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    Labormovement

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    The document discusses how 19th century working class Americans challenged unchecked industrial capitalism and social Darwinism through labor organizing and strikes. It describes how workers faced difficult and dangerous conditions with low wages, long hours, and lack of protections. Unions like the Knights of Labor and IWW advocated for workers' rights and an end to capitalism. The Homestead and Pullman strikes in the 1890s faced violent opposition from private security and state troops. Early reforms established regulatory agencies but labor laws remained difficult to achieve due to free market ideology, opposition from courts and government siding with businesses.

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    Labormovement

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    3K views18 pages
    The document discusses how 19th century working class Americans challenged unchecked industrial capitalism and social Darwinism through labor organizing and strikes. It describes how workers faced difficult and dangerous conditions with low wages, long hours, and lack of protections. Unions like the Knights of Labor and IWW advocated for workers' rights and an end to capitalism. The Homestead and Pullman strikes in the 1890s faced violent opposition from private security and state troops. Early reforms established regulatory agencies but labor laws remained difficult to achieve due to free market ideology, opposition from courts and government siding with businesses.

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    The document discusses how 19th century working class Americans challenged unchecked industrial capitalism and social Darwinism through labor organizing and strikes. It describes how workers faced difficult and dangerous conditions with low wages, long hours, and lack of protections. Unions like the Knights of Labor and IWW advocated for workers' rights and an end to capitalism. The Homestead and Pullman strikes in the 1890s faced violent opposition from private security and state troops. Early reforms established regulatory agencies but labor laws remained difficult to achieve due to free market ideology, opposition from courts and government siding with businesses.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    3K views18 pages

    Labormovement

    Uploaded by

    api-263038792
    The document discusses how 19th century working class Americans challenged unchecked industrial capitalism and social Darwinism through labor organizing and strikes. It describes how workers faced difficult and dangerous conditions with low wages, long hours, and lack of protections. Unions like the Knights of Labor and IWW advocated for workers' rights and an end to capitalism. The Homestead and Pullman strikes in the 1890s faced violent opposition from private security and state troops. Early reforms established regulatory agencies but labor laws remained difficult to achieve due to free market ideology, opposition from courts and government siding with businesses.

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    You are on page 1of 18

    Was the regulation of big business

    necessary?
    How did 19th century working class Americans
    challenge unchecked industrial capitalism and the
    notion of Social Darwinism?

    Sixteen Tons

    by Merle Travis 1946 (sung here by Johnny

    Cash)

    Some people say a man is made outta mud; A coal man's made outta muscle and blood.
    Muscle and blood, skin and bones; A mind that's weak and a back that's strong.
    You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt.
    St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store.
    Well, I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine. I picked up a shovel, Iwalked out to the mine.
    I loaded sixteen tons of Number 9 coal, An' the store boss said: "Well, bless my soul."
    You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt.
    St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store.
    Well, I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain. Fightin' an' trouble are my middle name.
    I was raised in the canebreak by an old mama lion, Can't no high-toned woman make me walk the
    line.
    You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt.
    St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store.
    Well, if you see me comin', better step aside. A lotta men didn't; a lotta men died.
    One fist of iron, the other of steel. If the right one don't get you, then the left one will.
    You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt.
    St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store.

    Case Study:
    A company town in
    Pullman, IL

    The Pullman Strike,1894

    Company controlled all the land, buildings,


    school, bank, water and gas system.
    Cut wages 25-40% without lowering prices,
    forcing many workers into debt (debt peonage)
    American Railway Union (ARU) supported the
    workers, refusing to handle any Pullman cars
    anywhere in the country
    Pullman refused arbitration and called on Pres.
    Cleveland to intervene
    Court injunction ignored by Debs and others
    jailed
    Cleveland ordered troops to Chicago to end
    strike/boycott

    The Homestead Strike, 1892


    AFL affiliated union of Iron and Steel
    Workers went on strike at Carnegie Steel
    Frick, president Lock out
    Hired 300 guards from the
    Pinkerton Detective Agency
    to protect the factory
    State troops intervened;
    union forced to give in 5
    months later

    Impact of Industrialization
    Concentration of Wealth (10% controlled 90% of wealth)
    Wages rose, but did not keep up with the cost of living
    all family members - incl. children - depended on to work
    (1890 - 11 mil of 12.5 mil workers earned less than
    $380/year; Rockefeller earned $60 billion
    Task to time oriented work often left many lacking a sense of
    accomplishment/fulfillment and less leverage in the workplace
    Dangerous and oppressive conditions in factories and mines low wages, long hours, unsafe conditions
    Unethical and monopolistic business practices such as price
    gouging, misuse of land grants and use of short haul/long haul
    practices by the RRs; scandals linked to gvt officials (ie. CreditMobilier)

    Industrial Warfare - Management Tactics

    Company towns
    Court injunctions
    Pinkerton Detective Agency
    Lockouts
    Hired scabs / strikebreakers
    Yellow dog contracts
    Blacklists
    Vast amounts of money influence the press,
    politicians, the public

    On-call Pinkertons in the


    1870s - the heavies

    Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

    Knights of Labor

    Industrial Union led by Terrence V.


    Powderly
    Inclusive of all industrial workers membership reached 730,000 by
    1886
    Reform-oriented - focus on economic
    and social reform, safety codes, the
    formation of working cooperatives
    Motto: Every man his own emploer

    NY Times ad.

    Weakened by the Haymarket Sq. Affair,


    1887
    8 anarchist men arrested for
    throwing a bomb into the Haymarket
    Square protest
    They were convicted with very little
    evidence and several were executed
    The association with anarchists,
    though they represented a small few of
    those present, weakened the reputation of
    the KoL.

    The deed to sentencing the Haymarket men was


    wrong, a miscarriage of justice. And the truth is that
    the great multitudes annually arrested are poor, the
    unfortunate, the young and the neglected. In short
    our penal system seems to recruit its victims from
    among those who are fighting an unequal fight in
    the struggle for existence.

    - IL governor John P. Atgeld

    Response from Chicago Tribune:


    The governor does not reason like an American,
    does not feel like one, and consequently does not
    behave like one.

    American Federation of Labor, f. 1886


    craft union - skilled workers
    only (3%)
    bread and butter unionism
    - fought for better wages,
    hours, conditions through
    collective bargaining and
    strikes
    advocated for the closed
    shop - all union labor

    International Workers of the World


    (IWW) aka Wobblies (1905)
    founded by socialists and radical trade unionists
    opposed to AFL policies (ie. Eugene V. Debs, Mother
    Jones, Big Bill Haywood
    Thought the problem was
    American capitalism/private
    ownership of big business
    Called for abolishing
    wage system; increased
    self management
    Turned to socialism

    Preamble to the Constitution of the


    International Workers of the World
    The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.
    There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among
    millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing
    class, have all the good things in life
    The trade (craft) unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of
    workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry,
    thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars
    Instead of the conservative motto A fair days wage for a fair days work,
    we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, Abolition of
    the wage system.
    It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism...By
    organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society
    within the shell of the old.

    Early State Reforms

    Munn v. Illinois (1877)


    State won right to regulate certain aspects of RR for
    public benefit
    BUT
    Wabash v. Illinois(1886) overturned Munn, ruling
    that only fed gvt can legislate interstate commerce

    Early Federal Reforms

    Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and


    ICC (Commission) 1st federal regulatory
    body to ensure fair practices

    Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) made


    trusts illegal b/c they interfere with free
    trade
    * Enforcement was difficult and,
    ironically, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
    was often used against labor unions

    Why was labor reform so difficult


    to achieve?
    Prevailing free market views hampered legislation
    Employers assertion of freedom of contract
    SC and fed gvt often sided with business interests
    Most labor laws were state laws that didnt apply
    to large interstate commerce
    Federal laws (ie. Sherman Anti-Trust Act) hard to
    enforce; often used against unions
    Public angered when strikes led to shortages
    Ongoing prejudice toward minorities and
    immigrants weakened the power of unions

    HOWEVER
    Though 1) management had
    disproportionate power and 2) wages
    did not rise significantly by 1900,
    management was more apt to think
    twice before making wage cuts, etc.
    the early reforms showed that more
    people were realizing that the public
    needed protection from the practices of
    powerful big businesses.

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