USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Haymarket Affair had a lasting effect on the labour movement in the United States. The Knights of Labor (KOL), at the time the largest and most successful union organization in the country, was blamed for the incident.

Detailed explanation-2: -On May 3, striking workers at the McCormick Reaper Works rushed the factory during a shift change and began fighting with non-union “scabs.” Police arrived and leapt into the fray, attacking workers with clubs and firing their revolvers. Within minutes, several strikers were wounded and at least two were killed.

Detailed explanation-3: -After the explosion and subsequent police gunfire, more than a dozen people lay dead or dying, and close to 100 were injured. The Haymarket Square Riot set off a national wave of xenophobia, as hundreds of foreign-born radicals and labor leaders were rounded up in Chicago and elsewhere.

Detailed explanation-4: -It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day, the day after the events at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, during which one person was killed and many workers injured.