The Rise of Labor Unions

     As industry reached new heights in the 19th century, relations between factory owners and their respective employees began to suffer, shifting from that of a personal nature to that of sole busniess interest.  The result:  intense exploitation of factory workers; they were paid meager wages and arduously labored for seemingly endless hours in conditions which weren't the least bit pleasurable.  Soon enough, however, the laborers began to feel a desperate need for change; yet, the fact that minute resistance was not going to suffice in bringing about such change thwarted the desire in many.  Individual workers could easily be replaced by those willing to take on the exploitative jobs; immigrants, for instance.  In light of this, countless workers who could bear the harsh nature of their self-absorbed employers no longer decided to come together in the latter portion of the 19th century to better their conditions, forming so-called "labor unions" in the process.  The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, founded in 1881, is just one of the several unions formed at the time.  It was succeeded by the American Federation of Labor in 1886, whose sole task involved the use of srikes, boycotts, and negotiations to win better working conditions, higher wages, and union recognition under the dominating capitalist system of the time.  Unions such as this gained increasing infulence through time and, ultimately, helped promote the passing of labor laws and regulations for the benefit of the poorly kept, working-class citizens who comprised them.

     The picture illustrated above conveys the sheer cruelty and inconsideration late 19th-century factory owners had toward their virtually helpless employees.  The words, "monopoly, capitalism, plutocracy, and wage slavery," sit at the top of the upper gear.  These very words provide insight into what allowed such atrocities to take place at the time; the enterprise owners abused the capitalist economic system of the time to form business monopolies, which granted them an unimaginable amount of weallth and, in turn, power (plutocracy).  Afterward, the egoists exploited their workers (essential slaves), paying them as little as possible, while, at the same time, charging them a preposterous rent fee.  This led to the inevitable formation of the many determined and solidary labor unions which helped change the way things were managed in the work force forevermore, setting the foundation for what it is today.