When they started celeberating May Day
The International Workers' Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. It is also celebrated unofficially in many other countries. May day integrates two issues together. The first issue is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago and the second issue is the idea for a workers holiday.
The Haymarket affair occurred during the course of a three-day general strike in Chicago, Illinois, United States that involved common laborers, artisans, merchants, and immigrants. It started as an incident in which police opened fire and killed four strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant. On the following day a rally was called for at Haymarket Square.
The police moved to disperse the event and opened fire on the unarmed crowd. A bomb was thrown by an unknown assailant into the crowd of police. This left at least a dozen people dead, including one policeman. A sensational show trial ensued in which eight defendants were openly tried for their political beliefs, and not necessarily for any involvement in the bombing. The trial led to the eventual public hanging of four persons.
Eight men stood trial for being "accessories to murder". They were August Spies, Fielden, Parsons, and five other anarchists who were influential in the labour movement, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe.The trial opened on June 21st 1886 in the criminal court of Cooke County. The defence was not allowed to present evidence that the special bailiff had publicly claimed "I am managing this case and I know what I am about. These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death".
On August 19th seven of the defendants were sentenced to death, and Neebe to 15 years in prison. After a massive international campaign for their release, the state 'compromised' and commuted the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment. Lingg cheated the hangman by committing suicide in his cell the day before the executions. On November 11th 1887 Parsons, Engel, Spies and Fischer were hanged.
About 600,000 working people turned out for their funeral. The campaign to free Neebe, Schwab and Fielden continued.On June 26th 1893 Governor Altgeld set them free. He made it clear he was not granting the pardon because he thought the men had suffered enough, but because they were innocent of the crime for which they had been tried. They and the hanged men had ben the victims of "hysteria, packed juries and a biased judge".
When Spies addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die, he was confident that this conspiracy would not succeed:
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement... the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation - if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you - and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out"
The Haymarket incident was a source of outrage from people around the globe. In the following years, memory of the "Haymarket martyrs" was remembered with various May Day job actions and demonstrations. Here, you find a video for May day Celeberations in Ventura,CA.
The International Workers' Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. It is also celebrated unofficially in many other countries. May day integrates two issues together. The first issue is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago and the second issue is the idea for a workers holiday.
The Haymarket affair occurred during the course of a three-day general strike in Chicago, Illinois, United States that involved common laborers, artisans, merchants, and immigrants. It started as an incident in which police opened fire and killed four strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant. On the following day a rally was called for at Haymarket Square.
The police moved to disperse the event and opened fire on the unarmed crowd. A bomb was thrown by an unknown assailant into the crowd of police. This left at least a dozen people dead, including one policeman. A sensational show trial ensued in which eight defendants were openly tried for their political beliefs, and not necessarily for any involvement in the bombing. The trial led to the eventual public hanging of four persons.
Eight men stood trial for being "accessories to murder". They were August Spies, Fielden, Parsons, and five other anarchists who were influential in the labour movement, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe.The trial opened on June 21st 1886 in the criminal court of Cooke County. The defence was not allowed to present evidence that the special bailiff had publicly claimed "I am managing this case and I know what I am about. These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death".
On August 19th seven of the defendants were sentenced to death, and Neebe to 15 years in prison. After a massive international campaign for their release, the state 'compromised' and commuted the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment. Lingg cheated the hangman by committing suicide in his cell the day before the executions. On November 11th 1887 Parsons, Engel, Spies and Fischer were hanged.
About 600,000 working people turned out for their funeral. The campaign to free Neebe, Schwab and Fielden continued.On June 26th 1893 Governor Altgeld set them free. He made it clear he was not granting the pardon because he thought the men had suffered enough, but because they were innocent of the crime for which they had been tried. They and the hanged men had ben the victims of "hysteria, packed juries and a biased judge".
When Spies addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die, he was confident that this conspiracy would not succeed:
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement... the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation - if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you - and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out"
The Haymarket incident was a source of outrage from people around the globe. In the following years, memory of the "Haymarket martyrs" was remembered with various May Day job actions and demonstrations. Here, you find a video for May day Celeberations in Ventura,CA.
References:
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en.wikipedia.org
libcom.org/history
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