Struggling against low wages and long hours imposed by impersonal corporations, workers in the industrial age found strength in Labor Unions – but the work done by these unions had little or no impact on life in the end of the 19th century. Labor unions were disorganized, and many were exclusive, and without organization or strength in numbers they could not be very successful. As striking became frequent, corporations were aided by federal injunctions and troops in suppressing action by union-affiliated workers, and this once powerful weapon of labor unions became ineffective. Labor unions were also powerless in comparison to corporations which had an incredible amount of dominance in American society. Despite these factors, early unions set the ground work for unions in future years, and had a mild amount of immediate success.

Many labor unions were ineffective as a result of poor internal organization and minimal representation of the working class. During America’s second industrial revolution, as people flocked to cities, many jobs were actua

Federal intervention (both legally and militarily) in private business contributed to the failure of labor unions. As depicted by Robert Koehler in “the strike”, labor protests had become commonplace and were loosing their effectiveness; Document B also shows how strikes have lost their effect, and are almost childish lashings out of laborers who cannot take the suffering associated with American life. From 1881 to 1900 the American Federation of Labor held 23,000 strikes (roughly over three-per-day), and agitated corporations looked to the federal government for support – laborers did not stand a chance (even when unionized) against the central government. The government customarily issued court-ordered injections and military actions to quell the protests of unionized workers. Injunctions could force striking workers to return to their undesirable jobs, and the government could order troops in if injunctions were not adhered to – striking laborers were often killed as a result. Four famous strikes illustrate how powerless labor unions were to the federal government. After federal intervention in these strikes, many workers ended up imprisoned or dead. In 1877 workers from four major railroad companies were striking after their wages were cut by 10% - 100 were left dead after President Hayes called federal troops in to quell unrest. At Andrew Carnage’s homestead plant, federal troops were called in after workers, striking after pay cuts, forced 300 pinkerton detectives to surrender – 10 were killed, 60 others wounded by US troops (some of the carnage is shown in document G). After wages were cut in response to the depression at a Pullman plant, Eugene V. Debs organized a strike that the governor John Peter Altgeld did not deem threatening, but US Attorney General Richard Olney (backed by President Cleveland) dispatched federal troops who imprisoned Debs (who turned into a communist in prison); the actions of the government are supported by the supreme court (shown in Document H). At the famous Haymarket square incident, 8 anarchists were rounded up for allegedly throwing a bomb during an otherwise peaceful labor demonstration and 5 were sentenced to be hung without any evidence i

Some topics in this essay:
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