a ek Syed e Workers Do?” By ony Ne:Number of Words: 2287 PHOTOGRAPHY CRE! Cover © The Granger Collection, New York. 1 © The Granger Collection, New York. 2 © Bettmann/CORBIS/MAGMA. 4 © Mary Evans Picture Library. 6 © Bettmann/CORBIS/MAGMA. 8 © CORBIS/MAGMA. 9 © CORBIS/ MAGMA. 10 © Bettr n/CORBIS/MAGMA. 11 © Courtesy of Chicago Historical Society, Negative # 1CH1-16061. 13 © The Granger Collection, New York. 15 © CORBIS/MAGMA. Back Cover © The Granger Collection, New York. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Houghton Mifflin Company unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to School Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116. Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN: 0-618-482210 123456789 VH 111009 08 07 06 05 04“What Shall Workers Do?” LNA ay HOUGHTON MIFFLIN BOSTONThe Labor Movement Begins The ideas that led to the labor movement began to take root in colonial America. The movement started in the artisan trades. Artisans are workers with special skills, such as tailors, blacksmiths, and shoemakers. ‘The earliest strike was in 1768 in New York. A strike is when workers stop working to try to force a change of some kind. In this case, tailors stopped working to protest lowered wages. ‘The first trade union in America was formed in Philadelphia in 1794 by shoemakers. A trade union is when workers come together for a common goal that is important to them all. A trade union may be formed to improve working conditions or fight for better wages. A shoemaker at his trade, 1895 2Unions and Reformers The early labor movement was based upon the idea of a just society. It got its strength from values such as social equality and respect for honest work. Its success and failure depended on how people in society felt about those values. During the 1800s, big businesses were owned by a small number of people. They had many people working for them. ‘This was in direct conflict with the labor movement. Early labor leaders thought there were two distinct social classes: the rich and the poor. They felt many of the rich were taking advantage of the poor. People who wanted equal rights for workers began a series of reform movements — actions by groups to bring about change. ‘These movements started with the workingmen’s parties of the 1830s. They continued through the nineteenth century. ‘Trade unions and the Knights of Labor both helped the working class, but in different ways. Trade unions worked on what the workers needed now. They worked on higher wages and shorter hours. The Knights of Labor worked on /ong-term reform of labor laws, extending into the future. Both groups operated separately until the 1880s. By then, the industrial revolution had changed everything.The Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was not a war between nations, like the American Revolution. It was, however, a period of great change in American society in the 1800s. These changes began because of new technologies for making things. This changed the way people lived and worked. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people lived in the country or small towns. They worked on farms or had small businesses that supported the farmers and other people in the towns. After the Industrial Revolution, most people lived and worked in the city. They worked in factories or other big businesses. Early 1800s textile factory 4The Industrial Revolution began in Britain with three new inventions: * The steam engine used coal to make energy. * Machines for spinning thread and weaving cloth were powered by steam engines rather than water. * Coal-burning furnaces turned iron ore into metals. The Industrial Revolution in Britain helped to bring about an Industrial Revolution in the United States during the mid- 1800s. The first American factory was built in 1814 for the Boston Manufacturing Company. The company was a large cloth mill with spinning and weaving machinery. More than three hundred people worked there. They were mostly young women from nearby farms. New Fuel, New Systems Soon canals opened in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Cheap coal became available throughout the northeast. By 1854, about half of the iron made in the U.S. was being made with coal-fired furnaces. The new supplies of coal and iron allowed Americans to make more machines. To make firearms, farm equipment, and sewing machines, Americans began using mechanization. That means using machines to make parts. The parts are then put together in a proper order.After the Civil War, companies built railroad and telegraph systems in the North. They rebuilt them in the South and expanded them to the West. With new industries, the availability of coal, and the railroad and telegraph systems, America was ready for an era of rapid growth. Labor and Social Change The Industrial Revolution in America brought about other changes. American industry offered lots of jobs. Millions of immigrants came to America seeking a better life. Most immigrants were laborers who went to work in the factories, on the loading docks, or in the warehouses. Shelter for immigrants, New York City, 1888 6Following the Civil War, many of the freed slaves moved to the cities to find work. Some of them were skilled in the trades. But because they were African American, they could only find work as laborers. That set the stage for the trade union and labor reform movements. In 1866 the National Labor Union was formed to protect the rights of workers. The Knights of Labor was formed the same year to bring about labor reform. Rich and Poor America may have been a land of opportunity, but some people had more opportunity than others. The period of the Industrial Revolution also became known as became known as the Gilded Age. Some people became very rich. They built fortunes from creating or buying whole industries. Many of them are names we know today: * Andrew Carnegie built Carnegie Steel. He also owned coal mines and railroads. * John D. Rockefeller owned Standard Oil. * Cornelius and William Vanderbilt owned the railroads. ¢ J. Pierpont Morgan set up trusts and provided loans for these industrialists. These men employed laborers from the working class. ‘They continued to grow richer. Some of them were called Robber Barons.Boys working in the Bibb cotton mill, Georgia, 1909 Meanwhile, the working class grew poorer. The industrialists controlled the jobs. Workers had no rights. They worked long hours for low wages. Often they worked in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Many people were earning just enough to barely survive. Whole families had to work. Even small children worked in factories. The Panic of 1873 After years of booming business, the bubble burst in 1873. A bank that had financed a failed railroad collapsed. Investors in the stock market panicked. They sold their stocks. More banks failed. Businesses went bankrupt. Jobs disappeared. The country entered the worst depression it had ever had. 8Homelessness and hunger spread. Twenty-five percent of New York’s workers were thrown out of work. On January 13, 1874, thousands of workers protested. They demanded government jobs. The police attacked them. ‘The Labor Movement Gets Busy Now more than ever, laborers needed help. The Knights of Labor had been working for labor reform since 1866. The National Labor Union had been tending to workers’ immediate needs. But now their situation was desperate. The supply of jobs was low. The demand for jobs was high. With few jobs and lots of workers, wages were lower than ever. Working conditions were terrible. Workers had to work twelve hours a day with few breaks. There was often no heat or not enough light. It was time for the labor movement to ask itself seriously, “What shall workers do?” The Knights of Labor began organizing strikes. They organized Miners on strike in Colorado, 1880workers by industry. The trade unions demanded that they stop. Strikes were their job. They wanted the Knights of Labor to work on labor reform and leave strikes to the unions. Instead, the Knights of Labor joined the National Labor Union. In December of 1886, they formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL would work toward workers’ rights of fair pay and decent working conditions. Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers was the first president of the AFL. He led the labor union for almost forty years. Gompers was a cigar maker by trade. He was a skilled organizer. He believed that strong labor unions would make industry more humane and protect workers. He believed they would create opportunities for workers to get an education and improve their lives. Gompers helped to organize the Federation of Organized ‘Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (FOTLU) in 1881. This was an annual meeting of national unions and local labor councils. It worked to educate the public on working class issues. It Samuel Gompers 10planned labor laws and sent people to the U.S. Congress to try to get laws passed. Gompers was an officer of the FOTLU from 1881 to 1886. He worked for laws requiring school attendance and the reform of child labor laws. He fought for the eight-hour workday. He dedicated his life to the working class. Labor Conflicts Samuel Gompers, and many others like him, fought for the rights of workers. In the mid-1880s, the economy was improving. But the number of strikes soared. There were 1,500 strikes in 1886. Over half a million workers went on strike. The number of strikes continued through the 1890s. Over half of all strikers were in the construction, garment, or coal industries. Wages, work rules, working hours, and forming unions were the most important reasons for the strikes. (Chicago Historical Society, CHi 16061. http://www. chicagohs.org). Strikers and police clash, 1886. llHowever, many strikes were not started by unions. About ten percent of strikes were sympathy strikes in which one group of workers was supporting another. Employers wanted to defeat strikers. They asked the government for help. State troops were called out almost five hundred times between 1875 and 1910. The troops would crush the strikes. Some strikes ended in tragedy. The Molly Maguires ‘The Molly Maguires were miners in the coal region of Pennsylvania. They organized a union during the 1860s and 1870s. These miners were mostly Irish. The union was called the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association. They were known as the Molly Maguires, after a group of Irish tenant farmers who fought their landlords. Conditions in the mines were very dangerous. The mines did not have enough fresh air. In 1869, 179 men died in a fire in the Avondale mine. In Schuylkill County, over seven years, 566 miners were killed in the mines and 1,665 were crippled. In 1875 the miners went on strike. It was known as The Long Strike of 1875. It was the first important strike in the coal region. But the miners were defeated. The strike leaders who surrendered to the companies were not allowed to go back to work. After the strike ended, wages were cut again and again. After the strike, belonging to a trade union was a crime that would result in jail time. 12The Molly Maguires meet during a Pennsylvania strike, 1874. The angry Irish miners continued with their fight for labor rights even after losing the strike in 1875. Violence flared between the miners and mine owners, with each side killing members of the other. Nineteen members of the Molly Maguires were convicted of murder. Ten were hanged. None of the mine bosses was ever charged with a crime. The Haymarket Tragedy On May 3, 1886, in Chicago, Illinois, the company bosses at the McCormick Reaper Works sent police to attack striking workers. The workers planned a rally for the next day to protest. 13The May 4 rally began at 8:30 p.m. at Haymarket Square. It should have ended at 10:00 p.m. But 176 policemen came and ordered everyone to leave. Suddenly a bomb exploded. Chaos followed. Shots were fired. The bomb killed one officer. Six more officers died later. Sixty others were injured, most of them by their own bullets. No one knew how many workers died or were injured. Friends or relatives carried them off immediately. The bomb thrower was never identified. Thirty-one labor leaders and social activists were arrested after the riot. Eight were held for trial. The court said that their speeches about labor rights had caused the riot. Four were hanged. One killed himself in jail. The Homestead Strike of 1892 ‘The Homestead Strike took place at the Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The price of steel had started to decline. Carnegie could not make as much money selling the same amount of steel. Yet he wanted to keep making as much money as before. He also wanted to destroy the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. It was one of the strongest craft unions in the country. Carnegie’s foreman slashed wages and tried to do away with the union. The union accepted the wage cuts. But they would not accept doing away with their union. The plant foreman locked out 1,100 workers. This was a mistake. Even though only 14750 of the 3,800 workers at the plant were union, 3,000 of them voted to strike. ~ The foreman hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency as a private army to break the strike. They came up the Monongahela River on barges before dawn. Someone saw them and warned the townspeople, who were on the side of the workers. The workers and townspeople ran to the river. The crowd told the Pinkertons not to step off the barge. The Pinkertons did. The two groups fought for fourteen hours. After the Pinkertons surrendered, three detectives and nine workers were dead. The governor of Pennsylvania ordered the state militia A large steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania, 1907 into Homestead. They took over the plant. Strikebreakers arrived on locked trains and took over the jobs. Four months after the strike, the workers had no money left. They went back to work in the plant. None of the strike leaders were allowed to return to work. 15Into the Twentieth Century The labor movement would fight on to win some victories after the turn of the century. Laws were passed limiting the number of hours women could work to eight hours per day. Other laws made it illegal for children under twelve to work in factories. But perhaps the greatest help to the labor movement were antitrust laws that were created between 1890 and 1915. ‘These laws said that one person or one company could not own or control an entire industry. The government forced the big companies to break into smaller companies. Then the smaller companies had to be sold to other buyers. This led to competition among the smaller companies. Once industries were not controlled by just one person, companies had to compete for labor. This gave labor unions more bargaining power. Unfortunately, the laws were often not enforced. In 1914 World War I began. The focus of labor shifted to the war effort. Samuel Gompers would continue to lead the charge for workers’ rights until 1924. Then, with the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Labor Movement revived again. The workers of the twentieth century owed a great debt to Gompers and the other labor pioneers of the late nineteenth century. They were the ones who first answered the question “What shall workers do?” 16Responding Think About What You Have Read EB What caused the panic of 1873 and what happened because of it? Who were the Molly Maguires? Why did they go on strike? Ef How did antitrust laws help the labor movement? BB Do you think striking is an effective way to bring about change in working conditions? Why or why not? Activity Many children had to work in factories in the 1800s. Use this reader, the library, and the Internet to research what it was like for these children. Write about the conditions they had to work under.Transforming the Nation oa HOUGHTON MIFFLIN