Cultural Opportunity Structures and the Evolution of the Wage Demands of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, 1880-1900. Social Forces, 85(3), 1393-1411.

Leon, C.B. (2016). The Life of American Workers in 1915. Monthly Labor Review.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2016/article/the-life-of-american-workers-in-1915.htm

The Haymarket Affair (n.d.). Illinois Labor History Society. http://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/the-haymarket-affair

University of Maryland Global Campus. (n.d.). Module 1: Labor Relations in Perspective -The Historical, Legal, and Organizational Context of Labor Relations. Document posted in UMGC HRMN 362 4550 online classroom, archived at https://learn.umgc.edu/d21/le/content/671179/viewContent/25082798/View

Whaples, R. (2006). Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. History: Reviews of New Books, 34(4), 109-110. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.1080/03612759.2006.10526909

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