Through much of the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago was a leading center of laboractivism and radical thought,” reads one Internet history (at www.chicagopublib.org). “Early in 1886 labor unions were beginning the movement for an eight-hour day. Union activists called a one-day general strike in Chicago. On May 1, 1886, many Chicago workers struck for shorter hours...” The organizers of the May 1, 2006, May Day march and rally were conscious of their history. The rally slogan “Immigrants’ rights are workers’ rights” was developed by the unions and immigrant rights organizations and became the slogan of millions of people across the USA. In the original planning for May 1, 2006, the organizers routed the march to end at the corner of Randolph and Des Plaines streets in Chicago, the site of the famous “Haymarket Riot” of 1886.

The Haymarket event is still marked around the world as a major moment in the history of working peoples’ fight for their rights. As it became clear that the march would be larger than the March 10 march, Chicago officials agreed to route the march through the heart of the city’s Loop and into Grant Park, on the lakefront. Many of the marchers paused, however, as the march turned at Randolph and DesPlaines (above) a half block from the monument to the 1886 May Day strike in Chicago that was part of the international struggle for an eight-hour day. One of the reasons that the 2006 march didn’t end at the site of the Haymarket “riot” (above) was that it was feared that a half million people would overflow the space and stop traffic on one of the nation’s most important highways, Interstate 90-94 (the Kennedy Expressway), which is beneath the Haymarket site. Although some wanted to stop to honor the history of the day, march organizers agreed with police and city officials that the march would be kept moving so that the lakefront site would be available for the final rally. As a result, police (above, at the site) directed the marchers to turn north as they passed what many call “sacred ground.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

Dozens of Polish flags and hundreds of Polish workers participated proudly in the May 1 march. Above, Randolph St. just west of Ogden Ave. shortly after the march began. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
 

Three blocks east of Ogden, the marchers heard bagpipes and saw a block-long group of people carrying Irish flags and wearing Kelly green tee shirts that read “Celts for Immigration Reform.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt 

Thousands of students and young people from public, private and parochial schools joined the march as “the best civics lesson available” on May 1, 2006.
 

Chicago’s Islamic community was visible during the march and active in the planning and lobbying over the issues raised in the march.