Sri Lanka, May 1 -- No single event has influenced the history of labour in the United States, and subsequently the entire world, more than the Chicago Haymarket Affair. To understand what happened at Haymarket, it is necessary to go back to the summer of 1884 when the Federation of Organised Trades and Labour Unions, the predecessor of the American Federation of Labor, called for May 1, 1886 to be the beginning of a nationwide movement for the eight-hour day.

Two of the organisers of these demonstrations were Lucy and Albert Parsons. Lucy had been born a slave in Texas about 1853. Her heritage was African-American, Native American and Mexican. She worked for the Freedmen's Bureau. After her marriage to Albert, they moved to Chicago wher...