Haymarket+Affair+-2nd+Hr



=The Beginning: Anarchy=

Immigration was a very big deal in the time of The Haymarket Affair and there were immigrants constantly trying to get into our country. Upon arrival, they had to answer a couple of questions: 1. Have you ever been in jail? 2. Have you ever been in a mental institution? 3. Can you read and write? These questions were important but if they were answered in a negative fashion, immigration officers occasionally showed leniancy, but there was one last question: ARE YOU AN ANARCHIST? If the answer was yes, the immigrant was immediatly shipped back to where they came from because our government felt anarchists were as dangerous and contagious as typhus. Anarchists wanted a society without any Government or any kind of enforced law and they tended to use violence to acheive just that. Anarchism was a very radical political point of view and had a lot in common with socialism, but there was one tiny difference. Anarchists had no problem killing people if they felt they had to. But how you ask, do these maniacs become this way? These terrorists were one of the legitimate reasons that immigration had to be controlled because, along with hopeful immigrants looking for new, better, more exciting lives, the dangerous and contagious anarchists invaded the country.

[[image:http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/fraternal-images/knights_of_labor_bw.jpg width="267" height="359" align="right" caption="Leaders of the Knights of Labor"]]
=﻿Knights ﻿of Labor=

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The Knights of Labor were founded in 1875, just after the National Labor Union fell. The Knights were one of the more welcoming labor unions, allowing skilled and unskilled laborers, men and women, and whites and blacks; they only barred entry to "nonproducers". The Knights had only been going strong for eleven years when they began going downhill. On May Day in 1886, half of their strikes failed, and as they refused to participate in the mud slinging known as politics, they succumbed to "rioting". While there was obviously a number of both anarchists and socialists throughout the union who might want to cause harm to the capitalist system, there was no proof of who caused the event. The Knights, however, were the easiest to blame. This unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time ultimately led to their downfall.======

=﻿The Event=

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On May 4, 1886 the Knights gathered in Haymarket Square in Chicago for a peaceful protest. There were some 80,000 members of the Knights in Chicago and there was also a large amount of anarchists. The police arrived shortly before it was supposed to end, calling for the protesters to disperse. The leaders of the protest tried to explain that what they were doing was completely legal and that they were close to finishing; the police, however, were not compliant. Ironically, the day before, this same group of police fired randomly into a group of factory workers who were on strike, killing four innocent people. Part of the reason for the rally in Haymarket Square was in objection and mourning of the four people killed. The Knights also championed for an eight-hour work day. Eager for an opportunity that could present itself as a diversion, the hidden anarchists in the crowd operated swiftly, setting off a bomb that killed at least seven police officers and four workmen, and wounded many more. Just as disturbing as the actual uprising was the scene immediately after the bomb was thrown. There was mass hysteria in the streets; people didn't know where to go or who to trust. A good five minutes after the explosion was filled with terror and confusion.======

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As a result of the unrest, eight alleged anarchists were arrested - with no evidence that any of them were directly involved in the incident. Despite this, the judge ruled that if they could encourage the distribution of controversial ideas, they could suffer the consequences and be charged with conspiracy. It was no secret that anarchy was detested in America during the late 1800s. Because of the riot, men involved with the Knights of Labor were subdued and taken to court. A few select men were pardoned, but seven men were sentenced to death. One of those men, Louis Lingg, killed himself in his cell with a dynamite cap he smuggled in (he was said to have held it in his mouth like a cigar). The rest of the men were taken to the gallows and hanged. Whether or not these men actually committed the crime is unknown, but it sure would be unfortunate for them if it wasn't. The trials and executions for the Haymarket affair have been called "one of the most awful miscarriages in the history of the United States of America". One man yelled right before he was hanged: "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!" Of all the injustices and cruelty brought about in these trials, one act was considered downright awful; the length of the ropes to make their nooses wasn't long enough, so instead of having their necks broken, they were slowly strangled. ======

 = The Aftermath =

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** A statue of one of the fallen police officers was raised not too long after the event. The statue was considered "unnecessary" by many people living in Chicago. In May, 1927, a streetcar jumped its tracks and slammed right into the statue. The driver of the streetcar said he was "tired of seeing that police man with his arm raised!" so they moved the statue. Eventually, because of zoning issues, the statue had to be placed in a spot near where it was originally. Then in 1968, the statue was painted all black by people after a big protest with police involving the Vietnam War. Then in 1969, the statue was blown up when a bomb was placed in between its legs. It was rebuilt, but then in 1970 it was blown up...again. The mayor eventually got the hint and had the statue rebuilt, but it was placed in a police station. ** ======

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**This statue clearly represents much more than the actual explosion itself. It represents the pain everyone went through on both sides; the families of those killed, and the struggles of the common workers back then. The statue has shown us that even here, 124 years later, people still remember and care about what happened on that day, whether they show it by admiring the beautiful bronze statue, or by blowing it up. ** ======

= = = = = = =References=

1. Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. //The American Pageant: a History of the Republic //. 13th ed. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print. 2. Margulies, Phillip, and Rosaler, Maxine. //The Devil on Trial: Witches, Anarchists, Atheists, Communists, and Terrorists in America's Courtrooms //. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print. 3. David, Henry. //The History of the Haymarket Affair //. 2nd ed. New York: Russel & Russel, 1936, 1958. Print. 4. Bienen, Leigh. //The Haymarket Affair //. Digital image. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930 //. Northwestern University School of Law, 2008. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. __[]__ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">5. Mill Valley Lodge. //Leaders of the Knights of Labor//. Digital image. //Mill Valley Lodge//. Free Masonry. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. []. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">6. Arbeiter-Zeitung. //Attention Workingmen//. Digital image. //Cook County, Illinois Genealogy Trails//. Genealogy Trails, 1998-2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. [].