Following the Civil War, there was a rapid expansion of industrial production in the United States. American workers worked on average slightly over 60 hours, during a six-day work week. Chicago became a center for many attempts to organize labor's demands for better working conditions. The haymarket riot was a very important event in regards to an eight hour work day and making it a staple for the American workforce. Strikes by industrial workers were increasingly common in the United States in the 1880s, a time when working conditions often were dismal and dangerous, and wages were low. In October 1884, a convention held by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions unanimously set May 1, 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard. As the chosen date approached, U.S. labor unions prepared for a general strike in …show more content…
A homemade bomb with a brittle metal casing filled with dynamite and ignited by a fuse was thrown into the path of the advancing police. Its fuse briefly sputtered, and then the bomb exploded, killing policeman Mathias J. Degan with flying metal fragments and mortally wounding six other officers. Witnesses maintained that immediately after the bomb blast there was an exchange of gunshots between police and demonstrators. Accounts vary widely as to who fired first and whether any of the crowd fired at the police. Historian Paul Avrich maintains that the police fired on the fleeing demonstrators, reloaded and then fired again, killing four and wounding as many as 70 people. What is not disputed is that in less than five minutes the square was empty except for the casualties. In all, seven policemen and at least four workers were killed. Another policeman died two years after the incident from complications related to injuries received on that