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The Success Of The Labor Movement In The Gilded Age

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The Ultimate Success of the Labor Movement
The United States’ industry boomed in the Market Revolution of the early 19th century as new means of transportation, new factories, and new technologies connected the population and transformed the States into a commercial nation. Industries boomed like never before and the working class grew steadily with the influx of immigrants and caused a shift from a rural to urban lifestyle. Rapid industrialization and a lack of workplace regulation in the Gilded Age led to little regard for factory conditions and safety and the division between the worker and employer widened. Labor unions grew increasingly popular with the formation of two influential unions in the 1880s, the Knights of Labor and the American …show more content…

The Haymarket Square Riot in 1886 was a turning point in the public view of the labor movement. In protest for an eight-hour workday, demonstrators rallied in the Square. The police were sent to disperse the crowd and a bomb was detonated, killing and injuring many. Although the identity of the bomber was never found, the incident introduced panic and prejudice against immigrants, unionists, and anarchists, creating for the labor movement the sentiment that it was radical and violent. The Knights of Labor decreased in membership and died out with the association with the Haymarket Riot, showing the failure of the protest in the …show more content…

Seen in the cartoon, “The I.W.W. And the Other Features That Go with It”, the IWW, a major radical labor union, is depicted as Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. As the US entered WW1, opinion against Germany was highly negative, and the comparison between the IWW and the Kaiser shows the adverse social opinion of the labor movement. Additionally, The Bolshevik party overthrew the weak provisional government in October of 1917, replacing the leadership with Vladimir Lenin and the Soviet Socialist Republic. Fear that a similar revolution would occur and disrupt democracy spread throughout the United States in an era called the First Red Scare. Opponents of the government were arrested in the Palmer Raids, and individual rights of free speech were surrendered for the stability of the war cause and government with the passage of the Espionage and Sedition Acts. The labor movement’s connection with immigrants and anarchists weakened its effectiveness because the prevailing opinion of the public during the Red Scare showed little support for their

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