September 8 Late 19th Century Labor, Strikes, and Immigration – Quick Review

$1866$ : William Silvis led the first attempt to organize a truly national union; the NLU emphasized the $8$ -hour day for industrial workers.
$1871$ : Founded the National Labor Reform Party; poor showing in the election of $1872$ weakened the NLU; collapsed during the Panic of $1873$ .

$1869$ : Uriah Stephens founded the noble and holy order of the Knights of Labor; a secret fraternal order with elaborate rituals; recruited both skilled and unskilled workers.
Goals: $8$ -hour day; equal pay for men and women; passage of an income tax; issuance of paper money; prohibition; abolition of the national banking system.
$1879$ : Terrence Powderly became Grand Master Workman; membership $9,000$ in $1879$ ; $40,000$ by $1882$ .
Peak and decline: membership rose to $700,000$ in the late $1880s$ , but declined to $100,000$ by $1890$ ; Powderly retired in $1892$ ; near collapse thereafter.
Strategy: discouraged strikes; some strikes in the mid- to late $1880s$ aided gains (e.g., 1884 strike against Union Pacific led to shop workers joining the Knights).
By the end, the Knights faced a sharp decline in influence.

$1881$ : Samuel Gompers and others formed a federation of unions; reorganized in $1886$ as the American Federation of Labor.
Gompers served as president until $1924$ ; conservative approach; accepted private enterprise but sought a larger share for workers.
Bread and butter unionism: higher wages, shorter hours, better working conditions; not sweeping economic or social reforms.
Focus on skilled workers; unskilled workers were easier to replace; mass production industries (coal, steel, oil) largely outside AFL organizing.
Strategy: strikes and boycotts viewed as legitimate weapons; loose alliance of national craft unions with autonomy.
Growth: over $1,000,000$ members by $1902$ ; about $2,000,000$ by $1914$ .

$1877$ Railroad Strike: wage cuts across four railroads (Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central, Pennsylvania, Erie); violence in Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania governor called militia; Hayes sent the army; strike collapsed.
Haymarket Riot (Chicago) → $1886$ : workers pushed for the $8$ -hour day; demonstration in Haymarket Square; bomb killed seven policemen, wounding 67; police fired on crowd; eight anarchists charged; four executed.
Homestead Strike → $1892$ : Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers, ~ $3{,}800$ ; Carnegie’s Homestead plant; wage cuts and bad conditions; Henry Frick brought in 300 Pinkerton detectives; seven detectives and nine workers killed; strike failed.
Pullman Strike → $1894$ : economic panic $1893$ ; wage cuts and high rents in Pullman town; Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union (ARU) called a strike; nearly all westbound lines from Chicago struck by $June 1894$ ; government intervened; injunction under the Sherman Antitrust Act; President Cleveland and Attorney General Olney; ~ $2{,}000$ troops sent; Altgeld protested; strike broken; Debs jailed; Supreme Court upheld convictions; Debs later became a prominent Socialist leader and ran for president $5$ times.

Late 19th century: US shifted from an agricultural base to a leading industrial power; railroads and new inventions spurred growth; key industries: textile, food processing, steel, oil.
Government regulation and antitrust action: Interstate Commerce Act $1887$ ; Sherman Antitrust Act $1890$ .
Labor movement: workers organized to improve health, safety, and living standards; growth of unions contributed to better conditions.

Millions immigrated; mostly from Europe, with significant numbers from Latin America and Asia; provided essential labor for industry, mines, and farms.
Native-born white Americans increasingly opposed immigration; active restriction movement by $1900$ .
Urbanization: rapid growth of cities; not until $1920$ that a majority of Americans were classified as urban.
1860–1920: approx. $25,000,000$ immigrants arrived in the United States.
Motives: escape political/religious persecution, avoid military service, seek economic opportunities; many planned to stay only a few years, but most remained; about one-third returned home or moved elsewhere.

Next: three great waves of immigration will be covered in upcoming discussion.