What was the 1919 steel strike

Company owners portrayed the workers as dangerous radicals who threatened the American way of life, preying on many Americans' fears of Communism during that era. Because many of the striking workers were recent immigrants, owners were able to portray them as instigators of trouble.

A leader among the radicals was Ohioan Norman Z. Foster, a prominent advocate of socialism. Government officials used National Guard troops and federal troops to put down the strike in many cities, leading to violence and even workers' deaths in some cases.

Because the steel industry was important in Ohio during this time, the Great Steel Strike had a major influence on a number of Ohio cities. The strike also influenced political issues. Poorman's response led to his defeat in the next election. Governor James Cox was able to use the situation in Canton to his own political advantage. Like in many other cities, the issue of immigrant labor was an important component of the debate over the strike. Nativist sentiment in Ohio meant that there was very little support for striking workers in Canton and elsewhere.

Toggle navigation. Jump to: navigation , search. Cox's reputation as a competent administrator during times of crisis. Meanwhile, steel workers were watching and waiting for the right time to strike. It was a craft union whose workers organized based on job instead of across industries. But working together was challenging: Not only were there the demands of 24 different craft unions to manage, writes historian Douglas M.

As they struggled to get and stay organized, the groups kept pushing off a strike. Frustrated, some workers who had been galvanized by strikes in other industries quit their unions. Finally, after a referendum, the unions agreed to strike in September On September 22, the strike began. Half the steel industry ground to a halt, and workers in six states walked off the job. With as many as , workers idle , the strike was a major disruption to the industry.

Instead, companies took matters into their own hands, using the media to poison public opinion. They played on racial and ethnic stereotypes, fears of immigrants and the specter of Bolshevism to convince the public that the strikers were opportunists. They also tried to turn workers against one another, pitting immigrant workers against those born in the United States. Male and female steel workers picket at a factory during the general steel strike of To keep steel production going, the industry brought in tens and thousands of black workers as strikebreakers most unions turned away black workers.

This led to violence and riots , including a massive race riot in Gary, Indiana, that occurred when striking workers attacked black strikebreakers. The riot only ended once state troopers put the town under martial law. Skrabek, Jr. Though the Senate did investigate the strike, it, too did nothing. Mink told the Senate committee. George Miller disagreed. A naturalized U. Infighting, racial and ethnic tensions, and continued negative publicity finally took their toll.

Workers even began crossing their own picket lines, fed up with a strike they felt no longer represented their interests. Finally, the AA withdrew from the strike. As plant after plant stopped striking, the AFL could no longer hold the strike. On January 8, , they gave in. And the deep racial and ethnic divisions the strike had stoked paved the way for the nativism of the s. The steel towns that had resisted black workers became havens for the newly revived Ku Klux Klan—an ugly ideological legacy of a strike with idealistic intentions.

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