The Growth of the American Labor Movement

1. The Growth of the American Labor Movement

2. Labor Force Distribution1870-1900

3. The Changing American Labor Force

4. Child Labor

5. Child Labor

6. “Galley Labor”

7. Conditions • Long hours • Less than $1.00 per week • Difficult, dangerous and unhealthy work • Heavy machinery • Could lose finger, arm or be scalped by machinery • Dusty, cold/hot respiratory conditions • Corporal punishment

8. Child Labor today?

9. Labor Video • Video start at 7:21

10. Political and Social Opposition • Workers who wanted to organize a union faced several major problems. • There were no laws giving workers the right to organize or requiring owners to negotiate. • Courts often ruled that strikes were conspiracies to stop trade and organizers could be fined or jailed.

11. Marxism • Unions also suffered from the perception that they threatened American institutions. • In the late 1800’s the ideas Karl Marx, called Marxism, had become very influential in Europe.

12. Marxism • Marx primary argument was that the basic force shaping capitalist society was the class struggle between workers and owners. • He believed that workers would eventually revolt, seize control of the factories, and overthrow the government. • Marx claimed that after the revolution, the government would seize all private property and create a socialist society where wealth was evenly divided. • Marx believed eventually the government would fade away leaving a Communist society where classes did not exist.

13. Marxist and Anarchist • Many labor supporters agreed with Marx, however others supported Anarchism. • Anarchists believe society does not need government. Some at the time believed that a few acts of violence could ignite a revolution to topple the government. • In the late 1800’s, anarchists assassinated government officials and set off bombs all across Europe hoping to trigger a revolution. • The tens of thousands of European immigrants brought these ideas with them to the United States.

14. Nativism or anti-immigrant feelings-was already strong in the United States. • People began to associate immigrant workers with revolution and anarchism, they became increasingly suspicious of unions. • These fears and the governments duty to maintain law and order led officials use courts, police and the army to break up strikes and unions.

15. Labor Unrest: 1870-1900

16. The Molly Maguires(1875) JamesMcParland

17. The Corporate “Bully-Boys”: PinkertonAgents

18. Management vs. Labor “Tools” of Management “Tools” of Labor • “scabs” • P. R. campaign • Pinkertons • lockout • blacklisting • yellow-dog contracts • court injunctions • open shop • boycotts • sympathy demonstrations • informational picketing • closed shops • organized strikes • “wildcat” strikes

19. A Striker Confronts a SCAB!

20. Knights of Labor Terence V. Powderly An injury to one is the concern of all!

21. Knights of Labor Knights of Labor trade card

22. Goals of the Knights of Labor • Eight-hour workday. • Workers’ cooperatives. • Worker-owned factories. • Abolition of child and prison labor. • Increased circulation of greenbacks. • Equal pay for men and women. • Safety codes in the workplace. • Prohibition of contract foreign labor. • Abolition of the National Bank.

23. Graphic Organizer on major labor strikes

24. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

25. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

26. The Tournament of Today: A Set-to Between Labor and Monopoly

27. Anarchists Meet on the Lake Front in 1886

28. Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

29. Haymarket Martyrs

30. Governor John Peter Altgeld

31. The American Federation of Labor: 1886 Samuel Gompers

32. How the AF of L Would Help the Workers • Catered to the skilled worker. • Represented workers in matters of national legislation. • Maintained a national strike fund. • Evangelized the cause of unionism. • Prevented disputes among the many craft unions. • Mediated disputes between management and labor. • Pushed for closed shops.

33. Homestead Steel Strike (1892) Homestead Steel Works The Amalgamated Association of Iron & Steel Workers

34. Big Corporate Profits!

35. Attempted Assassination! Henry Clay Frick Alexander Berkman

36. A “CompanyTown”: Pullman, IL

37. Pullman Cars A Pullman porter

38. The Pullman Strike of 1894

39. President Grover Cleveland If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered!

40. The Pullman Strike of 1894 Government by injunction!

41. The Socialists Eugene V. Debs

42. International Workers of the World (“Wobblies”)

43. “Big Bill” Haywood of theIWW • Violence was justified to overthrow capitalism.

44. I W W & the Internationale

45. The Hand That Will Rule the World One Big Union

46. Mother Jones: “The Miner’s Angel” • Mary Harris. • Organizer for theUnited MineWorkers. • Founded the SocialDemocratic Party in 1898. • One of the founding members of the I. W. W. in 1905.

47. Lawrence, MA Strike: 1912

48. The “Bread & Roses” Strike DEMANDS: • 15¢/hr. wage increase. • Double pay for overtime. • No discrimination against strikers. • An end to “speed-up” on the assembly line. • An end to discrimination againstforeign immigrant workers.

49. Lawrence, MA Strike: 1912

50. The “Formula” unions + violence + strikes + socialists + immigrants = anarchists