Lecture Notes: AFL vs Knights of Labor; Homestead & Pullman Strikes (Sections 9.2–9.3)

AFL and the Knights of Labor: context and emergence

• After the decline of the Knights of Labor (linked to the Chicago Haymarket events), workers began joining a new major American union: the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
• The AFL was organized and led by Samuel Gompers, a Jewish immigrant.
• The AFL’s leadership and strategy differed notably from the Knights of Labor, and these differences matter for understanding what happened next in labor history.

Samuel Gompers, the AFL, and early strategy

• Key figure: Samuel Gompers runs the AFL.
• Strategy differences from Knights of Labor shape the AFL’s approach to organizing and bargaining.

How the AFL differed from the Knights of Labor: exclusivity and scope

• Core summary: The AFL was exclusive and more selective about membership. The defining contrast can be boiled down to two words: exclusive, more exclusive.
• Membership rules:
  • The AFL favored skilled workers only; unskilled workers were not allowed to join.
  • The AFL did not admit women into the union.
  • The AFL did not admit Black people into the union.
• Rationale for exclusivity:
  • Skilled workers are harder to replace, so strikes and bargaining tend to be more effective when they are unionized.
  • Excluding women (and others) was believed to help raise wages by limiting the labor pool; fewer workers means higher bargaining power for those in the union.
• Focus and goals:
  • The AFL pursued narrow, clearly defined objectives rather than broad social reform.
  • Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL did not advocate sweeping social changes like owners-for-workers factory ownership or reshaping American culture for workers.
  • AFL concentrated on concrete gains: better pay, working conditions, and hours, but not a broad redesign of the economy or labor relations.
• Overall impact:
  • The AFL grew quickly and attracted about $2{,}000{,}000$ members, marking significant yet selective progress in labor organization.
• Takeaway for understanding labor history:
  • The AFL’s strategy shows a shift toward selective, economically focused bargaining power rather than universal, social-reform ambitions.

The uphill struggle of workers and the role of major strikes (Sections 9.2–9.3)

• The course material emphasizes that workers and unions faced a difficult uphill climb to win concessions.
• Two major strikes illustrate how difficult it was for unions to win sustained gains: the Homestead strike and the Pullman strike.

The Homestead Strike (Carnegie Steel)

• Context: Occurred in the steel mills owned by Andrew Carnegie during a severe economic downturn.
• Wages and conditions:
  • Employers announced wage cuts due to the economic slump.
  • Workers were told to accept lower wages while the economy struggled; the strike followed.
• An assassination rumor that became real:
  • There was a rumored assassination attempt on Henry Frick, Carnegie’s associate, which reflected escalating tensions. The report notes that Frick faced a real assassination attempt.
• The Pinkertons: private security to break strikes
  • Carnegie Steel hired a private security force called the Pinkertons to break the strike.
  • Characteristics: nationwide security force, private, not government; famous for distinctive outfits (khaki trench coats, bowler hats, Pinkerton badges).
  • Role in the strike: Pinkertons were brought in to force workers to go home; when warning shots were fired and crowd dispersed, others did not, leading to gunfire and deaths.
• Outcome and accountability:
  • The Homestead strike ended without achieving its goals; the Pinkertons’ actions resulted in deaths and the suppression of the strike.
  • The government (in the 1800s) tended to side with owners rather than workers, and there was little accountability for the employers.
• Takeaway:
  • The strike illustrates how private security forces and state power were used to suppress labor actions when owners faced wage cuts and strikes.

The Pullman Strike (railroad industry)

• George Pullman and the sleeper car:
  • George Pullman invented the sleeper car, a private sleeping space on trains, which became hugely popular.
  • His innovations generated significant profits.
• Rent in company towns:
  • Pullman raised rents in company town apartments and deducted higher rents from worker wages, worsening workers’ already strained finances.
  • The move triggered a wage-and-costs dispute and sparked a strike.
• Leadership and scale: Eugene Debs and the ARU
  • Eugene Debs led the American Railway Union (ARU), a railway union with growing influence.
  • Debs helped expand the strike beyond a local issue to a nationwide shutdown of the railroad system by coordinating across multiple railway companies.
  • The strike rapidly spread from a local town to a statewide and then nationwide scale, threatening mail delivery, commerce, and coal shipments (especially in winter).
• Government intervention and arrest:
  • President Grover Cleveland decided to intervene to restore federal functions and prevent economic collapse caused by the strike.
  • The government used military force to break the strike and targeted its leadership, arresting Eugene Debs.
• Legal response and the Sherman Antitrust Act:
  • The strike’s suppression led to a Supreme Court case that questioned whether workers could strike in the interest of interstate commerce.
  • The Supreme Court ruled against the workers, stating that strikes could not interfere with free trade.
  • Ironically, lawyers invoked the Sherman Antitrust Act (intended to curb monopolies) to limit strikes and restrict workers’ ability to organize, arguing that strikes limited free trade and violated anti-trust provisions.
• Aftermath for Debs and the labor movement:
  • Debs remained jailed for years; his legal case and imprisonment did not erase his influence.
  • From prison, Debs sought to transform labor politics, eventually founding the American Socialist Party and the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World).
  • Debs later ran for U.S. president five times from prison, becoming a symbol of the socialist movement in American labor history.
• Long-term significance:
  • The Pullman Strike underscored the federal government’s willingness to intervene against labor movements when interstate commerce was affected.
  • The case showcased the uneasy relationship between labor rights, the judiciary, and antitrust doctrine.

The broader arc: socialism, reform, and political consequences

• Eugene Debs’ trajectory connects labor struggles to broader socialist and labor movements in the United States.
• Debs’ later life and ideology aligned with socialist and communist ideas, including leadership roles in later organizations (American Socialist Party; IWW).
• Contemporary echoes:
  • Socialists and communists continue to exist in American politics, though they rarely win major elections today.
  • Example discussed: Bernie Sanders, a prominent left-leaning figure who advocates wealth redistribution; his stance is sometimes described as socialist by critics, which has affected his electoral prospects within the Democratic Party.
• Takeaway on ideological legacies:
  • The era shows a persistent tension between labor movements seeking stronger protections and voice for workers, and political/legal structures that tend to side with employers during economic crises or interstate commerce concerns.

Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications

• Ethical questions:
  • When and how should the state intervene in labor disputes that affect public welfare (e.g., mail delivery, coal supply)?
  • Is it legitimate to use antitrust law to curb worker organizing, given its original focus on monopolistic corporate power?
• Practical implications:
  • The balance between exclusive membership (skilled labor, gender and racial exclusions) and broad-based worker solidarity affects the power and reach of unions.
  • The reliance on private security forces and military intervention demonstrates the significance of political context in labor outcomes.
• Philosophical implications:
  • Debates over which forms of economic organization best serve workers (unions with narrow objectives vs broader social reform) reflect enduring questions about the aims of labor movements.

Connections to previous lectures and foundational principles

• The discussion follows the decline of the Knights of Labor after the Haymarket incident and the rise of the AFL as a more selective labor organization.
• The idea of organized labor pursuing bargaining power through strikes demonstrates foundational concepts in labor economics and collective action.
• The role of government intervention in interstate commerce and the legal system’s interpretive use of the Sherman Antitrust Act illustrate the interaction between law, economics, and labor rights.

Key people, terms, and concepts to remember

• AFL: American Federation of Labor
• Knights of Labor: a prior labor organization with broader social reform goals
• Samuel Gompers: leader of the AFL
• Exclusive membership: skilled workers only; exclusion of unskilled workers
• Exclusion of women and Black workers from AFL membership
• Homestead Strike: steel strike at Carnegie Steel; Pinkertons used; deaths in the conflict
• Pinkertons: private security force hired to break strikes
• Pullman Strike: nationwide railroad strike led by Eugene Debs and the ARU
• George Pullman: inventor of the sleeper car and owner of a company town
• Sleeper car: the premium private sleeping compartment on trains
• Wages and rent policy in company towns as a trigger for strikes
• Eugene Debs: leader of the ARU; later founder of the American Socialist Party and the IWW
• ARU: American Railway Union
• Grover Cleveland: U.S. President who intervened to end the Pullman Strike
• Sherman Antitrust Act: used to argue against strikes by claiming they limit free trade
• IWW: Industrial Workers of the World
• Bernie Sanders: contemporary political figure associated with left-wing, socialist-leaning ideas

Numerical and formal references (LaTeX)

• AFL membership: $2{,}000{,}000$ members
• Section references: $9.2$ and $9.3$ (sections where these events are discussed)
• Key economic and strategic concepts involve wage changes, rent increases, and the cost of strikes, summarized qualitatively here but anchored to the numerical scale of union membership and the broad impact of strikes on the economy.