war and industrialization

Shanna McCue
11/11/09
The War between Capital and Labor

“Historian Page Smith referred to a period of American industrialization as 'the war between capital and labor.' In a thoughtful essay supported by informative references to relevant history, describe the extent to which you believe this statement is an accurate portrayal of American society between 1850 and 1900.”

Personally, I believe that Page Smith's metaphor that compares American industrialization to a war between the mentioned 2 defying elements is accurate in some points, but not all. Like a war, the constant fights and disagreements were over something: In this case, at least for the most part, the disagreements were over poor working conditions, dreadfully long working hours, and low wages. The laborers acted violently and the capital side never hesitated to fire the power they have over the laborers back at them.

Aside from this, war-like qualities were shown in the decades between 1850 and 1900. Not only hundreds, perhaps thousands of people's lives lost or destroyed in some way, but millions of dollars' worth of damage was done all across America – from rioting sites to corpses strewn across American land. It was estimated that, from a single strike (The pullman strike of 1894, to be exact) there was $340,000 worth of damage (estimated $6,800,000 nowadays) caused only by one side of the war: the laborers. This single strike – a single battle – can compare and even go beyond the amount of damage done by other battles in American wars' history.

The 1886 Haymarket affair was a battle-like event very similar to a war's battle. A strike on Haymarket square, started by angry laborers that demanded an 8 hour work day. Over a thousand workers participated in the angry riot, and when an anonymous bomb blew up in the crowd, the police opened fire in the riot. Several were killed, and 8 of the anarchist leaders that took part in leading the event were tried. These men were tried and even given the death penalty after being convicted of inciting violence. Inciting violence, as in, creating and carrying out intentions to bring violence during the riot. This trait it similar to those of a general's in war.

However, I don't agree entirely with the metaphor that American industrialization was all like a war. For example, during a war, one side typically wins, after both sides suffer great losses and some wins alike. In this instance, the other side would lose terribly and have horrible debt to pay, not to mention a cruel aftermath to live through once the battles are finished. However, during the American Industrialization era, both sides managed to lose some and win some all in the end, assuming that these “sides” are the Capital side and Laborer side.

In conclusion, I find Page Smith's metaphor of the war between Capital and Labor, mostly accurate. As mentioned, most points I can see relate to each other, but other points are irrelevant and not in comparison at all.

Sources:
http://www.archaeolink.com/19th_century_american_industrial.htm
http://www.sagehistory.net/gildedage/capitalandlabor.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1029.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0823059.html