Rise and fall of labor movement’s. Literature & Language Essay

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The Rise and Fall of Labor Movements
Given the aftermath of the first world war, the American labor market was unstable in terms of how employers treated workers. Such resulted in the rise and fall of various labor movements whose aim was to fight for the rights of the employees. Various factors contributed to the rise and fall of such movements in the last half of the nineteenth century. Discrimination was one of the common themes that emerged in the formation of the labor movements since workers needed a fair working environment. The discrimination was as a result of the slavery acts, which led to the African Americans working in poor conditions and low wages. Therefore, this paper will focus on the theme of discrimination, the interplay of race, ethnicity, gender, and class in the development of labor movements from 1920 to 1930 and 1950 to 1980.
Regarding the rice and fall of labor movements in the 1920s to the 1930s, the American labor union was considered as a tool that put its goals ahead of America's general welfare. The labor movement was once valued as a partner that helped in the achievement of victory during the world war one. The changes in the labor movement were caused by the fact that employers were unwilling to increase employee wages. The period after the first world war was characterized by increased rates of inflation, and therefore, people required higher wages for them to sustain their standards of living. Given that employers were not willing to negotiate for higher wages with the employees, strikes were thus called as a way of advocating for change. In addition, the general public was against such strikes since they believed that the strikes encouraged chaos. As well, they feared that the strikes were inspired by foreign communists who aimed at economically gaining from the unrest. The American Federation of Labor defended itself on the charges that it was facing of radicalism. Following the slavery era, African Americans were subjected to poor working conditions, lived in ghettos, and were paid low wages. The wages were not sufficient for them to sustain a high standard of living as that of most white people. Therefore, such discrimination made the formation of the labor movement inevitable. Such movements advocated for fair working conditions where people from different ethnic origins would not be discriminated against. However, most Americans viewed the labor unions as a threat to their community. In early 1920, most strikes were being paralyzed, and the Red Scare was issued (Lin 305). For instance, Bishop William Quayle accused the labor movements of threatening the existence of the republican government. The AFL responded to the claims through the letters published to the bishop. In 1925, the AFL produced the film entitled labor rewards (Zigger 75). The film was made to pass across two messages. One of the messages was that the labor movements provided a reasonable platform for balancing the relationship between employees and employers. As well, the movie pointed out that the purchasing of union-made goods was a way of promoting the negotiation process between workers and employers. Therefore, through the rise and fall of the labor movemen...