Homestead+Strike+of+1892

=**__ Homestead Strike of 1892 __**=

=__** The Company **__= == United States Steel created by Andrew Carnegie was once the world's largest steel producer. Carnegie's steel mills produced rails for western railroads, armor for battles ships, steel plates for bridges, etc. One of U.S Steels' factories was located in Homestead, Pennsylvania, about six miles from Pittsburgh. The factory was originally built in 1880 and 1881 by local merchant but was late purchased by Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie even installed furnaces and electricity in this plant in order to increase efficiency and reduce required skilled labor. ==

Workers and townspeople are gathered in the village of Pottersville, which was built within the Homestead Steel Plant. =__Background __= == The Carnegie steel manufacturing plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania that went on strike in the summer of 1892 maintained a labor force of about 3,800 workers. 750 of these workers were a part of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AAISW) union, much resented by the industrial managers including both Andrew Carnegie, and the general manager of the plant Henry C. Frick. ==

==In the early 1892, the price of steel sharply decreased from $32 per gross ton to $22 forcing plant managers to make up for the loss in profits. Frick decided to slash wages and crush the AAISW union, a plan supported unofficially by Andrew Carnegie. As a result of the decrease in wages and the companies attempt to destroy the union, workers at the plant went on strike and soon took control of the plant with 3,000 workers and many sympathizers. The New York Times wrote, "The object of the company is of course plain. It desires to break up the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers in order that it may control wages, which have so far been kept up by the strong combination formed by the men." ==

Andrew Carnegie remained at a distance from Henry Frick hoping to avoid public disaproval while secretly supporting his tactics.

=**__The Strike __** =

==When contract negotiations failed Henry clay Frick closed the plant. He had installed three miles of wooden fence with barbed wire, and hired 300 guards from Pinkerton Detective Agency who were to protect the mill. On July 6 1892, the Pinkerton guards were confronted by hundreds of workers and townspeople. After 12 hours of Battle the Pinkerton guards finally surrendered and 7 workers and 3 guards were killed. However, this Union victory proved to be short-lived as the 8,500 members of the National Guard took control of the plant within days of the battle. ==

New York Times, July 9, 1892 A quote by one of the Pinkerton Guards:

//"After that it was only a question of saving our lives. Men were dead and dying around us, and we started to surrender"//
This shows that the battle had reached the point where the Pinkerton guards feared for their lives and as a result had to surrender.

Watch a video on the strike here: []

=**__Effects__**= =After four months, the workers could hold out no longer and returned to work with the union dissolved. Strike leaders and organizers were blacklisted from the Carnegie Company and many were arrested and charged with treason. Major unions would not reform in the western Pennsylvania for another for decades during the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Until then workers were helpless to the will of the managers who established even lower wages and deplorable conditions throughout this time. =

Franklin Roosevelt worked to support unions in his New Deal tactics.

**Sources:**

 * //American History// "Homestead Strike". ABC-CLIO, 2011. Available from: http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1187729?sid=909246&useConcept=False
 * Primary Source 1: "Pinkertons Refused Licenses," //New York Times//, 9 July 1892 p.1
 * Primary Source 2: "Protection does not Protect," //New York Times//, 7 July 1892, p. 2.
 * ** Yellen, Samuel. // American Labor Struggles // . New York: S.A. Russell, The Harbor Press, 1936. **
 * PBS; American Experience //The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie// "The Homestead Strike". Available from; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html
 * Digital History //Industrialization and the Working Class// "Homestead". Available from; http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=22

=Pictography =


 * "Franklin Delano Roosevelt" available from http://www.observer.com/files/full/Reynolds-FDR1V.jpg
 * "Homestead Steel Strikebreakers." available from http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Results?q=1074651
 * "Andrew Carnegie" available from http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Results?q=1074651