American History 102: 1865 to the Present
Stanley K. Schultz, Professor of History
William P. Tishler, Producer
Shane Hamilton, Web Editor

Lecture 07
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Labor and the Workers' Search for Power

The dynamic industrialization and urbanization of the nineteenth century redefined the American workplace. Mechanization, a "deskilling" of the workforce, and the emergence of mass production techniques resulted in a changed status of labor, and also required a new mode of worker-management relations. Labor organizations, which had been relatively insignificant before the Civil War, established themselves as a major voice in American political discussions in the late nineteenth century.

It is no accident that labor organizations and the growth of big business occured simultaneously. In fact, there was a sympathetic relationship between the two. Between 1865-1900 labor organizing took place in response to the industrialization of the United States, just as the rise of the corporation occurred in response to changes in the economy brought about by industrialization. Big business justified the growth of their trusts as a necessary response to the growth of these labor organizations.

Labor organizations before the Civil War
The first attempts to organize labor occurred during the early 19th century (1820s-30s). In the major cities (New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc.) local labor unions organized to influence politics through "Workingmen's Parties."

The organizations were city-based and brought together men who had little experience dealing with the complexity of city life. Most had migrated to the cities from rural areas. In general, members had little experience with the kind of labor they now undertook in the cities. Moreover, in the organization, they tended to follow middle- and upper-class leaders, not laborers themselves. These leaders sought to organize labor, not for labor's benefit, but to use labor as a tool to reform society.

The vast majority of these laborers were skilled laborers who still believed they were important and valued in society. They did not feel alienated either socially or economically. Labor organization at this time was not fomented by feelings of oppression; laborers did not see themselves as a disadvantaged class with limited opportunity for improvement or advancement. There was no strong class-consciousness among laborers as would be the case after the Civil War.

Labor organizations after the Civil War

The industrialization of the American economy significantly affected the status of the laborer. The greatest need in the new economy was for unskilled labor, not skilled craftsmen. Beginning in the 1870s, skilled labor became a much smaller part of the overall labor force.

Two factors related to the changing status of labor:

  1. Industrialization -- standardized, mechanized mass production develops. These changes in the industrial economy resulted in changes in the types of skills laborers were required to have. A "de-skilling" of the labor force began to take place.
  2. Urbanization of the American economy. Cities, with their factories and night life, attracted many rural Americans in search of work and opportunity. Cities dramatically increased in size in the first few decades after the Civil War.

Sources of Labor in Industrial America
During the 1870s and 1880s a migration from rural farms to the urban factories began to occur. The workforce became increasingly composed of women and children. Most women were young, single and between the ages 18 to 24. Before the development of factory machinery, children as young as five became the first human assembly lines. By 1910, 25 percent of all American children were employed full-time in the nation's factories.

Urban Working-Class Work Day
A commonly-held and long-standing belief in American society is that hard work is good for the soul. (See:Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick) In the 1830s-40s textile mill workers averaged 16-18 hours per day. By 1865, the average workday was reduced to 11-12 hours per day. The early 1880s saw a movement to reduce the workday to 10 hours, and in a few cities (such as Chicago) there was agitation for the now standard 8 hour day. A few businessmen and managers agreed with such reforms, however most continued to believe that workers benefitted morally from the longer work day.

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

  1. High wages hurt profits: needed profits to open more factories, hire more workers.
  2. Moral reasons: kept the working class from wasting their money on booze, gambling, prostitutes

As a result, the bulk of the urban American population in 1890 was living below the subsistence level of income. Average annual wages for a family of four in 1890 was $380. Subsistence level estimated at by the 1890 Census Bureau was $530.

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

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:

American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.)
(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 U.S. 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:

Labor unions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries 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 it is continued in the next lecture: Foreign Immigrants in Industrial America.

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