The strike affected the results of the 1892 presidential election and contributed to the re-election of Grover Cleveland. The failure of the Homestead Steel strike led to a decline in the negotiation power of employees and resulted in a decrease in their wages. The effect of the strike was disastrous because it disrupted the role of labor unions who worked to protect workers’ rights. A vital role in the defeat of the strike was played by the refusal of the leaders of the American Federation of Labor to organize a movement of solidarity with the strikers. The Homestead Steel strike showed that the government had to participate in significant negotiations and act as a mediator between owners of companies and employees as the social differences and pressure. The government played an essential role in restoring the order at the plant and showing the willingness to maintain the status quo even with the help of military forces. Still, the unequal distribution of welfare raised essential questions for authorities and people in the US. Managers required employees to be silent and obedient the working class noticed it and wanted to get power back. Homestead strike showed the gap between the working class and wealthy entrepreneurs, who were protected by Pinkerton guards. That is why workers were forced to react violently because the matter was extremely crucial for them. All of them had a fear that they would not be able to earn enough, or they would be fired these reasons caused the strike. However, the workers of the plant continued to fight until November 20.Īmong strikers were people of different classes and social communities, including women, migrants, non-labor union employees. On July 10, the Governor of the Pennsylvania state decided to send the national guards to restore order, which had to settle Homestead strike on July 12. After a fierce battle, the Pinkertons were forced to surrender. The agents of the Pinkerton Bureau hired by the company attacked striking workers. Seven workers and three agents from Pinkerton security agency were killed during a shootout between striking American workers and guards at the Homestead Steel facilities. On July 6, 1892, a firefight broke out, and the Carnegie factory became the scene of the Homestead massacre. After the strike began, the head of the Carnegie plant, Henry Clay Frick, hired strikebreakers and agents from the Pinkerton bureau to guard the production and managers. Even though Andrew Carnegie, himself, showed his understanding of the position of other strikers in other factories, the conflict was not resolved peacefully.Ībout 8,000 people took part in the strike, initiated by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. However, these members’ expectations regarding new opportunities and better terms have never been met. Out of eight hundred workers, only twenty were members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. Employees were not satisfied with their wages, working hours, and they were aiming to get a better salary. The situation happened when workers of the plant were negotiating the terms of new contracts because the previous agreement was due until June 1892. Homestead Steel strike was one of the most acute conflicts in the history of the US labor movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The central cause of the attack was a lockout announced on June 30, 1892, in response to workers’ protests against a pay cut. The book is both readable and richly illustrated.Homestead Steel strike is a rebellion of workers at the Andrew Carnegie steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania between June and November 1892. "The River Ran Red" is the collaboration of a team of writers, archivists, and historians, including Joseph Frazier Wall, who writes of the role of Andrew Carnegie at Homestead, and David Montgomery, who considers the significance of the Homestead Strike for the present. Contributions by outstanding scholars provide the context for understanding the social and cultural aspects of the strike, as well as its violence. ![]() Instead of retelling the story of the strike, it recreates the events of that summer in excerpts from contemporary newspapers and magazines, reproductions of pen-and-ink sketches and photographs made on the scene, passages from the congressional investigation that resulted from the strike, first-hand accounts by observers and participants, and poems, songs, and sermons from across the country. ![]() "The River Ran Red" commemorates the one-hundredth anniversary of the Homestead strike of 1892. On July 6, 1892, the striking workers and their families engaged 300 Pinkerton guards in a fierce 12-hour gun battle at the mill. 1892, caused a congressional investigation and trials for treason, motivated a nearly successful assassination attempt on Frick, contributed to the defeat of President Benjamin Harrison for a second term, and changed the course of the American labor movement. Summary: The violence that erupted at Carnegie Steel's giant Homestead mill near Pittsburgh on July 6.
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