Industrial Workers Response To Industrialization

In a time where Reconstruction just ended and the Second Industrial Revolution began, to the idea of Imperialism in the United States, changes began to take place. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers started to respond to the industrialization in the Gilded Age. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization was by getting together with other farmers or laborers and by getting involved with politics. One significant way farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization was by working together with fellow farmers or laborers. The price of crops farmers were selling began to plummet during the industrialization of the United States because of overproduction and the use of middlemen, who sold their

The immigrants took factory and other industrialized jobs, which created a competition with the working class that was already living in these cities, because the immigrants worked for less pay. Asian immigrants started to come to the United States as well, and settled in the western states. Asian immigrants started to compete with the laborers who were already there for the jobs. Laborers knew the need to work together, so unions were created. Laborers made the union Knights of Labor. The Knights of Labor worked to get rid of these problems by pushing for shorter work hours, forcing Chinese workers to leave, and other things such as getting rid of child labor and higher pay. The Knights of Labor were different than other unions, because the KoL worked to get changes for all workers, not just those in the union. Eventually the Knights of Labor declined, and the American Federation of Labor rose to distinction. The AFL worked against the same issues, but declined membership to women and African-Americans. Also, the union only worked to help those who were a part of the union, and the union focused on what is considered, “bread and butter issues”. These issues were pursued by strikes and