Just outside of the one of the plate factories to the famous Carnegie Steel Company, thousands of angry workers and supporters gather, hoisting rifles above their head and calling for action against their recently-administered unjust labor demands.
In 1890, the value of steel dropped $13, triggering Frick's decision to cut wages and break the strongest craft union in the country: the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The union was designed to protect the rights, regulate the work loads and hours, as well as help people find jobs in this workforce. Thus, when Frick decided that he wants to break the union, workers were instantly angered and attempted to reach out to Carnegie to support the laborers.
Though publicly in favor of labor unions, Carnegie supported Frick's decision to break this union, as he was also personally against its ability to hinder work efficiency. He encouraged Frick: "This is your chance to re-organize the whole affair. Far too many men required by Amalgamated rules.”
In turn, when Carnegie left for his trip to Europe in 1892, infuriated workers in his factories finally found their opportunity to strike back. Many had already met in the Opera House and decided to strike, making the Homestead Strikes one of the first organized labor strikes in American history. Word was already spreading around, and sympathizers and workers alike were suiting up to strike.
Frick first took action by locking workers out of the plate mill, building a wall three miles long, topped with barbed wire, and leaving holes open for rifles to fit through. On top of that, he sent guards from the army of Pinkerton Detective Agency. Workers responded by surrounding the mill, almost as if guarding their own property. In a PBS article, historian Paul Krause explains that "Workers believed because they had worked in the mill, they had mixed their labor with the property in the mill. They believed that in some way the property had become theirs."
Because of this belief of ownership to part of the mill, the strikers were enflamed with passion to protect their "property", as well as their rights as workers. When the Pinkerton army arrived, the mob was in full fury. A day of fighting ensued, but by the end of the day, the army had surrendered. Six of the guards added to nine strikers on the casualty list, and the Pinkertons could no longer suppress the ten thousand people on strike.
Frick had to think fast. By the next day, he had called Governor William Stone for help. On July 12th, eight thousand militia men had marched into the area, finally extinguishing the rebellion for good.
Over a hundred strikers were arrested. While many were released, the leaders who stirred up the strike faced much dire legal consequences. With the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers out of the picture, Carnegie Steel was free to increase hours and decrease wages against the workers' wishes.
The Homestead Strikes were revolutionary in many ways. While it essentially failed for the laborers, it was one of the the first major labor strikes that had been organized by a set of leaders- most strikes up until that point had been disorganized and spur-of-the-moment. The magnitude of this strike also inspired many laborers around the country to rise up against authority figures in this workforce.
Additionally, it symbolized how hard it was for any union, no matter how powerful, to make a difference against corporate powers. By the late 1800s, America was run by corporations and industries that revolutionized production rates as well as the common workforce. Even with a mob as massive as ten thousand people, these strikes proved that the common man was essentially powerless compared to the leaders of the companies they worked for.
These strikes ultimately tarnished Andrew Carnegie's reputation. His harsh mistreatment of his workers had made him an undesirable person to work for and with, and in turn, he would spend many years after attempting to restore his name.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/homestead-strike
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike
It makes sense that the workers guarded the mill as if it was their own because they spent so much time there. Before the strike, workers worked 14 hours a day. I think that even though organizing and creating a union was hard, it was easier than the prospect of living the rest of one's life in a state of poverty, even if one risked death in the process.
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