The Civil War And National Unions(William Sylvis)

The conflict(Civil War) spurred an unprecedented wave of industrialization in the north,the vast war-spending reinvigorated a national economy staggered by the recession of 1857(not caused again by workers but by capitalists).Large monopolies(oil,steel,sugar) concentrated wealth and power(controlling representatives)to the heights never known in America.Congress actively supported big business by making grants to railroads,raising tariffs on foreign goods and authorizing employers to import immigrant laborers.In response, there was a parallel expansion of workers' organizations,from one hundred in 1860 to three hundred after the war.Between 1860 and 1870, the number of factory workers grew from 1.3 million to 2 million.Many of the new trade unions strived for national stature,most notably the National Typographical Union,Iron Molders'Union,the Machinists and Blacksmiths,the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,and the iron workers who organized as the Sons of Vulcan.

William Sylvis became president of the Iron Molders' International Union in 1863.By 1865,under Sylvis tireless promotion,the group was on its way to becoming the strongest trade union in America,with seven thousand members in fifty-three locals.Sylvis even kept "scab albums" in order to track the names and movements of replacement workers.It was also characteristic of Sylvis to reach out to scabs wherever possible,in the hope of making them reconsider their folly and adding them to the union fold.In the summer of 1866,Sylvis founded the National Labor Union,the country's first national labor federation.The union was not dedicated to any specific trade but to all,both skilled and unskilled workers. The NLU agenda highlighted workers and consumer cooperatives as well as monetary reforms that would shift the country away from the gold standard to legal tender currency based on actual wealth,making more "greenbacks' available for workers and small businesses.It's major issue was the eight-hour day with additional pay.Shorter hours would make workers better consumers and their expenditures would invigorate manufacturing and create jobs,according to Sylvis.Shorter hours would also provide jobs for returning soldiers who need employment.The NLU established the nation's first permanent lobby in Washington.In May 1869,President S.Grant,issued a proclamation that no reduction shall be made in wages paid by government by the day to workers on account of a reduction in hours of labor.This opened the door eventually to private companies paying workers for their services in the same manner.

Sylvis saw a means to address the problem of a permanent wage-earning class.He proposed cooperative ventures,both manufacturing enterprises and consumer run stores.As cooperationists,they would sell the products they manufactured and subsist off the profits.Worker owned industries( I support state run industries today) would spawn land and home associations(cheaper housing),worker-friendly banks(today's credit unions), and lending institutions,as well as the means to distribute food and other necessities at reasonable prices(I support state run food cooperatives today).Sylvis's own Iron Moulders' Union showed the way opening foundry cooperatives in Troy,N.Y. and soon others in Albany,Rochester,Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The foundries hit rough financial water after a number of years and Sylvis approached the government about supporting worker cooperatives with gifts of money and public lands, much as it had railroad interests(no luck there as it is today).But unlike Europe,where the collective impulse was intrinsic to how citizens viewed their governments(some things never change) and themselves,America was devoted to the individual-a person's freedom to compete and succeed or fail based on his or her own merits and abilities(40% don't pay income taxes today because they don't earn enough in our present economic system).Many believe in America(1870),that cooperation was an offshoot of communism..hostile to property(same here today).The problem with the cooperatives was that they were under capitalized(no help from government or business community),sales of their manufactured products were inadequate,and they lacked the money necessary to grow and sustain a large industrial enterprise(blacklisted by investors).They also lacked the market savvy leadership needed to compete with ordinary enterprises.Some cooperatives managed to creep into the twentieth century and the cooperative store movement fared better than its industrial cousin but both eventually dropped off the marketplace(only to be resurrected in 2016).

More from "There is Power in a Union" by Philip Dray.