"We thought we were being tried for murder. We found out afterwards we were being tried for Anarchy"- Samuel Fielden

On May 4, 1886 a town meeting was called in Chicago's Haymarket Square by anarchists and labor activists. As the peaceful assembly came to a close, 180 police officers stormed the meeting, demanding it disburse. Suddenly an unknown assailant threw a bomb into the crowd killing a police officer and injuring several others. The police responded instantly by shooting and clubbing wildly into the crowd, killing 7 other fellow police officers, injuring 60 more and killing and injuring an unknown number of civillians at the meeting. This event, and the episode that followed in its wake, known as the Haymarket affair, the Haymarket massacre or the Haymarket tragedy, is the single historic event for which Lucy Parsons is best remembered. Although it was only part of Lucy's long and tireless activist legacy, the Haymarket affair drew international attention to the American anarchist movement and became a historic landmark in anarchist and labor history.

The Haymarket affair grew out of the campaign for the 8 hour workday. Lucy Parsons, her husband, Albert Parsons, and many other labor radicals were already well known in Chicago and across the United States, and had been actively organizing with the militant labor movement in Chicago. On May 1st, 1886, a series of massive strikes were called and hundreds of thousands of workers poured out of the factories demanding shorter working hours. Lucy and Albert Parsons alone led 80,000 workers up Michigan Avenue. By May 3rd a lockout had occurred by employers at McCormick Harvester Works in Chicago. 1,500 employees were protesting the lockout when scabs arrived and a small skirmish started between scabs and workers. 200 police arrived in response, shooting at protesters leaving 4 workers dead and many more wounded.

The following night, May 4, the Haymarket Square meeting was called to address the police violence and the continuing labor struggles. It was at this meeting that the police arrived and the bomb thrown. Following the bomb at Haymarket the police responded the next day by rounding up several of the city's leading anarchist labor activists, including Lucy & Albert Parsons and several of their associates, none of which had anything to do with the bombing - most were not even at the event. Lucy was jailed several times for the event and eventually released, but her husband, Albert, and 7 other anarchists were sentenced, not for the bombing, but for their beliefs in anarchism. Lucy went on a nationwide tour gathering support for her husband and comrades in jail, delivering powerful speeches and reaching hundreds of thousands of people within a couple of months, but it was not enough. In the end, 1 of the anarchists, Louis Lingg killed himself in prison. 2 others, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden, were sentenced to life in prison, while Oscar Neebe got 15 years; and the other 4, Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel were hung.

Following the sentencing of the Haymarket 8, Lucy Parsons vigorously agitated in and out of the United States on behalf of Albert and the other martyred comrades. She delivered speeches constantly and sold thousands of copies of the final statements of the Haymarket martyrs everywhere she went. Word spread of the Haymarket affair and soon it had become international in scope, reaching and inspiring untold numbers of activists.

Primarily as a result of Lucy's tireless efforts, the Haymarket martyrs became historic inspirations, spawning a wave of anarchists and radical labor agitators worldwide. Emma Goldman, Voltairine de Cleyre, Alexander Berkman, Helen Keller and many other famous revolutionaries were moved, inspired and drawn to anarchist, socialist and anti-capitalist union organizing as a result of the Haymarket events. Labor activists the world over dedicated May 1st (May Day) on behalf of the Haymarket martyrs and the struggle for the 8-hour work day. And scores of other radical labor activists and union organizers, including the Industrial Workers of the World, were inspired and moved to action by the tragedies of 1886. The Haymarket affair is one of the most important episodes in US labor and anarchist history.

The Haymarket affair has been documented thoroughly in three books: The Haymarket Tragedy by Paul Avrich (1984), Haymarket Scrapbook edited by Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont (1986), and Death in the Haymarket by James Green (2006).

More Information About The Haymarket Affair:

Haymarket Incident By Dave Roediger

The Bomb at Haymarket By Sidney Lens

Women in the Haymarket Event By Carolyn Ashbaugh

Statements of the Accused: The Maymarket Martyrs

Radical Women: The Haymarket Tradition By Carolyn Ashbaugh

1886, May 4: The Haymarket Tragedy Chicago Public Library

Haymarket Widows By Carolyn Ashbaugh

The Voice of the People will yet be Heard By Lucy Parsons

Profile In Courage: John Peter Altgeld & The Haymarket Pardons By Robert Tabscott

The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument as a Labor Icon By Robin Bachin

Strange Legacies: The Black International & Black America By Dave Roediger

The Haymarket Meeting By Lucy Parsons

The Eleventh of November, 1887 By Lucy Parsons

Related Articles:

May Day By Scott Molloy

In November We Remember By Franklin Rosemont

Knights of Labor in the Haymarket Era By Richard Schneirov

International Working People's Association By Alan Dawley

Albert Parsons By Dave Roediger

Lizzie Holmes By Blaine McKinley

What is Anarchism? By Albert R. Parsons