HIST 1F96 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: George Pullman, Muckraker, Haymarket Affair
Document Summary
The making of the north american working class. Expansion of labour force: work in mines, on railroads, on steel mills, work became available in new (often urban) cities, labourers were often new immigrants. Instead of subsistence farming, farmers produced cash crops to sell in markets: people wouldn"t work independently but began working for large scale interests. Instead of making goods at home, workers were moving into factories working for corporations. Individual initiative: said that they had achieved status through merit, others who weren"t achieving this idea weren"t working hard enough (meritocracy) The model city (pullman, illinois): cities could push workers to better themselves, george pullman, president of pullman palace car co, pullman created the town, where workers could rent houses, there was a library, gymnasium, etc. Federation of labour (1886); both were groups of craft unions joined together (union of shoemakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. join together) Gave rise to more radical groups (eg. socialist party)
