Industrialized Workers and Wage Slaves: 3D Gallery

Workers in the Industrial Revolution

In the early Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century, the United States was making what was quite possibly one of the biggest progressions of the modern world. Following the model of Great Britain, America began the climb to advancement by building factories and manufacturing mass amounts of goods in those factories. With this push of industrialization, the U.S. needed large amounts of people to supply the needs for workers in the newly founded production buildings. Men, women, and children from fields and farms began to move to urban areas to work 14-16 hour days for wages of about 10 cents a hour. In addition to the small pay, workers such as those in the picture, were confined to dark spaces with a multitude of machines that required no precautions or prerequisites in skill, which in turn caused many tragic accidents and common diseases. This treatment was a breeding ground for the backlash that was to be thrown at the government for the oppressive conditions of workers.

Creation of the Middle Class

The emergence of the Industrial Revolution also gave reason for the emergence of a new people, well known by name today as the Middle Class. The north held many of the booming manufacturing towns of the time, therefore causing many people to move to the urban areas of these cities and crowd themselves in small houses so that they could find work here. Workers shoved themselves in houses with 4-8 other people in them and in addition to sharing only one room with these people, also shared diseases and lack of treatment for such...though this was not the case for all workers. Some were able to use their pay to move out of these "slums" and buy houses away from the city, creating the first city suburbs. Housing continued to improve as time went on and as workers continued to complain.

Poddar, Ankur. “Working and Living Conditions.” The Industrial Revolution, firstindustrialrevolution.weebly.com/working-and- living-conditions.html.

The Sweatshop

Sweatshops became the term used for factories to name them in a more literal sense, as these buildings became known to employ workers who performed labor-intensive and exhausting tasks. This term was best describing the idea of the typical garment-making factory who was said to have a middleman, or 'sweater,' which directed many of the people under him, and then a 'sweat-system,' which was comprised of most of the people in the factory who did the actual work the 'sweater' told them to do. This factory hierarchy became the selling point for several books criticizing the factory model such as Cheap Clothes and Nasty by Charles Kingsley and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and not to mention the principles it founded for many anti-industrial organizations such as the National Anti-Sweating League whose mission was the break the factory mold.

Wikipedia contributors. (2018, October 21). Sweatshop. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:00, October 29, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Sweatshop&oldid=865045756

Blinders of a 'Wage Slave'

In the 1800's, middle class workers earned the title of 'wage slave' in addition to their already not-so-highly-coveted title of 'sweat system.' Of course there was still such a thing as an actual slave, but the middle class considered themselves slaves in their own respect, as even though they got paid, they were paid extremely low wages and their treatment didn't differ greatly from that of a slave. Nevertheless, as the cartoon depicts, wage slaves continued to run toward the idea of having money, not ever realizing that the money was in the hands of the wealthy and would hardly reach the hands of those in their social class. Their faith, hope, patience, and many other qualities continued them on their constant quest for money until they began to realize the dream was not easily attained or in many cases, would never be attained, giving them reason to protest.

B., Harel. “Best Satire Of The Unjust Absurdity Of Wage Slavery?” PopularResistance.Org, PopularResistance.Org, 9 Aug. 2018, popularresistance.org/best-satire-of-the-unjust-absurdity-of- wage-slavery/.

Labors Unions

With the continuing problems in the industry, workers began to form new alliances against their work organizations called Labor Unions. These unions used protest to inform the government of the horrible conditions that they were in at work and prompt them to take action against these problems. Though some of these protests failed to change any sort conditions or in fact make it worse, in other instances they became reason for the government or company to make changes to their work regulations and precautions. In the above picture, workers protested the lack of protective clothing that was provided to them where they worked with asbestos, a dangerous substance that was able to cause significant lung damage if breathed in for long amounts of time. The union protested for 6 months in 1976 until finally the organization agreed to put their demands in action at their business and reemploy them as workers with these precautions in place.

London Metropolitan University, TUC Collection. “Striking Women.” Health and Safety at Work | Striking Women, www.striking-women.org/module/workplace-issues-past-and- present/health-and-safety-work.

Haymarket Square Bombing

During the infamous Industrial Revolution controversy, labor unions, though not at the forefront of work, were becoming increasingly prominent and also violent. Workers found a desperate need to make their voices heard in a sorrow-filled life of work which was only barely reaching their needs to survive. In 1886, attention was called to labor unions when a rather radical group set into motion several rallies, bombs, and upheavals in Haymarket Square where it killed 11 people (7 police officers) and injured about 70 people (some civilians and police officers). This caused cities to enlarge their protective forces and also brought attention to labor unions and those in opposition of the newly founded workforce conditions, calling attention and attraction to their cause.

Digital History. “Notes on Labor, 1875-1900.” Labor 1875-1925, claver.gprep.org/sjochs/labor.htm.

Child Employees

Children earned the title for the worst experiences during the time of Early Industrialism by far. Ignoring the fact that they deserved the right to be fun and happy children, factory owners were very attracted to the idea of having kids work for them. They liked the idea of them being able to get into small spaces, be controlled easy by threats to do their jobs well, and they did not have to pay them as much as adults for all of this simply because of the age difference, though some may get the same amount of work done. Children were employed at scary high rates and it would take the Great Depression to finally decrease the number of child laborers and years of protesting to defeat the hideous practice of child labor.

Library of Congress. “Eastern Illinois University Homepage.” The Source- Child Labor, www.eiu.edu/eiutps/newsletter_childlabor.php.

Invention of the Steam Engine

Though there were many things about the Industrial Revolution that found a negative connotation with the people, some things revolutionized during the time actually worked toward the ease of society and the workers. The Steam Engine was one of the most important inventions of the 1800's and revolutionized the way workers traveled and shipped supplies. The Steam Engine also made all of the processes run a bit faster and more efficient since everything was getting shipped faster, thus making food and supplies be shipped faster for workers home too. So though there were a lot of bad things happening at the time, some things, such as the Steam Engine invented by James Watt, gave new life to something amazing for a growing workforce and world population.

Darrius, Scott. “Industrial Revolution.” Artifacts, scottdarrius.weebly.com/industrial-revolution.html.

The Last Railroad Spike

Not only did workers find employment in the North, but they also found a new place to reside and be employed with the creation of the railroad system. As the steam engine became a new mode of transportation, so did the idea of railroad tracks and their role in getting trains around in order to ship and provide goods to people throughout the country. The most important place that was able to be reached through this ingenious invention was the West, especially with the use of the new Transcontinental Railroad, a road that spanned from the West coast all the way to central North America, where it included many new workers that may otherwise have been way below the poverty line working as a farmer so in this respect, the spikes were good for some workers. The particular spike here was the last spike to complete the Transcontinental Railroad and symbolized the last effort in a revolutionary new mode of transportation and unity of the whole country.

“1870-1900: Industrial Development.” National Museum of American History, 16 Oct. 2015, americanhistory.si.edu/american- stories/1870-1900-industrial-development.

A Century Celebration

New described the whole nineteenth century from start to finish. There were new ways of life, new ways to work, new ways to obtain supplies, new places to live, and so much more. It was only appropriate that America compliment her progression with a gift. In order to commemorate the last 100 years which had shaped the future of the country, Union Porcelain Works made a vase showing several components important to American society at the time such as bison and steamships. The vase depicts several people who shaped this America and yet forgets to depicts the millions of workers at the mercy of the factory model, working for their beloved country under a new era. This century is celebrated as improvement yet when we look back on aspects of daily life, an essential part of that picture seems to be missing and in darkness, begging the question of how workers and 'wage slaves' were really treated during their time.