HIST 2112 Lecture 7 Outline of Previous Lecture I The Current Time and Why II Industrialism the most important development in U S history after reconstruction III American Business Before 1870 IV The Benefits of Industrialism vs The Dark Side of Industrialism The Benefits The Dark Side V The Benefits of Industrialism vs The Dark Side of Industrialism VI Important Business Techniques Techniques Other Helpful Developments VII The Gilded Age late 1880 s 90s Outline of Current Lecture I Working Conditions in the U S Factories late 19th century II Unionization and Strikes Workers Resist Industrial Conditions III 1870s 1880s Knights of labor IV 1886 American Federation of Labor AFL More respectable V More Radical Unions often repressed by authorities VI 1892 Homestead Steel Strike Andrew Carnegie fights back Current Lecture I Working Conditions in the U S Factories late 19th century Dangerous 30 40 thousand people a year were dying from working o Sanitation bad The meat packaging industry would toss all the bad parts from the meat that they didn t want into this hole that led to the river where people got their water o Working hours The working hours were much were longer they typical hours for a shift was between 10 16 hours a day and usually a 6 day week Even the owners who were considered nice back then are not nice when compared to today s standards o Work Style regimented very controlled repetitive on the clock These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute II III Taylorism People would come in and analyze the company s production process And then they would come up with a series of moves for the employees so that all inefficiency was removed from the work place They tried to turn the employees into robots scientific management system for labor o Deskilling of labor the machines started making all the products and so the people with the skills are not needed anymore That means that the people are paid less and the people with the skills are alienated from the products of their labor o Wages the pay is awful it s not as bad as some of the factories in Europe Since there are so many people that need work then the wages go down even farther When a father of 4 kids and a wife had a full time job his family was usually still under the poverty line so his work and even his kids would have to work to support the family Unionization and Strikes Workers Resist Industrial Conditions Workers are unsatisfied with their working conditions and they are angry Some of the workers would be paid in scripts which was fake money that could only be used to buy things at the store that the mining company owned or pay rent on the housing that the company owned 1866 National Labor Union NLU o They were not very aggressive or radical o They wanted good solid skilled workers in their Union o They did thinks like have picnics or voter drives o Not very well known 1877 Great Railroad Strike o One day the workers found out their wages were cut 20 and the production line was sped up o The workers decided to go on strike o Transportation grinds to a halt because no one is working for them o Governors immediately called in the National Guard The owners of the railroad system were able to call in the military when they needed to get things started back up o There was a lot of violence the union workers were sometimes armed o President Hayes sent in the military to get the workers back to work 1870s 1880s Knights of labor Radical Goals increased wages fewer hours Had nearly a million union workers which was 10 of the working force Extremely progressive in terms of their membership o Females IV V o Unskilled o Colored people o Irish most hated of the white people The Eight Hour Movement 1886 o They wanted an 8 hours for work 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for what they will o Better pay for women Haymarket Square Riots summer 1886 Spells the end of the Knights o Big rally in Chicago o 80 000 people showed up for it o There was a scuffle between the police and workers and some of the workers were killed This causes some of the more hard core union workers to have another rally a few days later A bomb goes off and the police start shooting into the crowd of protesters o In this period Chicago looked at the Union protesters as radicals they did not like the Unions at all The leaders of the union were put on trial They were found guilty and executed o The owners would put spies into the Union meetings and then the spies would report back to the owners 1886 American Federation of Labor AFL More respectable Replaced the Knights AFL is more in the middle of the road o They would rather bargain than have workers go on strike Less exclusive so they preferred highly skilled workers and less radical people More Radical Unions often repressed by authorities United Mine Workers of America o Paid you in Scripts o Dangerous o The Ludlow Massacre 1914 There was trike and the company kicked them out of their homes so the people lived on the prairie The Colorado Militia was brought in to launch an attack on the tent city in the prairie The union people are armed with weapons so there was a battle and people died Union workers are even madder so there is even more fighting Industrial Workers of the World Wobblie o Very radical socialists communists anarchists etc o The believed society was a revolutionary situation o They believed in workers all over the world uniting VI 1892 Homestead Steel Strike Andrew Carnegie fights back Even Andrew was not above strike breaking o Nasty battle between his own workers and security
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