H102 Lecture 07: Labor and the Workers' Search for Power

Stanley K. Schultz, Professor of History
William P. Tishler, Producer

Lecture 07

Labor and the Workers' Search for Power

While business leaders like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller took advantage of corporations and trusts to increase their wealth and commercial power, mass production and mechanization threatened the economic independence of American workers. Before the Civil War, labor organization had been relatively insignificant. After 1865, however, more and more workers joined unions, went on strike, and challenged collectively the growing power of corporate capitalists in American society.

Some questions to keep in mind:

How did factory work change after the Civil War?

Why did so many workers decide to join unions at the end of the nineteenth century?

What were the differences between the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor? Why did the Knights collapse during the 1880s and 1890s? Why was the AFL so successful?

Labor organizations before the Civil War
The first attempts to organize disgruntled workers occurred earlier in the nineteenth century (during the 1820s and the 1830s). In major cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, laborers joined "Workingmen's Parties" to try and control municipal politics. For the most part, middle- and upper-class leaders, not laborers themselves, dominated these organizations and believed that workers had the power to reform society. Such organizations brought together men who had migrated to cities from rural towns and who often had little experience dealing with the complexities of city life and factory work. The vast majority of these men were skilled laborers who still believed they were important and valued in society. They did not feel alienated either socially or economically. Most did not view themselves as a disadvantaged class. Instead, their class-conscious would not emerge until after the Civil War.

Labor organizations after the Civil War

American industrialization undermined the status of skilled workers. Increased mechanization meant that owners had less and less need for highly trained artisans and craftspeople. As a result, beginning in the 1870s, skilled labor became an ever smaller part of the overall labor force.

North Chicago Rolling Mills at Bay View, Wisconsin, site of 1886 confrontation between militia and striking laborers

Two factors related to the changing status of labor:

Industrialization. As American factories mechanized, they no longer needed to employ skilled workers who had spent years learning their particular trade. Instead, they could hire unskilled laborers who performed simple tasks and worked for lower wages. As a result, American factory work became "deskilled" after the Civil War.
Urbanization of the American economy. Cities, with their factories and night life, attracted rural Americans in search of employment and opportunities. Cities dramatically increased in size in the first few decades after the Civil War.

Kimberly-Clark Co. paper mill in Niagara, Wisconsin

Sources of Labor in Industrial America
During the 1870s and 1880s, more and more rural Americans migrated from hinterland farms to urban factories. At the same time, women and children became an ever more significant part of the industrial workforce. Most women who worked in factories were young, single, and between the ages 18 to 24, while children as young as five became increasingly important cogs in industrial production. By 1910, in fact, 25 percent of all American children were employed full-time in the nation's factories.

Children and young people working in vegetable cannery

Finishing men's trousers at wages of two or three cents a pair in New York City

Urban Working-Class Work Day
Many Americans continue to believe that hard work is good for the soul. (See:Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick). During the 1830s and the 1840s, textile mill workers labored an average of 16 to 18 hours a day. By 1865, the length of the average workday was between 11 and 12 hours per day. Beginning in the early 1880s, workers demanded a reduction in the workday to 10 hours. In a few cities, such as Chicago, organized labor began agitating for the now-standard 8 hour day. Some factory owners agreed with such reforms. Most, however, continued to believe that workers benefited morally from the longer work day.

Wages
Employers believed that workers should not earn much more than a subsistence income. Why?

High wages hurt profits. Corporate capitalists believed that they needed profits to open more factories and to hire more workers.
Moral reasons. Owners believed that a subsistence wage prevented working people from wasting their money on alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes.

As a result, the bulk of the urban American population in 1890 was living below the subsistence-level of income. The average annual income for a family of four in 1890 was $380. That same year, however, the Census Bureau estimated that a subsistence income was $530.

Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)

Samuel Gompers
(1850-1924) English-born labor leader, whose Jewish parents came from the working class of Holland, was brought as a boy to New York, where at thirteen he joined the Cigarmakers' Union. He later became its president (1874-81), and took the lead in organizing the American Federation of Labor (1886), of which group he remained president (except in 1895) until his death.
Source: The Oxford Companion to American History. Oxford University Press, 1966

Allias Reliance Works under the protection of the State Militia during the first general labor strike in Milwaukee, May 4-11, 1886

Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was founded in 1869 as a secret order at a tailors' meeting called in Philadelphia by Uriah S. Stephens (1821-1882). By far the most important of the early labor groups, in 1879 under the leadership Terence V. Powderly it was organized as an industrial (vertical) union on a national basis under central control, with membership open to all workers.
Source: The Oxford Companion to American History. Oxford University Press, 1966

Important Points:

First significant national labor organization with local chapters in cities throughout the United States.
Membership open to any worker except lawyers, bankers, gamblers, and liquor dealers. Even management could to join.
African-Americans made up around ten percent of membership.
Sought to bring about reforms in working conditions and in society at-large.
The Knights of Labor "Tried to be all things to all people..." Perhaps this was the cause of its decline. It was too inclusive and its goals were too broad for the organization's resources.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)
(1886) founded by Samuel Gompers as a national organization of trade unions. By promoting independent and autonomous trade groups (a reorganization of the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada formed in 1881) it sought to compete with the centrally controlled unionism of the Knights of labor. In its efforts to improve the economic status of wage earners the A.F. of L. used strikes and boycotts to force collective bargaining.
Source: The Oxford Companion to American History, Oxford University Press, 1966

Important Points:

The AFL remained the largest union in the country until 1955 when it merged with the CIO
It became the "mainstream" voice of labor during much of this period. (In contrast to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) whcih was more radical and tried to organize unskilled laborers.) (see: IWW - Hoosier Slim's Wobbly Homepage)
The AFL stressed workplace issues: better wages, shorter work days and weeks, worker safety. It was less concerned with reforming society.
It did not permit unskilled laborers to join. This was a union of skilled craftsworkers.
Samuel Gompers was the first president of the AFL.

Cartoon predicts direct action of radical groups will bring about capitalism's demise

Labor unions were often unsympathetic to immigrants, even though immigrant labor formed the backbone of American industry in the period. Business leaders were quick to exploit the cheap, desperate labor of unskilled laborers unable to speak English; with little political or organizing power, the immigrants were easy prey for businessmen. The story of immigrants in America is, of course, a fascinating and important story; so important, in fact, that we'll take it up in our next lecture: Foreign Immigrants in Industrial America.

Lecture 07	*Related Web Links*
Content	Presentation	Audience	Link	Info
		College	The Dramas of Haymarket
		College	A Short History of American Labor
		College	The Illinois Labor History Society
		College	Samuel Gompers
		High School	Carol Simpson Productions Labor Cartoons
		High School	Wisconsin Labor History Online
		College	The Triangle Factory Fire

Skip Directly To Lecture:

|| 01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07 || 08 || 09 || 10 ||

|| 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20 ||

|| 21 || 22 || 23 || 24 || 25 || 26 || 27 || 28 || 29 || 30 ||

Home || Course || Guide || Bios || Photos || Exams || Calendar || Comments/Sign-in