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The '''Haymarket Riot''' was an attack on police in Chicago on May 4, 1886, when police broke up a workers' demonstration organized by anarchists.
The '''Haymarket Riot''' was an attack on police in Chicago on May 4, 1886, when police broke up a workers' demonstration organized by anarchists.
[[File:Haymarket1.jpg|thumb|250px|Monument in Chicago to the police victims]]
On May 3 laborers had attacked police at the McCormick Reaper Company, which had hired nonunion workers during a strike. One person was killed, and the anarchists accused the police of brutality, calling a protest rally at Haymarket Square the next day. When police tried to disperse the rally, a bomb exploded in police ranks and rioting erupted. Eleven people were killed, including seven police.
On the day before May 3 laborers had attacked police at the McCormick Reaper Company, which had hired nonunion workers during a strike. One person was killed, and the anarchists accused the police of brutality, calling a protest rally at Haymarket Square the next day. When police tried to disperse the rally, a bomb exploded in police ranks and rioting erupted. Eleven people were killed, including seven police.
The bomber was never positively identified, but historians generally agree the bomb was made by one of the anarchists. Eight anarchist leaders were convicted as accessories to murder. Four were hanged, one committed suicide, and three were jailed. In 1893, Governor [[John Peter Altgeld]] of Illinois, a left-wing Democrat, pardoned the three survivors. That action identified Altgeld and the left of the Democratic Party with violent radicalism, and helped defeat [[William Jennings Bryan]] in the 1896 presidential election.
The bomber was never positively identified, but historians generally agree the bomb was made by one of the anarchists. Eight anarchist leaders were convicted as accessories to murder. Four were hanged, one committed suicide, and three were jailed. In 1893, Governor [[John Peter Altgeld]] of Illinois, a left-wing Democrat, pardoned the three survivors. That action identified Altgeld and the left of the Democratic Party with violent radicalism, and helped defeat [[William Jennings Bryan]] in the 1896 presidential election.