International Workers' Day

It is the celebration par excellence of the movement
world worker. It is a day that has been used regularly
to make different social demands
in favor of the working classes by
part, fundamentally, of the socialist movements,
anarchists and communists, among others.
Since its establishment in most countries (although the
the consideration of a public holiday was in many cases
the Socialist Workers' Congress of the Republic of Korea.
the Second International, celebrated in Paris in 1889, is
a day of struggle to demand and to pay homage to the
Chicago martyrs. These anarchist trade unionists were
executed in the United States for their participation in
the days of struggle for the attainment of the working day
of eight hours, which had their origin in the strike
started on May 1, 1886 and its high point was three days
later, on May 4th, at the Haymarket Revolt. A
from then on, it became a day of protest.
of workers' rights in a general sense
held to a greater or lesser extent throughout the world.
The United States, Canada and other countries do not hold
this commemoration. In its place is Labor Day
on the first Monday of September in a parade held in
New York and organized by the Noble Order of Knights
of Labor (Knights of Labor). The president
Grover Cleveland, USA, hosted the celebration.
in September for fear that the date of May
to strengthen the socialist movement in the United States
since 1882. Canada joined in to commemorate the first Monday
September instead of the first of May from 1894.

Origin of the celebration

The events that gave rise to this celebration are contextualized
at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution
in the United States. By the end of the 19th century, Chicago was
the second largest city in the United States in terms of population.
From the west and southeast, they came every year by rail.
thousands of unemployed cattle ranchers, creating the first
humble villas that housed hundreds of thousands of people.
workers. In addition, these urban centres hosted
emigrants from all over the world throughout the century
XIX.

The demand for the 8-day working day working hours

One of the basic demands of the workers,
was the 8-hour day. One of the priority objectives
was to make use of the maxim of: "eight hours for the
eight hours for sleep and eight hours for sleep.
home." Several movements took place in this context;
in 1829 a movement was formed to request the
New York City legislature the eight-hour day. Previously on
there was a law against working more than
18 hours, "except where necessary". If there was no such need,
any official of a railway company
that would have forced an engineer or stoker
to work 18-hour shifts a day, he had to pay a
$25 fine.
Most of the workers were affiliated with the Noble
Order of the Knights of Labor, but it had more preponderance
the American Federation of Labor (Federación
American from Work), initially socialist
(although some sources point to its anarchist origin). In
his fourth congress, held on October 17, 1884,
it had resolved that since May 1, 1886 the duration of the
legal working time should be eight hours a day.
hours, going on strike if this demand was not obtained.
and recommending to all trade union unions
to try to make such laws in their jurisdictions.
This resolution aroused the interest of the organizations,
who saw the possibility of getting more
number of jobs with the eight-day workday
hours, reducing unemployment.
In 1868, President Andrew Johnson promulgated the so-called
Ingersoll Act, setting the eight-day mark
hours. Soon after, nineteen states sanctioned
laws with a maximum working day of eight and ten hours, although
always with clauses that allowed them to be increased to between
14 and 18 hours. Even so, due to the lack of compliance
of the Ingersoll Act, labor and trade union organizations
of the United States mobilized. The general press of the
The United States, reactionary and in line with the theses
the movement as "outrageous," he described it as "outrageous.
and disrespectful','the delirium of unpatriotic lunatics',
and stated that it was "the same as asking for the payment of a
without any hours of work."

On May 1st, the strike

On May 1, 1886, 200,000 workers began work on the
while another 200,000 were winning the strike.
with the simple threat of unemployment.
In Chicago, where the conditions of the workers
were much worse than in other cities in the country, the mobilizations
The 2nd and 3rd of May followed. The only easy way to--
The only company that worked was the agricultural machinery factory.
McCormik who had been on strike since February 16
because they wanted to deduct from the workers an amount of
their salaries for the construction of a church. The production
was kept on scabs. On the 2nd, the police
had violently dissolved a demonstration of
more than 50,000 people and on the 3rd there was a rally.
in front of its doors; when it was in the
the anarchist August Spies, the siren sounded.
of a strikebreaker shift. The concentrates are
They threw at the scabs (yellow) starting a fight.
field. A company of cops, no warning at all,
proceeded to fire point-blank shots at people producing
6 dead and several dozen wounded.
The journalist Adolf Fischer, editor of the Arbeiter Zeitung,
he ran to his newspaper where he wrote a proclamation (that
it would then be used as the main accusatory evidence in the
the trial that led to his hanging) printing 25 000
leaflets. The proclamation said:
The proclamation ended with an act of protest.
for the next day, the fourth, at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Haymarket Square. A permit was obtained from the mayor
Harrison to do an act at 7.30pm in the park.
Haymarket. The facts that happened there are known
like the Haymarket Revolt.

The Haymarket revolt

More than 20,000 people gathered in Haymarket Square.
people who were repressed by 180 uniformed police officers.
An explosive device exploded among the cops.
resulting in one death and several injuries. The police opened
fire on the crowd killing and wounding a number of people.
unknown of workers.
The state of siege and curfew were declared, stopping
hundreds of workers who were beaten and beaten, and
tortured, charged with the murder of the policeman.
These repressive acts were supported by a campaign
of the press with quotes like:
What better suspects than the top brass
of the anarchists. To the gallows the brutes
murderers, red communist ruffians, monsters.
bloodthirsty, bomb-making, riffraff.
which are nothing more than Europe's lagging behind
who sought our shores to abuse our
hospitality and defying the authority of
our nation, and that in all these years we have not
have done nothing but proclaim doctrines
seditious and dangerous!
The press was demanding a summary trial by the
Supreme Court, holding eight anarchists and eight anarchists accountable
all the prominent figures in the labor movement.
On June 21, 1886, the case against 31 perpetrators was initiated,
and then they were down to eight. The irregularities
in the trial were many, violating all the rules of the court.
procedural rules in their form and substance, so much so that they have arrived
to be qualified as a sham trial. The courts were
convicted convicts. Three of them were sentenced to
prison and five to death, which would be executed in
the gallows. The details of the convictions are as follows:

Prison

• Samuel Fielden, English, 39, Methodist pastor and
  textile worker, sentenced to life imprisonment.

• Oscar Neebe, American, 36, salesman,
  sentenced to 15 years hard labour.

• Michael Schwab, German, 33, typographer, sentenced
  to life imprisonment.

To the death

• George Engel, German, 50, typographer.

• Adolf Fischer, German, 30, journalist.

• Albert Parsons, American, 39, journalist,
  husband of Mexican Lucy Gonzalez Parsons even though
  it was proven that he was not present at the scene, he was
  gave up to be with his companions and was judged
  I don't think I'm gonna be able to do it anyway.

• August Vincent Theodore Spies, German, 31 years old,
  journalist.

• Louis Lingg, German, 22, carpenter not to be
  executed committed suicide in his own cell.
  The convictions were executed on 11 November 1887.

José Martí, who was working at the time
as a correspondent in Chicago for the Argentine newspaper
The Nation told it like this;

...come out of their cells. They shake hands, smile.
They read them the sentence, hold their hands.
with handcuffs on their backs, they are girded with the
arms to the body with a leather girdle and the
they put a shroud as white as the robe of the
the Christian catechumens. Below is the turnout,
sitting in a row of chairs in front of the
scaffold as in a theatre.... Firmness in the face
Fischer's, Spies' prayer, pride.
at the Parsons, Engel makes a joke on purpose.
of his hood, Spies cries out, "The voice that
you're going to suffocate will be more powerful in the future
as many words as I could say now."
They put their hoods down, then a sign, a noise,
the trap gives way, all four bodies fall and
swing in a frightening dance....

The events in Chicago also cost the lives of many
workers and trade union leaders; there is no such thing as a
exact number, but thousands were dismissed, arrested,
accused, shot or tortured. The
most of them were European immigrants: Italian, Spanish,
Germans, Irish, Russians, Poles and others
Slavs.