The Haymarket Riot took place May 5 1886. It began when roughly 7,000 men from the eight hour movement, also known as the forty hour week movement, on strike collided with a squad of police men. To everyone’s surprise the police were welcomed with a giant explosion which killed or wounded at least thirty men. “More than 500 shots were fired and hundreds of windows in the works were stoned,” stated the author of the New York Times article the day after the riot. The instant gunshots after the explosion killed and wounded several dozen strikers as well.
The Haymarket riot is an example of what the industrial revolution was like. Although there were many good things that came out of the revolution, the Haymarket riot highlights some of its major flaws including terrible working conditions, exhausting hours, and the violence that the times produced. Therefore, this riot as well as some of the other strikes that occurred during the late 1800s signifies extreme measures people were willing to make in order to improve their lives.
In American Studies we have been discussing the beneficial and negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Although the Haymarket Riot doesn’t demonstrate the positive aspects of the revolution, this story identifies the negative consequences that came out of the time period. The eight hour movement had been working to change their ten or more hour days in to eight hour days and therefore work forty hour weeks rather than sixty or more. This story gives us an idea of how devastating a time the late 1800s were for some people. Additionally this story expresses how intense and difficult the working conditions were and gives us a better sense of what it would be like to be a working man during the American Revolution.
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