1. The Birth of Unions
By Brad Harris,
SE: US 3B Grand Prairie HS

2. What is a Labor Union?
A labor union is an organization of workers who
unite to protect the rights of the workers from
abusive practices of the employer

3. What is a Labor Strike?
A labor strike is when a labor union refuses to
go to work in order to shut down a business
because of poor working conditions or poor pay

4. Early Unions
The free enterprise system meant that businesses
made their own rules
Without government interference, business
owners could pay their workers what they wanted
and make them work as long as they wanted
Industrialization during the late 1800s
contributed to the development of organized labor
because it created low-wage, low-skill jobs that
made employees easy to replace.

5. Suppressing the Unions
• Union organizers were blacklisted, making it impossible
for them to get a job
• Businesses locked workers out and refused to pay them
• Workers were forced to sign contracts saying they
would not join a union

6. Karl Marx
Karl Marx was
the German
philosopher,
whose ideas
are credited as
the foundation
of modern
communism.
Marx argued that free market capitalism, like previous
socio-economic systems, will inevitably produce
internal tensions which will lead to its destruction

7. Marxism
Marx believed that workers would eventually revolt,
take control of factories, and overthrow the
government. Once the workers did this, the new
workers-led government would take all private property
and distribute wealth evenly among every citizen.
Marxism greatly influenced European unions and led
to numerous revolutions in Europe in the mid-1800s.
When immigrants came to the U.S. from Europe, many
feared they would bring their ideas of workers
revolutions with them, leading to a distrust of many
Americans of immigrant workers.

8. Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
Mother Jones was the nation’s most
prominent woman union leader during
the American Industrial Revolution
Jones became
an organizer for
the United Mine
Workers
She traveled to numerous mining
camps to see conditions miners had
to endure. She gave fiery speeches
for miners to unite to fight for better
working conditions and better pay.

9. Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
was the powerful
leader of the
American
Railway Union.
Debs would run for president
four times as a candidate for
the Socialist Party

10. American Federation of Labor
The American Federation
of Labor was the union of
over 20 trade unions
Samuel
Gompers was
the union’s
first leader.
Gompers believed unions should stay
out of politics and that they should
negotiate rather than go on strike.

11. Great Railroad Strike of 1877
In 1877, an economic recession led to some railroads
cutting wages, triggering the first nationwide labor
strike. It became known as the Great Railroad Strike.

12. Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Some workers turned violent and numerous
states had to call out their state militias to
stop the violence.

13. Knights of Labor
In response to the Great
Railroad Strike of 1877, labor
organizers formed the first
nationwide industrial union –
the Knights of Labor.
The Knights called for an
eight-hour workday, supported
the use of arbitration AND
began to organize strikes.

14. Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot was the disturbance that took
place on May 4, 1886, in Chicago, and began as a rally
in support of striking workers.

15. Haymarket Riot
A bomb was thrown during the rally, which started a
riot. Eight men were convicted and four of them were
executed. One was a member of the Knights of Labor.

16. Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike occurred in 1892 when workers
of Andrew Carnegie’s U.S. Steel went on strike after a
tense labor dispute led to a lockout.

17. Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike one of the most violent strikes
in U.S. history and was a major setback for unions.

18. Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike
refers to a nationwide
conflict between labor
unions and railroads
that occurred near
Chicago in 1894.

19. Pullman Strike
Following the firing of union
workers, Debs organized a
strike that shut down the
nation’s railroads and
threatened the economy.

20. Impact of union strikes
Union membership declined as many people saw
unions as being Un-American and violent

21. IWW (Wobblies)
The International Workers of
the World (IWW) is the union
created in Chicago in 1905
that was made up primarily of
socialists and anarchists
The IWW
called for all
workers to be
united as a
class and no
wage system

22. Women’s Trade Union League
In the early 1900s, women were
paid less than men, and most
unions did not include women.
As a result,
in 1903 the
Women’s
Trade Union
League was
formed
This was the first union organized
to address women’s labor issues.

25. Summary
• The free enterprise system is based on the laissez-faire
theory, meaning that the government should not
interfere with or regulate business
• Industrialization contributed to the development of
labor unions because it created low-wage, low-skill
jobs that made employees easy to replace
• The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 led to the first
nationwide industrial union – the Knights of Labor
• Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of
Labor, the largest trade union in the nation

26. Coming up
Next…
Politics and
Reform
during the
Gilded Age