Strikes were the ultimate action that workers could take to bring about change.  However, most small strikes didn’t have enough influence or resources to succeed.  Employers could often outlast or break strikes and avoid making concessions.  To try and overcome these problems, some strikes, like the Spinners’ strike of 1830-31, used a technique called “rolling strikes.”  Not all workers would strike at once.  Instead, certain workers would picket for a set amount of time.  This way the small group of strikers could be supported financially by the union and workers could still partially control the daily operations of a given mill or factory, which also helped keep negotiation channels open (Steinberg 210).

The core of the Spinners’ issue with mill owners centered around production piece rates.  The Spinners’ strength lay in their ability to gain worker support from multiple mills.  They wanted to equalize the piece rates across the entire industry to universally benefit workers.  This was a powerful message.  Had the Spinners not been able to gain such wide support, they would never have been able to challenge owners on the level that they did.  However, like many strikes, desperation eventually drove groups of Spinners towards violence.  Thomas Ashton, the son of a “cotton king,” was murdered by unknown workers who mistook him for his younger brother who was a hated mill manager.  This event appears to have been a turning point. Mill owners naturally used the murder to label workers as dangerous and violent revolutionaries.  As a result, strike turnout eventually began to weaken and the Spinners were forced to end their strike efforts.  As Mark Steinberg states in his book, Fighting Words, “The masters showed little grace in victory.  Reports circulated that at least one mill in Stalybridge was fining its spinners 30 shillings for their strike participation.  Even more disparaging for the hapless losers, the mill owners established a blacklist that contained perhaps 300 names”(Steinberg 224).  Steinberg illustrates the very serious consequences that faced strikers.  The story of striking workers is one of many small and partial victories.  It was only through repeated worker agitation throughout the century that noticeable improvements for workers were achieved.

- Adam Bischoff