Haymarket Riots 1900-1914

Apart of the Homestead Strike in 1892 there were labor unions formed and protesting before the strike occur. One example will be the Haymarket strike led by American Federation of Labor(AFL). The AFL were wanting similar goals as the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. They both aimed for an eight hour work day and better wages for workers. On May 1,1886 they decided to protest against the businesses after failing to change the employees work hours. Unfortunately, the protest in Chicago ended violently when a bomb was thrown into the crowd and killed 7 officers and injured several. After this situation labor unions were view as rebels by the public. The american public wanted them to be punished for their actions therefore after

In the period of 1870-1900, labor unions and organizations were rarely successful in achieving their goals primarily because of problems with being able to organize large numbers of American Workers. The rare victories for labor were isolated incidents because there were no labor organizations on a national or even state-wide basis. The problems with organization arose because of five major factors - differences in union leadership, divisions between skilled and unskilled workers, ethnic and racial tensions, and employer, and government and public hostility.

The 1800s is characterized with the rise of industrial America. As technological advances were introduced to industry, unskilled labor also rose in accordance to the rise in factories. However, this rise also introduced several labor unions such as the Knights of Labor, which organized a series of protests and riots. The labor unions had good intentions, aiming to lower the average work hours for workers, as well as increase their wages. However, their methods which involved riots and protests, were altogether not effective, and ended up being detrimental to their cause. Between 1875 and 1900, labor unions surged and were temporarily successful; however, their methods would prove detrimental to their cause overtime, leading to their

In the United States history, the Gilded Age was the period in the late 19th century where the country experienced rapid economic growth. During this period, the U.S. became one of the leading industrial nations. It was able to build a powerful navy that dominated the world and acquired the enormous overseas empire. The Gilded Age was also a very important time in the labour history of the United States. It was a period of horrible labour violence between industrialists and workers who fought over various labour issues such as wages and control of the workplace. At this time, workers organised themselves to form the first and largest labour union of the time – the American Labour Union. Even after the workers formed this union, the employers were determined to end the union hence causing a lot of conflicts. One of the highlights of the labour struggles in the Gilded Age was the Pullman strike of 1893. This strike had dire consequences for both the workers and the employers. Many were killed, others injured and the leaders of the union imprisoned for contempt of court. This paper shall look into some of the reasons why the workers found it difficult to achieve economic and political power and how their activism was limited. Ultimately, the strict control by capitalists and government limited the workers ability to fight successfully for better terms of employment.

In the United States history, the Gilded Age was the period in the late 19th century where the country experienced rapid economic growth. During this period, the U.S. became one of the leading industrial nations. It was able to build a powerful navy that dominated the world and acquired the enormous overseas empire. The Gilded Age was also a very important time in the labour history of the United States. It was a period of horrible labour violence between industrialists and workers who fought over various labour issues such as wages and control of the workplace. At this time, workers organised themselves to form the first and largest labour union of the time – the American Labour Union. Even after the workers formed this union, the employers were determined to end the union hence causing a lot of conflicts. One of the highlights of the labour struggles in the Gilded Age was the Pullman strike of 1893. This strike had dire consequences for both the workers and the employers. Many were killed, others injured and the leaders of the union imprisoned for contempt of court. This paper shall look into some of the reasons why the workers found it difficult to achieve economic and political power and how their activism was limited. Ultimately, the strict control by capitalists and government limited the workers ability to fight successfully for better terms of employment.

Although many say that the bombing that caused the Haymarket Riot did not help the cause of the protestors, I claim that the bombing helped the eight hour work day movement by striking fear into the employers, which

The rise of the Big Business transformed rural America to an industrialized urban nation that became to be known as the Gilded Age. During this time most Americans worked 10 to 16 hour shifts, 6 days out of the week with a wage that was below the poverty line. Even though they worked extremely inhumane hour shifts, it was barely enough for them and their families to survive. During this era men, women, and children performed harsh labor in factories and mills until their bodies could bear no more. Throughout the age of the big business, children as young as 8 years old were put to work and were denied the chance to go to school, there was no benefits, no medical coverage, and if the workers became injured while on the job it was overlooked and was seen as if nothing had happened and were fired and replaced by someone else. Workers were being taken advantage of, but they realized something had to be done in order for change to occur, so they unionized. An important factor they acknowledged was that there were more workers than owners so unions were created. During this period of time unions were extremely needed in order to improve working conditions, protect workers, and fight for higher wages. Likewise, Unions were successful, because during this time the seed was planted toward unity and as of today we can appreciate safer working conditions, higher wages, and more opportunity.

Companies and Industries that were established can be known as the Gilded Age where they were blooming, but on the inside of the area of work was unsanitary, back-breaking and unattractive to the inferred perspective of the company. Labor Unions were created because the Industries were setting very unimaginable hours and poor wages which cannot support one's, family. Strikes soon became a habit during the 18th century in order to establish their right to have a more reasonable and humane working standards. Labor Unions are somewhat successful because although many of the strikes occurred and ended in a violent aftermath, generally resulted in a few major changes. Many companies that dismissed the need for strikes created oaths to prevent workers

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

During the Progressive Era of the Gilded Age, many laborers were being mistreated by the companies that they worked for. Because of this, workers started forming labor unions or organized association of workers, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Many of these labor unions failed, while few of them achieved their goals and still exist today. Many factors contributed to the failure of these labor unions. The labor unions were given a bad image, the reason for this was the media, and they did this by publishing articles depicting the unions as violent, communist groups. The government supported big business during this time, since the government had a lot of power; this was a huge setback in the labor unions’ battles.

Numerous workers were able to come together and make changes to improve wages, working conditions, and much more. The National Labor Union, Nights of Labor, and The American Federation of Labor all had certain similarities and differences that made them alike and different from each other. Some of them failed, while the other was successful due to being smart and learning from the mistakes of the other two.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

Six states enacted the eight-hour workday, but four of them had exceptions to the rule, so the NLU was not as successful as it seemed on the surface.3 The NLU realized that the labor dispute could not be fixed without a reform of the currency, which led to an ill-fated alliance with the Greenback movement. In 1872 the NLU transformed itself into the National Labor Reform Party, which turned out to be unsuccessful.4 By 1873, there were twenty-five national unions with a combined membership of 170,000 people, and another 130,000 workers belonged to unions that lacked a national association.5 Even though the NLU failed to attain quality working conditions for workers, it was able to prove that a national confederation of workingmen was not impossible. Its short life showed that representatives for labor did not know the proper place of the worker in the new industrial world. The NLU made no effort to perfect itself as a lasting organization, but it's errors allowed successors to learn and profit.6 The formation of the NLU exemplifies the autonomy of the people because they realized that they were being treated unfairly and they went ahead and did something about it.

We struggled so much in America because as we gained our strength, workers showed greater willingness to strike. All at the same time, business owners were also stubbornly opposing our union demands, so as a result, the confrontations between unions and owners also greatly increased. Successes of our movements included fighting for better wages, reasonable working hours, and safer working conditions. Our labor union movements also led efforts to end child labor, and providing aid and health benefits to workers who were retired or injured.

During the time period 1875 to 1900, the labor unions failed miserably in their efforts to amend the working conditions their workers were under. During the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution and The Gilded Age were taking place. These were transmuting the way society was viewed and how people lived their everyday lives. During the labor movement, there were many different organizations and groups that advocated change. Two of those specific groups were the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor. The failure of those labor unions between 1875 and 1900 in the U.S. was mostly due to the union's actions, followed by problems within the unions, and people's response to the union.