Illustrated by Harper’s Weekly, A Journal of Civilization, this piece portrays the events of The Haymarket Affair, also known as The Haymarket Riot. The illustration was created on May 15, 1886, days after the tragic event occurred on May 4th, 1886. The Haymarket Riot was the aftermath of a bombing that took place in Chicago, Illinois in which leaders of the International Working People’s Association (an anarchist organization founded in 1881) had organized a rally in protest of police violence against strikers fighting for the eight-hour workday at the McCormick Reaper Works plant the day before”[1].

On May 3rd, the day before The Haymarket Riot occurred, many protesters were injured by police — one even killed. The rally was intended to be a peaceful protest against this horrid act of police brutality. However, during the rally someone had thrown a bomb at a police officer, killing eight people in the process, and wounding several others. As a result, violent conflict was initiated between labor activists and police officers. Chicago’s police department became known “for the use of violence to put down strikes or other forms of working class dissent, and its newspapers fueled the rise of a vicious antiradical and anti-immigrant hysteria” [3].

In the picture you can clearly see police officers firing arms at the activists. While some seem to be fighting back, others are fleeing the violence. Additionally, there seems to be a man standing on a wheelbarrow with his fist raised. This could indicate that he was a labor leader, at the forefront of the protest. Or it was simply an artistic choice to indicate the sheer passion on both sides. Based on the mostly indifferent expressions on the police officers’ faces, the author most likely wanted to portray their pure murderous intent and lack of concern for the general public.

Although there was a lack of evidence, eight radical labor activists were suspected to have initiated the bombing: Albert Parsons, August Spies, Oscar Neebe, Louis Lingg, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden—were blamed for the attack, tried, and eventually convicted of conspiracy to murder [1]. Labor leaders and immigrants specifically were suspected as culprits for the bombing. Working-class immigrant radicals were routinely depicted as “savage,” “vermin,” “inhuman rubbish” by the city’s editorialists [2]. Unfortunately, The Haymarket Riot was thought to have set the labor movement back due to the fact that The Knights of Labor (KOL), the biggest union organization at the time, was given the blame for the bombing. While the Knights of Labor’s involvement in the incident could not be proven, many people lost trust in the organization due to their suspected participation in the riot. The Haymarket Riot has been commemorated in several monuments across the world and inspired many labor leaders and activists to continue striving in their efforts to fight for a fairer world. The violent scene that the author portrays is meant to represent the international struggle for workers’ rights and the sheer chaos that ensued in the effort to secure these rights. Not only did The Haymarket Riot have a huge impact on the organized labor movement in Chicago, but it also had a very significant impact on the history of the United States and the world as a whole

[1] Bencivenni, Marcella. “The Untold Story of Haymarket.” Reviews in American History, vol. 42 no.2, 2014, p. 309-316. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/rah.2014.0046.
[2] Lloyd, John P. Review of Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movementand the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. Labor Studies Journal, vol. 31 no. 4, 2007, p.89-91. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/lab.2006.0053.
[3] MILLER, JOHN J. “What Happened at Haymarket?” National Review, vol. 65, no. 2, Feb. 2013, pp. 31–33. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=fth&AN=85040132&site=eds-live.