America’s Most Notorious Labor Wars: The History and Legacy of the Bloodiest Battles for Better Worker Conditions

Public views of strikers varied, from locals who supported strikes and strikers to those who saw strikers as dangerous radicals. Either way, however, the issue of labor had come to the forefront in America, and over the next several decades, in fits and starts, new labor laws and regulations would be enacted, unions would be formed, anti-trust legislation would be passed, and workers’ lives would be permanently altered.

Although it’s no longer well known as a flashpoint, few things were as controversial during the late 19th century as the Haymarket Affair. Depending on one’s perspective, the riots and the violence that ensued were the result of anarchist terrorists attacking law enforcement authorities with a homemade bomb that was detonated during a large public event, killing a police officer and wounding several more. Others who were more sympathetic to the plight of the people protesting for better working conditions that night in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886 portray it as a peaceful rally that was marred by a heavy handed response attempting to disperse the protesters.

What is clear is that the moments following the explosion were characterized by confusion and bedlam, as some people ran away and others ran toward the site. By the time the shooting was done, nearly a dozen lay dead, including a number of police officers, and makeshift hospitals were soon overwhelmed.

The IWW’s members have been known for more than a century as the Wobblies, and no one knows how they got the name, although there are stories that an immigrant had trouble pronouncing the letters. That would be appropriate, because the Wobblies went out of their way to unionize immigrants, who formed a sizable percentage of the American labor force in the years the IWW was influential. The Wobblies quickly became a considerable force in American labor and by far the most colorful union of its era, if not always particularly effective.

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Audiobook: 15 September 2025