Labor Movements in the Gilded and Progressive Era

In the first years of the twentieth century, the United States began booming in many areas such as social, political, and economic. There was unprecedented growth in industries that saw America becoming an industrious nation at a faster rate than any other country. However, during this era, the growth also had a sinister side. It became a period when politicians, bankers, corrupt industrialists, and greedy people gained more wealth at the expense of the working class. The working-class citizens worked at agricultural farms and others at factories. They worked for long hours, paid low salaries, and worked in poor and dirty conditions. As a result, people in the working class noticed their plight and started advocating for their rights through labor movements and unions. Although several labor unions were formed during the Gilded and progressive era, they did not improve the lives of working people due to the movements and strikes and government support failures.

The first reason why the movements did not succeed is that company leaders kept them down. Since the company leaders contributed to downgrading the employees, there was no way they could have let the employees hold strikes against them in peace. They, therefore, had to ensure that their employees’ strikes did not succeed as they could have taken their plights in the limelight, making the company leaders guilty. One example of a strike put down by a company leader is the Homestead Strike (Colling 2/88). The strike happened in June 1892 at the homestead of Carnegie Steel Company. Workers who participated worked at the iron, steel, and tin factories and protested against a reduction in wages.

A business partner of the company, Henry Frick, fired the strikers, but they refused to leave the company’s premises (Corbett et al. Chapter 18.3). He hired detectives, who were also overwhelmed by the employees (Foner 589). Later, he requested the then Pennsylvania governor to send their national guard, and the guard disrupted the strike violently, as Frick had “ordered a lockout of the workers and hired three hundred Pinkerton detectives to protect company property” (Corbett et al. Chapter 18.3). In the end, the workers were defeated, and their woes were not taken into consideration. In this case, the company leader used the state government to put down the strike, and thus, the strike did not yield any positive results.

The second reason is that although most of the unions and movements formed had clear objectives, they failed, which led to a lack of improving the lives of working people. One of the major unions created was the National Labor Union, which advocated for eliminating monopolies, arbitration of labor conflicts, eliminating contract labor, and an eight-hour workday (Zinn et al. 333). Despite having such clear and firm goals, the union did not last for long. It declined when its leaders engaged in politics in an attempt to further the union’s objectives, leading to its decline. The decline happened because the union’s leaders showed the organization during the presidential election of 1872 (Corbett et al. Chapter 21.4). Due to its failure, the movement did not yield any positive results, as the working people’s conditions remained the same.

Another movement that was formed and yet failed is the Knights of Labor. The union was formed after the decline of the National Labor Union. Its primary objectives were to include both skilled and unskilled workers, centralize local assemblies’ control, and create local assemblies based on worker’s residences. Also, the movement advocated for a raise in the minimum wage “in sugar plantations when the planters refused to meet their demands for wages

of $1.25 a day” (Zinn et al. 221). Besides, they demabded a reduction in the number of working hours, equality between men and women, blacks and whites, and improved working conditions, among many other objectives. The main reason the movement failed is that it used boycotts and strikes to achieve its goals, which most of them were unsuccessful. Consequently, the movement did not bring notable positive changes to workers. Most of its members easily went back to their employees because they “commanded little leverage and who could be easily fired and replaced” (Colling 2/76). Besides the two unions, others such as The Industrial Workers of the World and the various strikes also failed.

The third reason is that the working class did not receive any help from the government, which clearly shows that the US government generally supported employers. Arguably, the government could have supported the less fortunate and save them from their oppressors. Nevertheless, it supported wealthy employers who got more riches at the expense of the poor. The local, state, and federal officials collaborated with the company leaders to keep the workers’ movements and strike down. Notably, the support of employers was against the philosophies of the Laissez-faire ideology that fueled the progressive era, in that the government interfered with the socioeconomic struggle of the majority, low income, and working class (Corbett et al. Chapter 20.1). A key observation is that critical arms of the government like judicially, and the legislation could enable the enactment of laws to protect employees or pass effective laws for labor unions. However, they supported employees.

Regarding government intervention, there was no support for laborers, and instead, the government collaborated with employers. For instance, workers from McCormack Reaper Factory had gathered at the square to protest against poor working conditions and low wages during the Haymarket square strike (Zinn et al. 221). Hundreds of the workers, most of them were German immigrants, attended the meeting. The meeting continued the next day, and the police who had already killed some workers the previous day arrived at the square. In the end, anarchist labor leaders who had planned the meeting were accused of killing police officers without evidence, where two hung, one committed suicide, and two were released (Colling 2/85). In this case, if the government supported the workers, it could have prevented the court from prosecuting the anarchist’s labor leaders without proof. Besides, the government ensured the strikes would not succeed by making protests difficult. Instead of maintaining a fair bargain for workers’ demands, the criminal justice system was harsh to the leaders of the protest, upholding a negative image of the unions, which led to reduced membership.

The second instance that shows the US government supported the employers is during the Homestead strike. The company leader engaged the governor in putting down the strike with violence (Colling 2/88). It shows that the governor, representing the government, did not bother about the workers’ woes but supported the company leader. The last instance came two years later during the Pullman Sleeping Car strike. The workers went on strike, although one of their union leaders, Debs, had warned them. However, when they decided to hold the strike, Debs joined them, and Grover Cleveland, a government official, sent his troops to put down the strike, and Debs was jailed instantly (Colling 2/92). The US government supporting the suppressing of workers’ strikes means that it did not support the workers and instead supported the employers who exploited them.

To sum up, the three reasons clearly show that the labor movements during the Gilded and progressive era did not improve the lives of the working people. One primary reason is that workers’ efforts to hold a movement were always put down by their company leaders, as in the example of the Homestead strike. The second reason is that most of the movements and unions that the workers formed declined without leading to any success. Examples are the National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor, Industrial Workers of the World, and the various strikes. The third reason, which also answers the second part of the question, is that the US government did not support the movements. It is evidenced by the failure of the three strikes made possible by the government. Therefore, the US government supported the employers. 

Works Cited

Colling. Gilded Age: Business and Government Collaboration The Creation of Wealth and Poverty. Lecture Presentation, 2021.

Corbett, Scott P et al. U.S. History. Openstax, 2017.

Foner, E. Give me liberty! An American history: Seagull (4th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.

Zinn, Howard et al. Voices Of A People’s History Of The United States. 2nd ed., SEVEN STORIES PRESS, 2009.