Exploitation of Employees: Forced Labor Throughout History

The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake

The Chimney Sweeper, a poem by William Blake, was first published as part of a collection in 1789 titled Songs of Innocence. This collection would later be combined with another entitled Songs of Experience in as early as 1794. However, “the printing history of the combined Songs is complicated because Blake printed it while also continuing to print [them] separately” (“SONGS OF INNOCENCE”). Though Blake came to be a well-regarded poet, he “was better known by his contemporaries for his engravings and designs than for his poetry” (“William Blake”). Because of his artistic background, he created the engravings for his books. In some cases, he added pictures for viewing alongside the body of the poems. For example, the picture for The Chimney Sweeper portrays a young worker walking through a storm. Despite Blake’s engraving and artistic capabilities he didn’t publish many copies of Songs, and it’s remarked that because of “the scarcity of his books and his reputation for madness, his work received scant attention from his peers” (“William Blake”). As previously mentioned, this changed as critics came to recognize and appreciate Blake’s “prophetic” exploration of social and political issues. 

In The Chimney Sweeper, Blake explores the lives of chimney sweeps, or climbing boys. These were children who worked climbing inside and cleaning chimneys. This was a dirty, dangerous, and low paying job. When Blake wrote this poem, toward the end of the 18th century, Great Britain was experiencing an Industrial Revolution. The growing use of steam led to a boom in factories that contributed to the growth of the chimney sweeper profession. Sadly, according to freelance history writer Jessica Brain “those employed were often orphans or from impoverished backgrounds, sold into the job by their parents” (Brain). The Chimney Sweeper, through Blake’s nameless narrator, corroborates this by stating in the opening lines: “when my mother died I was very young / and my father sold me…” (Blake, lines 1-2). This transaction by the narrator’s father shows how this industry had a lot of similarities to slavery. To the point where a worker was sometimes even legally owned by their master, or boss. Brain provides additional commentary, explaining “very often those that had been sold by their parents had even signed papers securing [the child’s boss] status as their legal guardians” (Brain). 

The narrator in the poem goes on to say they “could scarcely cry” and “so your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep” (Blake, lines 3-4). Here we gain a picture of the difficult life the narrator has been sold into. A lifestyle where they must prioritize work over grief, and go to bed covered in black soot. But the narrator appears to cope, as they comfort a fellow chimney sweeper named Tom Dacre when he cries. The next portion, and main section of the poem, is a dream Tom has. In this dream, he sees “thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack / were all of them locked up in coffins of black” (Blake, lines 11-12). What appears as a morbid vision, possibly alluding to the danger of their work, quickly becomes pleasant as an Angel comes and releases the boys into heaven. Then, “the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy / he’d have God for his father & never want joy” (Blake, lines 19-20). Here we see a religious figure, the Angel, encouraging Tom to continue his hard work. The key the Angel uses to bring them all to heaven, a place of eternal happiness, acts as a symbol for the hard work and obedience the Angel prescribes Tom. At the end of the poem, Tom awakes ready and eager to work after this vision. 

Taken at face value, this is a poem about accepting one’s situation and using religion as comfort and a way to cope. But when considering the dark picture accompanying the poem, and the dark truths of the chimney sweep’s profession referenced, this is a story criticizing moral justifications made for exploitative labor practices. This profession, a necessary evil for the period, exploited young children “from some as young as four up until puberty” (Brain). Those who didn’t die by suffocation, or getting stuck, and made it into adulthood “would suffer terrible health conditions” (Brain). Meaning, if Blake’s poem is read at face value, being a chimney sweep isn’t so bad because if you work hard then you’ll live in eternal bliss after dying a painful death. Blake’s sarcasm and prod at religious justifications are further reinforced by his “sympathy with political and civil liberties” that “put him at odds with the notoriously repressive government of William Pitt” (“William Blake”). Furthermore, “some critics have speculated that Blake obscured his ideas behind the veil of mysticism to circumvent government censure” (“William Blake”). 

This theme of justifying exploitative labor practices resonates today with companies like Shein. Whereas the British elite took advantage of poor, orphaned children to work a necessary industry, Shein does the same to maximize profits in their own industry. According to a report in 2021 “Shein systematically takes advantage of the fact that these employees are prepared to forgo even a minimum degree of safety, free time and quality of life, because they feel that they don’t really have an alternative” (Kolbrunner). When given no other alternative by their greedy supervisors, chimney sweeps and sweatshop workers alike are forced to dig deep for hope. Even if that means finding hope in death. 

Primary: 

Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper: When My Mother Died I Was...” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43654/the-chimney-sweeper-when-my-mother…. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024. 

"William Blake." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Jay Parini, vol. 13, Gale, 1986. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/EJNXCN733655569/LCO?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-LCO&xid=c827f90c. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. Originally published in The Spectator, vol. 63, no. 1847, 21 Nov. 1863, pp. 2771-2773.

Secondary: 

Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper”. 1794. Photograph. British Museum. https://blakearchive.org/images/songsie.b.p45-37.100.jpg. Accessed April 29, 2024.

Brain, Jessica. “Chimney Sweeps and Climbing Boys.” Historic UK, 1 Dec. 2023, www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-Boy-Chimney-Sweep/. 

“London Lives 1690 to 1800.” Background - Parliamentary Reform - London Lives, www.londonlives.org/static/ParliamentaryReform.jsp. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

“SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE (COMPOSED 1789, 1794).” The William Blake Archive, blakearchive.org/work/songsie. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. 

Extra:

Kollbrunner, Timo. “Toiling Away for Shein.” 19 Nov. 2021, stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/. 

Rise of Child Labor During the Coalition Wars

The Coalition Wars, or the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, were a series of conflicts that had a major impact on Britain’s economy. During this state of turmoil Great Britain, in the midst of their Industrial Revolution, would “finance a large military establishment in excess of 500,000 men compared with 75,000 in 1792” (O’Brien). Taxes increased, class gaps widened, and inflation expanded. Meanwhile, the British elite did little to curb, and even encouraged, their growing reliance on the exploitative practice of child labor to shoulder the economic burden. 

Why children? Because they were readily available and, according to historian Mark Cartwright, “a child worker was about 80% cheaper than a man and 50% cheaper than a woman” (Cartwright). The gap between wages and living expenses was growing for the working class too, as evidenced by liberal MP Samuel Whitbread’s proposed minimum wage bill in 1796. He argued to the House of Commons that living costs had doubled in comparison to the growth of agricultural wages. He sought to aid laborers, explaining men were turning to the military as a means of reliable employment. But his fellow MP William Pitt encouraged “the labour and industry of children should be particularly called forth” (“Sunday and Tuesday’s Posts”). This use of cheap, readily available labor was unfortunately already quite common. Historian Jane Humphries explains “sending children to work became normal and widely adopted by other desperate families” and this effectively “triggered a vicious circle, with adult wages [lowering and] increasing the need for children to work to maintain subsistence” (Humphries). Whitbread’s bill died and “Pitt’s speech was received by the house with an uncommon degree of attention and approbation” (“Sunday and Tuesday’s Posts”). Following the failure of the bill, historian Patrick Karl O’Brien explains “for most groups of workers (skilled and unskilled) wages lagged behind rising prices between 1797-1810” (O’Brien). Families were forced to enlist the help of their children. Child laborers “could also be bullied and threatened by supervisors much more easily than an adult, and they could not fight back”, making them ideal for exploitation (Cartwright). 

The first big bill set to improve the conditions of child laborers was the Cotton Apprentice Bill, known as The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, pushed by Sir Robert Peele in 1802. The bill was created because of a report blaming the spread of diseases on “the filthy and crowded condition of the factories, where the children are kept at excessive labour, with out proper food, cloathing, air or recreation” (“Friday’s and Saturday’s Posts”). But it focused more on providing standard mealtimes, working hours, and religious instruction for child apprentices. When fellow members of the House of Commons suggested expanding on these regulations, Peele replied “the bill [goes] quite far enough as an experiment” (“Friday’s and Saturday’s Posts”).

The bill, or experiment, wasn’t taken seriously nor enforced with the backdrop of the Coalition Wars. Economist Stanley Engerman adds that justifications for “discrimination or coercion might be considered to be either necessary or desired (as in wartime)” (Engerman). Two years after the bill had passed, a correspondent for the Lancaster Gazette reported on a large religious confirmation of working class children in the industrial town of Preston. They finished the article by stating “indeed to the credit of the Backbarrow Cotton Company it ought to be mentioned that no gentlemen of the united kingdom have paid more attention to the health, morals, and education, of their apprentices’” (“On Saturday last”). This quote provides a firsthand account of how the bill’s effects depended less on enforcement and more on the consideration of factory owners. Therefore having little to no real legal impact. 

Due to the growing exploitation of child workers, Great Britain would enter a child labor boom at the beginning of the 19th century. It wasn’t until the “1830s, the situation for workers in factories and mines, including for children, began to slowly improve” due to enforced legislation (Cartwright). The exploitation of workers, specifically children, during the Coalition Wars shows the ways in which the elite made excuses for forced labor. This continues today, with companies like Shein offering cheap products on the basis of outsourcing labor to countries with less laws protecting their workers and paying significantly lower wages. The end of the Coalition Wars, and the legislation that followed, had little impact as the lists of exploitative labor practices and justifications continue growing two hundred years later. 

Primary Sources: 

"Friday's & Saturday's Posts." Manchester Mercury, 25 May 1802, p. 2. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/CL3241475424/BNCN?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=b1a67d94. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. 

"On Saturday last, the Hon. Sir Robert Graham, Knight, arrived in this town, and the sam evening opened the commission for holding the Assizes, at the Castle." Lancaster Gazetter, 18 Aug. 1804. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/R3208731151/BNCN?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=f7498c12. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. 

"Sunday and Tuesday's Posts." Northampton Mercury, 20 Feb. 1796, p. 1. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/apps/doc/GR3218885101/BNCN?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=611645db. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Wilson, Robert. “Chartist Demonstration on Kennington Common”. 1900. Image. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/18th-century-Britain-1714-1815#/media/1/615557/109246. Accessed April 29, 2024.

Secondary Sources: 

Cartwright, Mark. “Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution.” World History Encyclopedia, https://www.worldhistory.org#organization, 18 Mar. 2024, www.worldhistory.org/article/2216/child-labour-in-the-british-industria…;

Engerman, Stanley. 2003. “The History and Political Economy of International Labor Standards.” In Kaushik Basu, Henrik Horn, Judith Shapiro, and Lisa Roman, eds., International Labor Standards: History, Theory and Policy Options. Oxford: Blackwell. 

Humphries, Jane. “Child Labor: Lessons from the Historical Experience of Today’s Industrial Economies.” The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 17, no. 2, 2003, pp. 175–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3990135. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

O’Brien, Patrick Karl. “The Impact of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815, on the Long-Run Growth of the British Economy.” Review (Fernand Braudel Center), vol. 12, no. 3, 1989, pp. 335–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40241130. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Extra:

Kollbrunner, Timo. “Toiling Away for Shein.” 19 Nov. 2021, stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/. 

The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself

The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself is an autobiographical recount of the life of Mary Prince, a woman born into slavery in Bermuda around 1788. Published in 1831, Prince’s autobiography provided a firsthand account of the horrors of slavery and exposed the sadistic and cruel nature of her previous masters. Mary Prince became the first Black woman to publish in Great Britain, and her bravery in sharing her story was a catalyst in the anti-slavery movement, as she makes an explicit call to action, “I have been a slave—I have felt what a slave feels, and I know what a slave knows, and I would have all the good people in England know it too, that they may break our chains, and set us free” (Prince 11). Two years after History was published, An Act for the Abolition of Slavery was established. This stated that “all such persons should be manumitted [freed by their enslaver] and set free and that a reasonable Compensation should be made available to the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves” (NationalArchives). 

Prince's narrative begins with her childhood, which she describes as “the happiest period of my life; for I was too young to understand rightly my condition as a slave, and too thoughtless and full of spirits to look forward to the days of toil and sorrow” (Prince 1). Prince describes life after she was sold from her family, consisting of violent and senseless physical abuse and sexual assault she endured at the hands of various masters.

 Her autobiography was popular, printing three editions within the year it was published, but it was not well received by all. James Macqueen, an anti-emancipation writer of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, questioned the validity of Prince’s story, describing it as a “specimen[s] of the hideous falsehoods and misrepresentations which are advanced against the colonists by their enemies of this country” (Macqueen 744). Macqueen then describes Prince herself as a “despicable tool” (744) of Thomas Pringle’s–Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society and editor of Prince’s autobiography–and claims that Prince’s story was published for the sole purpose of “destroying the character of two respectable individuals, her [Prince] owners, Mr and Mrs Wood of Antigua” (744). 

During her time with the Woods, Prince’s last owners, she began to experience rheumatism from her years of grueling and relentless labor. “I soon fell ill of the rheumatism, and grew so very lame that I was forced to walk with a stick. I got the Saint Anthony's fire, also, in my left leg, and became quite a cripple” (Prince 14). Nonetheless, Prince was still expected to work, and was threatened with violence if she did not work to the satisfaction of the Woods.

Prince’s rheumatism is not the only instance of the toll forced labor took on her body. Earlier in her autobiography, Prince recounts the moment “He [Capt. Ingham] came to me, and without any more ado, stooped down, and taking off his heavy boot, he struck me such a severe blow in the small of my back, that I shrieked with agony, and thought I was killed; and I feel a weakness in that part to this day” (Prince 8). Not only that, but in the postscript of the second edition of History, Pringle states that, “Mary Prince has been afflicted with a disease in the eyes, which, it is feared, may terminate in total blindness” (Prince ii). It is hypothesized that Mrs. Ingham is responsible for Prince’s partial blindness from her aimed blows to Prince’s head and face (Gale 2023).

The exploitation of labor and disregard of employers comes in many forms, and can be connected to modern day controversies like Shein factories. Where Mary Prince was working in the salt ponds of Turks Island from sunrise to sunset, resulting in, “dreadful boils, which eat down in some cases to the very bone, afflicting the sufferers with great torment” (Prince 10), Shein employees are scheduled intermittently, “from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the morning; then from 1.30 p.m. to 5.45 p.m.; and then in the evening from 7 p.m. to 10 or 10.30 p.m.” (Kollbrunner 2021), adding up to over 75 working hours per week. The employers who only iron the clothes “in constant heat, due to the steam, and can seldom sit down” (Kollbrunner 2021). This is only one example of the unregulated labor practices and the disregard for the safety and wellbeing of employees. Despite the fact that Mary Prince’s story and the working conditions of Shein factories are on different points of the exploitation spectrum, they still fall on that spectrum nonetheless.

Sources Cited

Primary:

Prince, Mary. “The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African: Electronic Edition.” Mary Prince. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. with a Supplement by the Editor. to Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African., 2000, docsouth.unc.edu/neh/prince/prince.html. 

Macqueen, James. “Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine 1831-11: Vol 30 ISS 187.” Internet Archive, Blackwood Pillans and Wilson, 1 Nov. 2021, archive.org/details/sim_blackwoods-magazine_1831-11_30_187/page/744/mode/2up.

Secondary:

"Mary Prince." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale, 2023. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1603001574/BIC?u=iulib_iupui&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=3e353b8c.

Extras:

“The 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act and Compensation Claims: Collection Highlights.” The National Archives, beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/georgians/1833-abolition-of-slavery-act-and-compensation-claims/. 

Kollbrunner, Timo. “Toiling Away for Shein.” 19 Nov. 2021, stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/. 

E.B. Browning's “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”

When a person is forced to do work they do not want to do, and they cannot fight, what is their alternative? Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” sheds light on what many in positions of exploitive labor feel their only option to fight back is. Written in 1848 and published in 1850, this poem lasts as a visceral journey that a broken mankind forced another to embark upon. Yet what of thus example of a person not wanting to be free and forced labor?

E.B. Browning was a prominent Victorian-era poet. Browning used her literary voice to protest the institution of slavery forced upon black people in America. In her youth, Browning’s family had accumulated wealth through business on English-owned plantations in northern Jamaica. Although raised in England, the wealth generated from forced slave labor in Jamaica shaped her perspective on racism and injustice. It informed her of the issues in the United States and of labor in general. 

In this poem, Browning vividly portrays the anguish of slavery through the eyes of a female slave who is running away from her master. The poem’s setting at Pilgrim’s Point, where the Mayflower landed. This setting highlights the stark contrast between the freedoms some, like British settlers, enjoyed and the brutal reality faced by others, like enslaved Africans. The slave woman’s desperate escape from the clutches of slavery underscores the dehumanizing effects of exploitive and forced labor. The speaker starkly calls out the history of how the pilgrims sought freedom, and yet became slave masters. It is these few that own many, it is this exploitation that forces her to embark upon her journey, trying to find freedom. The woman says in the first stanza, “I stand on the mark beside the shore / Of the first white pilgrim’s bended knee, / Where exile turned to ancestor, / And God was thanked for liberty. / I have run through the night….” demonstrating her frustrations against those who forced her to be a slave, providing themselves with free and forced labor, and her with desperateness to be free from this exploitative labor (Browning). 

“The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” helps inform people today on the parallels between historical forced slave labor and modern-day exploitative labor practices. Slavery is often thought of as an isolated historical event, yet a form of slavery exists today. Within prison systems, incarcerated workers face exploitation and abuse not too dissimilar to historical American slavery. Many believe the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution abolished slavery completely. Unfortunately, the 13th Amendment has a loophole. This loophole means the 13th Amendment does not abolish slavery, but merely changes the contexts in which it is allowed, single-handedly creating permission for slavery. This form of exploitive labor, not dissimilar to sweatshops, to exist in prisons systems today. This is yet another occurrence in history of top-down justification of coercive labor practices. The slave owners in “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” and those who run prisons alike take advantage of those they control, justifying these actions with claims of providing work to those around them and providing products at an economical value (FPI).

 As a result, enslaved and incarcerated individuals lose the right to refuse work, often facing excessive hours, arbitrary assignments, and inadequate protections. During Pre-Civil War slavery, slaves certainly had no rights, hence leading to bold actions like the speaker took of running away. The speaker says she has “I have gasped and run / All night long….” in order to seek freedom from her treatment and laboring (Browning). Despite local labor laws mandating an eight-hour workday and a 40-hour week, many prisoners work long hours for no or minimal pay—sometimes just pennies per hour. Pennies are hardly a pay improvement from the era of Brownings poem. The prison industry benefits from this captive labor force, keeping operating costs low and selling cheap goods to government agencies and private companies (ACLU). Regularly these employees are from a targeted group, being discriminated against due to being part of that group, whether that is being black, working class, or of another group. In the United States, black people are incarcerated at a rate of more than five times the rate of white people (NAACP). Similarly, fast fashion companies like Shein rely on undercompensated labor to produce their clothing lines. Shein’s workers, as seen through many photographs, often are poor Chinese women. This is similar to the demographic targeting seen in American slavery. The speaker of the poem cries in the middle of the poem “I am black, I am black” in her discussion of the treatment of people of her race by other races, the treatment of black people by white people in the Pre-Civil War era (Browning). Slave masters required long hours of working from their slaves. Similarly, Shein’s suppliers have been found to subject workers to excessive overtime, with some staff members working up to 75-hour weeks (Jones). This morphed form of slavery, a form of exploitive labor, is integrated in The United States social and economic spheres. It is unknown to many, yet always known to those who champion justice, have been directly negatively hurt by the system, or those who monetarily benefit from the system (Wybrow p. 6).  Browning’s poem also tried to champion justice with her visceral, enlightening poem on the distress of the laborer, the laborer made real and humanized as a young woman and a mother. These practices mirror the exploitation faced by the runaway slave in Browning’s poem, emphasizing the urgent need for ethical labor practices that pay people well, do not coerce them into labor, and do not discriminate against them. The negative effects of discrimination and exploitive labor can be seen in the laments of the speaker when she says “Our blackness shuts like prison bars: / The poor souls crouch so far behind, / That never a comfort can they find / By reaching through the prison-bars.” (Browning).

“The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” serves as an important literary event, as it is a poignant reminder of historical and contemporary struggles against forced labor. Whether in the context of 19th-century slavery or modern-day sweatshops, the fight for fair treatment and human rights remains crucial. Browning’s words continue to resonate, urging all her readers to examine the impact of labor decision-making and advocate for justice. 

Works Cited: 

ACLU. “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers.” American Civil Liberties

Union, 15 June 2022, https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-in…;

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” Poeticous, 

www.poeticous.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/the-runaway-slave-at-pilgr….

  BROWNING (ELIZABETH BARRETT) The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point, c.1885; 

and Another. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/20136/lot/9/browning-elizabeth-barrett-…;

Jones, Lora. “Shein Suppliers’ Workers Doing 75-Hour Week, Finds Probe.” BBC News, 12 

Nov. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59245708. 

Shabazz, Rahiem. “12 Major Corporations Benefiting from the Prison Industrial 

Complex.” Malta Justice Initiative, 2021, http://maltajusticeinitiative.org/12-major-corporations-benefiting-from…;

U.S. Constitution. Amend. XIII, Sec. 1.
Wybrow, Caeley. Our Prison System’S Labor. 2021. Indiana University Purdue 

University Indianapolis, Argumentative Essay.

13th. Directed by Ava DuVernay. 2016. Netflix, 

https://www.netflix.com/watch/80091741?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C38…

Charles Dickens, "Hard Times"

Hard Times is a novel by Charles Dickens that was originally serialized from April 1, 1854 to August 12, 1854. The novel is set in the industrial town of Coketown and portrays the hardships of the working class in the Victorian era. The novel itself is divided into three books each named Sowing, Reaping, and Garnering respectively. Each book focuses on a different aspect of these characters' lives. In book one Dickens establishes morals and status of the characters as well as what society is like in Coketown. We see characters like Mr. Gradgrind whose character is based around facts over anything with no nonsense personality. We also meet a representation of the 1% in Mr. Bunderby who is described as “A man who could never sufficiently vaunt himself a self-made man. A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty. A man who was the Bully of humility.”(Dickens). We also get a representation of the lower class in the character of Sissy Jupe who lived with the circus and was abandoned by her father. We also meet one of the workers in Bounderby's factory, Stephen Blackpool. With these two characters Dickens gives us two perspectives of the lower class, with Sissy we get a naive look at the world and with Stephen we get a more grim realistic look. In book one we also see the condition of Coketown, the place where the characters and the factory reside. We see it described as “a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it,”(Dickens) with this we can see just how dirty industrial towns like this one were in the Victorian era. Book two further dives into the relationships between these characters and others while they live their life in Coketown. Book two is really where everything is crafted and laid out for the reader to latch onto. One of the main things Dickens focuses on is that of the working class highlighting both sides that of the factory owners and of the workers themselves. We can see just how the owner of the factory Bounderby views the workers based on his reaction to the strike they are having. He states that “we couldn’t improve the mills themselves, unless we laid down Turkey carpets on the floors,” and that “it’s the best-paid work there is.”(Dickens). This was the thought process of factory workers at the time, they thought that the workers were getting the very best when in actuality they had the worst conditions. The strike in the novel was actually inspired by a real strike that Dickens observed known as the Preston strike. In this strike cotton workers demanded a ten percent wage increase, this strike lasted seven months and it only stopped when workers ran out of funds to support themselves. Strikes over pay and working conditions have become increasingly more common around this time and even bleed over to today. For instance, recently there has been a lot of controversy over the working conditions of the fast fashion clothing company Shein. The conditions like many factories from the Victorian era such as Coketown have workers working very long hours for little pay. Some reports are showing that these Shein workers are working 75 hour shifts with little pay(Time). The only difference is that there are no strikes as seen in Hard Times being made about it. Even though it's been almost 200 years since Hard Times came out its topic and social issues are still very much seen today.

Citations:

“Historical Glossary.” Discovering Dickens, 2005, dickens.stanford.edu/hard/issue6_gloss.html.

Dutton, H. I., and J. E. King. Ten per Cent and No Surrender: The Preston Strike, 1853-1854. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was an industrial incident that occurred on March 25, 1911 in New York City. The factory was located in the top three floors of a building in Manhattan and was a textbook sweatshop. It was full of young immigrant women who did not speak English and would work nearly 12 hours a day. The fire began when a fire began in a rag bin and after it failed to be put out the workers began to panic and tried to leave the factory. A total of 146 workers died in the fire which could’ve been prevented if not for all of the safety violations(AFLCIO). One of these violations was in order to make sure the workers were productive and stayed in one place the owners would lock the doors. This was because the owners believed that the workers were stealing materials from the factory(Cornell). Since this was a clothing factory there were plenty of very flammable materials all over. This would’ve caused the fire to spread very fast which would cause panic. It also didn't help that the workers didn't speak English either so they wouldn’t be able to understand the directions they were being told. The fire was also very deadly as there was only one fire escape which was in terrible condition as when used to escape it began to buckle under the weight. If the necessary precautions were taken years earlier when the NY Board of Sanitary Control sent the factory a notice on its violations the fire could have been a lot less worse. After the fire happened the owners of the factory were brought to court on charges of manslaughter but were later acquitted. They actually profited from the event as their insurance paid them $60,000 at a rate of $400 per life lost(NYCData). Even today we are still seeing factory violations like the ones the Triangle Shirtwaist factory had. Just recently a team of investigators went and looked at the fast fashion company Shein. This investigation was run by Public Eye, a media company run from Switzerland. In their investigation we can see things that are very similar to how the Triangle Shirtwaist factory was run. For starters, just like the shirtwaist factory there are clothing materials all over the building they run them out of. There are bags and bags of clothes and materials so much in fact that they are blocking corridors which is a fire hazard. The conditions of the Shein factory are also relatively the same as the Shirtwaist factory. With the research done by PublicEye they have found that the shifts provided for the Shein factory equate “to over 75 working hours per week.”(PublicEye). Since Shein is a company that operates out of China they severely violate Chinese labor laws as “a working week can comprise a maximum of 40 hours, overtime cannot exceed 36 hours per month.”(PublicEye). These violations just show that sweatshops still exist and they really haven't changed at all.

Citations:

“NYCDATA: Disasters.” NYCdata | Disasters, www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/fires-triangle_shirtwaist.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

The Radium Girls

The exploitation of the Radium Girls by companies such as the United States Radium Corporation and the Radium Dial Company is yet another instance of the disregard for human life in pursuit of profit, and the severe damage unregulated labor practices can result in. In 1917, the US Radium Corporation opened a factory in Orange, NJ. Following that, Radium Dial opened another plant in Ottawa, IL and the Radium Company of Colorado opened another plant in Denver. Women made up almost 97% of the employment populus for these plants, hence the creation of the term “Radium Girls.” The employees at the New Jersey plant were “all women, mainly teenagers, who were recent immigrants to the USA. Most had minimal education. Some started working at the plant immediately after finishing grammar school. The women for the most part were very pleased to have the jobs” (Roberts 2017). 

 The job itself was “considered glamorous and patriotic” (Martinez et al. 2021), as the dials were painted for mainly, “ships and cockpits for the U.S. Navy and Army in World War I” (Coursey 2), though the novelty of radium products became so popular that the watches were eventually sold commercially as well. Employees were taught to paint with a technique called “lip-pointing” where they would wet the tip of the paintbrush in order to keep the stray brush hairs compliant. Lip, dip, paint. Like employees at Shein factories being paid “per item of clothing” (Kollbrunner 2021), the dial painters were compensated by the number of dials they painted, and fast painters could make up to $25 a week (approximately $400 today). 

Some of the beginning symptoms the painters experienced were “toothaches, mouth sores, pain in the gums and jaws, aches and pains in their hips and feet” (Roberts 2017). By 1924, necrosis of the jaw was so common in these women and so symptomatically specific that dental surgeon Throdor Blum coined the condition “radium jaw” (Martinez et al. 2021). 

The US Radium Corporation (USRC) vehemently denied any cases of radium poisoning. “A bulletin from 1924 insisted that “we are positive that our work is absolutely harmless… numerous rumors and misstatements of facts have been made by certain individuals. These have been injurious to our organization and individuals making same [sic] can be held for slander’” (Wink 21). Ironically, the USRC must have forgotten that in 1906, they published an article titled “Radium Dangers–Injurious Effects.” 

The case was eventually taken to court in 1928, where Dr. Soshocky, inventor of radium paint and technical director at USRC admitted, “he had no definite knowledge that the girls had been informed of the ingredients, but believed they knew the paint contained radium” and when explicitly questioned if he had informed the employees of the dangers of radium, he said he, “was not sure but did not want to deny it” (5 Poisoned Women p. 21). The case was settled, but only because it had been extended for long enough that the women agreed they would not live to see the end of the trial. They were granted a one-time payment, a pension for every year of life, and past and future medical expenses, all paid by the USRC. That same year, Dr. Soshocky also succumbed to radium poisoning, and it was stated that although he was unwilling to speak of his maladies, “his front teeth are gone and his fingers up to the second knuckle are black, the result of radium necrosis” (Inventor Poisoned p. 3).

 The surviving women did not live healthy lives. “Some women were stricken early and then endured a half-life for decades. One girl was bedridden for 50 years. Many suffered significant bone changes and fractures; many lost their teeth. Many developed bone cancer, leukemia, and anemia. Some were given blood transfusions for years. Some developed severe osteoporosis with collapsed vertebrae requiring multiple operations. Many had amputations” (Roberts 2017).

The crux of the Radium Girls’ story relates to the modern-day labor exploitation of Shein factories. Just as the Radium Girls were called to a job hiding dangerous work under false pretenses, workers in Shein factories are often subjected to unsafe conditions and low wages. Both cases emphasize the need for labor regulations to protect workers' rights and safety, as profit should never come before person.

Works Cited:

Primary

“5 Poisoned Women Face Court Delay; Hearings on Their Right to Sue Radium Company for $1,250,000 Adjourned to Sept. 24.EX-Employer Testifies Admits He Did Not Warn Them of Danger to Their Lives in Luminous Paint They Used.” The New York Times, p 21 The New York Times, 1928, timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/04/28/91506854.html

“Inventor Poisoned by His Radium Paint; Dr. S.A. von Soshocky a Victim since 1920 of Malady Which Afflicted Five Women. Forced to High Altitudes Physician Who Risked Life to Save Others Refuses to Reveal If He Is Seeking a Cure. Brought Formula Here. Silent on Seeking of Cure. Two Other Suits Pending.” The New York Times, p. 3, The New York Times, 1928, timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/06/08/95583732.html. 

Secondary

Wink, Sophie. “The Capitalist System Is a System of Murder for Profit” Radium Girls in the Public Eye, 2021, scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1266&context=historical-perspectives. 

Coursey, Bert M. The National Bureau of Standards and the Radium Dial Painters, 2022, nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/126/jres.126.051.pdf. 

Martinez, Nicole E, et al. “Radium Dial Workers: Back to the Future.” International Journal of Radiation Biology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10563809/#:~:text=It%20wasn%27t%20…;

Roberts, William Clifford. “Facts and Ideas from Anywhere.” Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5595405/#:~:text=The%20new%20compa…;

Extras

Kollbrunner, Timo. “Toiling Away for Shein.” 19 Nov. 2021, stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/

The Establishment of The Federal Prison Industries

In the annals of U.S. history, many often claim the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution abolished slavery entirely. However, beneath the surface, this amendment harbors a critical loophole—one that fails to eradicate slavery altogether. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude” is legal in the United States “except as a punishment for crime” (U.S. Constitution). Rather than an outright abolition, the 13th Amendment merely shifts the permissible contexts in which it operates. This subtle alteration inadvertently grants permission for a form of slavery to persist through to today within prison systems. Today, this is referred to as prison labor. The system designed to rehabilitate and punish has become a breeding ground for exploitative practices of labor, which raises ethical questions about labor practices and the prioritization of economy over employee. 

The Federal Prison Industries (FPI), also known as UNICOR, was established in 1934 during the Great Depression as part of the Bureau of Prisons. Initially, it aimed to provide inmates with purpose and productivity. However, over time, FPI faced heavy criticism for its coerced labor practices, concerning working conditions, and poor pay. Despite its original intentions, FPI primarily served as a source of cheap labor for many American companies. The issue of prison overcrowding exacerbated the situation. Since 1970, the incarcerated population in the United States has surged by a staggering numbers, leading to further exploitation of inmates. Strikes became a powerful form of protest. The 2018 U.S. prison strike, which took place from August 21 to September 9, involved work stoppages and hunger strikes across many prisons. Inmates demanded an end to free prison labor, improved living conditions, and comprehensive reforms (Barron). This is yet another occurrence in human history of top-down justification of coercive labor practices. 

Prison labor has evolved into a private business model that relies on the increasing incarceration rates to meet workforce demands. Many popular companies, including but not limited to McDonald’s, Walmart, Starbucks, Sprint, Verizon, Victoria’s Secret, Wendy’s, and American Airlines utilize this cheap exploitive labor (Shabazz). Within this system, incarcerated individuals are often compelled to work, sometimes for shockingly poor pay and other times without any compensation at all. The wages earned by prisoners are shockingly low, often equivalent to less than one dollar per hour in most penal labor programs, even when they work grueling 12−hour shifts. In a report done by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the pay of workers and value of the prison labor industry is factually laid out. For federal prisoners, the pay scale ranges from a mere $0.12 to $.40 per hour. In some states, such as Texas, inmates receive no payment for their labor. The Texas penal labor system, overseen by Texas Correctional Industries, was valued at a staggering $88.9 million in 2014. Moreover, the estimated annual value of prison and jail industrial output across the nation stands at a staggering $2 billion (NAACP Criminal Fact Sheet). This exploitation of incarcerated individuals for labor should boil the blood of those who champion justice and ethical labor. These prison labor practices are not isolated in style. The urge to church out many products for low cost and high profit is high in America. These practices help paint the picture for other problematic labor companies use, such as Shein’s factories. 

In examining Shein’s response to sweatshop allegations, one encounters a recurring theme: the prevalence of exploitive labor. Throughout history, this exploitative pattern has persisted, with a select few amassing wealth while the majority toils. Prison labor, akin to sweatshop or slave labor, falls within this category. Both forms involve harsh working conditions and minimal compensation, perpetuating economic inequality. Whether behind prison walls or within Shein’s factories, addressing these exploitative practices remains crucial for a fair and just society.

Works Cited: 

Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “2018 U.S. Prison Strike.” Wikipedia, 10 Feb. 2024, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_U.S._prison_strike. 

“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.” NAACP, 24 May 2021, 

https://naacp.org/resources/criminal-justice-fact-sheet.

finley. “PPT - UNICOR Federal Prison Industries, Inc. PowerPoint Presentation, 

Free Download - ID:4441425.” SlideServe, 16 Sept. 2014, https://www.slideserve.com/finley/unicor-federal-prison-industries-inc…;

Jones, By Lora. “Shein Suppliers’ Workers Doing 75-Hour Week, Finds Probe.” BBC News, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59245708. 

Kang, Susan. “Forcing Prison Labor: International Labor Standards, Human 

Rights and the Privatization of Prison Labor in the Contemporary United States.” New Political Science, vol. 31, no. 2, 2009, pp. 137–161., https://doi.org/10.1080/07393140902872245.

Levinson, Martin H. "PRISON NATION." ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, 

vol. 75, no. 1-2, Jan.-Apr. 2018, pp. 83+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617286376/LitRC?u=anon~5f637757&sid=googleScholar&xid=b7888b31. 

OnLabor. From Behind Bars, Incarcerated Workers Are Unionizing, Striking. 

OnLabor. 

https://onlabor.org/from-behind-bars-incarcerated-workers-are-unionizin…;

Shabazz, Rahiem. “12 Major Corporations Benefiting from the Prison Industrial 

Complex.” Malta Justice Initiative, 2014. 

http://maltajusticeinitiative.org/12-major-corporations-benefiting-from…;

U.S. Constitution. Amend. XIII, Sec. 1.

13th. Directed by Ava DuVernay. 2016. Netflix, 

https://www.netflix.com/watch/80091741?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C38…

Public Eye Exposé on Shein

Through human history, labor has been both needed and exploited. Many would like to think events such as slavery, prison labor, exploitative factory labor, and more were historical issues that do not translate into today. While this would be a moral advancement, unfortunately today exploitative labor practices continue. Similar labor problems seen in history popped up in the 21st century with consumerism skyrocketing. In November 2021 investigative journalist Timo Kollbrunner, working with Public Eye, an organization campaigning for global human rights, published a report on Shein at the height of consumer demand. Shein, an online store selling primarily clothes, gained popularity for its diverse range of cheap products. It recently became the most rapidly growing fast fashion company in the world, valued at over $100 billion dollars (Gottfried et al.). Kollbrunner’s article was written in the same year Shein’s popularity skyrocketed on popular media platform TikTok. Shein’s popularity surge was largely due to the enticingly cheap yet trendy products they offered. The team at Public Eye got in contact with a workers’ rights organization in South China, who helped arrange interviews with Shein factory workers. These interviews revealed poor and even dangerous conditions for these laborers. Many people have given justifications for these poor conditions, in which popular items are made, but few can deny the overwhelming evidence of how privileged consumers contribute to exploitative labor practices.

So how did Shein become such a popular place for these privileged consumers? The rise of TikTok, an app where users post videos, led to the rise of video trends involving Shein. These included clothing hauls from companies such as Shein. These Shein “clothing hauls,” usually done by young women, are where young Tiktok users “unpack their [Shein] deliveries, try the clothes on and comment on how they feel in front of the camera” (Kollbrunner). The hashtag “#sheinhaul” has become extremely popular, with over 888.3k posts and counting. Back when Public Eye published their exposé, over two years ago, the hashtag already had over 3.7 billion views. Shein expanded to accommodate this popularity and “added anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 individual styles to its app each day between July and December of 2021” (Rajvanshi). The trend of buying and posting Shein hauls grew thanks to their consistently cheap prices. Yet, as the writers at Public Eye discovered, saving money comes at its own price. 

Despite Shein’s claims that their “supplier partners shall provide a safe, hygienic and healthy workplace environment,” researchers found evidence of dangerous working conditions (Shein). When workers find their only feasible option is to work under a company that provides dangerous working conditions, the company is poised to exploit their workers. The company does this knowing they do not have to change the conditions in which their employees work, as the employees are unlikely to find work elsewhere. These dangerous conditions include massive bags of clothes and piles of fabric stacked unsteadily in corridors, entryways, and stairwells. Due to this blockage, there is no hope of a quick escape if a fire broke out; not that there were any emergency exits to utilize in the first place, a researcher reported. Employees work in incredibly close proximity, “just as narrow in the production sites as it is in the small winding streets of this sprawling neighbourhood” (Kollbrunner). One factory did have windows, though they were barred on the top floor. Others are reported to have no windows at all. Having poor or no ventilation and access to fresh air damages employees' health, as often their main task is to iron the clothes after production, causing them to work in unrelenting heat from the steam. The employees also rarely have a moment to sit while doing their laborious tasks. Conditions like these pose health and ethical problems, ones that are typically intentionally overlooked by Shein and factory owners alike. 

Not only does Shein have unsafe working conditions for laborers, the workers themselves have little job security and are exploited beyond legal means. Those interviewed, from Shein factories, couldn’t show a formal contract and had worked there for less than a year. This shows how factory owners dictate terms, without a formal agreement, and how these jobs have a high turnover rate. Public Eye reports laborers work “11 hours a day [with] no employment contract, and no social security contributions” (Kollbrunner). These long hours equate “to over 75 working hours per week”, exceeding the Chinese labor law maximum of 40 hours a week (Kollbrunner). But the workers do not speak out against it. Why? According to Public Eye, “because they feel that they do not really have an alternative” (Kollbrunner). Thus, they are willing to adhere to the harsh expectations of their employers. These violations provide contemporary examples of forced labor. 

Despite our history and experience with exploitative labor practices, the privileged continue to find new ways to justify forced labor for their own benefit, or entertainment. Whether this be using child labor to make up the difference in a wartime economy, targeting minorities with little alternative work opportunities, coercing uninformed women to work in life-threatening circumstances, or indenturing Black people in the name of providing “racially inferior” people with productivity and providing economic value for the masses. These many justifications of exploitative labor happen both historically and contemporarily. It is as invaluable then as it is now for all to understand, expose, and change these exploitative labor practices within the world, whether it is Shein’s factories or any other form of exploitation.

Works Cited: 

ACLU. “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers.” American Civil Liberties Union, 15 June 2022, https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-in…;

“Fire!” Cornell University - ILR School - The Triangle Factory Fire, trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/story/fire.html.

 Gottfried, Miriam, and Charity L. Scott. “Shein Valued at $100 Billion in Funding Round.” The Wall Street Journal, 5 Apr. 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/shein-valued-at-100-billion-in-funding-rou…;

Humphries, Jane. “Child Labor: Lessons from the Historical Experience of Today’s Industrial Economies.” The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 17, no. 2, 2003, pp. 175–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3990135. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024. 

Jones, Lora. “Shein Suppliers’ Workers Doing 75-Hour Week, Finds Probe.” BBC News, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59245708. 

Kang, Susan. “Forcing Prison Labor: International Labor Standards, Human 

Kollbrunner, Timo. Toiling Away for Shein. 19 Nov. 2021, https://stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/. 

“NYCDATA: Disasters.” NYCdata | Disasters, www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/fires-triangle_shirtwaist.html.

Rajvanshi, Astha. “Shein Is the World’s Most Popular Fashion Brand—at a Huge Cost to Us All.” Time, 17 Jan. 2023, https://time.com/6247732/shein-climate-change-labor-fashion/. 

Rights and the Privatization of Prison Labor in the Contemporary United States.” New Political Science, vol. 31, no. 2, 2009, pp. 137–161., https://doi.org/10.1080/07393140902872245.

Wink, Sophie. “‘The Capitalist System Is a System of Murder for Profit’ Radium Girls in the Public Eye.” 2021, https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1266&context….

Wybrow, Caeley. Our Prison System’S Labor. 2021. Indiana University Purdue 

University Indianapolis, Argumentative Essay.

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