Haymarket Riot 1886
UNIONS IN THE
NINETEENTH-EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
I.
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1.
2.
UNIONS
American Federation of Labor
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Industrial Workers of the World
Knights of Labor
National Labor Union
_________________________ Founded in 1866, this union
attempted to support all workers (including women and
African-Americans). It managed to win the eight hour
day for federal workers, but faded in the depression
of the 1870s.
___________________________ Founded in 1869, this
union was a secret society working for a utopia of a
worker controlled economy. Led by Terrence V.
Powderly, it declined, however, after the Haymarket
Riot.
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3.
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5.
____________________________ Founded in 1886, this
union of skilled craftsmen, was led by Samuel
Gompers, who fought for higher wages and better
conditions in the factories.
____________________________ Founded in 1905, this
union (nicknamed the “Wobblies”) was the most radical
pro anarchy, pro communist of any union. Mother Jones
(the Miner’s Angel; the grandmother of all
anarchists) was a co founder. Still in existence
today, it believes strongly in the power of song.
____________________________ Founded in 1935, this
union had the same philosophy as the American
Federation of Labor, but fought for unskilled workers
in mines, steel mills, and Southern textile mills.
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Closed
shops
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Collective 
Pinkerton 
Injunction
bargaining
Detectives
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Lockout
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Picket
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Quit
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Right to
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Scabs
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Sit down
work laws
strike
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Slowdown
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Strike
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Yellow dog
contracts
II.
Blacklists 
Boycott
Weapons of the Unions
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______________ leave work
__________ go to job, but do little
______________ go to job, but do nothing
______________ leave work, but mean to go back
to work after conditions were met
______________ marching outside the
establishment, to tell everyone your problems
______________ get other people not to buy a
product
_______________ get together with many people
and work out a contract for all
________________ specify in the contract that
only union members may work in the
establishment
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III.
Weapons of the Employers
9. _________________ Strikebreakers, people willing to work
in the striker’s place.
10. _________________ closing the factory
11. _________________ sending names of union workers to
other employers
12. _________________ making workers say they will not join
a union
13. _________________ keeping union members from making
everyone join the union
14. _________________order from a court to go back to work
15. _________________people brought in by employers to spy.
IV. Strikes/Events
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“Arm twisting”
Great Railroad Strike
Haymarket Riot
Homestead Strike
Pullman Strike
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
16. ____________________________________ 1877 First
national strike, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Many
militia refused to fire on strikers, but 100 people ended
up dead. President Hayes sent in federal troops.
17. _____________________________________ 1886 A protest
against the killing of workers by police at the McCormick
Strike escalated into a riot after a bomb was thrown
(supposedly by an anarchist) and seven policemen killed.
The resultant hysteria caused the collapse of the Knights
of Labor.
18. ____________________________________ 1892
A
Carnegie Plant cut wages at the beginning of the Depression
of 1893. All strikers were fired after the plant brought
in Pinkerton detectives.
19. ___________________________________ 1894 The
American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, boycotted all
trains carrying Pullman cars. This paralyzes the
railroads. President Cleveland sends in federal troops “to
get the mail through.” A court injunction sends Debs to
jail.
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20. _____________________________________ 1902 President
Roosevelt had promised a “square deal” for labor. When
coal miners went on strike, Roosevelt tried to reason with
the mine owners. When they didn’t budge, he threatened to
take over the mines himself.
21. _________________________________________1911 After
more than a hundred young women died, the nation began to
react more favorably to the demands of workers. Follows
the Uprising of the 20,000—the Garment Workers Strike of
1909-1910.
V.
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Supreme Court Cases
Hammer vs. Dagenhart
Hunt vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1845
In re Debs 1895
Muller vs. Oregon
22. _______________________________________________1845
Strikes are legal.
23. _______________________________________________ 1895
The federal government has the right to suppress labor
movements.
24. _______________________________________________ 1908
was based on what was best for society rather than strict
legal principles, by supporting laws regulating how long
women could work
25. ______________________________________________ 1918
The Supreme Court case which found the Child Labor Act too
restrictive of the corporations’ right to equal protection
under the 14th Amendment
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