Unions in America after 1850
What you need to know
• Who is Karl Marx and
what are his ideas?
• What is the process of the
Marxist Revolution?
Terms:
• Communist Manifesto
• Class Conflict
• Bourgeoisie
• Means of Production
• Proletariat
• Dictatorship of the
Proletariat
• Socialism
• Marxist/Socialist/Commu
nist/Anarchist
• What is a union and what
is its purpose?
• How did owners respond
to Unions?
Terms:
• Management
• Labor
• Lockout
• Blacklist
• Strike Breaker
• Collective Bargaining
• Knights of Labor
• American Federation of
Labor
Karl Marx
• Political and economic philosopher
• Founder of Communism
• Saw history through Class Conflict
His ideas:
• Society has two Classes
• Rich = Bourgeoisie= Owners of Factories,
Businesses, Lawyers, Doctors, Merchants
• Poor = Proletariat= Workers
• Both groups fight each other for resources
• Marx- wrote his ideas in his book:
• The Communist Manifesto (1848) Europe
• He thought up
a new system
that could
make life better
for the majority
of people- the
workers.
Karl Marx and Socialism
The opposite of Capitalism:
• He said powerful owners of factories or
businesses (bourgeoisie) oppressed and
exploited the weak (proletariat)
• Marx saw the problems of the Industrial
Revolution and said that the rich
(Capitalists), Bourgeoisie or factory
owners, didn't care about the workers, and
squeezed their lives away by making them
work long hours and paying them as little as
possible.
According to Karl Marx
• The system of Capitalism is bad
• All parts of society (political, economic,
social, and religious) are controlled by the
rich, or Bourgeoisie.
• They own the Means of Production or the
things that are needed to create wealth:
land, factories, businesses, etc.
Marx’s Vision of the Future
• Eventually the workers (Proletariat) will get
tired of being mistreated and abused by the factory
owners and rich (Bourgeoisie) and fight for a
change in the system.
• The Proletariat will rise up violently and take
over society in revolution.
• The Proletariat will create a new system where
society will have no classes and all people will be
equal.
• “Each person will give according to their
ability and each person will receive according
to their need.”
Process of the Marxist Revolution
Marx says that the proletariat will take over and
abolish private property= the government will
redistribute the wealth to all people fairly.
• First the proletariat will:
1. Take power from the bourgeoisie.
2. Take all $, land, and resources from the
bourgeoisie.
3. Control everything through a government of the
Proletariat (workers).
4. After society is recreated the Government will
disappear and life will be beautiful for all.
Each person will have food, clothing, shelter, and
work, and the things they need.
Marxist Sayings
Capitalism is “the exploitation of the
many by the few.”
• “Proletarians of the world have nothing
to lose but their chains.”
• “Workers of the world unite!”
• “Government will wither away.”
• “Religion is the opiate of the people.”
What are the Pros and Cons to
Communism?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Positive
People are guaranteed
Jobs
Place to live
Basic food and
Basic necessities
Life should improve for the
very poor
Education will be more
widespread
Working conditions will
improve
•
•
•
•
Negative
All communist
governments have
limited freedom
Work incentives are
not available
Technology does not
develop
Economies are not
efficient
Why did Communism not take
over in the US?
• Unions
• Government change with the Progressive
movement
• Later Government will intervene in the
economy during the Depression.
Union: organization of workers
• Labor- is the term used to refer to workers.
• Gradually workers get together and form groups
that try to change the conditions for the workers in
an industry.
• Collective Bargaining: workers unite to negotiate
with owners and pressure owners/ bosses to make
conditions better for workers
• Strike: once a factory or industry is organized into
a Union, they negotiate for the interest of the
worker, if the owners don’t get negotiate, then the
workers stop work in an effort to force the owner
to give in to their demands.
Factory Owners (Management) resist changes.
• Use intimidation to dissuade workers from
joining unions, like firing union leaders, beating
up union leaders, killing union leaders,
• Lockout: closing a factory before unions can be
established, refuse to let union workers work in
factories
• Blacklist: a list of pro=union workers is shared
with business owners
• Strike Breakers- people who will work for pay
no matter the conditions, people who beat up
striking workers
Two Early National Unions
• Knights of Labor
• American Federation of Labor
Knights of Labor and AF of L
Knights of Labor(1868-1893)
• Open to all labor
• Terence V. Powderly, leader
• Wanted:
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–
•
•
•
•
•
•
8 hour work day
Abolish Child Labor
Higher pay
Equal pay for women
Cooperatives-workers control
1886- 750,000 members
Wanted to negotiate for better
working conditions
Powderly did not want strikes- only
as last resort
Some Knights did strike- loses
membership due to violent strikes
Lost members to craft unions
Disintegrates due to Depression of
1893
American Federation of Labor
• Craft Union- skilled workers
• Founded by Gompers
• Begins exclusive to white males no
blacks
• Union benefits:
– Illness pay
– Funeral expenses
– Jobless benefits
•
•
•
•
•
1892 500,000 members
Many socialists
Called for 8 hour work day
Survives through the Depression of
1893
By World War I (1914) 2 million
members
Great Railroad Strike 1877
• Baltimore and Ohio RR
–
–
–
–
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Owners tried to cut wages 10%
Sparked walkout
Over 1 month 10,000 workers on strike
Violence occursGovernment represses strikes and calls militia
dozens are killed
– Millions of dollars of equipment are destroyed
Homestead Strike 1892
• Pennsylvania, Carnegie Steel vs.
• Amalgamated Iron and Steel Tin Workers (AFL
Union)
• Carnegie wanted to Break the Union- Henry Frick
was his manager
• When the contract date was up Frick cut wages
• Built stockade around the factory
• Workers went on strike in June
• Frick hired a private army to fight the strikersafter a battle the National Guard was brought in
and strikebreakers did the work.
Results of Homestead
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•
•
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Workers lost 25% of work force
Increased work day
Cut wages 25%
The Union was broken
Haymarket Riot 1886
• Watch the movie
Eugene V. Debs
• 1894 Railway Union organizer
• Then American Socialist Agitator
• "I was to be baptized in socialism in the roar of conflict.... In
the gleam of every bayonet and the flash of every rifle the
class struggle was revealed."
• "Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and
plunder.... And that is war, in a nutshell. The master class has
always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought
the battles."
• "We [propose] to destroy the capitalist & save the man. We
want a system in which the worker shall get what he produces
& the capitalist shall produce what he gets."
Pullman Strike 1894
• Pullman produced rail cars for sleeping
• Very popular Palace Cars made rail travel more
comfortable
• Factory was located in a “Company Town”
• Where the owner owned the town, the homes, the
stores… and rented to workers.
• Took rent and bills for groceries out of pay
• Pullman also dictated behavior of the workers
living in his town, workers resented the
“Paternalistic Treatment”
Pullman 2
• When the economy went down wages were
reduced
• In May, Workers complained and created a
list of Grievances and the leaders were fired
• Workers voted to strike
• The American Railway Union of Eugene
Debs decided to support the strike
• Rail traffic was stopped
Pullman 3
• Pullman asked for help from the Federal
Government
• Attorney General Olney (former railroad attorney)
obtained an injunction, legal order to stop the
strike.
• President Cleveland sent Federal troops to end the
strike
• 26 other states experienced violence
• Strike ended in July when Debs and the leaders
were arrested
Union Slogans
• Live better, Work Union!
• A good union man is a good citizen.
• “Every piece of progressive social legislation
passed by Congress in the 20th century bears a
union label.”
George Meany
• The history of America has been largely
created by the deeds of its working people and
their organizations.
• “Those who would destroy or further
limit the rights of organized labor-those
who cripple collective bargaining or
prevent organization of the unorganizeddo a disservice to the cause of
democracy.”
President John F. Kennedy
• “We want a better America, an America that
will give its citizens, first of all, a higher and
higher standard of living so that no child will
cry for food in the midst of plenty.”
Sidney Hillman
• The role of a labor union is to ensure that the
balance is not tipped in favor of the employer
Labor Slogans
• It is time that all Americans realized that
the place of labor is side by side with the
businessman and with the farmer, and
not one-degree lower.
President Harry S. Truman
Labor Slogans
• If there is no struggle, there can be no
progress.
Frederick Douglas
• “Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his
country; a strikebreaker is a traitor to his
God, his country, his wife, his family and
his class.”
Labor Slogans
• “A single employee is helpless in dealing
with an employer; … a union is essential to
give laborers an opportunity to deal with
their employer.
• Trade unions have done more for humanity
than any other organization that ever
existed.
Labor Slogan
• If I were a worker in a factory, the first
thing I would do would be to join a union.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The history of the labor movements needs
to be taught in every school in this land.
• An injury to one is the concern of all.
Terence Powderly
• Every advance in this half-century-Social
Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to
education, one after another-came with the
support and leadership of American Labor.
President Jimmy Carter, 1980
Labor Slogans
• Where trade unions are most firmly
organized, there are the rights of the
people most respected.
Samuel Gompers
• The first thing a dictator does is abolish
the free press. Next he abolishes the right
of labor to go on strike.
Labor Slogans
• What does labor want? We want more
schoolhouses and less jails, more books
and less arsenals, more learning and less
vice, more constant work and less crime,
more leisure and less greed, more justice
and less revenge.
Samuel Gompers