Question

What factors led to more workers joining existing and newly founded unions during the Gilded Age? What challenges did workers face in unionizing? Many of the early strikes turned _______. The _______ was the first strike in American history that involved many different workers separated by a significant amount of territory. _______ was an illegal means used by workers to physically or economically harm their boss or the company owner. What effect did the Haymarket Square strike have on the labor movement? The American Federation of Labor excluded _______ workers in order to attract only highly paid and high-demand workers. _______ became a socialist after the Pullman Strike and ran for president as a member of the Socialist Party in 1900.

Answer 1

1. Poor working conditions, including unsafe working conditions in mills and mines, led workers to demand better conditions and labor leaders to start new unions. Long hours, low pay, lack of retirement benefits and medical coverage also drove workers to join unions.

2. Workers faced resistance from company leaders and bosses. Workers came from diverse backgrounds and were often hostile to each other in the workplace. Some of the leaders in the labor union were Marxists and had ideas related to the workplace that many government officials considered extreme and anti-American.

3. Violent

4. Great Upheaval

5. Sabotage

6. Someone threw a bomb into a crowd at the Haymarket Square strike leading to the death of a police officer. This use of violence led the public to view labor, especially members of the Knights of Labor, as anarchists and promoters of mob violence despite their leader’s condemnation of the bombing.

7. Unskilled

8. Eugene V. Debs