History 479B

Devine

Fall 2012

Mark Wahlgren Summers, “More? Labor’s Revolutionary Tradition”

1. What were the elements of the “republican philosophy” that most Gilded Age workers embraced? What distinguished it from “class consciousness”? Why was “republicanism” becoming obsolete by the turn of the twentieth century?

2. Why were skilled artisans better off than unskilled wage laborers after the Civil War? What distinguished the daily work rhythms of artisans from those of unskilled workers?

3. How did the division of labor affect workers’ lives and the amount of control they had at the work place?

4. How did the shift to mass production make work more dangerous and regimented? How did it change the relationship between employer and employee?

5. What was Terence Powderly’s vision for the Knights of Labor? Why did the Knights’ strength – its broad appeal – also prove a decisive weakness?

6. Many more militant Knights believed Powderly was “out of touch” or too timid in his tactics. Why does Summers argue that Powderly’s caution was probably more realistic than the labor militants’ activism?

7. In what ways – philosophy, tactics, organizational structure – did Samuel Gompers’ AFL differ from Powderly’s Knights of Labor? What goals did the AFL share with the Knights?

8. In speaking of the AFL, Summers suggests that unions had gone from being a “brotherhood” to a “business.” What evidence does he give to support this claim?

9. What were the pros and cons of “business unionism”?

10. What forces – beyond “capital” and “failure of vision” – impeded the advance of labor unions and a “working-class sensibility” during the late nineteenth century? Why, according to Summers, did America fail to develop “a working class that saw itself as one”? Is this still the case today?

Herbert G. Gutman, “The Workers’ Search for Power: Labor in the Gilded Age”

1. Why does Gutman believe that traditional accounts of labor in the Gilded Age have been inaccurate and/or incomplete? How does he respond to those who claim the new industrial economy completely changed workers’ lives and undermined their traditional values?

2. Gutman notes that during the Gilded Age economic relationships (between capital and worker, between production and the market) were similar in large cities and small industrial towns, but the “social environment” – the “fabric of human relationships” – was different. What evidence does he give to support this view? How did this difference affect workers’ lives?

3. During the depression of the 1870s, why did workers find more sympathy in small towns (like Braidwood, Illinois) than in large cities? Why did they have more political clout in such towns?

4. What tactics did factory and mine owners employ to reassert control over their labor force? How did the town locals combat these tactics?

5. How did urban residents and the metropolitan press respond to pleas from the unemployed for public works programs? What arguments did they make to discredit strikers, the unemployed, and public responsibility for the unemployed?

6. Cities are often considered “progressive” while small towns are considered “backward” and “reactionary.” How does Gutman’s article challenge this generalization?