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Radicalism, Militancy, and Strike Activity in the Paterson

Essay Instructions:

Write a response to the questions below, synthesizing all of the most relevant information only from the reading. Each subquestion should be treated in a separate paragraph (100-200 words each). Write 10 paragraphs. (1 or more paragraphs for each question) explain the response of each quesion in details (including critical thinking)

do not use quotations (should paraphrase). do not use citations.

Here is the website for reading.

http://patersongreatfalls(dot)org/silkstrike.html

1Why was there so much worker radicalism, militancy, and strike activity in the Paterson, NJ silk industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

2.What were the goals of the IWW members (the strikers) in the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike?

3Who were some of the important allies of the strikers?

4 Why did the strikers and their allies create and perform a pageant in Madison Square Garden?

5 Why did the strike ultimately fail?

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Why was there so much worker radicalism, militancy, and strike activity in the Paterson, NJ silk industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s?
The Paterson, NJ silk industry in the late 1800s and the early 1900s entailed much worker radicalism, militancy, and strike activity due to the varying status, races, and origins of the population's workers. The working demographic was composed of people from different regions, who were eventually treated differently. The most leading community participants of the strikes were immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. These workers were not treated as desired. The people they worked for did not believe in their effectiveness and desirable delivery at work, not because they did not complete their tasks as required but because they were immigrants. Thus, the immigrants were marginalized while the other workers enjoyed excellent privileges such as recognition upon performance. Anyone going through the experience would take action, and the ideal action for the workers was strike activities to fight for the rights.
Although some people among the workers acted as union organizers to address their needs, they did not have much confidence to handle the dispute among them. However, the strike aided in attracting significant interest from the intellectual circles in Peterson's labor movements, giving them the vital confidence they needed to proceed with their action towards the achievement of improved working conditions and wages for the silk weavers. On the other hand, the number of women and children in the labor supply led to a significant problem. While the changing customs and health conditions allowed them to work, they affected the industry's standard men labor supply. It resulted in issues like low wages based on the vast availability of labor supply. The introduction of new technology in the silk mills reduced labor demand, resulting in the manipulation of workers as most industries opted for the machines at their expense. Thus, the worker's needs were overlooked, and most of them were displaced from their positions.
What were the goals of the IWW members (the strikers) in the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike?
The Industrial Workers of the World engaged in strike activities to attain varying goals. The IWW focused on workers' control issues from the beginning of the strike and eventually conquered multiple differences in gender, race, and nationality during the strike. The workers were determined to achieve their goals, and nothing would stop them from the objective. For instance, they continued with the strike after the arrest of the IWW leaders. This event was significant in revealing that the strike was genuinely pushed by the workers who needed change and not the agitation of outsiders. The IWW allowed the strikers freedom to choose their militancy's direction in the goals they wanted to achieve, whatever way they deemed best for the action. Consequently, the Paterson silk workers organized and executed a major strike with vast numbers of laborers and the IWW help.
All weavers united for a general strike, and two weeks into the activity, they were able to make a list of demands to the mill owners and employers. The demands included minimum age restrictions to protect their children and abolish the multi-loom system to ensure jobs' stability and presence. The strikers had varying roles depending on the job and the issues they were striking to address. The skilled ribbon weavers who had previously encountered militant struggle educated the workers on how to fight for their rights. They were also advocating for high payments because the workers worked more and should get wages correlating to the amounts of work completed. On the other hand, the workers believed that the mills' introduction would take their jobs and reduce the wages for the maintained laborers. Thus, they protested against the innovation.
Who were some of the important allies of the strikers?
The strikers' most important allies were radical artists and intellectuals such as journalists from New York City. They included Walter Lippman,...
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