What happened in Haymarket Square

to set an example to those who would dare to stand up and protest

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Haymarket Square”, by Against All Authority. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article. Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics (written in italics). Comments and questions are welcome.

✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. 

Haymarket Square, Scene Of Haymarket Riot, Chicago (Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

What Happened in Haymarket Square?

(336 words)

Back in 1889, a group of socialist organizations and trade unions chose May 1st as a day to support workers, remembering the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on 4 May 1886. That labor protest began as a peaceful rally in support of an 8-hour work day. Someone threw a bomb at the police, injuring sixty of them, and seven died later. The police started shooting into the crowd. Several people were killed and 200 were injured.

No one's gonna hold them down today

They're ready to fight for their rights

On May 3rd 1886, Chicago burned with the fire they lit

The workers were on strike cause money's tight (people don’t make a lot of money at their jobs)

The pigs were out and looking for a fight

“Pigs” is a disrespectful word that sometimes refers to the police. (It originally came from Britain and was used as a term for a disagreeable person. In the 1960s, protestors used the word to criticize police who oppressed minorities and young people.)

They opened fire into the crowd

A worker was hit and he went down

.

No one's / Gonna hold them down

No! / They're gonna burn this fuckin' town / To the ground!

.

August Spies denounced capitalism but he urged no violence

He was addressing a crowd of workers

The pigs ordered him silenced

A bomb was thrown and the sirens wailed

A pig laid dead and they were jailed

That day the system failed

You know it never fails

Eight men were arrested. Four of them were executed. One of them was August Spies. He was arrested, judged, and hanged, although he did not receive a fair trial. 

If you think you can crush these ideas

That are gaining ground more each day

If death is the penalty for proclaiming truth 

Then I'll proudly and defiantly pay

Four men were sentenced to death to set an example

To all the rest who would dare

To stand up and protest

The injustices we all detest

---

Question:

In the U.S. in 1933, the 40-hour work week was put into law. A bill was recently introduced to Congress to make a 4-day work week. How many days do people work in your country?

(On average, Americans work 470 more hours on the job per year than people in Germany, 300 hours more than people in France, 279 hours more than people in the United Kingdom, 204 hours more than people in Japan, and 125 hours more than people in Canada. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/03/opinions/32-hour-work-week-sanders/index.html)

---

Vocabulary

oppress 弾圧する

denounce 非難する

capitalism 資本主義

urge 誰かに何かをするよう促す

address 話しかける

be hanged 絞首刑に処せられる

proclaim 宣言する

defiantly 反抗的に

sentence (someone to death) 判決（人を死刑にする）

injustice 不正

detest 忌み嫌う

(There are no lyrics on this video)

Sources

Address of August Spies: October 7, 1886. Address of August Spies | October 7, 1886. https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/augustspiesaddress.html . Accessed 16 April 2024.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc. (2024, February 25). May Day. Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/May-Day-international-observance. Accessed 16 April 2024.

Ortega, A. (2021, July 2). A brief history of the word pig as slang for police. NOISE. https://www.noiseomaha.com/resources/2021/7/1/a-brief-history-of-the-word-pig-as-slang-for-police . Accessed 16 April 2024.