Homestead+Strike+of+1892

**The Company's View** Andrew Carnegie was in charge of the Homestead plant. His plan for the plant was to eliminate the workers union and to continue cutting back workers wages and rights because there contract was up. To follow out his plan while he was away in England he put Henry Clay Frick in charge.Frick took an aggressive approach to this matter. He put up 3 miles of fences around three sides of the plants that ran down the river on each side of the pier. The fences were 15 feet tall and were topped with barb wire. They also had hole built into the fence that wereperfect size for riffle barrels. This plant became know as "Fort Frick". He also hired three hundred armed guards from the Pinkerton Detective agency to break down any future strikes.

**The Worker's View** The homestead plant consisted of 3,800 men. These workers were under a very powerful three year contract with Andrew Carnegie, that recognized the rights of about 800 skilled union workers, and it was to expire in June 1892. They hated the idea that they had “to resort to arms to get their proper pay” as they said in the "song of strike" by George Swetnam which was sung in the homestead strike of 1892 by the union worker. Therefore the union workers wanted to continue with the contract in hope of getting better wages and more rights. Unfortunately Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick had a different plan in mind. The union workers felt as if they were being treated unfairly, almost like slaves. They imaged the corporations saying “You must all renounce your union and forswear your liberty, and we will give you a chance to live and die in slavery”, inthe "song of the strike". Although they felt this angry, many of the poor union workers could not retaliate by going on strike for fear or losing their jobs, but the higher paid union workers did not have the same problem. The higher paid union also could afford to go on strike so they innate the Homestead strike, in hope of getting what they thought they deserved.

**Strike!** The strike began on the morning of July 6th 1892, with the arrival of the Pinkerton guards. The workers knew the guards would be armed so they prepared themselves accordingly. They gathered whatever supplies were available including umbrellas and stockings filled with scrap iron. The Pinkertons arrival was met with thousands of enraged workers. The nation’s bloodiest labor battles cost the death of seven union workers and 3 Pinkerton guards before the guards surrendered.

** Public Reaction**

Manyof the citizens and non-union worker in the Homestead area took the side of the striking workers. They believed that the actions against the union by Carnegie and Frick were unjust, and many joined the workers in the strike force. Although only 750 of the plant’s workers were represented by the union, over 3,000 approved the strike. When the time came to seize the plant to prevent the job replacement by nonunion workers, more than 5,000 workers and citizens came to help. The strikers also had the support of the mayor John McLuckie and many local businesses. After the attack by the Pinkertons, many citizens grew angry over the violence and the loss of loved ones. Locals blamed the strikebreakers, taking the side of the union workers and fighting against the Pinkerton men.

 **Impact** In the initial attack on July 5th, seven strikers and three Pinkerton workers were killed, leaving many more injured. The strikers gained the help of more citizens, who were angered at the violence and the Pinkerton workers. An immediate effect of the battle was the dismantling of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AAISW Union), and following shortly after, the replacement of many union workers by non-union workers. The citizens of the town became discouraged, and many of the workers who could not afford to lose money through time on strike returned to work. Although the strike continued for four months, many of the lower paid workers could not afford to miss work. After the Ho mestead Strike of 1892, the Union would not return to Western Pennsylvania for another four decades. No new companies would be able to gain power in the steel plants along the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. Steel industry would rule this area for a long time to come.

** Back to Work** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When the workers returned to work at the plant without the Union, lif e at the plant was difficult. Workers would enter the plant through a hole in the fence for their12 hour shifts without break, many being paid less than $2.00 per day. Workers risked their lives doing work that could easily harm them, suffering through immense heat "hot enough to burn your boot-soles". One worker in an article in McClure’s Magazine reported losing 40 pounds in the first three months of him joining the plant. Although the citizens and workers did not agree with the conditions they were forced to work in, many of the workers could not afford to strike. The workers would become hardened to the difficult labor, describing it a year after the strike as “like any severe labor. It drags you down mentally and morally, just as it does physically”

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References: ** ABC Clio: American History, s.v. "Homestead strike," accessed May 10, 2011. http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/. Primary: Homestead and its Perilous Trades - Impressions of a Visit By Hamlin Garland from McClure's Magazine, June, 1894. __[]__ Primary: “Song of a Strike”: George Swetnam, “Song of a Strike,” (1892). Reprinted in Linda Schneider, “The Citizen Striker: Workers' ideology in the Homestead Strike of 1892,” Labor History 23 (Winter 1982): 60. Free: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=229
 * Sources**

Book: Book: Boardman, Fon Wyman. America and the Robber Barons, 1865 to 1913. New York: H.Z. Walck, 1979

Fist: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.xtimeline.com/__UserPic_Large/6851/ELT200804020937524745897.GIF&imgrefurl=http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx%3Fid%3D84032&usg=__H4roWQhkCUOljmtkAAtRfcnY_gE=&h=203&w=270&sz=62&hl=en&start=0&sig2=sWX7mxNlxF4I81O0M_se2Q&zoom=1&tbnid=cpJijNWF448nFM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=179&ei=9WTMTZq_MbPUiAKT2r2eBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhomestead%2Bstrike%2Bof%2B1892%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1008%26bih%3D608%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=578&vpy=128&dur=876&hovh=162&hovw=216&tx=86&ty=88&page=1&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0 Second: http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/907449?terms=homestead%20strike Third: http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1074651?terms=homestead%20strike Fourth: http://www.xtimeline.com/__UserPic_Large/6851/ELT200804020937524745897.GIF Fifth:http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-pinkertons2.html Sixth: http://aes-humanities8.wikispaces.com/Homestead+Strike+of+1892
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