ABSTRACT
Steel production, profitable and large-scale, also became an early target of mass industrial unionism, and the most memorable early effort to organize steel occurred at the Homestead, Pennsylvania, plant of the Carnegie Steel Company. The lockout and strike at Homestead in 1892 is of special interest because it points up how imbalanced the forces involved in labor struggles have been, how readily employers have used the armed forces of mercenaries and government troops, and yet how determined and unified labor responses have been. In Britain, unions took root in the steel industry in the 1880s, grew steadily, and by the time of World War I had successfully organized much of the industry. In 1890, the density of American steel unionism rivaled the British, much as the country's steel production at least equaled that of the British. The major bid to organize steel resulted in what came to be known as "the great steel strike of 1919".
