Business and Labor in the Gilded Age Innovation, Profits, and Workers’ Rights

Industrial Capitalism: Different Perspectives on Success Business/ManagersWorkers

Late 19 th -Century Business Innovations Capitalism = dynamic system, always changing Capitalists always trying to find new ways to achieve profits and control Use of new technologies and methods of production New ways of getting the most value out of employees Cutting costs for labor, supplies, transport, processing

Rise of Big Business Modeled on railroads Looked to increase profits by cutting costs, increasing output of goods, cutting down on competition Get Bigger - Vertical integration – swallow up suppliers and sellers – Swift meatpacking Monopoly – Rockefeller Oil – sweetheart deals with railroads (also vertical int.) Better marketing – advertising advantages Crush competitors by lowering prices or buying them out (horizontal integration)

Rise of the Corporation Protected under the 14 th Amendment – granted “personhood” rights

New Industries = New Social Classes in America Myth: America is class-less society (no classes) Gilded Age saw creation of new classes and new class conflicts Nouveau-riche (New rich) elite – non-inherited wealth, entrepreneurs, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt Middle-class – white collar managers, engineers, office workers Changes in working-class: growth of unskilled manufacturing workforce Different classes had different ideas of how economy should work, who it should benefit most, who should have power

The New Working Class Labor Question: What share of the wealth, power, and rights would workers have in the new modern industrial economy? “New immigrants” from southern and eastern Europe Traditional gender divisions, but rising # of women in industry Black workers used for lowest-paid jobs In south, 19 th c. textile industry often reserved for white families Child labor All of these groups formerly excluded from manufacturing, but could now take unskilled or semi-skilled jobs – threat to male domain

Responses: Unions and Politics Trade Unions (Sam Gompers & AFL)– protect traditional crafts and trades (mostly white males), power in workplace, force employers to bargain – “More” of the pie Knights of Labor -- organize all “producers”, create new society with respect for producers, education Ind. Workers of the World (IWW) – organize all workers into One Big Union, fight as a class, unions will run economy and society (syndicalism) American Railway Union (Debs) – all rail workers in one union (model for other industries too) Socialist Party (Debs) – along with unions, fight for political power to change system

Labor Union Demands Stop child labor Proper share of the wealth = progressive income tax Collective bargaining Equal pay for equal work, women’s rights Dealing with reality of changing workforce Getting govt. involved on the side of workers – banking, land issues Government ownership of railroads 8-hour day Shifting power to workers Weekly pay/ minimum wage Right to organize a union

Connections – Continuing Issues Industrialization = new international markets, international engagement, imperialism Industrialism mass production/mass consumption economy (Fordism) Rising standard of living, but inequality, bad working conditions, pollution Immigration issues Labor Question remained important Boom and bust economy depressions