On this day in Labor History the year was 1886.
This was the day that began events in Chicago that would make May First the most important day on the calendar for the labor movement across the world.
The sun shone brightly in Chicago that day.
Ninety thousand workers took to the streets to protest for the eight hour day.
Nearly half of them were on strike, and the rest were marching in support of the demands of working people.
Many of the marches had a festive air, with music playing and banners waving.
Across the country, estimates of as many as half-a million workers participated in the walk out.
Labor was on the march. But then, just three days later, striking workers were gunned down by police at Chicago’s McCormick Reaper Plant.
The next night police marched on a workers rally that was about to wrap up at Haymarket Square.
An unknown person threw a bomb into the police ranks, and the police responded by shooting wildly, striking protesters and their own men.
The police crackdown against union leaders and suspected radicals was fierce.
Eight men were rounded up and blamed for the crime.
Despite a lack of any evidence tying them to the bomb, four of the accused were hung.
The Haymarket Martyrs became international heroes of the labor movement.
On May 1, 1890 labor leaders across Europe and the United States declared May Day the worker’s holiday.
In cities across the world tens of thousands marched for the eight hour day.
Now more than 125 years after the fateful week in Chicago, May Day remains International Labor Day.
Today a monument stands at the site of Haymarket, and each year labor leaders from across the world travel to Chicago to visit and commemorate the site.
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Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show