March 4, 2014

March 4, 2014

We are in the Chicago area and it is not snowing today. Yeah! With the winter they are having, that is cause for smiles. Throw in that it is also Chicago’s birthday (177th) and we have to celebrate. Instead of toasting next to the furnace, we go out to explore. I thought learning about Chicago’s left-leaning history would be enlightening.

Three of our stops today concern the May 1886 Haymarket Affair. Alternatively called a Riot or Massacre depending on your viewpoint, it started as a labor rally for the eight-hour working day. When police moved in to disperse the crowd, one of the protesters threw a dynamite bomb at the police line killing seven and wounding scores. Police fired in response. In subsequent trials eight radical protesters were convicted of conspiracy; four were hanged. Haymarket would be forever remembered every year on May Day, now International Worker’s Day.

We stop first at a snowy German cemetery where a memorial was built above the graves of the four hanged. Many other activists are buried nearby. Our second stop is a memorial to the police killed. It currently sits inside the grounds of the police academy. It was moved there because of repeated damage by labor radicals. Once it was run over by a streetcar operator who said he was sick of seeing that cop with his arm raised. The last memorial we visit is a 2004 creation designating the original Haymarket location.

What I found most troubling about American Labor history is the level of violence, on both sides. The number of shootings and bombings is more reminiscent of the Middle East than my own country. The labor movement during this time included a radical faction of socialists, communists and anarchists (mostly German immigrants) who believed the capitalist system should be dismantled because it exploited workers.

Much of this strife was caused by industrialization, amplified by massive immigration. Labor rapidly became low-priced, low skilled, and easily replaced. This produced unprecedented social unrest. Our next stop was a about a more peaceful response to the crisis.

Just west of the Chicago Loop is Hull House. Jane Addams, seeing the urban poverty and suffering, founded a settlement house here in 1889. The initial purpose was to teach middle class values to the poor, with art and literature classes. It evolved to providing social services, like child nurseries, that would help immigrants assimilate into US society. Hull House championed child labor laws and workplace safety. Jane Addams became a pacificist earning her both a Nobel Peace prize and the moniker “the most dangerous woman in America”. The Hull House complex was razed in the 1960’s to make room for the University of Illinois-Chicago. Two Hull buildings were preserved for a museum.

Our last stop was accidental but made me think about all the monuments that dot the city.  On the near south side just off Lake Shore Drive sits a huge monument, the Stephen Douglas State Historic Site.  Douglas was an Illinois senator and presidential candidate.  He is now known only for debating Abraham Lincoln.  When he died during the Civil War, his supporters built an impressive tomb on his Chicago property.  Unfortunately it now sits in a depressed neighborhood with few people aware of its existence.  This costly memorial makes me think of the innumerous monuments that have been built over time, the vast majority of which are forgotten to history or hidden away in cemeteries.  Does that mean we should stop building them or do we need to do a better job remembering our history?