REVENGE! - Workingmen, to Arms!! -

Your masters sent out their bloodhounds -- the police--; they killed six of your brothers at McCormicks this afternoon. They killed the poor wretches, because they, like you, had the courage to disobey the supreme will of your bosses. They killed them, because they dared ask for the shortenin of the hours of toil. They killed them to show you, "Free American Citizens", that you must be satisfied and contended with whatever your bosses condescend to allow you, or you will get killed!

You have for years endured the most abject humiliations; you have for years suffered unmeasurable iniquities; you have worked yourself to death; you have endured the pangs of want and hunger; your Children you have sacrificed to the factory-lords -- in short: You have been miserable and obedient slave all these years: Why? To satisfy the insatiable greed, to fill the coffers of your lazy thieving master? When you ask them now to lessen your burden, he sends his bloodhounds out to shoot you, kill you!

If you are men, if you are the sons of your grand sires, who have shed their blood to free you, then you will rise in your might, Hercules, and destroy the hideous monster that seeks to destroy you. To arms we call you, to arms! Your Brothers.

Rache! Rache! - Arbeiter, zu den Waffen! -

Arbeitendes Volk, heute Nachmittag mordeten die Bluthunde Eurer Ausbeuter 6 Eurer Brüder draußen bei McCormick’s. Warum mordeten sie dieselben? Weil sie den Mut hatten, mit dem Loos unzufrieden zu sein, welches Eure Ausbeuter ihnen beschieden haben. Sie forderten Brod, man antwortete ihnen mit Blei, eingebent der Thatsache, daß man damit das Volk am wirksamsten zum Schweigen bringen kann! Viele, viele Jahre habt Ihr alle Demütigungen ohne Widerspruch ertragen, habt Euch vom frühen Morgen bis zum späten Abend geschunden, habt Entbehrungen jeder Art ertragen, habt Eure Kinder selbst geopfert – Alles, um die Schatzkammern Euerer Herren zu füllen, Alles für sie! Und jetzt, wo Ihr vor sie hintretet, und sie ersucht, Eure Bürde etwas zu erleichtern, da hetzen sie zum Dank für Eure Opfer ihre Bluthunde, die Polizei, auf Euch, um Euch mit Bleikugeln von der Unzufriedenheit zu kurieren. Sklaven, wir fragen und beschwören Euch bei Allem, was Euch heilig und werth ist, rächt diesen scheußlichen Mord, den man heute an Euren Brüdern beging, und vielleicht morgen schon an Euch begehen wird. Arbeitendes Volk, Herkules, Du bist am Scheideweg angelangt. Wofür entscheidest Du Dich? Für Sklaverei und Hunger, oder für Freiheit und Brod? Entscheidest Du Dich für das Letztere, dann säume keinen Augenblick; dann, Volk, zu den Waffen! Vernichtung den menschlichen Bestien, die sich Deine Herrscher nennen. Rücksichtslose Vernichtung ihnen – das muß Deine Losung sein! Denkt der Helden, deren Blut den Weg zum Fortschritt, zur Freiheit und zur Menschlichkeit gedüngt – und strebe, ihrer würdig zu werden!

Eure Brüder.

English Translation:

Revenge! Revenge! - Workers, to arms! - Working people, this afternoon the bloodhounds of your exploiters murdered 6 of your brothers out by McCormick’s. Why did they murder them? Because your brothers had the courage of being unhappy with their lot in life, which your exploiters assigned to them. They asked for bread, in reply they received lead, given the fact that this way, the people can be silenced most effectively. For many, many years you have suffered indignities without objection, you have toiled from the early mornings to the late evenings, you have suffered hardships of all kinds, you have even sacrificed your children – all of it to fill up the treasure hoards of your rulers, all of it for them! And now as you step before them, as you ask them to lighten your burden, they send their bloodhounds, the police, after you as a thanks for your sacrifices, so as to cure you of your unhappiness with lead bullets. Slaves, we ask and implore you by all that is holy and of value to you, avenge this atrocious murder, which has been committed on your brothers today, and may be committed on you tomorrow. Working people, Hercules, you have arrived at the crossroads. What will you choose? Slavery and hunger, or freedom and bread? If you choose the latter, then do not waste a moment; then, people, to arms! Annihilation upon the human beasts, who call themselves your rulers. Relentless annihilation upon them – that must be your calling! Remember the heroes whose blood fertilized the path to progress, freedom and humanity – and strive to become worthy of them!

On May 1, 1886, Chicago unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists, and ordinary workers combined to make the city the center of the national movement for an eight-hour day.

Between April 25 and May 4, workers attended scores of meetings and paraded through the streets at least 19 times. On Saturday, May 1, 35,000 workers walked off their jobs. Tens of thousands more, both skilled and unskilled, joined them on May 3 and 4. Crowds traveled from workplace to workplace urging fellow workers to strike. Many now adopted the radical demand of eight hours’ work for ten hours’ pay. Police clashed with strikers at least a dozen times, three with shootings.

The Haymarket Affair became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights. It has been associated with May Day (May 1) since that day’s designation as International Workers’ Day by the Second International in 1889. The tragedy inspired generations of labour leaders, leftist activists, and artists and has been commemorated in monuments, murals, and posters throughout the world, especially in Europe and Latin America.

-Haymarket Affair](https://www.britannica.com/event/Haymarket-Affair)