Labor Movement History: Origins, Development, and Impact
The Labor Movement: A Historical Overview
Early Challenges for Workers
- Long Working Hours: Laborers often worked up to 16 hours a day under harsh conditions.
- Lack of Workplace Safety: Absence of safety measures led to chronic illnesses and accidents.
- Child Labor: Children worked in mines and factories under the same conditions as adults.
- Low Wages: Particularly affecting women and children, wages were suppressed due to abundant labor.
- Layoffs: Workers were laid off without compensation or unemployment benefits.
- Absence of Benefits: No holidays or social security to cover illness or medical care.
- Suppression of Association: Workers were prohibited from organizing to improve their employment conditions.
Beginnings of the Labor Movement
Workers began to recognize the need to unite and act to change their dire working conditions, leading to the emergence of the labor movement. Early reactions included:
- Luddism: Workers destroyed machines as a form of protest. This movement was called Luddism. A law was established in 1812 that imposed the death penalty for damaging machines.
- Trade Unions: Local associations of workers in the same trade formed to obtain better working conditions. These associations were initially considered illegal.
- Chartism: The movement known as Chartism involved workers sending a People’s Charter (1838) to Parliament with demands for policies favorable to workers. Parliament rejected these demands.
Development of the Labor Movement
From the mid-19th century, the labor movement gained new momentum with the development of new strategies:
- Progress of Trade Unionism: Workers organized to negotiate with employers and the state to obtain better working conditions.
- Use of General Strikes: Strikes were used as a means of pressure. Unions, considered illegal, conducted their activities clandestinely until they were legalized.
- Emergence of Marxism and Anarchism: These ideologies critiqued capitalism, viewing it as responsible for the exploitation of the working class.
Marxism
Marxism is a political and economic theory based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It advocates for economic, social, and political change through the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie. The goal is to dismantle the capitalist system, collectivize the means of production, and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat.
Anarchism
Anarchism is a political theory based on the thought of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, with Mikhail Bakunin as a prominent figure. Anarchism opposes all forms of government and advocates for individual liberty and self-governing communes, without private property.
The International Workers’ Movement
In the 1860s, workers from different European countries recognized that their problems were the same across nations, leading to the need for international cooperation.
The First International (International Workingmen’s Association – IWA)
Founded in London in 1864, the IWA dissolved in 1876 due to persecution by governments that harshly repressed strikes and demonstrations. Anarchists were eventually expelled.
The Second International
Founded in Paris in 1889, its main demand was the 8-hour workday, and it established May 1 as International Workers’ Day. The Second International also dissolved due to increasing political tensions in Europe leading up to World War I.