Organized_Labor

During the 19th century, America began to witness a Second Industrial Revolution, which included a new factory system. Many Americans worked in factories where their wages were held at the mercy of their sometimes cruel employer. Unlike times before the Civil War, the factory was depersonalized with the employer caring not for the worker or his family. As big businesses such as the railroad industry were monopolized, the worker began to suffer from long work days and non-livable wages. As an individual, the worker alone could not effectively protest industry, but he found strength and comfort in the labor union. Between the years of 1875 and 1900, although organized labor was slightly successful in improving the positions of workers by holding strikes, they were continuously bombarded by public and middle class opposition and no effective help from government intervention, making their success only minimal. In 1877, multiple railroad companies decided to decrease the employee’s wage by 10 percent, sparking the first national strike. Although The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 strike failed, it demonstrated the potential strength of workers and the strength of organization, and indicated the determination of the workers and the support they could receive from the communities (Doc. B). Despite being established in the 1870s, the Knights of Labor only reached over a million members after a series of successful strikes in the early 1880s. Consequently, as the unions such as the Knights of Labor began to become better organized in the 1880s, a steady increase in the wages of industrial workers was noticed (Doc A). As the labor unions gained strength in numbers, big business began to take precautionary measures when employing workers by including in their employee contract a section in which the worker swore off unions (Doc. E). Industry also hired agents from companies such as Pinkerton to keep their companies in line, but such methods led to violent upheavals, casting a negative public spotlight on labor unions. Despite the admirable intentions of labor unions, sometimes the strikes initially started to better working conditions, ended with the labor unions being frowned upon by society. A major scandal was the Haymarket Affair of 1886, in which labor disorders broke out and when the Chicago police came to settle them down, a bomb was thrown, killing and injuring several dozen people. One out of the eight anarchist accused was linked with the Knights of Labor, marking them as anarchist in the public mind and basically ruined the entire organization, forcing it to slowly dwindle away over the next decade. Afterwards, there was the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 at one of Andrew Carnegie’s steel plants, in which the Pinkerton Detective agency was called in. The strikers refused to give in and this labor dispute ended with ten people dead and sixty people ruined. This strike ended the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, as well as gave the entire nation the perception that unions are violent (Doc. G). Soon the middle class became annoyed by the strikes because they still believed in “survival of the fittest” and working your way to the top. The socialistic views were uncommon to them, making the labor unions views unpatriotic. Society would label the labor unions with many names, giving labor unions the appearance of indecision, which would ruin the nation (Doc. F). Many believed however, that the laborers were trying to ruin capitalism by replacing it with communism, which in their eyes just would not work (Doc. C). With such opposite views tensioning the society, many looked toward the government for help. After the Pullman Strike of 1894 which was constructed by the American Railway Union, in which so many people were on strike that 3400 special deputies had to be sworn in to keep the trains running, the federal government intervened. President Cleveland authorized federal troops to stop the strike due to the fact that they were slowing down federal mail, which is a federal offense. The court issued an injunction against the American Railway Union and against its leader Eugene V. Debs and in the court case In Re Debs the courts sided with big business (Doc. H). This would not be the first time government sided with big business and failed to help the working people. The government failed in enforcement of the Interstate Commerce Act. The government also failed in the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, which was suppose to reduce monopolies. In actuality, it curbed labor unions that would have been keen in restraining trade. With no one on their side it is actually surprising that organized labor even reached a little success between 1875 and 1900. With the government and public openly against labor unions, strikes seem to have been the only way for them to be effectively heard. The constant struggle was rewarded in higher wages for workers and was a predecessor for labor unions to be used in the future.