The Labor Movement

Workers sought a living wage, the eight-hour day, safer workplaces, an end to child labor, and recognition of their unions. Some organizations, such as the Knights of Labor, envisioned a “cooperative” society that rewarded labor rather than capital; others, like the American Federation of Labor (AFL), focused narrowly on practical gains for skilled workers.

Workers formed unions, struck, boycotted, and campaigned politically. The Knights of Labor welcomed nearly all workers — barring only lawyers, bankers, and liquor dealers — and grew to more than 700,000 members by 1886, when unions nationwide campaigned for the eight-hour day. The AFL, an alliance of craft unions, tried to avoid strikes and bargain for higher wages, fewer hours, and safer conditions. Railroad workers in the American Railway Union under Eugene Debs used a national boycott of Pullman cars in 1894. Some workers turned to socialist and other radical politics.

Employers fought unions with lockouts, blacklists, strikebreakers, and private armies such as the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Courts issued injunctions against strikes, at times using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act — intended to curb monopolies — against unions. Governors called out the militia and presidents sent federal troops: in 1877, at Homestead in 1892, and at Pullman in 1894. After Haymarket in 1886, a wave of anti-labor and anti-immigrant fear swept the country.

The failure of the Great Railroad Strike convinced many workers of the need to organize. Over time, labor’s pressure helped produce state laws on hours and safety, the Progressive Era’s workplace reforms, and finally the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which guaranteed private-sector workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.

Many unions excluded or segregated Black, Asian, and women workers — the American Railway Union, for example, admitted only white railroad workers — weakening labor solidarity. Questions about the balance of power between workers and employers, and about government’s role in protecting the right to organize, remain central to American politics.