Labour And Monopoly Capitalism

These workers faced dangers everyday and received little pay. At the same time, many other people also had more money and leisure time. Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty, talks about this divide. “ It was as though an immense wedge were being forced, not underneath society, but through society. Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down” (Document 3).

The life in the 19th-century for labor worker was from far easy. With all the wealth being generateing during the Gilded age very little of its wealth were given to the wokers. Even the best wages for a industrial worker were low, with long hours, working in awfully poor conditions. With safety rules and regulations being unexisted, it was hard to blame employers responsible. It was worse for women and children, who worked as hard or even harder than men, often time only revcieved only but a fraction of what a man earned.

During the years 1880-1920 there were many issues because of urbanization and industrialization. The industrial revolution brought many new job opportunities with low wages making companies focus on women and children. These opportunities were available but at a cost, they were paid less and they were forced to work up to ten hours. The industrial giants made labor a tough and unfair lifestyle. They wanted more riches, but they were making people suffer in order to obtain the money.

The Industrialization had bloom during the late 1800s early 1900s. This big growth was a positive and negative impact in the United States history. This began the devastating practice of child labor. Children would work in factories for very long hours be paid very low wages or not even be paid. According to Harold Goldstein, ‘’it had been accepted as a norm, employment of young children gradually came to be viewed as harmful and exploitative in the United States.’’

Early industrial working conditions were very poor and consisted of low wages, long hour and low safety (Ideology in History

Since the break of dawn, there have always been the dominant oppressor and the submissive oppressed. The dominant class has always imposed its view of the world on others, refusing any other views as they stayed on the top of the social hierarchy. They believed they were superior to any other class in the society and believed they were the elite. All minorities were denied their basic rights of self-determination. As a result, Resistance movements emerged as a must and a necessity for a better life to liberate the society from the hegemonic cultural norms and social structures.

The labour was more productive after the World War II and they made more profits for their employers. In return the employers also offered incentives, medical facilities and established labour unions to make their voice reach the highest

Another critical grievance against society performed by many affluent employers was the exploitation of the new generations. Not only were fully adult workers being brutalized through an abhorrent working environment, children as young as six years old were exposed to many of the same or similar conditions. Document three is a photograph of two little boys who look to be no older than nine years of age changing the bobbins in a giant machine without any safety equipment while the machine is running. Not only are these kids forced to work in danger of losing digits or other body parts to the hazardous contraptions they worked with all day, this eliminates any chance they have to complete much, if any amount of education that might have helped them rise up in society and break the vicious circle that makes and keeps the poor the way they are, impeding any hierarchical progress. After a grueling day of hard work with little income to show for it, as people went home to their families to eat, they were presented with virtually inedible meat that was then compounded with rat hair, and feces.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution caused a massive economic spike from small-scale production to large factories and mass production. Capitalism became the prevalent mode of the economy, which put all means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie, or the upper class. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argue that capitalism centralizes all the wealth and power in the bourgeoisie, despite the proletariat, or the working class, being the overwhelming majority of the population. The manufacturers would exploit the common proletariat and force them to would work in abysmal conditions and receive low wages, furthering the working class poverty. “The Communist Manifesto” predicts that as a result of the mistreatment

The workers gather to listen to several speakers over the five days near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company among those giving the speaks there was both a pled from those who discouraged violence and encourage the crowd to join together against the companies; however, this was also a pled from those who urge worked to take action of violent revolution. The Haymarket Riot turned into a violent event resulting in a controversy trial that supported the discrimination against union members. Perhaps the greatest lasting effect of the riot was that it created a widespread revulsion against union, which caused membership to decline and reduce union influence; because unions became lined to radical ideas and violence in the popular mind. (Avial,2011)

They had horrible working hours and usually had to work six days a week or maybe even seven. In some cases, laborers had to work from 3am till 7pm. The Government took notice and addressed this issue in the International Labor Congress in which representatives demand a reduction on working hours (6). Another issue that was addressed was the fact that workers had no health insurance if they suffered from any injuries while doing their jobs. The representatives called for factories to treat the lives and limbs of their workers as sacred and help pay for the injuries (6).

For the workers, there is no reward that compensates for their hard work. They are confined to work for a very little wage. The wretched working class was constrained to be poor whereas the rich became richer. The market revolution changed the America system and its beliefs, in the hope of new opportunities for jobs. This was a new era of work, where families no longer work in farms, and people are migrating to the cities where the works are.

The growth of the nation has been stunted by the segregation of the business class and the working class. The capitalists claimed their effort to mechanize the manufacturers will provide an advantage to the working class. “Their tasks has become less onerous, the machine doing nearly everything which requires great strength” (Doc F). On the contrary, the workmen felt the continuous movement of the machines was “degrading man

The Industrial Workers of the World came into existence in 1905 was a revolutionary unionism known for its radical and militant approach. Its goal was to ensure that unity and completeness was afforded to both skilled and unskilled workers and not solidarity by occupation. Efficiency was not a concern of the union, for they took issue with the fact that the employers reaped monumental monetary gain, while the workers barely made enough to take care of themselves or their families. Its goal was to form one union, which would be opened to all workers, without any barriers. This was known as the “One Big Union.”

Marx’s theory on exploitation is related to his earlier writings on the theory of alienation. They are both similar in that they are both highly critical of the capitalist system. Grint,(2005) emphasises that before Karl Marx nobody had ever confronted the idea of exploitive wage labour, many great thinkers of Marx’s time like Locke and Ricardo thought that the value of the wage labour was exactly equivalent to the labour expended while producing a product. Watson,T.J (2008) states that “ capitalist employment is exploitive in attempting to take from working people the value which they create through their labour and which is properly their own. ”P.62.