Spanish American War, Extending the Monroe Doctrine

and Domestic Unrest

Instructor Pacas

Empire as a Way of Life• The Southern Hemisphere was wealthy in natural

resources.

• The Southern Hemisphere was also coveted for supplying viable markets to dump industrial goods produced by the Northern Industrial nations.

• The industrial powers needed to tap into these resources and markets to ensure their survival as industrial powers/empires.

• In the American continent the United States after the Civil War was poised to engage in empire building and expand abroad.

• In various occasions the U.S. enforced the Monroe Doctrine in Latin America. (Williams pg.97-106)

• U.S. decided to compete against Europe in this process. (Williams Empire as a Way of Life pg. 116-119

U.S. and Imperialism

• The acquisition of Philippines to ensure access to the wealthy markets of China, Korea and South East Asia was advocated by industrialists in U.S.

• War with Spain was necessary to acquire various islands in Spain’s possession in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Reasons for the Spanish American War

• With the growing discontent of labor with the Capitalist Industrial Complex, how could engaging in a war ensure a degree of social stability for the nation?

• How did modernization necessitate the adoption of imperialism?

System of Justification• Empires were created through the ruthless invasion and

colonization of other territories.

• But because the industrial nations viewed themselves civilized, a system of justification needed to be found in order to pursue this course of action…

• The Anglo European Industrial powers and U.S. utilized the pretext of bringing civilization, democracy, free trade, etc. to these ‘backwards’ people for their (people in those regions) benefit.

• This masked the true intentions of exploiting natural resources and/or markets.

An imperialist community seeking to impose their social and cultural values or so called ‘civilizing enterprise’ on the newly conquered territory.

• Once again education and the media played a crucial role in formulating popular concepts and in some instances inciting popular call to war.

• They communicated the patronizing ideology of ‘benevolent intervention” on behalf of the population in these foreign territories by U.S. military and industrial business interests.

• Education fostered an idea in the youth that to serve militarily to further the modernizing enterprise was a citizens’ patriotic duty.

War as a tool of social control• What were some of the ‘benefits’ of the war for the United

States as a collective whole and for the business and government interests that were becoming tied together.

• It propagated more jobs in the building of a navy.

• It would serve to quiet discontent in society by shipping many of the seditious elements in society to go die in a foreign land.

• It would cultivate feelings of nationalism at home as families had loved ones in the service.

Cont’d

• It would expand business interest abroad establishing bases from which trade with Asia could be easily carried out.

• Ensure American business interest abroad.

• Effectively build U.S. spheres of interest in other parts of the world as well as enable the policing of other European Industrial powers in the region.

• Williams pg. 116-119

Forcing the newly conquered communities to become export oriented economies

Lumber, rubber, gold, coal, oil, diamonds, food, markets, free labor, and other natural resources.

NORTH/INDUSTRIALIST

SOUTH/EXPORT

Central America and the United States

Instructor Pacas

1850’s

• The development of cheaper synthetic dyes like aniline in industrial Germany economically hit Central America particularly hard.

• Central America was forced to shift its economy to the cultivation of coffee as a means to subsist. (Galeano pg. 105-107)

• By 1880 the coffee plantations of Central America were supplying one-sixth of the world’s coffee production.

• Global demand for coffee transformed the region and assisted in raising a coffee bourgeoisie that became the political power of the region.

• Agricultural specialization, dictated from abroad, set off a frenzy of land and labor grabbing…

• National land was privatized and indigenous communities were plundered by this new coffee elite.

• People were forced to become indentured servants to work the coffee plantations of these elites to supply the global demand. (Galeano pg. 106)

Central America and Modernization

• Wages for these industrial indentured servants were extremely low thus spelling the doom for an internal market of consumption to develop.

• Profit for the native coffee elite directly linked to being financed by foreign investors and foreign consumers.

• The expansion of coffee cultivation seized the best lands.

• Cultivation of cash crops made the possibility of food-raising meager as the best lands were acquired by coffee elite and foreigners.

• Scarcity of land to produce food for population and restrictive agricultural practices gave rise to a tradition of mass hunger and poverty in this region. (Galeano pg. 106)

Industrial Infrastructure Acquired by U.S. Industrialists

• The small national railway system used to transport coffee production to ports were acquired by U.S. business men and further expanded.

• U.S. business men in the area monopolized these infrastructures (railways, light, telegraph, telephone, etc.) thus relegating the economic well being of the entire nation in the hands of few foreign investors that dictated the politics of the region.

Case Study United Fruit Co.

• Owned close to 80% of all land in Guatemala• Monopolized the railway system bankrupting

any native competition.• Exercised overall political control in the

nation.• Put in power dictators friendly to U.S.

Industrial interests.

U.S. Domestic Class Struggles1900-1910

Instructor Pacas

Some Statistics of Work Related Deaths and Injuries in the early 20th Century

• In 1904, 27,000 workers were killed on the job in manufacturing, transport and agriculture combined. In one year 50,000 accidents took place in New York factories alone.

• “On March 25, 1911 a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company swept through the 8th, 9th, 10th floor (ladders of fire department could only reach up to the 7th floor) 146 Triangle workers were burned or crushed to death.

• “According to a report of the Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914 35,000 workers were killed in industrial accidents and 700,000 injured.

Since the government did not assist laborers to resolve these issues they took matters into their own hands and formed unions.

• AFL- American Federation of Labor

• IWW- Industrial Workers of the World

• These two unions were at the opposite side of the spectrum of unions.

• The AFL was very exclusive representing predominantly white, skilled male laborers.

• The IWW was socialist and believed in the equal representation of all laborers: Skilled and unskilled, any ethnicity, any gender, and any age.

Anti-Societal Views of the IWW

• "Fellow workers...This is the Continental Congress of the Working Class. We are here to Confederate the workers...The aim and objects of this organization shall be to put the working class in possession of the economic power, the means of life... without regard to the capitalists”.

• “The Working Class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few who make the employing class, have all the good things in life...”

A Challenge to the Capitalist Industrial Complex

• What danger did the IWW ideology pose to business interests?

• Ability to organize collectively.• Chain themselves to machines while simultaneously

engaging in strikes outside of factories• Collectively assist each other by taking care of

family members strike had staying power

Danger posed by Anti-Societal Ideology

• Anti-racist and anti-discriminatory represented everyone equally regardless of race, gender or skill level.

• The IWW argued that the laborer was the most important component in the C.I.C. without their labor production stopped. This hurt business economically which in turn disrupted the capitalist system.

• So the rhetoric of the IWW represented a clear and present danger to the economic system and therefore government and business.

• 1890's there had been 1,000 strikes a year, by 1904 4,000 a year.

Solution(s)• It is usually conditions reach a critical point and the

alternative threatens their interests that the power structure (in this case government and industrial interests) understand that concessions have to be made in order to retain stability.

• Usually it will be the least ‘radical’ of the two that will receive government support. In this case white male skilled laborers were invited to an open dialogue between their unions and business.

• This action brought a high degree of complexity to the relationship of the participants (labor, business and government).

Cont’d• Government- since it was getting involved and

inviting open dialogue, it could not be viewed as favoring one group or the other.

• Business- since it was willing to concede some privileges to a selected group of laborers it could not be viewed as being anti-labor.

• Labor- since a selective group had received some concessions it turned against itself as AFL now sought to work with business and power structure. (Divide and Conquer)