Industrial Workers of the World

From Ira Steward's 1865 pamphlet (for more see http://www.archive.org/details/documentaryhisto014386mbp):

"Well," says a workingman, "I should certainly be very glad to work less hours, but I can scarcely earn enough by working ten to make myself and family com- fortable."

Sir, as strange as it may seem to you at first blush, it is a fact that your wages will never be permanently in- creased until the hours of labor are reduced. Have you never observed that those who work the hardest and longest are paid the least, especially if the employment is very disagreeable, while those whose employment is more agreeable usually receive more, and many who do nothing receive more than either?

You are receiving your scanty pay precisely because you work so many hours in a day, and my point now is to show why this is true, and why reducing the hours for the masses will eventually increase their wages....

***********************

More articles dealing with the class struggle over the length of working time for the bosses here: http://shorterworkweek.blogspot.com/