1 14.4 Workers of the Nation Unite 1865-1900 Part 2 – Impact of Industrialization.

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14.4 Workers of the Nation Unite

1865-1900

Part 2 – Impact of Industrialization

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Context• The Age of Monopolies, Trusts,

and Big Labor

• Industrialization radically transformed the condition of American working people, but workers failed to develop effective labor organizations to match the corporate forms of business.

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Experience• What do you think of unions?

• Have you ever signed a petition?

• Do you work now?

– Do you think you are treated fairly?

– Do you want to change your working conditions?

– How would your boss/employer respond?

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Impact of Industrialization

• Urbanization

• Long Work Hours and Dangerous Jobs

• Children work too

• Women’s roles change– Delayed marriages– Smaller families

• Accentuated class division– 1900: 1/10 of US owns 9/10 of US’s wealth– 1900: 2/3 of Americans are “wage slaves”

• Workers’ lives increasingly precarious

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Women telephone workers, Roanoke, VirginiaAs this telephone office in Roanoke, Virginia, reveals, women office employees usually worked under the direct supervision of male managers. (Library of Congress)

Women telephone workers, Roanoke, Virginia

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Child worker, glass factory

Child labor was common in the factories of 19th century America. (Library of Congress)

Child worker, glass factory


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Children in textile millsMuch of the new southern textile industry was based on child labor. These children were photographed by Lewis Hines in 1908. (National Archives/ Lewis Hines)

Children in textile mills


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1. Changes in the national economy in late-nineteenth century America resulted in

a. A lower standard of living for most

b. A decline in agriculture relative to manufacturing

c. No significant changes in marriage patterns or family life.

d. Sharper class distinctions

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Rise of Big Labor

• Increasing economic change social & economic disruption in workers’ lives

• Big Business doesn’t fight fair

– Pools wealth to hire lawyers & scabs

– “lockouts,” “yellow dog contracts,” blacklists”

– “company towns”

• National Labor Union – 1866

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PREAMBLE AND DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR

TO THE PUBLIC:

The alarming development and aggressiveness of great capitalists and corporations, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses.

It is imperative, if we desire to enjoy the full blessings of life, that a check be placed upon unjust accumulation, and the power for evil of aggregated wealth.

This much-desired object can be accomplished only by the united efforts of those who obey the divine injunction, "In the sweat of they face shalt thou eat bread."

Therefore we have formed the Order of Knights of Labor, for the purpose of organizing and directing the power of the industrial masses, not as a political party, for it is more - … But no one shall, however, be compelled to vote with the majority, and calling upon all who believe in securing "the greatest good to the greatest number," to join and assist us, we declare to the world that are our aims are:

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Knights of LaborCollective effort needed to counter trusts

• Founded as a secret society in 1869. Why?• Led by Terence Powderly, Irish, utopian• Inclusive and Diverse:

– men and women– white and black– skilled and unskilled

• Broad (utopian? Socialist?) goals• HURT by Haymarket Square riot, 1886, Chicago

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Knights of LaborBlack delegate Frank J. Farrell introduces Terence V. Powderly, head of the Knights of Labor, at the organization's 1886 convention. The Knights were unusual in accepting both black and female workers. (Library of Congress)

Knights of Labor


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Management and LaborThis cartoon, from Puck, April 7, 1886, shows Terence Powderly, in the center, advocating the position of the Knights of Labor on arbitration. The Knights urged that labor and management (identified here as "capital") should settle their differences this way, rather than by striking. Note how the cartoonist has depicted labor and management as of equal size, and given both of them a large weapon; management's club is labeled "monopoly" and labor's hammer is called "strikes." In fact, labor and management were rarely equally matched when it came to labor disputes in the late nineteenth century. (Puck, April 7, 1886)

Management and Labor


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American Federation of Labor

• Skilled workers split from Knights of Labor 1886

• AF of L was elitist, narrow in goals – not utopian

• Led by Samuel Gompers used collective bargaining

• Avoided politics and focused on union goals:

– Better wages

– Eight-hour day

– Better working conditions

• AF of L successful in many of its strikes and in meeting many of its goals

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1. The Knights of Labor were weakened by

a. Its refusal to endorse social reform and the 8 hour day

b. Stiff competition from the National Labor Union

c. Its association in the public mind with the Haymarket riot

d. Its inclusion of both skilled and unskilled workers

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AF of LABORKNIGHTS OF LABOR

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SOCIALISM AND THE IWW

• Eugene V. Debs founds American Railway Union and opens it to all laborers

• Debs embraces socialism –belief that government should control business and wealth should be equally distributed

• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) AKA Wobblies, organized by Debs for unskilled workers, socialist goals.

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Key Players in the Labor Movement

Mother Jones and Pres. Calvin Coolidge-helped reform Child Labor

Eugene V. Debs- Socialist, leader of Pullman Strike, later leads IWW (Intl. Workers of the World) http

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AF of LABOR

KNIGHTS OF LABORIWW

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STRIKES

HOMESTEAD STRIKE

1892

HAYMARKET AFFAIR

1886PULLMAN STRIKE

1893

GREAT STRIKE OF 1877

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STRIKES

HOMESTEAD STRIKE

1892

STEEL STRIKEProtest work

& living conditions

Pinkerton Detectives

protect scabs,Several deaths

US troops end it

WEAKENS LABOR

HAYMARKET AFFAIR

1886

Labor marchBomb thrown

Several deaths

8 Anarchists arrested

4 hanged, 1 suicide

PUBLIC TURNS AGAINST

LABOR

PULLMAN STRIKE1893

Pullman Comp. cuts wages

during Panic of 1893

Does not raise after ends

Workers strike

US troops end it

Debs arrestedWorkers

BlacklistedLABOR WEAK

GREAT STRIKE OF 1877

Railroad strikeParalyzed rail & commerce

Pres. Hayes Sent US troops

to end it

CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT

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Railroad strike of 1877This engraving depicts striking railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, as they stop a freight train on July 17, 1877, in the opening days of the great railway strike of that year. Engravings such as this, which show the strikers to be heavily armed, may or may not have been accurate depictions of events. But the photography of that day could rarely capture live action, and the technology of the day could not reproduce photographs in newspapers, so the public's understanding of events such as the 1877 strike was formed through artists' depictions. (Library of Congress)

Railroad strike of 1877


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The Baltimore Railroad Strike & Riot of 1877

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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• Compare and Contrast Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan

• Compare and Contrast the Labor Movement and the Populist Movement.

• What were the Populists’ goals and why did they fail?

• What were the causes and effects of industrialization?

1 14.4 Workers of the Nation Unite 1865-1900 Part 2 – Impact of Industrialization.

Documents

precarious slide

knights of labor

big labor industrialization

rise of big labor

glass factory child

slaves workers

effective labor organizations

telephone office