 NOTICE 

1.  NOTICE  • These slides are provided to augment the lectures presented in Dr. Hatley’s History 2493-US Since 1877 course. If you miss class, you should not assume that merely perusing these will provide you with sufficient information to do well on examinations.

2. The Labor Movement • Millions of immigrants could find employment. • Industrial work week: 1860—66 hours; 1910—55 hours. • Buying power and standard of living increased for most Americans. Prices dropped for all industrial and consumer goods.

3. The Labor Movement • Average real wage increases: • 1860—1890 50%; 1890—1914 37% • The downside of industrial work: • Poor heath and safety conditions • No employer liability

4. The Labor Movement • Widespread use of women and children • The new industrial age added monotony and mindless repetition • Consequently, labor tried to organize itself throughout the late Nineteenth Century

5. The Labor Movement • National Labor Union (1866) • (1) eight-hour workday • (2) workers’ cooperatives • Knights of Labor (1869) • (1) eight-hour workday • (2) workers’ cooperatives

6. The Labor Movement • (3) worker-owned factories • (4) free homesteads • (5) increased circulation of greenbacks • (6) equal pay for both sexes • (7) political activism

7. The Labor Movement • Under Terrence V. Powderly, membership in the K of L grew to 700,000 by 1886. Why ?

8. The Labor Movement • (1) Successful strikes against small railroads between 1882 and 1886 • (2) Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics; Foran Act (1885)

9. The Labor Movement • K of L began a fatal decline in 1886. Why? • (1) Cooperatives a financial failure • (2) Powderly preoccupied with political activism and combative and confrontational with management

10. The Labor Movement • (3) The Haymarket Affair (1886) • Workers at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Chicago, Illinois joined a nation-wide strike for the eight-hour workday (1 May 1886)

11. The Labor Movement • Some workers killed, others injured in clash with police at McCormick (3 May 1886)

12. The Labor Movement • Anarchists planned to hold a protest rally at Haymarket Square (4 May)

13. The Labor Movement • Johann Most (1846-1906)

14. The Labor Movement • Science of Revolutionary Warfare: A Handbook of Instruction Regarding the Use and Manufacture of Nitroglycerine, Dynamite, Gun-Cotton, Fulminating Mercury, Bombs, Arsons, Poisons, Etc., Etc. (New York, 1885)

15. The Labor Movement • Police arrived, someone threw a bomb, and police returned fire

16. The Labor Movement • Violence convinced many Americans that unions were criminal organizations

17. The Labor Movement • The American Federation of Labor (1886) • Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)

18. The Labor Movement • How did Gompers attempt to help the worker? • (1) catered to the skilled worker • (2) represented workers in matters of national legislation • (3) maintained a national strike fund

19. The Labor Movement • (4) Evangelized the cause of unionism • (5) prevented disputes among the many craft unions • (6) mediated disputes between management and labor • (7) closed shop

20. The Labor Movement • Great Railroad Strike (1877) • Immediate cause: wage cuts • Baltimore, Maryland and Martinsburg, West Virginia • walkouts and sympathy demonstrations spread • Pittsburgh militia; Philadelphia

21. The Labor Movement • Homestead Steel Strike (1892) • Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers

22. The Labor Movement • Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) • Pinkerton Detectives

23. The Labor Movement • Alexander Berkman (1870-1936)

24. The Labor Movement • The Pullman Strike (1894) • Pullman Palace Car Co. Pullman, IL. • George M. Pullman (1831-1897)

25. The Labor Movement • President Grover Cleveland (D) (1837-1908) (1885-1889) (1893-1897)

26. The Labor Movement • US Attorney General Richard Olney (1835-1917)

27. The Labor Movement • Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld (D) (1847-1902) (1893-1897)