HIST 2112 Lecture 7Outline of Previous LectureI. The Current Time and WhyII. Industrialism – the most important development in U.S. history after reconstructionIII. American Business Before 1870IV. The Benefits of Industrialism vs. The Dark Side of Industrialism The Benefits The Dark SideV. The Benefits of Industrialism vs. The Dark Side of IndustrialismVI. Important Business Techniques Techniques Other Helpful DevelopmentsVII. The Gilded Age – late 1880’s-90sOutline of Current Lecture I. Working Conditions in the U.S. Factories (late 19th century)II. Unionization and Strikes – Workers Resist Industrial ConditionsIII. 1870s-1880s – Knights of laborIV. 1886-American Federation of Labor (AFL) More “respectable”V. More Radical Unions – often repressed by authoritiesVI. 1892 – Homestead Steel Strike: Andrew Carnegie fights backCurrent Lecture I. Working Conditions in the U.S. Factories (late 19th century) Dangerous- 30-40 thousand people a year were dying from workingo 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 watero 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 arenot nice when compared to today’s standardso 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. 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 laboro “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 familyII. 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 ownedor pay rent on the housing that the company owned 1866 – National Labor Union(NLU) o They were not very aggressive or radicalo They wanted good solid skilled workers in their Uniono They did thinks like have picnics or voter driveso Not very well known 1877 – Great Railroad Strikeo One day the workers found out their wages were cut 20% and the production line was sped upo The workers decided to go on strikeo Transportation grinds to a halt because no one is working for themo 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 upo There was a lot of violence, the union workers were sometimes armedo President Hayes sent in the military to get the workers back to workIII. 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 membershipo Femaleso Unskilledo Colored peopleo Irish (most hated of the white people) The Eight Hour Movement, 1886o They wanted an 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, and 8 hours for what they willo Better pay for women Haymarket Square Riots (summer 1886) Spells the end of the Knightso Big rally in Chicagoo 80,000 people showed up for ito 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 haveanother rally a few days later. A bomb goes off and the police start shooting into the crowd of protesterso 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 executedo The owners would put spies into the Union meetings and then the spies would report back to the ownersIV. 1886-American Federation of Labor (AFL) More “respectable” Replaced the Knights AFL is more in the middle of the roado They would rather bargain than have workers go on strike Less exclusive so they preferred highly skilled workers and less radical peopleV. More Radical Unions – often repressed by authorities United Mine Workers of America o Paid you in Scriptso Dangerouso 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 workersare 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 situationo They believed in workers all over the world unitingVI. 1892 – Homestead Steel Strike: Andrew Carnegie fights back Even Andrew was not above strike breakingo Nasty battle between his own workers and
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