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The Growth of the American Labor Movement. Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY. “From the Depths”. Labor Force Distribution 1870-1900. The Changing American Labor Force. Child Labor. Child Labor. “Galley Labor”. Labor Unrest: 1870-1900. The Molly Maguires (1875).
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The Growth of the American Labor Movement Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
The Molly Maguires(1875) JamesMcParland
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
Knights of Labor Terence V. Powderly An injury to one is the concern of all!
Knights of Labor Knights of Labor trade card
GOALS OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR: WORKERS AS OWNERS • It did not accept a permanent division between capital and labor. • Open to all those who “produced” – skilled and unskilled, men and women, blacks and whites, businessmen. Closed only to “parasites” such as gamblers, lawyers, stock speculators. • Eight-hour workday. • Workers’ cooperatives: Worker-owned factories. • Abolition of child and prison labor. • Increased circulation of greenbacks (paper money). • Equal pay for men and women. • Safety codes in the workplace. • Prohibition of contract foreign labor. • Prohibition (alcohol) • Ran own political candidates
When men know they are working on what belongs to them, they work with far greater eagerness and diligence. Nay, in a word, they learn to love the land cultivated by their own hands, whence they look not only for food but for some measure of abundance for themselves and their dependents. (#66) The oppressed workers, above all, ought to be liberated from the savagery of greedy men, who inordinately use human beings as things for gain. Assuredly, neither justice nor humanity can countenance the exaction of so much work that the spirit is dulled from excessive toil and that along with it the body sinks crushed from exhaustion. The working energy of a man, like his entire nature, is circumscribed by definite limits beyond which it cannot go. (#59) Cardinal James Gibbons, and Pope Leo XIII – Rerum Novarum
Workingmen's unions, for these virtually include all the rest. History attests what excellent results were brought about by the artificers' guilds of olden times. Such unions should be suited to the requirements of this our age - an age of wider education, of different habits, and of far more numerous requirements in daily life. It is gratifying to know that there are actually in existence not a few associations of this nature, consisting either of workmen alone, or of workmen and employers together, but it were greatly to be desired that they should become more numerous and more efficient. Rerum Novarum (cont.) It must not be supposed that the Church so concentrates her energies on caring for souls as to overlook things which pertain to mortal and earthly life. (#42)
The Tournament of Today: A Set-to Between Labor and Monopoly
Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
The American Federation of Labor: 1886 Samuel Gompers
AF of L Accepted division between capital and labor Focus on “bread and butter issues” • Catered to the skilled worker. • Focused on bread and butter issues: wages, hours, working conditions. • 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. Urged Collective bargaining but was willing to engage in boycotts and strikes. • Did not run its own candidates for political office. Instead, threw its support to candidates most friendly to labor. • Pushed for closed shops.
Homestead Steel Strike (1892) Homestead Steel Works The Amalgamated Association of Iron & Steel Workers
Attempted Assassination! Henry Clay Frick Alexander Berkman
A “CompanyTown”: Pullman, IL
Pullman Cars A Pullman porter
Eugene Debs attempted to organize all of the workers (skilled and unskilled) in the railway industry into his industrial union known as the American Railway Union. The workers at Pullman appealed to the ARU for support.
President Grover Cleveland If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered!
The Pullman Strike of 1894 Government by injunction!
The Socialists Eugene V. Debs
International Workers of the World (“Wobblies”) The IWW grew out of the Western Federation of Miners and favored the anarcho-syndicalist philosophy of direct action that could result in violence.
“Big Bill” Haywood, head of the IWW • Violence was justified to overthrow capitalism.
“PAINT ‘ER RED”Tune: “Marching through Georgia” Come with us you workingmen, and join the revel [merry] band – Come you discontented ones, and give a helping hand, We march against the parasite to drive him from the land, With One Big Industrial Union. Chorus: Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re going to paint ‘er red! Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead – We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread With One Big Industrial Union. We hate their rotten system more than any mortals do, Our aim is not to patch it up but build it up anew, And what we’ll have for government, when finally we’re through, Is One Big Industrial Union!
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.
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.
