The Most Important Factor that Contributed to the Weakness of the Labor Movement from 1877 to 1900

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The Most Important Factor that Contributed to the Weakness of the Labor Movement from 1877 to 1900
Introduction
While the Great Upheavals of labor organizations between 1877 and 1900 exerted significant challenges to corporate capitalists’ control, a number of factors, such as the exclusion of women and people of color from labor unions due to unions’ practices and policies led to the weaknesses of the labor movement during this period (Clark et al 223). The U.S. employers gained and consolidated their power over economic and political systems and the workers between 1880 and the beginning of the 20th century largely due to the divisions of labor unions along religious, race, gender, ethnicity, and regional lines (Clark et al 223). Both leadership of unions and members were characterized by the segregations throughout the 19th century and early 20th century made these organizations not to fully serve their mandates. The event of 146 workers perishing and many others sustaining injuries after a small fire broke out on March 25, 1911 sparked the need to form unions (Clark et al 223). The event that occurred at a crowded garment factory, Triangle Shirtwaist Company raised public interest on the human costs of industrialization. Although the labor movements had made significant progress, these divisions resulted in large corporations to maintain economic control and exercise tremendous political influence thus weakening the labor movement during this time. Therefore, one of the most important factors that led to the weaknesses of the labor movement between 1877 and 1900 was the exclusion of women and people of color from labor organizations because of the practices and policies that prevailed at the time.
Although wartime economic growth had significantly benefited workers, with union members earning more wages and working shorter hours, labor leaders started an organizing push, particularly through the American Federation of Labor (AFL), different unaffiliated unions, and railroad brotherhood that largely excluded women and racial minorities (Clark et al 292). This form of organizing push was in line with corporate capitalistic dominance of the political and economic life of workers instead of the primary role of unions to transform life. Nevertheless, leaders of these organizations and their members comprised of males and whites won most victories and increased their membership by about 70 percent from 1914 to 1920 to more than five million (Clark et al 293). Many organizations or movements had sprung up to solve challenges related to social, economic, cultural, and political inequities and dislocations due to industrial capitalism. Historians have always referred these movements as “progressivism” although the term points to multiple overlapping and conflicting coalitions or organizations that aimed to reform the lives of Americans between 1890 and 1914 (Clark et al 223). Particularly, since the AFL members thought trade unionists would represent all workers in political matters, the union sought for political influence between the 19th century and the early 20th century. Among the goals of such movements were to protect African Americans from lyn...