The change of market: Confrontation between labor and capital

Student’s Name
Course Instructor
Course
Date
The Change of Market: Confrontation between Labor and Capital
Introduction
In the 1800’s there was a major change in the market and economy of the United States. The shift from slavery to free labor concerned African Americans who had been slaves. Other workers, including white and black free laborers, increasingly shifted from artisan work/self-employment to wage labor. Prior to the shift, there had been a great call for the end of slavery. In the north, which was more industrial, people from different races and ethnic backgrounds became wage laborers. In the south which was more agricultural, people who were formerly slaves became wage laborers for landowners and rich employers. The shift from slavery to laborers brought various changes to the people which included the realization that as workers they still had their rights and their employers had no right to mistreat them or subject them to any form of unfavorable working conditions. The workers started forming labor unions and political organizations which had the objective of ensuring workers enjoyed maximum benefits from their labor.
Formation of Labor Unions and Organizations in the 1800’s
Workers came to realize the powers that were held by their employers and they knew that so as to be able to match their employers they needed to be united. They realized the various ways in which they were being exploited, for example, long working hours where the working hours were 12 hours a day. They came to realize that they were handicapped when negotiating with the employers because they lacked unity. Lack of unity meant they could not match the employers who held a lot of power with them. In a bid to equal this power, they started forming labor unions which were meant to negotiate favorable terms on their behalf (Zinn, pp234). They also sought to the formation of political organizations which were targeted at ensuring that the workers were represented in Congress where most decisions were made.
Workers formed the National Labor Union (NLU) in 1866. The union, which was more of a federation since it was made of several local organizations, led the workers to the negotiation of the reduction of working hours to 8 hours in a day. There was then the formation of the Knights of Labor which was an organization that opened its membership to all laborers regardless of whether they were skilled or unskilled (Gompers, 390). The Knights of Labor was a really important union, but you are lacking a lot of details about when it was most active, who led it, who joined it, and what it stood for. And while it did decline after the Haymarket Square riots, the Knights were not really involved in that conflict. (Nardo, 80).
Later in 1886, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed. The AFL came with a strong belief that held that workers needed unions that were well organized and effective if they were to get favorable working conditions. The AFL was a federation that strictly organized unions for skilled labor where it held that the American skilled labor was not be reduced neither was the workmanship and skills held by the workers (Gompers, 390).
The unions and other organizations succeeded at various poin...