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Labor History

Labor History. Philip Dray There is Power in a Union Chapter 3: We Mean to Have Eight Hours. Philip Dray: Labor Historian. Main Items in Chapter 3. 1. Decline of the Knights of Labor 2. Anarchism 3. Haymarket 4. Birth of the AFL [American Federation of Labor].

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Labor History

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  1. Labor History Philip Dray There is Power in a Union Chapter 3: We Mean to Have Eight Hours

  2. Philip Dray: Labor Historian

  3. Main Items in Chapter 3 1. Decline of the Knights of Labor 2. Anarchism 3. Haymarket 4. Birth of the AFL [American Federation of Labor]

  4. Open to all producers, skills, races, sex ideology shaped by political/social consequences of industrialization Goals coops, education, 8 hr day save the republic Methods and Success Strikes, political activity and election victories Failure and Collapse lost strikes, failed coops major parties coopted leaders and ideas Skilled workers/ few women and races Ideology of “pure and simple unionism” Goals: wages, hours, conditions, unions Methods: organize workers/no political parties but support friends of labor Success: largest union, good gov’t relations by WWI Failure: limited membership Knights of Labor v. AFL

  5. Strikes and Conflicts Haymarket Riot (1886) • Demise of Knights of Labor • Homestead steel mills (1892) • lockout and Pinkertons • Pullman Boycott (1894) • Pullman Palace Car company • Debs and ARU boycott • AFL refuses to aid ARU • Significance: These strikes indicate the profound depths of class conflict in the industrial age and helped encourage Americans to confront this problem. • Unions and Strike Today? • Grocery stores and Wal Mart

  6. Anarchism • In popular literature, this event inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist."

  7. Anarchist: Alexander Berkman Berkman Tries To Kill Henry Clay Frick in Homestead Steel Strike

  8. Anarchist: Leon Czolgosz Inspired by Emma Goldman, the young anarchist shot and killed President William McKinley in Buffalo, NY in 1901.

  9. Haymarket [1886]

  10. James Green, Univ. of Massachusetts • Ph.D., History, Yale University • Professor, History and Labor Studies • Professor Green has been teaching undergraduate courses in history and labor studies since he joined the faculty in 1977. • He created the Labor Studies Program in 1981 and served as the first director of the Labor Resource Center in 1995.

  11. Death in the Haymarket • As Green thoroughly documents, the bloody Haymarket riot of May 4, 1886, changed the history of American labor and created a panic among Americans about (often foreign-born) "radicals and reformers" and union activists. • The Haymarket demonstration, to protest police brutality during labor unrest in Chicago, remained peaceful until police moved in, whereupon a bomb was thrown by an individual never positively identified, killing seven policemen and wounding 60 others.

  12. Haymarket 1886 • The Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886 in Chicago began as a rally which became violent and was followed by internationally publicized legal proceedings. • An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they marched to disperse a public meeting in support of striking workers. • The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and an unknown number of civilians.

  13. Punishment • Eight anarchists were tried for murder. • Four were put to death and one committed suicide in prison.

  14. May Day 1886 • The Haymarket affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers

  15. The Monument • The site of the incident was designated as a Chicago Landmark on March 25, 1992. • The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument in nearby Forest Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1997.

  16. Haymarket: 100 Years Later • Utah Phillips speaking at Waldheim Cemetery, Forest Park (outside Chicago) in May 1986 during ceremonies commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Haymarket affair.

  17. Samuel Gompersof the AFL

  18. American Federation of Laborers (AFL) • Founded by Samuel Gompers • Rejected the AFL’s idea of one labor union for everyone, instead was an association of essentially autonomous craft unions and represented mainly skilled workers. • Generally hostile to organizing unskilled workers • FL against women in the workforce all together because they felt women should be at home, but they did seek equal pay for those women who did work and sought women organizers for industries predominated by women. • Philosophy: Accept capitalism, but secure for the workers a greater share of capitalism’s material rewards. Objected fundamental economic reform, government protection of workers. Focused instead on Labor/Management relationships. Better Wages, hours, and working conditions through collective bargaining, but will use strikes if necessary.

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