Labor in the Progressive Era

1. Labor in the Progressive Era after Haymarket Prepared by Tom Conry, Madison High School Portland, OR

2. Labor – three possibilities • Moderate – the American Federation of Labor, headed by Samuel Gompers, craft union • Socialists – Socialist Party headed by Eugene Debs, works through elections • Radicals – International Workers of the World, headed by “Big Bill” Haywood, wants direct action

3. American Federation of Labor (AFL)Samuel Gompers • Craft union • Mostly white men • More conservative • Wanted shorter hours, higher wages, better working conditions • What does labor want? "More“ • Change will come through collective bargaining

4. American Socialist PartyEugene Debs • Learned from failure of 1894 Pullman Strike • Formed political party, worked through elections • Diverse membership, many women • Wanted government ownership of big industry, vote for women, no child labor, right to strike • Change will come through elections

5. Industrial Workers of the WorldBig Bill Haywood et al. • "The Wobblies" • Industrial union, came out of Western mining strikes • Especially big in Oregon and Washington • Used strikes, boycotts, songs, and education • Rejected political parties and elections • Change will come through a general strike and the workers will take over

6. Joe Hill of the IWW (Wobblies) • Swedish immigrant (born Hillstrom) • IWW songwriter • Framed for murder and executed • "Don't mourn – organize!"

7. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of the IWWthe original Wobbly "Rebel Girl" • Joined the Wobblies at age 16 • Great public speaker • Helped to organize the 1912 Lawrence, Mass. "Bread and Roses" strike • A founder of the American Civil Liberties Union

8. What the Wobblies wanted • Against capitalism • Revolutionary union • “One big union” • Workers should own industries • Distrust of electoral politics • Work toward a national general strike

9. What will kill capitalism? Why is the caption in Italian?

10. Why was labor angry?

11. sweatshop working conditions

12. child labor

13. Supreme Court decisions against labor • Based on “liberty of contract” doctrine (14th and 5th Amendments) • Lochner v. New York (1905) states were not allowed to restrict work hours • Danbury Hatters case (1908) unions were not allowed to boycott • Before the Clayton Antitrust Act, striking was against the law

14. Three events revitalize labor • 1902 Anthracite strike (TR supports miners against capital) • 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire (sweatshop working conditions exposed) • 1912 Bread and Roses textile strike, Lawrence, Massachusetts (high point of the IWW)

15. The Great Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

16. King Coal • Used in furnaces for heating • Used in stoves for cooking • Powered the railroads • Powered factories • Used in power-generating stations

17. Anthracite operators led by George “Divine Right” Baer • Installed by J.P. Morgan as head of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad • Social Darwinist • Told TR there was "nothing to negotiate"

18. How "Divine Right" Baer got his nickname “The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of the country” [open letter to the press during the 1902 strike]

19. Workers’ demands • Eight-hour day • 10% raise • Owners must recognize and bargain with the union

20. What happened? • United Mine Workers president John Mitchell calls for arbitration (a presidential commission to settle the strike) • George “Divine Right” Baer refuses (and insults TR) • TR leans on J.P. Morgan to make Baer accept the commission

21. At the commission, Baer is disastrous • Insults TR • Gets bad press for the owners by declaring: “They don’t suffer; they can’t even speak English.” (Baer on the miners’ situation)

22. Public sentiment favors the miners

23. The result: miners win! • The commission accepts most of the union demands (but not union recognition) • TR becomes famous for the “square deal” • Establishes the principle of presidential intervention in important strikes and labor struggles

24. Why the Anthracite Strike of 1902 matters:previous presidents had sided with capital • Andrew Jackson in 1834 sent troops to break strike on the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal • War Department employees took over the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad during the Civil War • Rutherford B. Hayes sent troops to break the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 • Grover Cleveland used troops to break the Pullman Strike of 1894

25. Now TR was offering a “Square Deal” to both management and labor The "Square Deal" – Reforms increase Federal Power, ended Laissez Faire "Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."... "We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.""The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us." --New York State Fair, Syracuse September 7, 1903

26. 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

27. Reaction

28. The Disaster that Ended Tammany Hall • 146 dead, mostly young women • Most are Jewish or Italian Catholics • Doors were locked • People saw that machine politics were inadequate

29. 1912 Lawrence, MA"Bread and Roses" textile strike

30. Lawrence 1912 – what happened? • American Woolen Company speeded up production and reduced wages • Mostly women workers • Diverse immigrant workforce • IWW asked to organize strike

31. How the IWW organized • Set up democratic committee of 50 workers, all nationalities • Union supplied food and fuel for 50,000 workers • Governor declared martial law • IWW says: "Bayonets cannot weave cloth"

32. The Children's Exodus • Company tries to starve workers • IWW & Socialist Party sends children out of town to other workers • New law: no children can leave

33. How the strikers won • Elizabeth Gurley Flynn takes children out (against the law) • Police beat women and children in front of cameras • Police riot enrages public • American Woolen Company forced to raise wages

34. Bread and Roses (1912) strike song Lyrics James Oppenheim, 1912

35. As we go marching, marching in the beauty of the day,A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts grayAre touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, For the people hear us singing:"Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!" As we go marching, marching we battle too for men,For they are women's children and we mother them again.Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes.Hearts starve as well as bodies;give us bread but give us roses.

36. As we go marching, marching we battle too for men,For they are women's children and we mother them again.Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes.Hearts starve as well as bodies;give us bread but give us roses. As we go marching, marching unnumbered woman deadGo crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too!

37. As we go marching, marching we bring the greater days.The rising of the women means the rising of the race,No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposesBut a sharing of life's glories:Bread and roses! Bread and roses!