May 4, 1886: A Riot Erupts in Haymarket Square in Chicago May 4, 1886: A Riot Erupts in Haymarket Square in Chicago
For its first fifty years The Nation was not quite the friend to workers and organized labor that it is today. Rather it was perhaps the leading American proponent of the laissez-faire school of Manchester liberalism which prescribed minimal regulation and free trade and warned against organized labor. This editorial note, appearing after the dust had begun to settle in Haymarket Square, where a bomb allegedly thrown at the police by anarchists killed eight people, does not specifically mention the riot or Chicago, but its pertinence to what the editors elsewhere in the issue call “the events of the past fortnight” is obvious. Needless to say, The Nation would likely strike a different tone today. When we get outside the law, and begin to allow ever so little intimidation or coercion to be practised by either individuals or organizations for purposes of their own, we begin a descent at the bottom of which is anarchy—that is, arson, pillage, and murder, revolvers, rifles, and bombs…. It is mere folly to suppose that we can in this country have a little lawlessness, or have lawlessness for special occasions and no others. It is something from which communities must abstain together if they do not intend to drink deep of it. May 4, 1886 To mark The Nation’s 150th anniversary, every morning this year The Almanac will highlight something that happened that day in history and how The Nation covered it. Get The Almanac every day (or every week) by signing up to the e-mail newsletter.
May 4, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
Privacy and the Profit Motive Privacy and the Profit Motive
The fallout from the Edward Snowden fiasco wasn’t just political—it was largely economic.
May 4, 2015 / Lawrence Cappello
May 3, 1933: James Brown, Godfather of Soul, Is Born May 3, 1933: James Brown, Godfather of Soul, Is Born
“Swell packages aside, the ultimate thing about James Brown is the contradiction-healing groove,” a Nation critic once observed. “It’s like a brief return t...
May 3, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
May 2, 1972: J. Edgar Hoover Dies May 2, 1972: J. Edgar Hoover Dies
"Hoover was not only the nation’s police chief; he filled a far more important post—he was its minister of internal security, an office of tremendous, if unacknowledged, power."
May 2, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
We’re Living Through a Geopolitical Transition We’re Living Through a Geopolitical Transition
"These are really historic times, and the epicenter is Ukraine."
May 1, 2015 / Stephen F. Cohen
‘And the Youth Shall Lead!’ Ten Voices From a Generational Moment ‘And the Youth Shall Lead!’ Ten Voices From a Generational Moment
In Baltimore and beyond, a generational uprising.
May 1, 2015 / StudentNation / StudentNation
Why Aren’t More Union Bosses Black Women? Why Aren’t More Union Bosses Black Women?
Black women have been labor movement faithfuls and today scramble to be unionized. So why aren’t there more in labor leadership?
May 1, 2015 / Dani McClain
How to Truly Eradicate Poverty How to Truly Eradicate Poverty
We need more than just a safety net. We need a blueprint to create good jobs for all.
May 1, 2015 / Dorian T. Warren
Why Baltimore Burns Why Baltimore Burns
In 1950, Baltimore was the sixth-most-populous city in the country. Today, it is 26th, and its remaining poor black residents are cut off from their more affluent neighbors.
May 1, 2015 / Eric S. Singer
Capitalism and Slavery Capitalism and Slavery
Each generation seems condemned to have to prove the obvious anew: slavery created the modern world, and the modern world’s divisions are the product of slavery.
May 1, 2015 / Greg Grandin