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CHAPTER ONE: EVOLUTION OF WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Labor Unrest Disputes between laborers and employers often resulted in violence. In Great Britain in the early 19th century, textile workers and weavers were distressed by the increasing use of machines in their trade. Workers in Great Britain who came to be known as “Luddites” intentionally destroyed machinery in protest of industrialization and the concurrent loss of wages and employment. The term Luddite has come to mean anyone who is opposed to new technology. In response to a series of raids and riots that destroyed industrial machinery and factories, the government passed the Frame Breaking Act of 1812, which made destroying machinery an offense punishable by execution. But in practice, forced transportation to Australia was a more common punishment. Transportation was a common practice among imperial powers during the 1700s and 1800s as a means to reduce prison populations and increase the number of settlers in colonies. In 1834, French workers in Lyon went on strike when factory owners tried to lower wages. The government deployed troops, killing somewhere between 100 and 400 protestors. In addition, several thousand workers were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms or transportation to French colonies. Protests on behalf of economic and political reforms led to a wave of revolutions throughout Europe in 1848. In the United States, a widespread railroad strike in 1877 led to riots and shut down rail traffic across the nation. President Rutherford B. Hayes deployed troops who brutally suppressed the strikers. On July 14, 1877, police fought strikers in what came to be called the Battle of the Viaduct. Approximately 30 strikers were killed, and more than 100 injured, while 13 police were wounded. On May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Square, Chicago, during a demonstration in support of striking workers, a bomb was thrown at police who were trying to suppress the protestors. After the explosion, police opened fire on the demonstrators. Seven police officers were killed and 60 injured in the bomb blast and the subsequent violence. Meanwhile, 4 protestors were killed, along with more than 70 wounded. Over 100 protestors were arrested.

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