Question

Why didn’t the colonial workers organize throughout the colonial period? Why did they start to organize during the antebellum period? Explain in about 5-10 sentences.

Answer 1

From colonial period, labour unionists found the going tough in Northern America. There wasn’t any prevailing ideology of ‘working-class solidarity,’ & trade unions weren’t respected; in fact, they had a reputation for being antisocial/ criminal. Some trade unions were secret societies, and unionists engaged in threats/ vandalism/ violence, specially against uncooperative labourers. Private ownership, competition, freedom of contract & freedom of changing vocations were celebrated notions, whilst state-granted monopolies & cartels weren’t popular at the formation of the American Republic.

Courts weren’t fond of union methodologies either, & firms, customers, & workers usually resisted ‘militant’ unions. Competition from imported products made life tough too. Some labourers were intensely anti-union, not only firms. U.S.A was an open community, a frontier society, agriculture-dominated, sprawling, & free, & wage rates generally were double those paid in U.K as labor was scarce. Union membership was below 1 per cent of the work force in most years from colonial period to the 1870s.

If a union called for & lost a strike, it generally collapsed. Most unions failed during business recessions as job opportunities, union membership,& revenue diminished. Whilst wages fell elsewhere in reaction to depressed business situations, unions stubbornly insisted upon maintaining wage levels (wage rigidity),further deepening their own failure. As non-union workers became cheap (more "affordable") & induced more recruiting, manufacturing costs fell, thus lessening unemployment. This wage-price flexibility shortened business slumps by expanding output level & employment, thus acting like ‘shock absorbers’ in the economy.

In the immense sweep of the early U.S economy, unions were a rarity rather than a conspicuous feature, confined mainly to skilled trades in big towns & on the railroads. Not till the late 1870s, when political philosophy started to shift towards collectivism & the "progressive period," did national labor unions obtain a real foothold.