Andrew Carnegie Working Class Hero
Andrew Carnegie was effectively pushed out of Scotland by the rich ruling classes because both his father and his uncle were active and strong leaders of the Chartist movement. The Chartists were demanding that the working class people were given the vote and the right to stand for election so they could take political power from the rich and lead to a far fairer society.
His father was a weaver dependent on employment in the big textile factories was? sacked by the rich owners for his political views and word got round that he was a “troublemaker” and effectively unemployable. With no social benefits to support the family they were had no choice but to sell up every stick of furniture they owned and move to the USA in 1848.
It was there that his fortunes turned. His hard work when still a telegraph operator attracted the attention of his employer who promoted him to personal secretary. This position with access to knowledge and some very shrewd investments (insider trading?) enabled him to start his own steel company and by acquiring competitors he grew it to become US Steel the largest steel company in the States.
However Andrew Carnegie was to become not just a union basher but gave orders which would lead to strikers at his Homestead steel factory in July 1892 being physically beaten up and shot dead. Andrew Carnegie saw himself as the hero of the working class but in business he could be totally ruthless.
Carnegie bought up coalfields to feed his furnaces and expanded into railroads as large users of steel he could then ensure they only bought his steel for trucks and rolling stock etc. His power and greed to become even richer however created clashes with the growing union movement right across his industrial empire.
He Employed Strike breakers and Pinkerton’s Hired Gunmen
At this time Allan Pinkerton (another Scotsman with family Chartist Connection) and his Pinkerton Detective Agency was becoming very active in smashing strikes. The agency had become famous for their pursuit of Frank and Jessie James but was now a private army contracted to protect factories when strikes were looming. Pinkerton’s would send in hundreds of men all issued with Winchester rifles with instructions to use them if lives or property belonging to factory owners were threatened.
One such strike was at Carnegie’s Homestead Steel Mill managed by his business partner Henry Clay Frick. On this occasion full scale violence erupted when Frick hired out of state workers to continue operating the factory during the strike. Pinkerton’s bought in 300 men fully armed and ready to use whatever force was necessary to win the fight against strikers.
Local strike leaders were attacked including shootings by Pinkerton’s men as an example to other strikers. The strikers were then supplied with guns by local community members and retaliated. The Pinkerton men were surrounded and pinned down behind hastily erected barricades. People were dying from wounds and no help could be given by either side as they lay there caught in the cross fire.
Pinkerton’s men tried to surrender three times waving a white flag on a stick but each time sharpshooters broke the stick in two with bullets. They were later allowed to leave the area but only after severe retribution was given leaving many agency men with broken bones and severe injuries. It was effectively a civil war with revenge being extracted by the winners. Over 8,000 of the National Guard were later called in to restore law and order to the area.
Carnegie often spoke out publicly in support of the right to strike but something did not ring true about his words when it came to strikes in his own factories.
Did Andrew Carnegie know people would die? 7 Pointers that say he did.
The facts are clear that although Carnegie did not personally pull the trigger he was not holding back from any confrontation with his strikers.
1. Frick had a hard line reputation for ruthlessness against unions and strikers.
2. Frick had previously employed Pinkerton’s Agency to break up strikes on several occasions for example
- in 1884 to protect Hungarians and Slavs employed as strike-breakers to work in his coal fields;
- in 1891 to protect Italian strike-breakers, when the above Hungarians and Slavs went on strike.
3. Pinkerton’s had a history of using violence to break up strikes. Their people were involved in shootings of strike leaders and had even used a bomb to attack a union headquarters in Chicago a couple years earlier. That reputation was known to everyone involved including Carnegie!
4. Ten men were killed during the clashes at Homestead seven of them were strikers and three Pinkerton’s men.
5. Previous strikes at his businesses also resulted in deaths of strikers.
6. Although Carnegie was out of the country at the time these cables sent to Frick clearly show he supported the move to employ strike breakers and gave instructions to Frick do whatever was necessary to win the battle against the strikers.
May 4 in a letter to Frick
“One thing we are all sure of: No contest will be entered in that will fail. It will be harder this time at Homestead…. On the other hand, your reputation will shorten it, so that I really do not believe it will be much of a struggle. We all approve of anything you do, not stopping short of approval of a contest. We are with you to the end.”
June 10 in a telegram to Frick
“Of course, you will be asked to confer, and I know you will decline all conferences, as you have taken your stand and have nothing more to say…. Of course you will win, and win easier than you suppose, owing to the present condition of the market.”
July 6 was the day of the biggest gun battle
July 7 in a telegram to Frick
“Cable received. All anxiety gone since you stand firm. Never employ one of these rioters. Let grass grow over works. Must not fail now. You will win easily next trial.”
July 17 this time Carnegie was writing a personal letter to his cousin
“Matters at home bad – such a fiasco trying to send guards by Boat and then leaving space between River & fences for the men to get opposite landing and fire. Still we must keep quiet & do all we can to support Frick & those at Seat of War. I have been besieged by interviewing Cables from N York but have not said a word. Silence is best. We shall win, of course, but may have to shut down for months.”
November 18 a telegram from Frick to Carnegie at end of strike
“Victory!”
November 21 a telegram from Frick to Carnegie
“Strike officially declared off yesterday. Our victory is now complete and most gratifying. Do not think we will ever have any serious labor trouble again…. Let the Amalgamated (the steel union) still exist and hold full sway at other people’s mills. That is no concern of ours.”
7. After the union surrendered and called off the strike the Carnegie owned steel mill slashed wages even further, imposed a longer work day and blacklisted over 500 men who would never again work in the mills.
There is no doubt from these exchanges that Carnegie was ready for a violent clash with his workers and entered into it knowing that once again blood would be spilled. He was ruthless enough to do anything to retain his financial empire no matter what the cost to others.
Andrew Carnegie the Jekyll and Hyde Working Class Millionaire.
On one side we see a working class Chartist person whose family were fighting to empower the masses by giving millions to educate and improve themselves in order to take power away from the rich ruling class and give it to the working class.? Discover more about this side of Andrew Carnegie
The other side of him was an industrialist who was willing to employ both strike breakers from out of state and armed guards to defeat strikers using whatever means was necessary including bombing and shooting of strike leaders.
A final question
Even if he did not hold the gun he knew deaths could occur but went into the battle to build his empire. Was Carnegie guilty of corporate manslaughter or murder?
