Haymarket Square Riots

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Throughout history, peoples have been pushing for their own rights for many things and reasons, some praised as rational and humane, while other attempts were booed as irrational and controversial. The Haymarket Square Riots in Chicago was one of those that sparked deep controversy of the labor movement in America pushing for workers’ rights and brought the harsh work conditions resulting from industrialization into question nationally. All of this pressure to grant workers their rights began after the Civil War when American industrial workers started to organize themselves into thousands of labor unions, most notably at that time (the 1880s) being the Knights of Labor (KOL). Many of them ramped up protests against the inhumane working conditions …show more content…

The day that immediately followed this incident, Chicago police went around and arrested dozens of people and leaders involved most notably including Albert Parsons, the head of the American International People’s Working Association, August Spies and his brother Henry, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and George Engel. Later that month on the 27th, a grand jury found ten of the accused guilty of murdering Officer Degan, one of the officers who was killed in the affair. Fast forward to the November of 1887, and four of the convicts, Spies, Schwab, Fielden, and Engel, were all executed by hanging. As for the rest of those convicted, they were granted pardon in 1893 by then-Governor of Illinois John Altgeld, saying that the convicts were given an unfair trial, but was that event that ended Governor Altgeld’s political career as his decision was unpopular among his supporters. The 1st of May (May Day) was associated as a day of commemoration by the Second International in 1889 as a result of the Haymarket Riot. May 4, 1886 was the day set down in history as a day when the American Labor Movement’s fight for workers’ rights got national center stage from the incident of the Haymarket Square Riots coupled with the fact that there were Socialists & Communists among the members of the

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