United States 1903

Synopsis

The rise of labor unions after the U.S. Civil War led labor activists to seek government protection from business owners. In 1884 the federal government established the Bureau of Labor Statistics to gather data on labor, and four years later made it an independent agency. Businessmen, on the other hand, resented the hodgepodge of state and the federal regulatory bodies and laws and wanted the government to establish an agency to aid commerce. They also wanted the government to help them control or even break labor unions.

Timeline

• 1883: Foundation of the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of Labor by Marxist political philosopher Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov marks the formal start of Russia's labor movement. Change still lies far in the future for Russia, however: tellingly, Plekhanov launches the movement in Switzerland.
• 1893: Henry Ford builds his first automobile...