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Homestead Strike Timeline

Where: Homestead, Pennsylvania

Union: Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
Company: Carnegie Steel Company

1876: Amalgamated Association, the union for iron and steelworkers,

forms.

1881: Carnegie put Frick in charge of the Homestead factory.

1882 and 1889: Amalgamated Association won two big strikes

against the Carnegie Company. After 1889, the union became very
powerful and organized. They had a very strong union contract.

February 1892: Amalgamated Association asked for a wage

increase. Frick responded with a wage decrease.

June 29, 1892: The old contract expired without the two sides
reaching an agreement. Frick locked the workers out of the plant,
using a high fence topped with barbed wire.

June 30, 1892: Workers decided to strike and they surrounded the
plant to make sure that no strikebreakers would enter.

July 6, 1892: After the local sheriff was unable to control the strikers,
Frick hired guards from the National Pinkerton Detective Agency to
secure the factory so that strikebreakers could enter.

The Pinkertons arrived by boat in the middle of the night, hoping to

surround the factory unnoticed.

The strikers knew they were coming. Shots were fired and people
killed on both sides.
ANNOTATE ON YOUR OWN FOR EXCEEDS STANDARDS

Document A: Emma Goldman (Modified)

It was May 1892. Trouble had broken out between the Carnegie Steel Company
and its workers, organized in the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers. Amalgamated Association was one of the biggest and most efficient
unions in the country, consisting mostly of strong Americans, men of decision and
grit, who stood up for their rights. The Carnegie Company, on the other hand, was
a powerful corporation. Andrew Carnegie, its president, had turned over
management to Henry Clay Frick, a man known for his hatred of unions and
workers.

The Carnegie Company enjoyed great wealth and prosperity. Wages were
arranged between the company and the union, according to a sliding scale
based on the current market price of steel products.

Andrew Carnegie decided to abolish the sliding scale. The company would make
no more agreements with the Amalgamated Association. In fact, he would not
recognize the union at all. Then, he closed the mills. It was an open declaration of
war.

The steel-workers declared that they were ready to take up the challenge of
Frick: they would insist on their right to organize and to deal collectively with
their employers. Their tone was manly, ringing with the spirit of their rebellious
forebears of the Revolutionary War.

Then the news flashed across the country of the slaughter of steelworkers by
Pinkertons. In the dead of night, Frick sent a boat packed with strike-breakers and
heavily armed Pinkerton thugs to the mill. The workers stationed themselves
along the shore determined to drive back Frick’s hirelings. When the boat got
within range, the Pinkertons had opened fire, without warning, killing a number of
Homestead men on the shore, among them a little boy, and wounding scores of
others.

Source: Emma Goldman was a political activist and radical who fiercely
supported workers’ rights. The document above comes from her autobiography,
written in 1931, where she remembers her reaction to the Homestead strike,
thirty-nine years later.
ANNOTATE ON YOUR OWN FOR EXCEEDS STANDARDS

Document B: Henry Frick

I can say as clearly as possible that under no circumstances will we have

any further dealings with the Amalgamated Association as an organization.
This is final.

The workmen in the Amalgamated Association work under what is known

as a sliding scale. As the price of steel rises, the earnings of the men also
rise; as the prices fall, their wages also fall. The wages are not allowed to
fall below a certain amount, which is called the minimum. Until now, the
minimum has been $25 per ton of steel produced. We have recently
changed the minimum to $23 instead of $25. We believe this is reasonable
because the Carnegie Company has spent a lot of money on new
machinery that allows workers to increase their daily output, and therefore
increase their earnings. The Amalgamated Association was unwilling to
consider a minimum below $24, even though the improved machinery
would enable workers to earn more. We found it impossible to arrive at any
agreement with the Amalgamated Association, so we decided to close our
works at Homestead.

The Amalgamated men surrounded our property and blocked all of the
entrances and all roads leading to Homestead. We felt that for the safety of
our property, it was necessary for us to hire our own guards to assist the
sheriff.

We brought our guards here as quietly as possible; had them taken to

Homestead at an hour of the night when we hoped to have them enter
without any interference whatsoever and without meeting anybody. All
our efforts were to prevent the possibility of a confrontation between the
Amalgamated Association and our guards.

We have investigated and learned that the Amalgamated men and their
friends fired on our guards for twenty-five minutes before they reached our
property, and then again after they had reached our property. Our guards
did not return fire until after the boats had touched the shore, and after
three of our guards had been wounded, one fatally.

Source: In this newspaper interview in the Pittsburgh Post on July 8, 1892, Frick
explains his opposition to the union’s demands.
Summarize Goldman’s claims about the Homestead strike. Use
evidence from the document to support your reasoning.
She claims that the business is making too much money and that
the employees receive a portion of the company's earnings as well.
The business is generating too much money while underpaying its
employees. "The Carnegie Company experienced great riches and
prosperity," it states. Wages were agreed upon between the
business and the union on a sliding schedule based on the current
market price of steel goods."

Summarize Frick’s claims about the Homestead strike. Use evidence

from the document to support your reasoning.
Frick stated that he no longer wishes to work with the Union. "...As
plainly as possible, we will have no further involvement with the
Amalgamated Association as an entity." This demonstrates that He
desired to reduce the minimum salary because the machines are
expensive. Eventually, "we probed and discovered that the
Amalgamated men and their allies shot until the boats had reached
the beach, and after three of our guards had been injured, one
mortally," according to the report.

How are Goldman and Frick’s claims about the Homestead strike
different? Use evidence from the document to support your
reasoning.
Goldman and Frick's statements about the Homestead strike
diverge because they charge opposing parties of firing first.
According to Goldman, the "Pinkertons had started fire, without
notice, killing a number of Homestead men on the shore, including
a young child, and wounding dozens more." In contrast, Frick says
that "the Amalgamated soldiers and their allies fired on our guards
for twenty-five minutes."

Whose claim is more believable? Why? Explain.

Goldman's story was more credible because she was present and
participated in the walkout. Although they were both prejudiced,
Goldman was not attempting to save only herself, as Frick was.
Frick's entire image and revenue depended on steak, so he tried to
appear more forgiving about the situation, but Goldman had
nothing to lose.
 ON YOUR OWN
Cite evidence from timeline & documents to support your response.
Central Historical Question:
Why did the Homestead Strike turn violent?

The strike at the Homestead became violent when the company

brought in armed guards from out of town. The guards were hired
partly to protect the factory from the strikers. The guards were also
expected to protect new workers that the company planned to
bring in to replace the strikers. Tensions between steel workers and
management were the immediate causes of the Homestead Strike
of 1892 in southwestern Pennsylvania, but this dramatic and violent
labor protest was more the product of industrialization,
unionization, and changing ideas of property and employee rights.
The story of the Homestead Strike begins with Andrew Carnegie,
who revolutionized the production of steel in 1885 when he
integrated the process of purifying and strengthening iron into his
own operations. In 1892, Carnegie launched the Carnegie Steel
Company, a conglomeration of feeder industries and steel plants,
including the Homestead Steel Works. Many Americans lauded men
like Carnegie for their innovation and ingenuity, but workers in the
mills feared industrialists would increasingly turn to sophisticated
technology to achieve maximum output, jeopardizing their job
security and authority. Members were not afraid to act violently in
pursuit of their goals, attacking workers brought in to break the
strike and also fighting against local police. Carnegie placed Henry
Clay Frick in charge of operations at his various steel works in 1891
and in doing so, shifted the momentum in the power struggle
between labor and management. “The mills have never been able to
turn out the product they should, owing to being held back by the
Amalgamated men,” (Document A) he stated in a letter to Carnegie.
Although Carnegie did not publicly condemn unions, he agreed
with Frick that the 800 workers at Homestead were hurting output.
With Carnegie’s support, Frick set his sights on breaking the union.
With no contract in hand, Frick ordered the mill on lockdown and
installed snipers as guards, turning the work site into a fortress
impenetrable by any workers. On June 30, the AA officially went on
strike and declared management had violated the existing
company contract. Mechanics and transportation laborers at
Homestead organized by the Knights of Labor (a national union
dedicated to abstract goals of republicanism and workers’ rights)
joined the AA, as did other workers across Carnegie’s company in
the Pittsburgh area. The strikers declared “that it is against public
policy and subversive of the fundamental principles of American
liberty that a whole community of workers should be denied
employment or suffer any other social detriment on account of
membership in a church, a political party or a trade union.”
(Document B) Frick and Carnegie Steel pursued compensation in
court for property damage at the mill. Sixteen of the strike’s leaders
were arrested for conspiracy, inciting riots, and murder; all were
held for one night in prison and forced to post $100,000 bail to be
released. Four AA members went to trial on the charges, but only
one was convicted. Carnegie Steel effectively broke AA’s power in
the steel industry. The AA continued to have small yet active
memberships through World War II, but its influence would never
return to what it was during the Gilded Age. The use of physical
force and intimidation by workers and management affected public
opinion of labor unions; many came to view strikes as unnecessary
and violent acts.

EXCEEDS STANDARDS VIDEO - ON YOUR OWN

Homestead Strike of 1892
Watch the video
Write a summary about what you learned
Frick sought the Pinkerton national detective agency for assistance
in securing the scabs he intended to send in on July 6, and
arranged for two barges loaded with Pinkerton operatives to be
carried down the Monongahela River to safeguard the plan and the
dock that led to the plant. The Union took over the mill by
demolishing the fence and rushed to the river's mouth to confront
the Pinkertons, culminating in a swarm of armed homestead
inhabitants converging on the river. Carnegie and Frick fought a
violent struggle at Homestead, and both sides lost. Carnegie sent a
telegraph to Frick instructing him to keep fighting and not to utilize
any of the strikers, and public opinion was divided. Alexander
Berkman attempted but failed to kill Frick in order to promote the
Union. The remaining strikers opted to return to work, and by 1893,
the bulk of the strikers had been rehired under Frick's salary
requirements. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick had many
parallels, including poor beginnings and the use of harsh
managerial practices. In 1892, Carnegie Steel clashed with the
combined Association of Iron and Steel Workers about pay at the
homestead still works factory. Frick anticipated the walkout by
closing the mill and locking out all 3,800 workers, while Union
members overwhelmingly rejected Frick's offer. Hugh O'Donnell was
a first generation Irish immigrant, and Union Buster patrols were
put up to seek for and intercept incoming replacement employees
or strike breakers.

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The topic was alright. I was confused at most parts on how they
explained everything and how they jumped around and that
confused you. I was too confused honestly but the questions were
easy to understand and the questions were too.