工业革命早期的劳工状况

Labor in Early Industrial Period

工业革命早期的劳工状况
美国工业革命早期的产业化与城市化进展迅速，特别是东北部及大西洋中部各州，使众多劳动者的工作条件与生活水平得到明显改善。轰轰烈烈的大生产也为妇女和儿童提供了就业机会。正如首任财政部长亚历山大·汉弥尔顿在为以制造业立国的方针进行辩护时所述：“自从妻子和女儿进厂做工后，农夫亲眼看到由于她们的辛勤劳动，家里又多了一个收入来源。” 但因为越来越多的劳动者由个体经营转为被人雇用，大规模生产方式使他们感到工作环境变得缺乏人情味与亲切感，而大批欧洲移民的涌入使他们的收入和工作条件也受到冲击。随着工人运动浪潮的兴起，美国劳动者们为争取自己的权利进行了不懈的努力。

In the decades before 1860, as the economy and especially urban centers grew, and as economic unification progressed, output was sold in larger, more integrated markets.1 Pressures were great to achieve volume at the expense of artistry2, and the small artisanal shops were increasingly giving way to the factory. This growth was apparent both in mechanized industries (cotton and wool textiles) and in nonmechanized industries (hats, books, and shoes). Mechanization was part of the story of this trend toward greater-sized production units, on the other hand, greater division of labor3 diminished the proportion and role of workers with general skills. Another characteristic of this transition to larger firms, at least initially in most manufacturing firms, was the increase in the proportion of the labor force composed of women and children. Larger firms typically exhibited a large share of simple and narrowly defined tasks, such as machine tending, starting materials in machines, carrying materials.4

Mill and factory owners in the textile industry generally solved their employment problems in two ways. Under one system known as the Rhode Island system5, they hired whole families, assigned father, mother, and children to tasks suitable to their strength and maturity, and housed the families in company-constructed tenements. A second system, called the Waltham system6, employed women in their late teens and early twenties who worked in large factories. Housed in dormitories or boarding houses, they remained under the careful supervision of matrons who kept any taint of disreputability from the young women.7

Hours of work in the early factories were unbelievably long. A 12-hour day was not considered at all unreasonable, and half an hour off for meals was standard. From sunrise to sunset, it was possible to operate machinery without artificial light, and in wintertime, candles furnished enough illumination to permit operation on into the evening. Because of the slow speeds of the early machines, the work pace was not great; for this reason, women and children could work a 72-hour week without physical breakdown.

The most negative aspects of industrialization were first witnessed in the cities. In the so-called sweatshops8, workers worked 14 to 16 hours a day in the garment industries of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. And common laborers who sold their services to transportation companies, urban building contractors, or factory and mill owners found themselves in an unenviable position when stiff competition from immigrant labor9 retarded the growth of real wages. For most workers, however, the antebellum period was one of rising wages and higher standards of material well-being.

The rise in the numbers of workers in manufacturing paralleled growing activities by workers to organize for their benefits. Craft societies were first established in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston in the 1790s, in the hope of securing increases in real wages, although attempts were also made to gain shorter working hours, to establish and maintain a closed shop10, and to regulate the conditions of apprenticeship. Cyclical economic downturns11 routinely dissolved worker collective actions, and wage reductions, though resisted, were common during downturns in the economy. However, unions were important in that they established a series of political advances. First, the technique of bargaining collectively was learned, and aggressive unions began to use the weapons of the strike and boycott with skill and daring; Second, the rapidly increasing number of individual societies began to coalesce. Local federations and then national organizations appeared.

One of the most significant political gains for workers was the broadening of suffrage, the right to vote. In the first decades of US history, a person had to own a minimum amount of real property or pay a certain amount in taxes in order to have a voice in political affairs. The struggle for voting privileges took place in the original 13 states. By 1860, white male citizens of the United States could vote, black males could vote in New York and New England and alien males could vote in the agricultural Northwest.

In the minds of the working people, the most needed reform was the abolition of imprisonment for debt. Thousands of citizens were jailed annually for failure to meet obligations of a few dollars, and there was fierce resentment against this injustice. As a result of the inflamed spirits of great numbers of laborers, small businessmen, and professional people with a high degree of social consciousness, imprisonment for debt was outlawed in most jurisdictions.

Although later movements and colorful episodes of the 1840s and 1850s were characterized by impractical utopian12 schemes, one movement of the century gained quick relief for workers: the struggle for the 10-hour day. That goal was set as early as 1835, but there was then no serious prospect of attaining it. Hope rose in 1840 when Matin Van Buren13 set a 10-day for federal employees. By 1860, a ten-hour day was standard in all the craft trades, and already a new standard of 8 hours14 was being timorously suggested.

在1860年以前的几十年间，随着经济尤其是城市中心的发展以及南北方经济融合的加强，产品得以在更大、更统一的市场上销售。在以牺牲产品工艺为代价换取更高产量的极大压力下，小型手工作坊日渐被工厂取代。这种增长趋势在机械化行业（如棉毛纺织）与非机械化行业（如图书与鞋帽制造）都很明显。机械化在一定程度上导致了生产单位规模扩大的趋势，另一方面，劳动力分工的加强降低了只有一般技能的工人的比例及作用。向大企业转变的另一个特征是，至少最初在大部分制造厂的劳动力中女工和童工的比例增加了。大企业通常有很大一部分相对简单、内容单一的工作，如看管机器、准备机器用料、运送材料等。

纺织行业的作坊与工厂主一般通过两种方式解决雇工问题。一种为罗得岛州制度，即雇用家庭全体成员，分配给父亲、母亲和孩子与其体力和能力相应的任务，并让他们一家一户地住在公司建造的房屋里。第二种叫沃尔瑟姆制度，即雇用二十岁左右的女子在大工厂里做工。姑娘们住在宿舍或寄宿房里，受到女舍监的严格看管，以免她们名誉受损。

早期的工厂工作时间相当长。12小时工作日根本不算过分，半小时吃饭时间也属常规。（平常）从早到晚可以不用人工照明操作机器，而在冬季，蜡烛照明足以使工作延续到晚上。由于早期的机器速度慢，工作节奏不快，因此，每周工作72小时，女工和童工的身体还能熬得住。

工业化带来的最消极的一面首先出现在城市里。在所谓的“血汗工厂”里，纽约、费城及波士顿服装业的工人们每天工作14至16个小时。由于来自移民劳工的激烈竞争阻碍了实际工资的增长，向运输公司、城市建筑商或工厂主出卖劳力的工人发现自己处境尴尬。然而，对于 大多数工人来说，南北战争以前的这段时间是工资与物质生活水平均有提高的时期。

随着制造业工人人数的增加，工人为自身利益组织起来进行的活动越来越多。行业协会最早于18世纪90年代在费城、纽约和波士顿成立，旨在确保增加实际工资，当然在缩短工作时间、建立并保留封闭式工厂、调整学徒条件等方面也做了各种努力的尝试。周期性经济低迷通常使工人的集体行动受到破坏，工资削减虽然受到抵制，但在经济不景气时也是司空见惯的。但是，工会组织的重要作用在于一系列政治上的收获。其一，学会了集体谈判技巧，敢作敢为的工会开始大胆而巧妙地运用罢工与抵制等武器；其二，迅速增加的各行业协会开始联合。地方组织及后来的全国性组织相继出现。

工人们最重大的政治收获是选举权的扩大。在美国建立之初的几十年中，人们必须拥有一定数量的财产或支付一定数额的税金才会有政治发言权。 争取选举权的斗争在最初的13个州开展起来。到了1860年，美国的白人男性居民可以参加选举，在纽约和新英格兰， 黑人男子也有选举权，而在以农业为主的西北部，外国侨民男性可以参加选举。

对于劳动者来说，最必要的改革是废除因债务而坐牢的制度。每年有成千上万的人因无力偿还寥寥数美元的债务而身陷囹圄，因而人们对这种不公平的法律制度切齿痛恨。由于众多劳动者、小商人以及具有较高社会责任感的专业人士的强烈反对，这种监禁制度在大多数州法中被废除。

尽管此后19世纪四五十年代的运动以及一系列有声有色的事件带有不切实际的乌托邦式空想的特点，但有一项运动迅速减轻了劳动者的痛苦，即为10小时工作日而进行的斗争。这一目标早在1835年就提出，但当时实现这个目标的希望很渺茫。而1840年马丁·范布伦为联邦雇员规定了10小时工作日后，希望重新燃起。到了1860年，10小时工作日成为所有手工行业的标准，而此时８小时工作日的新标准也在小心翼翼地酝酿着。

1. 1812年第二次英美战争后，保护关税举措的实施遏制了英国的经济渗透，同时公路、汽船、铁路的发展也带来交通运输业突飞猛进的变化，为美国民族经济的发展创造了条件。

2. artistry: 艺术， 技巧。美国制造业的产品最初由独立经营的手工店铺完成。技艺精湛的工匠们按顾客要求制作物件， 在门市自产自销。1815年之后，这种独立经营的手工店铺迅速减少，出现了由一个师傅带着几个熟练工人和学徒的手工作坊。有时，一些作坊结成小团体，把成批的产品提供给批发商在更广大的市场销售。

3. division of labor: 分工（经济学术语），这里指工序分工，可以提高劳动生产率。

4. 在美国工厂化初期，新英格兰（美国东北部一地区，包括缅因、 佛蒙特、新罕布什尔、马萨诸塞、罗得岛、康涅狄格等６个州）的许多企业效仿英国雇用女工和童工从事轻体力劳动。19世纪50年代大规模移民潮到来之前，由于劳动力缺乏，这些企业不得不采用一种较仁慈的方法对待工人。

5. 罗得岛州(美国东北部一州)制度，工厂的劳动力主要是妇女和儿童，大多数早期的制造业都遵循了这一模式。

6. 1814年第一家具有美国特色的纺织厂在新英格兰马萨诸塞州的沃尔瑟姆建立。由于该厂把纺织的整个流程集中在厂内完成，并为工人建了宿舍、商店、教堂等配套设施，因此被美国人自豪地称为“沃尔瑟姆制度”。

7. 这些单身女子被称为 “洛厄尔女孩”，在纺织厂干上几年后可以带上可观的嫁妆返乡。

8. 血汗工厂，指工人劳动条件差、工作时间长、工资低的工场或工厂。

9. 由于1845 - 1847年的土豆饥荒与地主的压迫，大批爱尔兰移民涌入美国，成为工厂雇用的廉价劳动力。1848年德国革命失败后的15年中，有130万德国移民到达美国，其中1/3涌入大城市做工。

10. closed shop: 只雇用某一工会会员的工厂（或商店），类似于union shop（工人限期加入工会的工厂）。

11. cyclical economic downturns: 周期性经济低迷（传统经济学认为，经济是按照商业周期循环运行的，每个周期通常包括低迷—萧条—复苏—繁荣四个阶段）。

12. 乌托邦的， 理想化的， 空想的。

13. 马丁·范布伦 (1782-1862), 美国第八任总统［1837-1841］， 来自纽约的强有力的民主党人，历任美国参议员［1821-1828］，国务卿 ［1829-1831］ 和安德鲁·杰克逊［1833-1837］ 任期内的副总统，并于1836年当选为总统。

14. 8小时工作日，从1886年开始，美国劳工便为此作着不懈的努力，直到20世纪初才正式确定下来并延续至今。