× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

It is up to us to remember, to teach, and to continue.

That was the message Monday night from United Auto Workers 865 member Josh Saunders, who discussed the Haymarket Affair. Saunders spoke to other members of the new Quad-City chapter of the national Democratic Socialists of America at a potluck that 22 people attended at Laborers’ Local Union 309, Rock Island.

The Haymarket Affair was the aftermath of a bombing at a labor demonstration May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square, Chicago. The bombing happened after a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day. Someone — “To this day, no one knows who that person was,” Saunders said — threw a bomb at police. Seven police officers and at least four civilians died as a result of the violence that ensued.

Eventually, eight anarchists — seven of whom were sentenced to the death penalty — were convicted of conspiracy. “One of the jury members was a friend of one of the police officers that were killed,” Saunders said.