In early May 1886, Chicago workers demonstrated for an eight-hour workday. One demonstration on May 3, 1886, in solidarity with workers who had been locked outside of the McCormick Reaper Plant while strikebreakers worked inside, led to police opening fire and killing some workers.

To protest those McCormick killings, two thousand workers came to Haymarket Square in the West Loop (Randolph and Des Plaines) to an event which Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison permitted and even attended. As the rally came to an end, Mayor Harrison ordered the police to disperse, yet some 180 police entered the square and began attacking attendees.

At that point, someone threw a bomb at the police. The explosion resulted in a number of deaths; wild gunfire by police killed workers and as many as six police officers. But the bomb galvanized a campaign against organized labor and political radicals. Eight labor organizers were charged with conspiracy and found guilty, even though only one of the eight even attended the rally that night.

A massive international cause célèbre rallied on behalf of the Haymarket Eight. Four of the eight were hanged in 1887, a fifth died in prison, and the remaining three were pardoned by Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld in a move considered to be Altgeld's swansong in politics.

125 years after that fateful night, the consequences of Haymarket still reverberate. May Day has been celebrated internationally (except in the United States) as a workers' holiday, generations of radicals drew inspiration of Haymarket for their own activism (the logo for Chicago Indymedia recalls this history), and the eight-hour workday was ultimately won. But efforts to improve the lot of poor and workers face constant assault and threats of rollback; the struggles fought in 1886 echo those fought in 2011. But the struggle continues, as it always does.

The city of Chicago did place a memorial to Haymarket which was unveiled on a nondescript Tuesday in September 2004 to comparatively little fanfare. But Chicago citizens and activists have organized memorials and commemorations of the quasquicentennial (125th anniversary) of Haymarket, including a full-scale historical re-enactment at Haymarket Square

Read more: Mayday and the Haymarket Martyrs | 125th Anniversary of Haymarket Affair Celebrates Origin of May Day

From the newswire: "More than 1,500 people marched from Union Park to Pilsen on Sunday afternoon [May 1st] to mark International Workers Day. The march was organized and led by people from Pilsen, including many young people who are fighting for the rights of their immigrant families and neighbors — just as the original movement that the Haymarket activists helped create 125 years ago struggled for the rights of immigrant workers and their communities. The call of the day? The people are the movement — and the movement wants justice, dignity, economic and social equity, and the freedom to live unmolested by state, economic or social oppression." Read more / See Photos

Additional Resources: Chicago, Still a Labor Town

The April 2011 episode of Chicago Indymedia's radio show From The Trenches features a Chicago vigil outside the Japanese consulate against nuclear power, the We Are One rally in Daley Plaza in support of the labor movement workers' rights, and media activist Jennifer Pozner who wrote the book "Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV", speaks in Chicago and answers questions about the commercial and political context of "reality television". Plus headlines from the worldwide Indymedia network.

Download April 2011 episode | Chicago Indymedia's radio page | CIMC / FTT Radio podcast feed

From the Newswire: "Little Village, Chicago—At 11:00am today [April 20, 2011], six activists with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Rising Tide North America, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and the Backbone Campaign were arrested after climbing the fence to Midwest Generation’s controversial Crawford coal plant in Little Village. The activists unfurled a 7’ x 30’ banner atop a 20 foot tall sprawling coal pile that feeds the power plant, which reads: “Close Chicago’s Toxic Coal Plants.” Read more | Call for financial support of the Chicago 6

"The groups are demanding the closure of the plant just one day before the much-anticipated Clean Power Ordinance hearing, which could force the plant to undergo major modifications to upgrade their pollution controls. LVEJO, Rising Tide and RAN Chicago are calling for the closure of Chicago’s two toxic coal-fired power plants, the Crawford plant in Little Village and the Fisk plant in Pilsen [CITV video], both owned by Midwest Generation. These two plants are Chicago’s largest sources of particulate air pollution. In the last three years alone, these plants combined have spewed over 45,000 tons of pollution into the air, compromising the health of all Chicagoans."

Additonal Resources: Where's my 'Walderman'? #chicoal | PERRO: Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization | CITV Video: H.Kramer pollution in Pilsen | CITV Video: The Air We Breathe in Pilsen

On April 10th, thousands of workers and workers' rights supporters rallied in Chicago's Daley Plaza to mark the Chicago rally on behalf of the national We Are One campaign organized by the AFL-CIO. In Chicago, three feeder marches of participants converged on the plaza, dwarfing in size and diversity the 2010 Tea Party rally also held in Daley Plaza.

Much of the program focused on solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, though the question of how labor will confront politicians in Illinois and defend and expand workers' rights in Illinois, particularly with Mayor-Elect Rahm "Voldemort" Emanuel waiting in the wings, remains one that the Illinois labor movement has yet to address.

Chicago Indymedia coverage: Photos from Daley Plaza | Video from Chicago Independent Television

On March 19, 2011, about a thousand people rallied at what's now called "Liberation Square" at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway in downtown Chicago. The rally focused against U.S. wars abroad, including the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan, and the continuing U.S. involvement in Iraq despite an ostensible end to the war in Iraq.

But participants also raised concern for a number of other issues of interest, including the recent attacks on organizing rights in Wisconsin and across America, and against the recent intimidation of political activists by the FBI in Chicago and elsewhere.

The protest began at Liberation Square, marched north up Michigan Avenue, to the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Michigan Avenue for a concluding rally.

Coverage: Video: Chicago Protests Eight Years of War | 1,000 Commemorate 8th Anniversary of Illegal Iraq Invasion | Press coverage of the protest on the 8th anniversary of the Iraq invasion | From The Trenches radio, featuring coverage of the protest | Audio of March 19, 2011 rally for peace in downtown Chicago

On March 20, 2003, Chicago police and Illinois troopers arrested nearly 900 activists and passersby amid the legendary 2003 Chicago peace protest on Lake Shore Drive. Attorneys on behalf of the protest filed suit against the city and the police to win a measure of justice for peace activists.

All charges against the arrestees were ultimately dismissed. But it took three years for the lawsuit to win class action status. Moreover, in a peculiar move, the City of Chicago countersued against the arrestees, though that suit was eventually dismissed.

The suit itself was dismissed in a summary judgment, yet on March 17, 2011, an appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled in favor of the protesters. That ruling affirmed the rights to protest and assemble, and concluded "the case is already more than seven years old and we urge its expeditious resolution." Read more | Ruling from Seventh Circuit

Additonal resources: People's Law Office | National Lawyers Guild - Chicago | The Emmy nominated film: "Where We Stood - Chicago's Resistance Against The War In Iraq", 2, 3

On the same day that convicted Chicago police torturer Jon Burge began his jail sentence, the announcement came that one of the prisoners tortured under Burge's regime has been freed after being wrongfully jailed for 25 years.

Eric Caine was arrested in 1986 for a double-murder to which he confessed after being tortured. But several convictions in the infamous Area Two were vacated, and on March 17th, after a petition was filed by The Exoneration Project on Caine's behalf, Caine was freed after the Special States Attorney agreed to drop all charges.

Read more: After 25 years, Jon Burge Victim Finally to be Freed | Chicago Police torture victim Eric Caine upon his release from 25 years [of] wrongful incarceration