The Labor Movement: 50% are now wage labors (1870’s)
Molly Maguires (1870’s) Penn. Coal mines. Organized to (bully) owners
Pinkerton Agency used to arrest members of the Molly Maguires. Murder charges
National Railroad Strike: Wages were cut and workers went on strike.
Nat. troops called in and strike failed. This was the first major strike in the US. Lasted only a few weeks.
American Federation of Labor: (Samuel Gompers) leader of the AFL. Only worked with Skilled labor and excluded women and all non-whites.
Objectives: Wanted the gov’t out of the picture. Wanted the labor unions to talk face to face with owners.
Knights of Labor: (1869) Allowed everyone in if they were a worker. Those not allowed in were china man, bankers, bootleggers, gamblers, lawyers. Major weapon used were strikes. ]
Objectives: Equal pay for equal work men/women, no child labor, min wages, 8 hour work days
Members slowly leave to AFL or others and finally the Knights of Labor die.
Haymarket Riot: 1886 May 1. May day. AFL was working for an 8 hour work day. They called for a general strike for those who were part of the AFL. McCormick Harvester plant workers are also having a strike. The rally at the Haymarket square turns into a violent storm. Someone brings a bomb to the rally and 7 police men die. 8 labor leaders are arrested and 4 are hung on charges of starting violence. Haymarket Riot used to kill any rising labor leaders.
Eugene Debs: Labor organizer who formed the American railroad union in 1894. In 1898 he helps form the American socialist party. Pullman Strike (1895): Pullman cuts wages by 25% but keeps the Company Town housing and pricing the same. Workers from Pullman go to Eugene Debs to ask him to get the American railroad union to strike with them. 27 states strike with the Pullman workers. President sends 2500 federal troops to break up the strike and soon after the other strikes in other states fail too. Eugene debs was arrested for conspiracy to...