A Time to Labor: Workers, the Workday, and the Ten-Hour Movement

Abstract

Abstract The labor reform movement of the 1840s voiced many criticisms of the factory sys tem and many ideas for correcting these problems. One issue, however, became a focal point for many workers’ organizations—the problem was the long hours of factory labor, and the solution was the campaign for a ten-hour law. This early crusade for labor legislation underlay much of the organizational activity among factory operatives in the mid- l 840s, and brought to the forefront a long-standing debate about the hours of labor. The ten-hour movement also raised new and crucial questions about the meaning of politics and citizenship for factory operatives. Just as with wage labor, workers knew that the hours of labor were more than a matter of minutes and time on a clock.