Flivver King Writing Assignment
Zack Seymour
US 102/ Professor Ward
The Flivver King by Upton Sinclair tackles many social issues that were coming to be in the early 1900’s. Upton Sinclair used fictional characters in his book to depict how society viewed the rise of Ford and other enterprises. As a “muckraker” Sinclair had meaning behind every character and action in this book. His goal was to expose corporate enterprises for the “crimes” (no socialism or unionization) they had been committing. Based upon his book, Upton Sinclair would have had many answers why there was no socialism or unionization in the United States. His first answer would be corporate corruption. Big enterprises at this time only cared about their own profits not
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Upton Sinclair felt that our nation at this time needed to establish a strong union where the workers can actually get help from a stronger organization when going against the corporations. Sinclair wanted a strong Union to help workers get what he feels they deserve, instead of terrible jobs. The reason why there is no strong presence of a labor union in this country is because of the risk that it presented for workers at the time. In the Flivver King, Henry Ford used thugs and goons to intimidate people from not bringing the any kind of union into his company.
Upton Sinclair said this in the book, "as a beleaguered American socialist in a society that is generally unsympathetic to the plight of the less fortunate, Sinclair pondered the question of why Socialism did not gain a foothold in the minds of the American workers." (Sinclair, Preface viii, xi) This passage shows the mindsets of the factory workers at the time prevented a chance and at a strong labor union. Sinclair feels that if the American workforce could have embraced a more socialist mindset, there could have been some kind of organization to protect them from being exploited and possibly fired just by mentioning the very idea of trying to start or join anything like a union. Other issues pointed out by Sinclair were workers being killed by various factors like poor or unsafe work
Ford wasn’t a good leader and workers were killed and let go all of the time. Protests were created and Ford gave no mercy to them. They were protesting in front of his corporation one day and he had some purposely killed because of it. Eventually people caught on and formed Unions. The author emphasizes how this real life example can still happen today. Leaders today have changed and are not the best for the job. Sinclair uses this book to get others to join him in his movement to create the United Automobile Worker’s Drive. He opened the eyes of Americans and showed them how a good company like Ford can change so quickly if the main head makes poor
During the Progressive Era of the Gilded Age, many laborers were being mistreated by the companies that they worked for. Because of this, workers started forming labor unions or organized association of workers, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Many of these labor unions failed, while few of them achieved their goals and still exist today. Many factors contributed to the failure of these labor unions. The labor unions were given a bad image, the reason for this was the media, and they did this by publishing articles depicting the unions as violent, communist groups. The government supported big business during this time, since the government had a lot of power; this was a huge setback in the labor unions’ battles.
Before Henry Ford adapted the automobile production, they had developed an assembly line. It worked more like a disassembly line because there were 80 separate jobs in one line in the whole process of getting the meat ready. The immigrants did the most dangerous jobs, they worked in cold weather in the winter and the hot dark room in the summer (Willie).”
Most famous people inspire authors to write books written about their achievements, however Upton Sinclair Junior did it backwards. Some of his ninety novels including an autobiography, and in particular The Jungle, changed America forever by using fictitious stories to depict the present issues at that time. Upton Sinclair was an author and activist in the early to mid 1900’s who was passionate about issues involving women 's rights, working conditions, and the unemployed. He wrote over ninety books in his lifetime, as well as countless articles and other works of journalism. As Sinclair grew up, he was exposed to both a lifestyle of poverty and wealth that shaped his world as well as his political views as a socialist, or someone who advocates the vesting of the control of the means of production and distribution, of capital or land in the community as a whole. Upton Sinclair was a controversial author who took a stand in history by vastly impacting the food industry, becoming politically active, and forecasting solutions to social problems.
In the period immediately following World War I, American workers struggled to earn a living as prices rose and wages stagnated, forcing them to seek union support. Labor unions endeavored to represent the working class against their employers and corporations, who refused to increase wages or improve working conditions. In order to combat the capitalist’s immense political clout, unions made their voice heard through strikes. After the war, capitalists linked unions to the mounting communist threat, stressing that strikes undermined capitalism and threatened a republican form of government. As a result, government sided with capital against labor unions and the struggle of the American workers, who had no voice against corporations. This struggle can be exemplified in a correspondence between union leader, Samuel Gompers and bishop William Quayle, published in “The Twenties in Contemporary Commentary: Labor & Capital”. The letters demonstrate that in the 1920’s, labor unions were necessary as a means to overcome capitalist greed and enhanced the ideals of democracy by empowering the working class.
Labors did not have very good wages and it was problem during the Gilded Age. Labors’ had to live by paternalism, meaning that George Pullman owned them. It seems as if labors never got a profit for the long hours that they worked in the sweatshops. All the money goes straight back to Pullman, because they had to pay for rent and their goods and groceries provided by him. So basically, Pullman didn’t consider them valuable because there was always someone looking for a job. These reasons led to several unionizations like the Knights of Labor where they had to pay their dues to go on strike and fight for them. Anyone from radical to bosses could join this union except bankers and lawyers, which made no sense. They fought for workplace rights but where they did wrong is when they demanded outside workplace rights such as free public schools for their children. This union caused deaths
This article talked about the general things of the National Labor Union back in the 1800’s. It mostly talked about the negative effects of the NLU such as exclusion of women, racial prejudice, and failing to enforce the eight-hour labor law. The article did mention about groups of skilled, unskilled, and farmers were unable to share and participate in united political views unless they were intensely focused on labor union. After William Sylvis death in 1869, the NLU suffered politically and dealt with the Depression of 1873, where the NLU finally collapsed.
Between the years 1870-1900, Americans began to respond to the effects fostered by these corporations. From urban factory workers to rural farmers, Americans began to organize against these big businesses. With mass industrialization, more job’s were made available to women, these jobs were often in factories with terrible conditions, sweatshops. There was a sameness about working in mass production factories. Thus, working in these modern mass production factories created a homogenous environment that diminished individualism and the need for skilled workers. (Doc. C) Strikers were common during this era, workers participated in strikes and joined labor unions, such as The American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor, due to the terrible working conditions. The American Federation of Labor, headed by Samuel Gompers, was specifically for skilled workers and argued for better wages and a reduction in working hours. (Doc. G) Although urban workers were greatly impacted by the growth of these corporations, they were not the ones. Farmers, suffered
By the end of the 19th Century, most Americans saw labor unions as comprised of radical communists and anarchists. The problem started with the idea that labor unions and collective bargaining was seen as un-American. With the American focus on individual freedoms, the idea that a group of people should get together to demand what they want was communistic. This fear can be directly shown in one of Thomas Nast’s political cartoons from 1878, which shows labor unions killing capitalism in order to appease communism (Source C). It also didn’t help that this group of people were workers, who controlled the means of industry in a communist state. The people who supported labor unions often were socialists or communists themselves as well. Eugene Debs, for example, was a well-known socialist and proponent of worker’s rights. His beliefs that the US should work within its political system in order to gradually give way to a socialist state didn’t sit well with Americans. Neither did Daniel DeLeon’s ideas, for that matter, who believed that workers should lead the way in a revolution to overthrow the
Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative
Upton Sinclair’s views differed greatly from those of affluent leaders in the nineteenth century. In fact, Sinclair was one of few people who
But the National Labor Union did not remain long in existence and was forced to terminate in 1873 due to an economic depression. Depressions often prolonged the goals of labor unions because the desperation for work due to high unemployment rates rendered strikes ineffective. The National Labor Union was not without some success however. It “heightened public awareness of labor issues and increased public support for labor reform in the 1870s and 1880s” (Library of Congress).
Thesis Statement: Upton Sinclair was a muckraker who wrote, “The Jungle”, which exposed the problems of the meatpacking industry.
Have you ever heard of the book called The Jungle? This book was written by Upton Sinclair, a muckraker. Harry Sinclair Lewis was a janitor at Upton Sinclair's socialist colony and he was influenced by Sinclair’s idea of socialism. Therefore, their ideas are very much alike even though their childhood backgrounds were completely different. Upton Sinclair had a great impact on society by addressing social issues in the early 1900’s, so what is the significance of Lewis’s works? Some of his major representative works are Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith (“Assignment Five -- Sinclair Lewis Babbitt”). These books played a big role on muckraking the social corruptions in his time period.
While organized labor’s storied history demonstrates remarkable achievements, there has been a downside for the American economy. By way of example, the formerly dominant U.S. steel industry serves to remind of an time when poor management, global competition, and union excess were necessary causes of a dramatic and rapid industry decline.