Happy Monday everybody, and Welcome to Labor Week! For those of you who read yesterday's entry, you got a small teaser for this. For all of you, here's more about what's going on this week. Today most of the country has the day off. But why is that? That is to acknowledge the many contributions to our current workplace life that have been won by Unions, including an 8-hour workday, Child Labor Laws, safety standards, health benefits, and overtime pay, just to name a few. So, between now and Friday I will be putting up an article every day talking about some facet of the history of Organized Labor and how it relates to Chicago. And trust me, I've got some heavy topics on deck for this week. From the roots of the May Day rallies that happen every year throughout the country, to the labor action that inspired the very creation of the Labor Day holiday, this week has it all. But to start off with, I'd like to show you around...The Jungle...
By 1906, the meatpacking industry had been a Chicago institution for well over half a century. However, it was about to get a rude awakening. For that was the year that Upton Sinclair threw the book(no pun intended) at the industry. In 1904, Upton Sinclair was a young writer working for a Socialist newspaper in Chicago. As part of an expose they were planning, Sinclair was sent to work undercover in the infamous Union Stockyards for seven weeks, where he eventually gathered material for the necessary articles. About a year later, Sinclair sought to fictionalize his experiences and publish them in book form. After much consternation(his novel was rejected five times before it was finally accepted) he finally found a publisher for his book. Doubleday released The Jungle on February 26, 1906.
Once published, the book left the American people shocked and disgusted, just not in the way that Sinclair had hoped. You see, Sinclair had intended the book to be a clarion call alerting the public about the despicable condition of the working class in Gilded Age America. Such passages as the protagonist's wife getting raped by her boss, the terrible work conditions, and even some workers falling into mixing vats and being turned into lard were meant to tug at the heartstrings of America. And stories like the lard one did force America to think some things over, things like the safety of their food. The Jungle led to expanded oversight of meatpacking, the increased scrutiny of the industry by President Teddy Roosevelt, and even the establishment of the FDA. Even with all of this impact, Sinclair lamented that he wanted to "aim at the public's heart, but instead [he] hit it in the stomach" The Jungle remains in print to this day, more than 107 years after its initial release, and it still serves as a testament to the state of both worker's rights and the meatpacking industry at the turn of the century.
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