Standing sentry in a cemetery just outside Chicago, the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument has been called the pietà for workers, a national historic landmark visited each year by foreign labor leaders arriving on tour buses to pay homage and lay roses at her feet.
But for local and national labor leaders commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Haymarket tragedy in Chicago next month, what began as a May Day celebration of the restored monument has evolved into a mission to unite public and private union members outraged by recent attempts to limit collective bargaining rights for workers in Wisconsin and Indiana.
“We all know what happened to public workers in Wisconsin and Indiana, but there are so many states that are below the radar, where varying degrees of these legislative proposals are moving forward,” said Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. “The Haymarket anniversary is an opportunity to recognize that workers are angry, frustrated and finally standing up and saying, ‘We’ve had enough.’ ”
After an AFL-CIO-sponsored rally on April 9 that attracted thousands to Chicago’s Daley Plaza, Ms. Shuler said the Haymarket anniversary and May Day celebration is “the next logical step to keeping the momentum going.”
Tom Geoghegan, a labor lawyer from Chicago, agrees with Ms. Shuler, suggesting that with May Day long embraced by countries across the world, the city should not hesitate to finally claim it as their own holiday and recognize those killed during the Haymarket riot.
“This is the perfect time to toast those people who were fighting for higher wages, shorter work days, and more time with their families,” Mr. Geoghegan said. He added: “The Republican Party right now is doing a miraculous job of bringing labor together.”
Labor historians trace International Labor Day, known as May Day, back to May 4, 1886, when a dynamite bomb was hurled into a crowd of workers, prompting police to begin shooting at those gathered at Haymarket Square on West Randolph Street to demand an eight-hour work day. Seven police officers and four workers were killed, leading to the arrest of eight men, four of whom were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887 – George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies.
Seven years later, Gov. John P. Altgeld, a Democrat, pardoned the three men still alive, and decried the judicial system that had handed down the convictions.
Mark Rogovin, an author and muralist, said that organizers have urged Chicago high school teachers to bring their students to the events, which include a staged reenactment of the tragedy by a professional acting troupe in period costumes.
Though officials acknowledge that over the years some union leaders have distanced themselves from the colorful contingent of anarchists, communists and socialists who championed the early labor movement, historians say Chicago’s pivotal role in the battles should be preserved and respected.
“I was talking to a group of college students from Northwestern recently, and I asked if any of them knew about Haymarket or May Day, and the only one who raised his hand and had the answer was a foreign student,” recalled Larry Spivack, the president of the Illinois Labor History Society and regional director for AFSCME Council 31.
“I asked the American students, ‘Why don’t you know any of this?’ and they answered, ‘Well, nobody ever told us about it,’ ” he said.
Not surprisingly, the Haymarket anniversary has not attracted the interest of many outside the labor movement. Jim Nelson, vice president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said he has not heard of any members participating in the Haymarket events but said the battle over workers rights playing out in Wisconsin is not likely to spill across the border.
“There is no evidence that a similar effort is taking place in Illinois,” Mr. Nelson said. “With the makeup of the General Assembly, it would not go very far in this state.”
Ty Fahner, the former attorney general for Illinois and president of the Civic Committee for the Commercial Club of Chicago, said the organization’s Illinois is Broke campaign – which includes radio ads proclaiming that public pension programs are decimating the state’s budget – is not anti-union, but in favor of reform.
“We want to get the public’s attention that the state budget is so far out of balance that the pension funds are heading towards bankruptcy,” said Mr. Fahner. “We’re not trying to undermine unions, but we want to make sure people who have worked hard have the pensions they are entitled to.”
Nonetheless, many union officials are casting a wary eye on well-funded efforts in Wisconsin and elsewhere that target public workers. Jorge Ramirez, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said recent AFL-CIO rallies and and the Haymarket anniversary event are aimed at ensuring that history does not repeat itself.
“Folks need to realize there are strong parallels between Haymarket and what’s happening today,” Mr. Ramirez said. “With Haymarket, workers were protesting to get an eight-hour work day. Now, people are hoping they can get a job, so they can work an eight-hour day.”
