This Day in Anarchist History: The Haymarket Affair

by subMedia / May 4th, 2024

Have you heard the story of why we celebrate May Day?

In Chicago in 1886 police murdered two people at a general strike for an 8 hour work day. A rally for revenge on May 4^thled to a riot when a bomb was thrown at the police. Several cops and protesters were killed in the ensuing gunfire and many more were injured.

The state then began rounding up known dissidents and sentenced most of them to death even though many of those arrested weren’t even there.

For over a century anarchists around the world have been avenging the Haymarket Martyrs through strikes, pickets and clandestine attacks.