Chicago—The tone was set by the MC, a city official whose name I didn’t catch, in her opening remarks: “It isn’t necessary to agree on all the details.” That pretty much summed up the official part of the dedication of the Haymarket Monument at 11:30 this morning. Several hundred people gathered at the corner of Randolph and Des Plaines for the ceremony. The monument a 12-foot high sculpture of some people “either taking down or putting up” (according to the artist, Mary Brogger) a speakers’ platform on a wagon.

Other speakers included Illinois State Senator Emil Jones, who helped acquire funding for the project, Chicago Federation of Labor President Douglas Gannon, and Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue. All were on the advisory panel for the sculpture, but Gannon, in his speech, managed to mispronounce the names of all eight of the Haymarket martyrs. After he introduced the names and professions of Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neebe, the twenty or so anarchists who had assembled at one side of the gathering yelled (after offering corrections on Gannon’s pronunciation), “and an anarchist! Gannon did hit a positive note with the crowd when he announced that “at the end of the day, all workers, union or not, need a voice.”

Donahue’s speech was nearly drowned out by the anarchists and others in the crowd, who booed and chanted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” “Murderers!” “Remember May Molina!” and “Remember Fred Hampton!”

The anarchists were there to remind the crowd that the eight men tried for conspiracy (the original Chicago 8) as a result of the tragedy at Haymarket were devoted anarchists. They held banners reading, “Bite the Hand That Bleeds You: Smash the State” and “To Love the Martyrs and Hate Their Anarchism is Complete Hypocrisy.” They also handed out a flyer explaining “Why the Anarchists Are Angry.” No anarchists were invited to the initial planning stages of the monument, nor were any invited to be a part of the official program, although they were offered, as a token, the opening slot at the “open mike” that was held after the dedication (and after most of the media had left). Anthony Rayson took that opening slot, although he said he would offer it to anyone else who was waiting to speak, as he had arrived late.

Rayson spoke briefly but cogently. He emphasized that this monument was not, in fact, a center for free speech, saying that the site would likely be watched closely by officials. “This place is now a center for Big Brother’s surveillance cameras and not a refuge.” He also discussed the funding of the project, noting that the money came from Illinois First and was paid for by already hard-pressed Illinois tax payers. “This could have been a grass-roots effort,” he said, “but it wasn’t.”

Perhaps half the crowd wore shirts or buttons identifying them as members of an area AFL-CIO union. Someone from the College of Complexes handed out abridged copies of “Cell 29,” a play about Albert Parsons which is put on at the College every May Day. Also flyering were the Chicagoland Coalition for Civil Liberties, the Million Worker March. The MWM organizer noted the similarities between Haymarket and the present. “At Haymarket they were struggling for people to live in dignity and that continues today.” Someone was also handing out glossy flyers about home loan benefits for AFL-CIO affiliated members.

The Chicago Federation of Labor’s press release about the monument:
www.cflonline.org/headline.php

Some further background about Haymarket:
chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/40486/index.php