labor strikes unions at work. the labor conflict turns violent: the haymarket affair chicago, may 3,...
TRANSCRIPT
The Labor Conflict Turns Violent: the Haymarket Affair
• Chicago, May 3, 1886: Union strikers locked out of McCormick Harvester Co.
• Replaced with strikebreakers
• Violence erupted between union, strikebreakers, & police
• Striker died; Union called for meeting in Haymarket Square
Many of the workers were German, like a lot of people in Chicago.
“Arm Yourself and Appear in Full Force!”
• May 4: Bomb thrown at Haymarket Square• 7 police killed• 60 people wounded
• Police open fire on crowd• 100 people wounded
• Chicago police arrest hundreds• Union leaders• Socialists• Anarchists
• Union membership drops
Today there is a monument in Haymarket Square to the “Haymarket Martyrs”- the original statue, to honor the police, was destroyed in 1927, rebuilt, and moved
Homestead Strike, 1892• Carnegie reduced wages at
steel mills in Homestead, PA
• Workers went on strike & were locked out
• Replaced with nonunion labor & 300 armed guards
• July 6: Violence broke out between strikers & guards, killing 12 people
• PA militia escorted scab workers
• Strike collapsed after 4 months
The PA militia separating the strikers (left) from the
nonunion workers
Pullman Strike, 1894• Bad economy- Pullman
Palace Car Company cut wages by $.25 but did not cut rent in company housing; workers struck
• Eugene V. Debs called for boycott of Pullman cars; rail traffic stopped
• President Cleveland called out army to end strike; Debs arrested