A PEOPLES HISTORY-13
...he sooty buildings, with very little light and almost no breaks. Nine out of every twenty-five workers died by age twenty-five and two out of every three children died within their first three years of work. The workers’ lives were controlled by the factories: they lived in factory towns, drank factory-supplied water, shopped at the factory store, and had no way to get away from the factories, where they were treated horribly. It was no way to live. The workers, fed up with being treated so badly, decided to do something about it. They formed unions and went on strike. For one of the first times in American history, everyone came together. Black people, white people, men, and women all collaborated for the common goal of better working conditions. In June 1905, there was a meeting in Chicago to form the Industrial Workers of the World, or the Wobblies. It wasn’t an easy battle. When the Wobblies would hold rallies, the town governments would instate laws saying that public speaking was illegal. ...