Strategic Labor Organizing in the Era of Industrial Transformation: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Unionization in Steel and Coal, 1870-1916

Abstract

Between 1870 and 1916 rapid and widespread mechanization and capitalization dramatically transformed the means and relations of production in the mass industries. At the same time, increasing ethnic diversity challenged the class basis of labor solidarity. The cases of steel and bituminous coal mining illustrate important contrasting responses to these forces on the part of organized labor. In particular, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers lost members and became increasingly ineffectual, while the United Mine Workers underwent intense and sustained growth. Our comparison of the two unions' notably different trajectories reveals the importance of socio-historical factors as well as union strategies for dealing with technological innovation and ethnic divisions.