Labor Unions & Big Business

* Identify each of the following events or people. Give an explanation or description of the item. Answer the questions who, what, where, and when.
* Explain the historical significance of each item in the space provided. Establish the historical context in which the item exists. Establish the item as the result of or as the cause of other factors existing in the society under study. Answer this question: What were the political, social, economic, and/or cultural consequences of this item?


The Knights of Labor

a. Identification - It was a labor union, and the only broad based labor organization that survived the depression. It was founded in the 1860's in Philadelphia by garment cutters.

b. Significance - The knights of labor welcomed women, African-Americans, immigrants and unskilled and semi-skilled workers, and was the only broad-based labor organization to survive the depression. It was created because of the anxiety over the loss of independence and the desire for better wages, hours, and working conditions. They wanted in the future for every man to be his own employer. The consequences were that violence began to break out, and when Powderly denounced radicalism and violence smaller militant craft unions left and the number of members dwindled.

The Haymarket riot

a. Identification - The haymarket riot was when labor groups rallied at Haymarket square, near downtown Chicago, to protest police brutality. When police showed up a bomb went off near them and 7 were killed, 67 injured. This happened in May of 1886.

b. Significance - The significance of the Haymarket riot was that it drew attention to the discontent of laborers and revived the middle-class fear of radicalism. This riot was a result of all the growing tension between labor unions and the companies who were forcing them to work under such horrible conditions. The result of the haymarket riot was that the anarchists created a sense of crisis and forced a military base to be made at Fort Sheridan. Police forces were also strengthened.

The American Federation of Labor

a. Identification - The AFL Emerged from the upheavals of these acts in 1886 as the major workers association. It was an alliance of national craft unions and had about 140,000 skilled laborers that started in America.

b. Significance - The AFL pressed for concrete goals such as higher wages, shorter hours, and the right to bargain collectively. They only fought for immediate objects that could be obtained within a few years, and unlike the Knights of Labor they accepted Industrialism, but had little interest in employing unskilled workers.

Samuel Gompers

a. Identification - He was an opportunistic immigrant who headed the Cigar Makers Union, and he lead the American Federation of Labor.

b. Significance - Gompers led the AFL to increase its members all the way up to 1 million by 1901 and 2.5 million by 1917. Gompers dictum was to support labors freinds and oppose labors enemies regardless of their party.

The Homestead strike

a. Identification - The homestead strike was when the AFL affiliated Almagamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers went on strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania.

b. Significance - The significance of the strike was that it stirred public fears of labor violence, and showed that the public would not stand by the violence of these strikes because public opinion was a against this strike due to the fact that an attempt on Henry Frick's life was made.

The Pullman strike

a. Identification - The Pullman strike was when in 1894 the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company walked out in protest over exploitative policies at the company town in Chicago.

b. Significance - The strike was a result of Pullman exploiting the people by decreasing wages by 25 to 40 percent while keeping the rent and prices in the town the same. The workers joined the American Railway association, and they refused to use Pullman cars for they railways. Pullman did not give in, and the strikers were forced to go back to work after Grover Cleveland sent troops to Chicago due to Richard Olney obtaining a court injunction because the strikers were holding up the railways.

Eugene V. Debs

a. Identification - He was the leader of the American Railway Union who helped the strikers in the Pullman strike. He was sent to jail in 1894 and served six months for defying the court injunction.

b. Significance - The significance was that him being jailed showed the government would not tolerate these strikes. It also showed that the federal government had the power to remove obstacles to interstate commerce. He was helping with the Pullman strike because they were a part of his union. The result was that the government could jail union leaders under the grounds that they were holding up interstate commerce.

The Industrial Workers of the World

a. Identification - The IWW was a labor organization created by the miners in Colorado in 1905. It strove, like the the Knights of Labor to unify all laborers, including the unskilled who were excluded from the craft unions.

b. Significance - This organization was a result of the bitter strikes held by the Colorado miners in the West. The IWW led a series of strikes in 1905, of which their anti capitalist goals and aggressive tactics gave them great publicity. This Unions members never exceeded 150,000 people, and the organization faded after many of its leaders were sent to jail due to federal prosecution.