Organized Labor By Alannah Criswell and Yafiet Abraha

Thesis Statement: Organized Labor Organized labor in early industrial America gave rise to conflicts between management and the workforce.

Labor vs. Management Gilded Age was from 1920 ish-1873 ish self-employed US citizens were less common in Gilded Age when employees had to rely on managers instead of themselves, they were less satisfied and had high demands

Labor vs. Management employers wouldn't meet the worker's demands, and workers would therefore band together against employers strikes were the most used way of getting demands boycotts were less common and less successful

Labor vs. Management employers also found ways to defend themselves from the workers employers would initiate lockouts new workers had to sign yellow-dog contracts sometimes employers hired replacements for the old workers

Labor vs. Management before the 1900 s the gov’t let employers win court cases workers and managers used to work as a team with a mutual relationship, but around 18801900 workers were beginning to be used as machines and hardly personally met their managers there were about twelve times more women in industry in 1920 than in 1880 women still couldn't obtain managers' positions

Labor vs. Management there were about twelve times more women in industry in 1920 than in 1880 women still couldn't obtain managers' positions

Labor vs. Management workers' goals were mainly to get higher pay and better conditions and benefits workforce grew quickly and management began losing power sometimes if employers did meet the demands they'd lose so much money the company would fail and have to be shut down

Labor vs. Management the unions cut back on hours, raised pay, gave employees benefits, and improved working conditions the labor unions even have current effects: now we have weekends, minimum ages, minimum wages, certain types of insurance, Social Security, and unemployment benefits

American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers, originally a leader of a Manhattan cigar makers’ union held the stance that workers’ issues were reducible to simple “bread-and -butter” issues, such as higher wages and better working conditions. This belief allowed Gompers to easily centralize bigger union efforts, and when the Knights of Labor finally fell in a Haymarket Square protest, the perfect incentive arose for Gompers and other craft union leaders to duly form the American Federation of Labor.

American Federation of Labor The AF of L was a skilled workers’ union. It specifically excluded the unskilled workers as tradespeople were in higher demand had higher wages than the unskilled and thus could direct more political and economic power. Despite this exclusion, by 1900 the Federation had swelled to 500, 000 workers. Gompers developed public support for the union by avoiding radicalism and pursuing the bread-andbutter issues.

American Federation of Labor Gompers’s simplistic directives were successful and while the weren’t as powerful as big business, most of the further worker strikes were generally successful in attaining worker demands. The Congress of Industrial Organizations(CIO) was created by unions that were thrown out by the AFL in 1935 over its opposition to industrial unionism, which is a concept by which all workers in the same trade joined into one cooperative regardless of skill. The Federation fell from power during the Great Depression because of they lost the fight of capital vs. labor.

American Federation of Labor internationalism has historically developed in response to the increasing globalization of capital, but as an emergent strategy of economistic labor organizations in various sectors of the capitalist world economy, however, internationalism may in fact promote the politicization of economic trade union struggles and thus catalyze broader levels of class solidarity and unity on the national and local planes. -Andrew Howard“Global Capital and Labor Internationalism in Comparative Historical Perspective: A Marxist Analysis” Historian/Political Economy Lecturer at UChicago

Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism Capitalism has triumphed all over the world, but this triumph is only the prelude to the triumph of labour over capital. Lenin, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism(1913) Context: Lenin reviews the failure of workers’ unions as they have corrupted by the capitalization of union labor.

Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism Despite Gompers’s & the AFL’s avoidance, American radicals were not down for the count. However, socialism lost favor due to correct opposition to American involvement in WW 11. Typical Marxists, these Socialists believed in Lenin’s labor over capital, that value didn’t exist without laborers and all seen wealth for the upper class was stolen from those who created it by capitalism creating a legal basis for this obvious theft. The Socialists diverged on the issues of free transactions.

Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism Eugene Debs created the American Railway Union in 1892. In two years, he led the great Pullman Strike. The Pullman Car company fired 5000 employees after workers refused a pay cut. In 1900 he ran for President after he decided legitimate political action would assist workers more and got 87, 000 votes.

Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism The most radical unionists were the I. W. W, the Industrial Workers of the World. They fought for direct justice against employers. A small group, they led hundreds of strikes across America. They won few battles, but sent a resounding message throughout America for the destruction of capitalism. Whilst most unions fell due to their pacifist message, ultimately, the workers’ rights to fair pay and conditions achieved legislative status through FDR and with the dissolution of laissez-faire capitalism came the end of the most violent and frequent strikes.

Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism The ultimate triumph of Leninist labor over capital by the dismantling on laissez-faire policies was locked in by Keynesian policies. As Lenin predicted, a constant struggle until communism existed between the haves and havenots with mild socialism(Keynesianisn) and freemarket capitalism(Anglo-Saxon model of economics/neo-liberalism started by supply-side economics, i. e. Reaganomics) Summarily, all workers, all capitalists and their respective product, labor and centralizing management fail under capitalism, fail under any top-down organization of labor, whether a bureaucracy or monopoly and only succeed under complete independence and this bottom-up process is only realized under radical Communism.

Questions 1. 2. In what circumstances did boycotts need to happen? a when companies had already begun losing money b in small towns with only local consumers c only when the companies sold tangible products rather than services d when companies had illegal activity that workers wanted to reveal Why did workers get so agitated when employers had power over them? a they were used to being self-employed and making their own decisions b their demands remained unmet c employers had to punish all workers sometimes, not just the ones who caused trouble d all of the above

Questions 3. If the students at this school formed a union, which would work best and why? a boycotts- nobody would see the effects of a strike b strikes- students at the school are too inconsistent and diverse to band together to make a change c strike- faculty would be impressed to see students taking a risk d none of the above- parents, rather than students, have power to make significant changes

Questions 4. 4 What were the court ruling most commonly in respect to labor unions? a b c d a fair ruling a ruling biased toward religion a ruling in favor of employers a ruling in favor of employees 5. Who would most often win the ruling of the court and why? a employers- they bribed and persuaded the court b employees- there were more of them and they were in bad conditions c the consumers- they had to listen to the public opinion d there would be a compromise between the management and workforce- the court did its best to be fair

Questions 6. Why was focusing on personal rather than political issues more important in union efforts? A. Personal issues were what the workers joined a union for B. Unions were weaker when focused on politicization C. Hated minorities came to strength when political issues came to light. D. Exploiting personal issues made the unions money.

Questions 7. Why did capital succeed over labor? A. Capital centralized labor. B. Labor centralized capital. C. The management of capital led to ruin and anarchy destroyed this concept. D. Labor produces all value and like Lenin pronounced, it takes time for labor to swing the pendulum back.

Questions 8. Why did the AF of L fail during the Great Depression? A. Industrial unionism made its strongest components fall away to the CIO. B. The exclusion of unskilled workers didn’t allow the union to adapt to the new industrialized economy. C. The Federation failed under new leadership. D. The liberal reforms under FDR made the unions too strong and were forcibly broken up by the workers.

Questions 9. Since Debs ran for office, as did many Socialists, why was political office much more effective than direct protest? A. Direct protest often slowed the course of business, making everyone lose money and rights. B. Political office would allow workers to gain essential legislation for their demands. C. The working class could more easily unite. D. People didn’t want unaffiliated workers.

Questions 10. Even though the unions that were the least radical most often achieved their aims, why were movements led by the Socialists and the IWW important? A. They set precedent for other worker actions and thus made all strikes easier. B. They aroused the interest of the public at large. C. They manifested the will of the people. D. They create right-to-work legislation.

Sources Missan, Sandra. “American Federation Od Labor. ” US History. org, Independence Hall Association, Aug. 2005, www. ushistory. org/us/37 d. asp. Missan, Sandra. “Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism. ” Ushistory. org, Independence Hall Association, Oct. 2005, www. ushistory. org/us/37 e. asp.

Sources Missan, Sandra. "Early National Organizations. " Ushistory. org. Independence Hall Association, Apr. -May 2005. Web. 06 Dec. 2016. Missan, Sandra. "Labor vs. Management. " Ushistory. org. Independence Hall Association, Apr. -May 2005. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Sources Howard, Andrew, Mr. "Global Capital and Labor Internationalism in Comparative Historical Perspective: A Marxist Analysis. " Https: //www. researchgate. net/publication/229689509_Global_Capital_and_Lab or_Internationalism_in_Comparative_Historical_Perspective_A_Marxist_Analysi s. John Howard, Feb. -Mar. 2001. Web. 6 Dec. 2016. Lenin, V. I. "Lenin: The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism. " Lenin: The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism. Marxists. org, Mar. -Apr. 2002. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.