🔨 Blood in Chicago (1886), or Why Labor Day in the USA is Celebrated in September

 

This is the story most people don't know — because the US government quietly tried to bury it.

The setup. In 1886, the average American worker labored 10 to 16 hours a day, six or seven days a week. Everywhere you heard the slogan: "Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!" A nationwide strike was set for May 1, 1886.

On that Saturday, 35,000 workers walked off their jobs in Chicago alone. It was enormous, electric, and — for a moment — peaceful.

It unraveled fast. On May 3, police intervened to protect strikebreakers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. One person was killed and several injured. Enraged, labor leaders called a protest rally for the next evening at Haymarket Square.

That gathering was pronounced peaceful by Chicago's own mayor, Carter Harrison, who attended as an observer. After Harrison and most demonstrators departed, a contingent of police arrived and demanded the crowd disperse. At that point, a bomb was thrown by an individual never positively identified. Police responded with random gunfire. Seven officers were killed and 60 others wounded; civilian casualties were estimated at four to eight dead and 30 to 40 injured.

The rigged trial. Eight men were indicted — but all eight were convicted of conspiracy even though it was understood none of them had made or thrown the bomb. The Chicago Tribune even offered to pay money to the jury if it found the men guilty. Four were hanged. One committed suicide in prison. The bomber was never found.

The twist ending. In 1893, Illinois Governor Altgeld — after studying the full trial transcript — concluded the defendants had not received a fair trial: the judge was biased, the jury packed, and much of the evidence fabricated. He issued pardons. Industrialists and the conservative press condemned him for it.

And why is US Labor Day in September? Here's the buried part: in 1894, the president at the time feared that setting Labor Day in May would evoke memories of the Haymarket Affair in the public — so he deliberately chose September instead. The rest of the world kept May 1. America got a long weekend in September, safely scrubbed of its radical origins.

In 1889, the Haymarket Affair was commemorated in the designation of May 1 as International Workers' Day. May Day continues to be celebrated in most countries on Earth.