美国历史上的几次大罢工.ppt

The Struggles of Labor (二)I. Introduction to the Struggles II. SummaryAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL)▲ Under Samuel Gompers’ leader, AFL focused on skilled workers.▲ Objectives: “pure and simple” and apolitical(与政治无关的)---increasing wages, reducing hours and improving working conditions.▲ Significance: Gompers helped turn the labor movement away from the socialist views earlier labor leaders had espoused(采纳).Samuel Gompers 塞缪尔·龚帕斯 (1850--1924)▲ Sam was born in a poor cigar-maker family in London, England. In order to make a better living, his family moved to New York in 1863.▲ Sam became a student of socialism in Europe of the International Workingman’s Association. And then he learned what a labor unity meant and the “collective bargaining” . ▲ In time, Sam formed the Cigarmakers’ Local Number One-Hundred-Forty-Four. In the union, all people had arepresentative voice. Experts say, this union was the beginning of the American labor movement.▲ In 1886, Sam Gompers helped organize a new union for all labor unions, which was called the American Federation of Labor (AFL).▲ Sam worked his whole life for one cause --- improving the rights of workers.However, labor’s goals--- and the unwillingness of capital to grant(转让) them--- resulted in the most violent labor conflicts in the nation’s history. Great Rail Strike of 1877Reason: In response to a 10-percent pay cut.Influence: Attempts to break the strike led to rioting and wide-scale destruction in several cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and San Francisco.Solution: Sending federal troops before the strike was ended.PicturesRiots of 1892▲ Place: Homestead, Pennsylvania--- at Carnegie’s steel works.▲ Process: A group of detectives the company had hired to break a bitter strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers were fired and 10 were killed.▲ Result: The National Guard was called, non-union workers were hired and the strike broken.Unions were not let back into the plant until 1937.Pictures A Paper of The Pullman Strike of 1894 --- By Jonathan BassettIntroduction: George Pullman founded the luxury sleeping cars for the railroads and built the Pullman’s Palace Car Company in Chicago in 1880, which was called a “model town”. Pullman’s town showed that the interests of labor and management were really one and the same, and that responsible capitalists could solve some of the pressing social problems created by capitalism itself. But during the economic depression, the company began to lay off employees and cut wages. Employees complaint they could not afford their renting.Process: In early 1894, the workforce at Pullman was organized by the American Railway Union (ARU), which was under the leadership of Eugene Debs. They attempted to negotiate with managers to gain higher wages or lower rents, but refused. Then, the ARU voted to support them with a national boycott of Pullman cars .The strike influenced the single rail junction(枢纽站) based in Chicago, which affected the transportation of the daily goods. Sabotage was also a factor, as tracks and switches were damaged and cars were burned. The management side in the struggle was represented by the General Managers’ Association (GMA), a “voluntary and unincorporated association” formed by twenty-four Chicago-based rail roads. The GMA asked the United States Attorney General in Chicago to request a federal court injunction(强制令,禁止令) against the strike.The injunction was granted on July 2. Its terms placed a blanket(全面的) restriction on all actions that could impede the movement of trains and mail and prohibited the officers of the ARU from directing the boycott.Solution: President Cleveland ordered federal troops to Chicago to enforce the injunction, which quelled the rioting and broke the strike. By mid-July trains were running more or less as before the strike, Eugene Debs and several other leaders of the strike were arrested. In the author’s point of view, the Pullman strike was instrumental in pushing the federal government to begin taking a more impartial role in the battle between capital and labor, where previously it had been noted for its strong support of business interests. Comparison of Chicago before and after the StrikeChicago, 1893: The Columbian Exposition Chicago, 1894: The results of the Pullman Strike: the destroyed train cars by rioters. International Workers of the World (IWW)Process: The International Workers of the World (IWW), one of the most militant strike-prone unions, was fighting for better conditions in the West’s mining industry. The IWW, or the “Wobblies”, gained popular prominence from the Colorado mine clashes of 1903.Openly calling for class warfare, the Wobblies gained many adherents (追随者) after they won a difficult strike battle in Massachusetts in 1912.Result: Their call for work stoppage(停工) in the midst of World War I led to a government crackdown(镇压) in 1917, which virtually destroyed them.SummaryAs for the reasons for these struggles, they share the similarities.▲ low wages▲ long working hours▲ bad working conditions etc.They both brought the two-side influence:▲heavily blowing the mercenary(惟利是图的) nature of the capitalist and gaining some privileges to some extent.▲bringing great economic loss The way for the government to deal with the struggles:▲keeping indifferent at the beginning period▲sending troops when the situation becoming more and more serious。