Why did the Haymarket riot happen?

Answer 1

Have you ever wondered why your parents work for 8 hours? Well in 1886 around 120 years ago there was no limit to work. You would come in to work early in the morning and come out late at night. But then on May 4, 1886 there was a strike at the Haymarket Square in Chicago the strike was going against the hours they had to work. On May Day 1886, the workers at the Harvesting Machine Co. in Chicago began a strike in the hope of gaining a shorter work day. On May 3, police were used to protect strikebreakers and a scuffle broke out, one person was killed and 50 injured. It was a horrible day May 4, 1886 when anarchists murdered eight Chicago police officers. The offenders shot at the officers and threw a bomb during a labor riot. Blood ran in the streets and before it was over 70 people were killed or wounded. The suspects were rounded up, tried and were sentenced to be hanged. One suspect blew himself up cheating the hangman but the others danced at the bottom of the gallows located at Hubbard and Dearborn Streets.

Answer 2

The riot was caused by the proximity of the May Day Rally to the McCormick Harvester plant where the workers had been locked out since early February. The laborers were attacked by Pinkerton Guards and as many as 400 Chicago police officers who fired into the crowd. Labor was seeking the 8 hour work day. An anarchist detonated a pipe bomb which killed a police officer and eventually eight police officers were killed (most by friendly fire). Sixty police officers were wounded and the Chicago Herald reported at least 50 civilians were killed or wounded.

Answer 3

On May 4, 1886, a labor protest rally near Chicago's Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. Despite a lack of evidence against them, eight radical labor activists were convicted in connection with the bombing.

Answer 4

because people were giving their workers too long hours so they went on strike to get shorter hours