The Character of American Life and The Knights of Labor - Research Paper Example

Historians have identified two competing labor movements of the post civil war era through the late nineteenth century. Each movement had its own distinct approach to confronting the shift to large-scale industrial organization or monopoly capitalism, and the legal repression that accomponied this change. Discuss the main ideas and programs of these two movements as they relate to the impact of industrial change and judicial repression on labor in order to explain the eventual dominance, or triumph, of AFL trade unionism in this period. Between the end of the civil war and the beginning of the twentieth century, America rapidly industrialized. This had profound changes on the organization of labor and witnessed the rise of the trade unions. This essay will analyze the two prominent and competing movements of the era; producerism and voluntarism, embodied in the Knights of Labour and the American Federation of Labor, or AFL. A key question to be discussed is how did the judiciary system react to workers and their unions, and how did the AFL come to dominant trade unionism in this era? To begin, industrialization brought many changes to America. It was characterized by the change from production by hand to production by machine. Increasing numbers of people became employed in the manufacturing sector in large factories. The communication and transportation industries grew rapidly, as did the size and predominance of cities (Feldmeth, 1998). Thus America had become, according to Jeremy Brecher, a “fully-fledged capitalist society,” driven by the “pursuit of profit” in an “unregulated market” (1997, p.8). For the humble worker this had some serious effects; they felt powerless and unfree, like “wage slaves” who made other men rich (Brecher, 1997, p. 9). Since the landmark case of Commonwealth vs. Hunt in 1842 (Feldmeth, 1998), labor unions had become an important tool for the worker to express their discontent, most notably through strikes. The Knights of Labor were formed in Philadelphia in 1869 by a group of garment cutters. They were a deeply religious trade union, strongly opposed to the wage system, who formed as a backlash against other unions representing the “aristocracy of labor”. For the first time, men of all classes and all trades were brought together to improve the lot of every working man. Despite their dedication to the cause, the Knights of Labor were opposed to strikes and their leader, Terence Powderly, spent much of his time trying to stop or weaken them. Powerderlys biggest hope was that workers could return to their former position as “independent producers” through government support to end monopolies and the creation of cooperatives (Brecher, 1997, pp. 41-45). The Great Upheaval of 1877 was the first mass strike in American history. It was a “spontaneous” and “unplanned” strike among railway workers. It expressed their discontent over a wage cut and the “complete reorganisation” of work. The plight of the railway workers attracted much sympathy and consequently much support. The only thing able to quell it was the presidents federal guards (Brecher, 1997, pp. 15-19). Many of the people who had come out to support the strike were not members of any trade union. In fact, the economic depression had created the demise of many trade unions; by 1877 only about nine were in existence, this had dropped from approximately thirty-three (Brecher, 1997, p. 21). The Knights of Labor believed that the Great Upheaval strike had failed because the workers lacked “organisation, leadership, strategy, and goals”. Therefore, in 1878, the Knights extended their membership to all wage earners, regardless of skill level. They saw a massive rise in their membership, from approximately 1,000 members to one million in the following year. In 1885 they were successful in their strike against the powerful financier Jay Gould, and this, according to Lambert, “ignited one of the largest strike waves in American history (2005, p. 56). On May 1st 1886, 400,000 workers went on strike. This was the culmination of the struggle for the eight hour working day. As the strongest and largest labor union, the Knights had tried to persuade Congress to make the eight hour day a legal requirement but to no avail. The American Labor Federation (AFL), who had formed in 1881, had initially pushed Congress to pass the law but a small group from within the ranks soon began advocating militant action. The president of another union, of Carpenters and Joiners, proposed that from May 1st, eight hours would constitute a full working day. However, putting this into effect was problematic, the Knights of Labor would not support a mass strike. However, this did not stop the AFL from creating rallies, meetings and putting out circulars among the workers. Thus the strike began on May 1st (Arnesen, 2007, p. 857). On its third day, the strike had grown even stronger and many more workers had joined. But things soon took an unprecedented and unexpected turn. The police fired at a crowd of workers who were attacking strike-breakers, four of them were killed and many more seriously injured. In response, the anarchists issued a call to arms and organised a demonstration at Haymarket Square in protest against police brutality. There was a relatively low attendance at the rally that night and as the last speaker was winding down, a dynamite bomb suddenly exploded among the police. One officer was killed and many other were badly injured. Their response was to reform ranks and fire into the crowd, killing one of the demonstrators (Brecher, 2007, p. 64). Mass hysteria and a call for blood followed the events at Haymarket Square. Seven anarchists were arrested and tried for their part in the explosion. Four of these were hanged, despite a serious lack of evidence regarding their involvement (Brecher, 1997, pp. 65-66). Despite being opposed a mass strike, the Knights of Labor were “tarred with the brush of radicalism” (Lambert, 2005, p. 57) The May Day strike and the Haymarket affair marked the beginning of the end for the Knights of Labor and a transitional period which witnessed the rise of the AFL. Historians have generally interpreted this change as the demise of the producerist ideology. The Knights of Labor had held unrealistic ambitions;they would never escape wage labor, nor overcome the monopolists through individual property ownership. The AFL, however, embodied the “voluntarist strategy” with the realistic acceptance of wage labor and “large-scale business organisation.” They were happy to use strikes to make small, short-term gains (Schneirov, 1998, p. 236). In addition to their political differences, the AFL did not operate an inclusive membership policy or share the “broad social goals” of the Knights of Labor. Samuel Gompers, the first president of the AFL believed that the labor movement could only survive with a “pure and simple unionism” without social reform or labor political parties. In general, the AFL was made up of highly-skilled craftsmen and excluded many minorities and women (Brecher, 2007, p. 69). The AFL was linked to conservatism and this is reflected in its “hostility” towards non-whites joining the union. It did not place an outright ban, for example, on African-Americans but its focus on skilled workers “tacitly excluded” most blacks. In some cases, black workers were included in the AFL purely as a means to stop other blacks from sabotaging future strikes (Arnesen, 2007, p. 75). The differences between the Knights of Labor explain why the latter became the dominant force in unionism in this era. The Knights were comprised of workers from all backgrounds and thus finding a consensus was virtually impossible. In addition, the majority of its members were unskilled workers, who were easily and often replaced by their employers, thus contribution to its weaknesses (Booth, 1995, p. 38). Despite the leaders of the Knights opposition and hostility to strikes, many of its members felt differently and thus the AFL capitalized from its losses. The Knights association with the massacre at Haymarket, and with anarchism, was a blow that it could never fully recover from. The AFL, on the other hand, understood the importance of staying out of politics and concentrating on unionism. To conclude, industrialization radically altered the character of American life. From workers discontent grew the rise of the trade unions. The Knights of Labor initially benefited from the Great Upheaval, enjoying membership from a variety of workers on a huge scale. Their producerist ideology, however, and their link to the massacre at Haymarket was the cause of their demise. Workers did not identify with the Knights social goals. Their hostility towards strikes also greatly affected their popularity. The AFL, however, seem to have captured the mood and feelings of the American skilled workforce. They understood the importance of making short-term gains and supported strike action. In addition, they kept their organisation outside the realms of American politics which enhanced their reputation. It is, therefore, not difficult to appreciate why the AFL, and voluntarism, dominated unionism after 1886. References Arnesen, Eric (2007) Encyclopedia of United States Labor and Working-Class History, Volume 1. New York: Routledge. Booth, Alison. (1995) The Economics of the Trade Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brecher, Jeremy. (1997) Strike! Massachusetts: South End Press .Feldmeth, Greg. (1998) American Industrialization. U.S History Resources. Retrieved 15th April 2010 from http://www.feldmeth.net/US/. Lambert, Josaiah. (2005) If The Workers Took A Notion:The Right To Strike and the American Political Development. Cornell: Cornell University Press. Schneirov, Richard. (1998) Labor and Urban Politics: Class Conflict and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97. Illinois: University Of Illinois Press. Read More