Posted: March 12th, 2023

Final Draft Revision from Draft 1

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Mucahid Emre Kahraman 1

“History of Labor and Work in the United States, 1880-1945”

Mucahid Emre Kahraman

Dr. Michael

Paper 1 Draft 1

37:575:202:95 History Labor & Work

January 30, 2023

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 2

The New Beginning

Introduction

The emergence of industrial enterprises made the late 1800s a difficult/hard period. The

personnel had to leave their previous working ways and adopt the new ones employed by these

machines, making their jobs more difficult. A big number of employees did not have the ability to

undergo formal education, this was because of most of them being immigrants and had been

enslaved hence living in extreme poverty. Employers viewed these circumstances as opportunities

to exploit employees without fear of retaliation. The working environment was dirty, harsh,

hazardous, and the employees were exposed to physical and mental harassment.

Employers, on the other hand, viewed this as a positive, especially considering that many

of their employees lacked formal education and were consequently obliged to work long hours for

low compensation. The only option for the employees to influence change was to band together

and attempt to hold the owners accountable1. This was done in order to build unions that would

advocate for workers who were poorly compensated and worked in dangerous conditions. Unions

helped the power of workers to demand what they believed they were entitled to.

Notable unions created by employees.

People were compelled to perform strenuous labor, which resulted in an average of 675

fatal work-related accidents per week. Frequently, workers toiled in industries with inadequate

ventilation, dirty air, and poor lighting. After recognizing they shared a common goal, workers

formed unions to improve their working conditions and their rights. As a response, “The Knights

of Labor” and other local unions were formed to exert pressure on employers to demand improved

1 “Prof. Michael Industrial Capitalism and Workers in the Gilded Age (Part 1) History of Labor and Work 2022.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CHP2ItXLU8LmEgcVzHWzyiWi1702t1Zq/view”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CHP2ItXLU8LmEgcVzHWzyiWi1702t1Zq/view

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 3

working conditions, less hours, and more pay. On shorter days, however, the labor knights were

more productive.

Numerous strikes were held to indicate to employers that they were serious and committed

to fighting for their cause. For instance, “they desired to emulate such programs in Louisiana,

beginning with the sugarcane fields.” The Knights were prepared to call a strike if the plantation

owners would not improve wages and pay with legal currency. The workers went on strike because

of the farmers’ refusal. The Knights did not fear the potential repercussions of attempting to attack

and protect what they believed in. Also in most instances, the owners retaliated against the strikes

by dispatching the state militia, and the situation eventually turned violent2. However, this did not

prevent the Knights from standing up for what they truly believed in; rather, new unions emerged

and began cooperating.

They realized that they had a common goal and that the only way for their situations to

improve and for them to be heard was if they worked together. To confront owners and make their

opinions known, a number of unions decided to establish coalitions. Workers engaged in a 8-hour

strike to gain attention, fighting for what they believed they were owed despite the fact that their

employers did not take their concerns seriously. It was an opportunity for employees to

acknowledge that they deserved better, especially in a job where their lives were at risk. Due to

their low pay, workers faced a greater danger of death, which was not even worth it. Workers were

able to achieve their main objective of improving their work because they earned it by helping to

build a union.

2 “Clark Christopher and American Social History Project. 2007. Who Built America? : Working People and the
Nation’s History. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.”

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 4

Against the opposition of the Labor movement

The Haymarket Affair, which had such a profound effect on people, protestors, and police

officers, must be considered one of the largest strikes in history. It all began with the murder of

McCormick, an unarmed demonstrator who, according to other protesters, had committed no

wrongdoing3. It’s hardly surprising that police officers were insensitive toward an unarmed

individual because the same thing still occurs today. Whether McCormick was guilty, he did not

deserve to be executed in such a manner. Samuel Fielden observed, “The police had given no

charity to the unarmed workers they shot and killed at McCormick’s, therefore they deserved no

sympathy in return”.

Fielden counseled demonstrators to employ disproportionate force when required and to

feel no remorse for doing so. They should be able to protect themselves with force, just as the

police did. When 176 police officers suddenly emerged on the demonstrator’s street, however,

everything changed. The employers paid their employees meager wages because they desired to

keep a high income. Even if it meant causing another individual anguish, it resulted in greater

prosperity for them.

The bomb was on the ground for a little time before exploding violently, causing damage

to neighbor structures and alarming the authorities4. When one of the strikers chose to fire at the

police, everyone in the vicinity was put in a precarious situation. Obviously, police officers would

not allow behavior like this to go unpunished, so they open fire, harming anyone in the vicinity.

This catastrophe altered everything in America, and many people wanted the execution of those

3 “Ibid. Prologue: from the civil war to the great uprising of labor. Part one Monopoly and Upheaval 1877-1914.”
4 “Supra n1”

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 5

guilty for the slaughter or what we would call mass murder. The incident allowed the authorities

to depict all labor activists as violent and opposed to the concept of working together.

Resistance from employers and intervention by Government officials

The administration took advantage of this to attempt to portray the demonstrators as

criminals. People came to link the labor movement with violence and consequently lost interest in

it. From this point forward, everything changed drastically. Samuel Gompers, president of the

American Federation of Labor (AFL), encouraged group bargaining to develop legal agreements

between employees and employers. Instead of engaging in radical politics, he helped competent

people organize and negotiate for better benefits, pay, and working conditions. The AFL was

willing to go on strike in support of what they believed workers should receive and was dedicated

to seeing the situation through to the end. We desire both theoretical and actual equality before the

law.

Gompers’ argument that wages workers should be treated identically to all other

individuals, particularly the wealthy, illustrates the social class division and wage workers’

continuous mistreatment. It is crazy that there is such a high demand for long-hours wage workers

who cannot even support for their family. Due to poor wages, working men and women are unable

to live the lifestyles they desire. “Shall be sufficient to enable him to support his family to maintain

and enhance human dignity, physical and mental health”5.

Gompers was aware that the salaries obtained by working men were insufficient to sustain

their physical health, let alone their families. Families were unable to live comfortably because of

these low-paying employment instead, they were imprisoned in poverty and unable to escape. It

5 “Clark Christopher and American Social History Project. 2007. Who Built America? : Working People and the
Nation’s History. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. Community and conflict: Working people respond to
industrial capitalism 1877-1893”

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 6

served as a constant reminder that employers were unjustifiable, as they earned vast sums of money

and were unconcerned about running out of money, while their employees suffered the majority

of the workload and endured undesirable working circumstances. They continued to pay these

employees less because they did not wish to increase their compensation, but it had no impact.

When employees protested, the government did not appreciate it because it gave the

impression that they were horrible people who were willing to protest and cause disruptions.

Therefore, they would favor company initiatives to restrict employees power to advocate for

themselves. Gompers only intended that all individuals be treated equally without regard to their

social station. His conviction ultimately affected the development of collective bargaining

procedures and labor-management contracts that are still in effect today.

The Labor movements

Since they were affiliated with local trade, the bulk of unions dealt primarily with

individual commerce. In the 1880s, there were 35 distinct unions in the industrial hub of

Cincinnati6. The majority of the union members were skilled construction workers and

manufacturers of modest consumer items. With “the Knights of Labor” standing out, they

mobilized an unexpectedly large number of people and accomplished commendable results. The

Knights of Labor pushed the broad concept of the “great uprising of labor,” which challenged the

population and led to widespread strikes.

After the North’s triumph in the Civil War, the American economy began a period of

unprecedented growth and development. The predominantly agrarian South was not missed by the

expanding industry like the North. However, northern businesspeople would travel to the south’s

coal mines and textile factories. However, there was a strike against the system of labor allocation

6 “Ibid. Progress and poverty: Industrial Capitalism in the Gilded age 1877-1893.”

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 7

and the pay for the supplied task. Depending on the individual assignment, the working community

needs additional privileges.

Conclusion

Conclusion: a few significant influences can be attributed to events that transpired during

the nineteenth century7. Industrial companies mistreated their employees by failing to provide a

safe environment and failing to pay them what was owed to them. Workers organized unions and

went on strike to protest what they perceived to be unjust. Which was influential because it

revealed the protestors willingness to go to any lengths to be heard. The only way to be heard was

for everyone to unify and cease striving to change the situation on their own, as this was

ineffective/useless.

7 “Griffing Brenda 2018.The Power of Protest:A visual History of the moments that changed the world.
https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5494856.”

https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5494856

Mucahid Emre Kahraman 8

Work Cited

Clark Christopher and American Social History Project. 2007. Who Built America? : Working

People and the Nation’s History. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.

Griffing Brenda 2018.The Power of Protest:A visual History of the moments that changed the

world.https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5494856.

Prof. Michael Industrial Capitalism and Workers in the Gilded Age (Part 1) History of Labor and Work

2022. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CHP2ItXLU8LmEgcVzHWzyiWi1702t1Zq/view

https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5494856

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CHP2ItXLU8LmEgcVzHWzyiWi1702t1Zq/view

Industrial Capitalism and Workers in the Gilded Age (Part 1)
History of Labor and Work 202
Prof. Michael

How much power
do you have at work?

Can you control…
your wages?
your hours?
your working conditions?

If no, why not? If yes, why so?

Social Class in the 2010s
The economist Michael Zweig argues that social class relates to the structure of power relations under capitalism. According to Zweig, in 2010:

63% of workers in the U.S. are in the working class (96.8 million out of 152.7 million working people): they do not have much control over the conditions of their work.

36% of workers in the U.S. are middle class (55.9 million people): small business owners, supervisors and managers, and professionals who have more flexibility and control of their work.

Only 1% are in the capitalist class, who own large business and industries, amass the most profits, and wield significant economic power and control in the U.S. economy and society.

Slavery and Freedom
After centuries of activism by abolitionists, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the military defeat of the South in the American Civil War (1861-1865) ended slavery in the U.S., freeing nearly 4 million people.
While the “Presidential Reconstruction” policies of President Andrew Johnson would have maintained intact much of the political, economic, and racial system of the antebellum South, the Radical Republicans in congress enacted “Radical Reconstruction” over Johnson’s veto.

Frederick Douglass and The North Star abolitionist newspaper, 1840s-1850s

4

Radical Reconstruction

Reconstruction, 1865-1877, held the promise and possibility of creating citizenship, rights, and democracy in the post-Civil War South.
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 established new state governments in the South and institutions to assist African Americans.
The 13th Amendment of the Constitution formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude (1865).
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to African Americans and anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. (1868).
The 15th Amendment extended black male suffrage to the entire nation (1870).
According to historian Eric Foner, Reconstruction “was a remarkable, unprecedented effort to build an interracial democracy on the ashes of slavery.”

Freedmen voting in New Orleans, 1867

The End of Reconstruction

Reconstruction was violently resisted by many whites in the south, including by the first Ku Klux Klan and the Southern elite.

Violence and efforts to limit the black vote allowed white supremacist governments to regain control of the Southern states.

In the midst of the Panic of 1873, the political will of Northern voters to pursue Reconstruction waned.

The “Compromise” election of 1876 hastened the end of Reconstruction, when Republican nominee Rutherford B. Hayes took office in return for pulling federal troops from the South.

Rural Republicanism
For Thomas Jefferson and many other Americans, self-sufficient freeholding small farmers were the bedrock of the new nation in the late 1700s and early 1800s, because they exercised both political and economic independence. Specifically, white male heads of households enjoyed these liberties.
Both the North and the South were primarily agricultural, with 80 percent of Northerners still living in rural areas in the 1840s.

Artisan Republicanism
As the 1800s progressed, more people worked in manufacturing, especially in Northern cities and towns.
Traditional urban artisans owned their own tools and shop. Apprentices studied and learned the trade, and would one day become independent businesspeople.
Even as an increasing number of manufacturing workers became wage laborers, artisan republican ideals remained.

Industrialization
Industrialization in the 1860s-1890s witnessed major economic transformations, including the growth of large corporations like the railroads.
Coal and steam power allowed for industrial growth to concentrate in large cities, where they had better access to railroads and consumer markets. The urban working class population grew rapidly from 1860 to 1900.
More sophisticated and expensive technologies limited the ability of independent artisan producers to compete in capital-intensive industries. Thus, “capitalists” became the dominant force in the economy.
In 1860, half of workers were self-employed and the other half depended on wages from an employer. By 1900, two-thirds depended on wages.
There were few regulations to manage this new economic system, yielding boom and bust cycles. For example, the financial “Panic of 1873” lasted for five years with massive unemployment, underemployment, and lower earnings for workers.
Industrial job growth drew people to the U.S. Ten million immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 1860 and 1890 with 5.25 million arriving in the 1880s alone. The population of the United States was 31M in 33 states and 10 organized territories (included 4M enslaved people). The  population of the United States was 63M in 1890.

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“The Great Uprising” of 1877
After the railroad companies demanded wage reductions, railroad workers throughout much of the U.S. went on strike.
Many other workers joined the strike to protest the miserable conditions of the ongoing economic panic and the unchecked corporate power of the railroads.

“The Great Uprising” of 1877
The uprising ended due to the economic and political power of railroads. State militias and federal troops forced an end to the strike.
The uprising demonstrated that the U.S. was not immune from class conflict, or from other divisions…

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848)

E. Capiro, Marx and Engels in the Printing House of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung at the Time of the 1848-1849 Revolution (1895)
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.
In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank. In ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations.
The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.
Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.

Divisions in the Industrial Working Class
Examples of ethnic division by occupation:
Irish men: plumbers, carpenters, and bricklayers
German men: furniture making, brewing, baking
England, Welsh, and Scots men: skilled machinists, metal workers, and miners
Examples of division by gender, race, age, and skill:
New immigrants, African Americans, poor women, and children held service and domestic jobs
Income inequality by race, gender, and skill:
Men often paid 50% more than women (women shut out of many jobs done by men)
White workers paid much more than African American, Mexican American, and Chinese Americans
Skilled workers often paid more than double unskilled workers. Locomotive engineer annual earnings in 1880: $800; textile worker annual earnings in 1880: $350.

Commonalities Across the Industrial Working Class
60+ hour workweeks
Physical concentration of workers in large factories
Little job security
Pay cuts
Forced to buy tools
Company stores and housing
Few labor protections

The Labor Question
How would the nation confront the disparities between democracy’s promise of independence and the realities of wage labor? Put more simply, how much freedom would workers have in determining their own lives on and off the job?
How could workers unite to achieve economic independence or political equality in the face of divisions of class, race, ethnicity, and gender?

Women attempting to vote, 1872

Los Angeles Chinese Massacre, 1871

The Knights of Labor
The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor was founded in Philadelphia in 1869 as a secret society to protect its members from employer blacklists.
Under the leadership of Terence Powderly, the Knights abandoned their secrecy and grew massively in the 1870s and 1880s.
Unlike craft unions, the Knights sought to unite workers across skill, ethnic, racial, and (eventually) gender lines, adopting the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all.”

The Knights of Labor
“Individually, workingmen are weak, and, when separated, each one follows a different course, without accomplishing anything for himself or his fellow man; but when combined in one common bond of brotherhood, they become as the cable, each strand of which, though weak and insignificant enough in itself, is assisted and strengthened by being joined with others, and the work that one could not perform alone is easily accomplished by a combination of strands.”
– Terence Powderly, Grand Master Workman, Knights of Labor

Portrait of Terence Powderly

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Republicanism and Producerism
The Knights of Labor linked republicanism (government determined by the people) and producerism (production determined by the workers).
Both of these ideologies had deep roots going back centuries.
They believed that workers, farmers, and honest manufacturers-–those that produced wealth—could save America from corporate domination.
The Knights excluded “non-producers”: bankers, speculators, lawyers, and liquor dealers.

“A Union For All”
The Knights of Labor was genuinely more egalitarian than most of the unions that preceded it.
It welcomed African American workers, unskilled workers, most recent immigrant workers, eventually women workers, and even “fair minded” employers.
Though Powderly did not favor strikes, many local assemblies of Knights held successful strikes.

Internal Issues and Contradictions
While the Knights welcomed African American members, most local assemblies remained segregated.
Despite welcoming most immigrants, the Knights shunned Chinese workers and argued in favor of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The Knights waffled on equal pay for women and were at first resistant to women’s membership. Terence Powderly finally agreed to allow women members after Mary Stirling of the Philadelphia “lady shoemakers” protested at the 1881 convention.

What Was At Stake?
The Knights of Labor had between 700,000 and 1,000,000 members by 1886 in 15,000 local assemblies.
Despite its internal issues and contradictions, the massive growth of the Knights of Labor—including its popularity among African American and immigrant workers—sparked widespread fear among employers.

Louisiana Sugar Cane Workers, ca. 1880

The Haymarket, Chicago May 4, 1886

The Haymarket Police Monument, Chicago

Haymarket Anarchists Memorial Posters

The Global Legacy of Haymarket: May Day

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History of Labor and Work in the United States, 1880-1945

Paper Assignment 1

TOPIC: The economy and labor market of the United States underwent massive changes in the
late 1800s. In the industrial north, a growing number of men, women, and children of different
racial, ethnic, and occupational backgrounds became wage laborers. In the agricultural south,
many formerly enslaved workers also became wage laborers working for wealthy landowners
and employers. One of the major issues in this time period was the conflict between these
workers and their employers, the struggle between labor and capital. What were some of the
social and economic conditions that enabled workers to, at times, unite with one another to
pursue common goals? What were some of the major unions and/or political organizations
formed by workers to improve their jobs in the late 1800s? How did employers resist these
efforts, and in what ways did government officials sometimes intervene to assist them against
workers?

NOTE: Although the above topic directs students to think about how changes in the economy
and labor market impacted workers in the north and the south, please consider limiting your
discussion of the south. Due to many factors, union activity was substantially limited in the
south. (Note here that “Union Leagues” are better categorized as political organizations, and not
as unions.) As such, it is advisable to omit, or substantially limit, discussion of the south in your
paper.

INSTRUCTIONS: Write a research paper of 5-6 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12-point
Times New Roman (or Times) font, and with 1-inch margins on all sides, that addresses the
questions posed above. You are not limited to 5-6 pages. Be sure to base your claims on the
assigned readings, documents, and other materials covered in class during the first few weeks of
the semester. Your paper should not mention every possible example from these materials, but
adequately analyze and discuss the examples you choose. Moreover, it is strongly recommended
that you focus your research efforts on chapters 1-3 of the textbook. Only use the other assigned
readings and/or materials, if at all, as ancillary support after thoroughly investigating chapters 1-
3 of the textbook. Your paper should follow standard grammar, punctuation, and citation
methods. Please use Chicago Manual of Style (author-date format) for citations. The course site
contains guidance on citations.

Also please note that this assignment is not a “5-paragraph essay,” but a research paper. Please
use a paper structure and paragraph breaks as you might ordinarily find them in standard reading
material, such as books, newspapers, or magazines.

DUE DATES: Please check the syllabus for due dates. The first draft of your paper will be used
for an in-class peer review exercise. The second draft will be reviewed by the professor or a
writing instructor. The third draft will be graded. You must complete all drafts to receive full
credit for this assignment.