Chapter 5 - The Labor Movement

They labored in unpleasant or dangerous conditions for long hours at monotonous and repetitive jobs and received low wages.

Some workers began to organize into labor unions to impro\re their condi- tions.

Management could fire or lockout work- ers, blacklist union leaders, and obtain government support to put down strikes.

When workers went on strike, management often brought in temporary workers known as “strike-breakers” (or “scabs”).

Review different economic and philosophic ideologies.

Communists predicted a violent proletarian revolution would overthrow the wealthy ruling class and create a more just and egalitarian society in which property was held in common.

Responses to industrialization also led to the rise of different ideologies.

Through their union, they could negotiate wages and working conditions collectively with their employer.

Examine causes, course, and consequences of the labor movement in the late l9th and early 20th centuries.

They could also go on strike.

Communists predicted a violent proletarian revolution would oYerthroiv the wealthy ruling class and create a more just and egalitarian society in which property was held in common.

Immigrants from overseas and migrants from the countryside flooded the labor market with workers willing to work for very low wages.

Anarchists opposed organized government.

In the new industrial society, the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat (workers).

While on strike, union workers carried signs outside their place of employment —known as the ”picket line”—to win public support and prevent the use of strike-breakers.

Others suffered debilitating illnesses from unhealthful Working conditions.
Child Labor Textile mills and coal mines made use of child laborers to perform special tasks and because they were paid less than adults.

Conditions As factories and Workplaces grew larger, individual workers lost personal contact with their actual employers and all influence over their own personal working conditions.

Government leaders feared the disruptive effect of strikes.

A large group of steelworkers striking against Carnegie's Homestead -
steel mill were defeated when the state militia intervened.

Strikers began fighting with strikebreakers until police fired into the crowd, killing several demonstrators.

Once such an injunction (court order) was issued, employers could count on the government to break up the strike.

Although the proletariat added value to goods by their labor; this added value went to the factory owner as profit. Eventually, Marx and Engels predicted, the proletariat would rise up.

Capitalists continued to support laissez- faire policies.

Communists predicted a violent proletarian revolution would overthrow the wealthy ruling class and create a more just and egalitarian society in which property was held in common.

Critics of industrial capitalism complained that industrial workers were being treated as no better than “wage-slaves'’

While Gompet‘s favored peaceful bargaining with employers, he was willing to use strikes and boycotts when necessary.

Friedrich Engels declared that all of history was the history of class struggle, in which the rich took advantage of the poor. In the new industrial society, the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat (workers).