reallycarlaost/emobank-single-binary · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 1 593 ⌀	label float64 0 3
Without funds to drive the efforts, or even a real plan of action, the Save Our Valley Campaign did more harm than good.	2
In effect, it raised the hopes of workers without having any real chance at saving anything.	0
People became excited and waited for the mills to reappear, but they never did.	2
The Apathy of USWA	2
United Steel Workers of America was the union representing the Youngstown steel workers when the closings hit.	0
Initially many assumed that their union would take a lead role in fighting for the recovery of their jobs.	2
However, it soon became clear that although the local union leaders were prepared to fight, the international branch was not.	1
The higher levels of the union became increasingly disassociated with Youngstown and its plight, attempting to shut out the appeals from workers and local union representatives and to ignore what was really happening.	3
Actually, one main reason for the behavior of the USWA was that union leaders really had no idea what to do.	0
No one had ever seen a shutdown of this magnitude and rapidity before, and none of the leaders of USWA, not even president Lynn Williams, knew what could be done.	0
It was clear to everyone that the economic fallout from this series of closings would be one of the worst in US history, and so without any real precedents the union leaders were flustered.	2
Besides incompetence, the USWA had one other major reason for rejecting their local counterpart: fear of socialism.	0
Obviously the union itself was not afraid of socialist action, but they worried that the federal government might see the efforts of Youngstown workers to collectivize as a movement towards socialism and perhaps even communism.	3
If the USWA supported the efforts to revive the mills and encouraged worker control and ownership of the factories, then the government (and potentially other important people and institutions as well) might begin to think that the UWSA leaders were encouraging socialism.	3
Regionalism	0
From its very first days the Mahoning Valley has been an area packed with small villages and hamlets.	1
Youngstown is the name of the major city area, but surrounding it on all sides are small communities which to the casual viewer are indistinguishable from the main city itself.	0
Petitions, protests, rallies, collectivization, and even the takeover of a steel company’s headquarters were all attempted in a desperate movement by those in the industry to preserve the only source of employment that this town had.	0
Boardman, Poland Township, Struthers, Lowellville, Warren, Lordstown, Canfield, Niles, and many other towns and districts are crowded around Youngstown (see Figure 3).	0
People from each town work, shop, eat, and socialize in towns separate from their own, making each town strongly dependent on every other town.	3
However, although traffic is heavy between each separate district, each area has its own distinct cultural ethnicity, educational system, heritage, history, and even food.	0
For example, Struthers is a poor town with a large Slovak population, where education is generally better than in surrounding towns, but unemployment is much higher and pollution is widespread.	0
Most people in Struthers are either Orthodox or Baptist.	3
Two blocks over one finds Boardman, a well-off township with a reputation for rich but unsuccessful schools.	3
Its residents are mainly Italian and Roman Catholic, with a small concentration of Methodists on the east side.	3
Unemployment is low in comparison with surrounding towns, and the streets are clean and well kept.	1
With many more cultures, religions, and economic levels living in close proximity to one another, a curious phenomenon has overtaken the area: regionalism.	1
Each town, with their own identity, instills a strong regionalistic feeling within their respective populations, which dictates many habits, exchanges, and interactions between populations.	0
Oftentimes this regionalism takes the form of bizarre forms of hatred, with certain towns becoming sworn enemies of others.	2
With so much regional tension, it became very hard for workers to unite under a common cause, even one that would save their jobs and their futures.	3
Workers from Poland Township would refuse to attend rallies with workers from Campbell, and citizens of Struthers would become suspicious of people from Boardman, even if they were supposed to be working towards the same thing.	2
A lack of cooperation became a crippling problem for the movement, because no one was willing to put aside regional differences to work together.	2
In some instances, small companies would express interest in helping the movement or in relocating their business in the area, but because of regional pride no one could ever agree where the new businesses should relocate.	3
In this way the people of the Mahoning Valley missed many opportunities for new industrial or commercial lifeblood because of arbitrary arguments where the goal was simply to protect regional pride.	2
These well-intentioned efforts ultimately failed, leaving thousands with shattered dreams and a distinct lack of trust in fellow humankind.	2
Conclusion: The Aftershock and the Significance of Black Monday	1
Black Monday was a devastating blow to an entire generation of people.	2
The efforts to avoid catastrophe after the fact were unsuccessful for four main reasons: the failure of the international steel market, the lack of funds and plans in initiatives such as the Save Our Valley Campaign, the refusal of the USWA to support their local chapter out of ineptitude and fear, and the absurd but very real regionalism which corrupted solidarity efforts and drove away any hope for brining in new companies.	2
What happened in Youngstown may not seem significant on an international or even on a national level, and perhaps it is not.	3
But to the thousands of people living there, the loss of the mills was a devastating event that sent shock waves through their economic, political, and social futures.	0
Because of the mills and their conspicuous absence, hundreds of people were uprooted, forced to leave their homes and tightly knit communities.	2
Hundreds more joined the unemployment lines, or even began living on the streets.	2
The steel workers who tried to save their jobs and their lives were part of something greater than themselves, something which would endure long after they had moved away and moved on.	3
Even though they eventually failed, the fact that they tried to preserve what they felt belonged to them is an amazing example of how far people will go to save their lives and the futures of their children.	2
But why did the brave attempts by union leaders and concerned citizens to revive the steel industry ultimately fail?	2
An Extended Essay in History	3
When examining the area’s history, culture, and economic situation we can identify four main reasons: the refusal of the international leadership of United Steelworkers of America to support their union’s Youngstown branch, the lagging international steel market, the lack of a clear, organized vision for individual initiatives such as the Save Our Valley Campaign, and crippling regionalism which caused animosity between different small towns in the region, all contributed in some way to the failure of the workers and union leaders to save the industry.	2
Most importantly, the problem in Youngstown was a nationwide problem.	2
Although it affected Youngstown and the surrounding area more than it affected other regions, the local people simply could not solve a national crisis on a local level.	2
A Brief History of Steel in Northeastern Ohio	0
In 1802 James and Daniel Heaton discovered ore and coal lining Yellow Creek in an area outside of Youngstown known as Poland Township.	0
Their blast furnace, “Hopewell,” was the very first blast furnace in the area.	3
During the Civil War, Youngstown played a vital role in supplying the Union army with iron products.	0
Youngstown also was a major railway crossroads, due to its strategic position between Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, and Chicago.	0
The Decline of the Northeastern Ohio Steel Market: Why Did Attempts by Union Leaders and Concerned Citizens to Revive the Steel Industry Ultimately Fail?	2
In fact, “More rail cars passed under the Center Street Bridge [a major bridge in Youngstown] per day than any other location in the country.”	1
During the 19th century, the center of iron manufacturing had gradually shifted from the far East Coast (Massachusetts and Eastern Pennsylvania) to the Ohio Valley Pittsburgh regions of the Northeast, including the Mahoning Valley and the Hanging Rock region of Ohio and Kentucky.	0
By 1880, Youngstown’s population had grown to nearly 16,000, which meant it had doubled in size over a twenty-year period.	0
The town continued to prosper, driven by the flux of immigrants pouring in with the hopes of employment at the mills.	1
This prosperity continued until the late 1920s, when the Great Depression hit the area hard.	3
Despite the Congress of Industrial Organization’s successful efforts to establish a national steel workers’ union, the industry barely survived the Depression years.	3
Finally, the outbreak of the Second World War made iron and steel important again, and Youngstown was bolstered out of its economic standstill into a fast-paced period of booming growth.	1
Strikes racked the town during the forties, fifties, and sixties, and they were often long and bloody.	2
In 1973, the Experimental Negotiating Agreement was signed.	0
This prohibited strikes and lockout, angering workers and driving productivity and laborer morale down.	2
At the same time, stricter governmental standards for environmental protection and the growth of imported steel were making it harder to produce and market American steel parts, and the overeager shareholders in the companies’ stock were pushing for more and more of their share of the pie.	1
Most importantly, Youngstown’s steel mills were slowly becoming less efficient and more expensive.	3
September 19, 1977 is a date that few people in Youngstown, Ohio will ever forget.	0
Black Monday and the Crash of the Steel Industry	3
The announcement of the closing of the mills in 1977 was the beginning of a downward spiral, which would send the entire valley into chaos and ruin.	2
Between 1977 and 1981, a total of five mills were closed and approximately 25,000 jobs were lost countywide.	2
Meetings of union officials and mill bosses were hurriedly set up in an attempt to persuade the powers that be to reconsider their statement.	3
However, it was clear that, in the words of USWA president Lloyd McBride, “If you can’t make a buck, you get out of the business.”	2
On that date Jennings Lambeth, president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, announced that most of the steel company’s Campbell Works would close.	2
“If you can’t make a buck, you get out of the business.”	3
The closings meant the end of Youngstown’s only real industry, the end of its population growth, and then end of economic progress.	2
Without the mills, people sought other places of employment in adjoining states or even other areas of the country.	2
Those that could afford to move did so; those that couldn’t afford to move mostly ended up on the streets.	2
Without an industrial or a residential base, commerce shrank considerably.	2
It was becoming increasingly clear that without the industrial base provided by the mills, the city of Youngstown would soon become a ghost town, inhabited by those too poor or hopeful to escape.	2
The workers decided they needed to do something to save their city, and so they mobilized in a variety of ways.	3
Attempts to Save the Mills	1
The very first thing that the workers could do was “to get up a petition to stop the shutdown,” says Ed Mann, a local union leader and organizer.	3
However, the representatives were shunted to the side and ignored in Washington, since Youngstown’s political influence had died with its industry.	3
The International chapter of the USWA had much more lobbying power, but they refused to support the local union members.	3
The petition was lost among paperwork and bureaucratic procedure.	3
Next, workers decided to form the Ecumenical Coalition, an organization of local religious groups which spearheaded the attempt to reopen the Youngstown works.	1
Although for other cities this would simply be a minor economic setback, for the people of Youngstown and the surrounding area, it meant disaster.	2
Lykes ignored the letters, so the Coalition turned once again to the federal government.	3
Here, too, they were ignored.	2
The Coalition had no proper funds to buy the mills, so they could do nothing but sit back and watch as the mills closed.	2
Finally, following the shutdown of US Steel’s plant in 1980, local union leaders congregated outside the US Steel Headquarters in Youngstown.	2
They invited local people and politicians to witness the scene, then charged the Headquarters and took it over.	3
The workers stayed there until the next day, when US Steel declared that they were ready to talk about selling the mill.	0
Immediately after the workers left the building, US steel representatives told the local union leaders that they had changed their minds and were no longer interested in allowing the workers to purchase the mill.	3
All these efforts eventually came to nothing, and Youngstown’s steel mills remained closed.	2
These attempts to save the mills were hindered by several major factors, including the decline of the world steel market, which made American steel impossible to sell or export.	0
The Decline of the World Market	2
In fact, American steel imports were beginning to outweigh exports.	3
Mahoning County was a one-industry area, and the people of Youngstown, Struthers, Campbell, Boardman Township, and the numerous other small towns and villages in the area only had one main employer: the steel mills.	0

Without funds to drive the efforts, or even a real plan of action, the Save Our Valley Campaign did more harm than good.

2

In effect, it raised the hopes of workers without having any real chance at saving anything.

0

People became excited and waited for the mills to reappear, but they never did.

2

The Apathy of USWA

2

United Steel Workers of America was the union representing the Youngstown steel workers when the closings hit.

0

Initially many assumed that their union would take a lead role in fighting for the recovery of their jobs.

2

However, it soon became clear that although the local union leaders were prepared to fight, the international branch was not.

1

The higher levels of the union became increasingly disassociated with Youngstown and its plight, attempting to shut out the appeals from workers and local union representatives and to ignore what was really happening.

3

Actually, one main reason for the behavior of the USWA was that union leaders really had no idea what to do.

0

No one had ever seen a shutdown of this magnitude and rapidity before, and none of the leaders of USWA, not even president Lynn Williams, knew what could be done.

0

It was clear to everyone that the economic fallout from this series of closings would be one of the worst in US history, and so without any real precedents the union leaders were flustered.

2

Besides incompetence, the USWA had one other major reason for rejecting their local counterpart: fear of socialism.

0

Obviously the union itself was not afraid of socialist action, but they worried that the federal government might see the efforts of Youngstown workers to collectivize as a movement towards socialism and perhaps even communism.

3

If the USWA supported the efforts to revive the mills and encouraged worker control and ownership of the factories, then the government (and potentially other important people and institutions as well) might begin to think that the UWSA leaders were encouraging socialism.

3

Regionalism

0

From its very first days the Mahoning Valley has been an area packed with small villages and hamlets.

1

Youngstown is the name of the major city area, but surrounding it on all sides are small communities which to the casual viewer are indistinguishable from the main city itself.

0

Petitions, protests, rallies, collectivization, and even the takeover of a steel company’s headquarters were all attempted in a desperate movement by those in the industry to preserve the only source of employment that this town had.

0

Boardman, Poland Township, Struthers, Lowellville, Warren, Lordstown, Canfield, Niles, and many other towns and districts are crowded around Youngstown (see Figure 3).

0

People from each town work, shop, eat, and socialize in towns separate from their own, making each town strongly dependent on every other town.

3

However, although traffic is heavy between each separate district, each area has its own distinct cultural ethnicity, educational system, heritage, history, and even food.

0

For example, Struthers is a poor town with a large Slovak population, where education is generally better than in surrounding towns, but unemployment is much higher and pollution is widespread.

0

Most people in Struthers are either Orthodox or Baptist.

3

Two blocks over one finds Boardman, a well-off township with a reputation for rich but unsuccessful schools.

3

Its residents are mainly Italian and Roman Catholic, with a small concentration of Methodists on the east side.

3

Unemployment is low in comparison with surrounding towns, and the streets are clean and well kept.

1

With many more cultures, religions, and economic levels living in close proximity to one another, a curious phenomenon has overtaken the area: regionalism.

1

Each town, with their own identity, instills a strong regionalistic feeling within their respective populations, which dictates many habits, exchanges, and interactions between populations.

0

Oftentimes this regionalism takes the form of bizarre forms of hatred, with certain towns becoming sworn enemies of others.

2

With so much regional tension, it became very hard for workers to unite under a common cause, even one that would save their jobs and their futures.

3

Workers from Poland Township would refuse to attend rallies with workers from Campbell, and citizens of Struthers would become suspicious of people from Boardman, even if they were supposed to be working towards the same thing.

2

A lack of cooperation became a crippling problem for the movement, because no one was willing to put aside regional differences to work together.

2

In some instances, small companies would express interest in helping the movement or in relocating their business in the area, but because of regional pride no one could ever agree where the new businesses should relocate.

3

In this way the people of the Mahoning Valley missed many opportunities for new industrial or commercial lifeblood because of arbitrary arguments where the goal was simply to protect regional pride.

2

These well-intentioned efforts ultimately failed, leaving thousands with shattered dreams and a distinct lack of trust in fellow humankind.

2

Conclusion: The Aftershock and the Significance of Black Monday

1

Black Monday was a devastating blow to an entire generation of people.

2

The efforts to avoid catastrophe after the fact were unsuccessful for four main reasons: the failure of the international steel market, the lack of funds and plans in initiatives such as the Save Our Valley Campaign, the refusal of the USWA to support their local chapter out of ineptitude and fear, and the absurd but very real regionalism which corrupted solidarity efforts and drove away any hope for brining in new companies.

2

What happened in Youngstown may not seem significant on an international or even on a national level, and perhaps it is not.

3

But to the thousands of people living there, the loss of the mills was a devastating event that sent shock waves through their economic, political, and social futures.

0

Because of the mills and their conspicuous absence, hundreds of people were uprooted, forced to leave their homes and tightly knit communities.

2

Hundreds more joined the unemployment lines, or even began living on the streets.

2

The steel workers who tried to save their jobs and their lives were part of something greater than themselves, something which would endure long after they had moved away and moved on.

3

Even though they eventually failed, the fact that they tried to preserve what they felt belonged to them is an amazing example of how far people will go to save their lives and the futures of their children.

2

But why did the brave attempts by union leaders and concerned citizens to revive the steel industry ultimately fail?

2

An Extended Essay in History

3

When examining the area’s history, culture, and economic situation we can identify four main reasons: the refusal of the international leadership of United Steelworkers of America to support their union’s Youngstown branch, the lagging international steel market, the lack of a clear, organized vision for individual initiatives such as the Save Our Valley Campaign, and crippling regionalism which caused animosity between different small towns in the region, all contributed in some way to the failure of the workers and union leaders to save the industry.

2

Most importantly, the problem in Youngstown was a nationwide problem.

2

Although it affected Youngstown and the surrounding area more than it affected other regions, the local people simply could not solve a national crisis on a local level.

2

A Brief History of Steel in Northeastern Ohio

0

In 1802 James and Daniel Heaton discovered ore and coal lining Yellow Creek in an area outside of Youngstown known as Poland Township.

0

Their blast furnace, “Hopewell,” was the very first blast furnace in the area.

3

During the Civil War, Youngstown played a vital role in supplying the Union army with iron products.

0

Youngstown also was a major railway crossroads, due to its strategic position between Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, and Chicago.

0

The Decline of the Northeastern Ohio Steel Market: Why Did Attempts by Union Leaders and Concerned Citizens to Revive the Steel Industry Ultimately Fail?

2

In fact, “More rail cars passed under the Center Street Bridge [a major bridge in Youngstown] per day than any other location in the country.”

1

During the 19th century, the center of iron manufacturing had gradually shifted from the far East Coast (Massachusetts and Eastern Pennsylvania) to the Ohio Valley Pittsburgh regions of the Northeast, including the Mahoning Valley and the Hanging Rock region of Ohio and Kentucky.

0

By 1880, Youngstown’s population had grown to nearly 16,000, which meant it had doubled in size over a twenty-year period.

0

The town continued to prosper, driven by the flux of immigrants pouring in with the hopes of employment at the mills.

1

This prosperity continued until the late 1920s, when the Great Depression hit the area hard.

3

Despite the Congress of Industrial Organization’s successful efforts to establish a national steel workers’ union, the industry barely survived the Depression years.

3

Finally, the outbreak of the Second World War made iron and steel important again, and Youngstown was bolstered out of its economic standstill into a fast-paced period of booming growth.

1

Strikes racked the town during the forties, fifties, and sixties, and they were often long and bloody.

2

In 1973, the Experimental Negotiating Agreement was signed.

0

This prohibited strikes and lockout, angering workers and driving productivity and laborer morale down.

2

At the same time, stricter governmental standards for environmental protection and the growth of imported steel were making it harder to produce and market American steel parts, and the overeager shareholders in the companies’ stock were pushing for more and more of their share of the pie.

1

Most importantly, Youngstown’s steel mills were slowly becoming less efficient and more expensive.

3

September 19, 1977 is a date that few people in Youngstown, Ohio will ever forget.

0

Black Monday and the Crash of the Steel Industry

3

The announcement of the closing of the mills in 1977 was the beginning of a downward spiral, which would send the entire valley into chaos and ruin.

2

Between 1977 and 1981, a total of five mills were closed and approximately 25,000 jobs were lost countywide.

2

Meetings of union officials and mill bosses were hurriedly set up in an attempt to persuade the powers that be to reconsider their statement.

3

However, it was clear that, in the words of USWA president Lloyd McBride, “If you can’t make a buck, you get out of the business.”

2

On that date Jennings Lambeth, president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, announced that most of the steel company’s Campbell Works would close.

2

“If you can’t make a buck, you get out of the business.”

3

The closings meant the end of Youngstown’s only real industry, the end of its population growth, and then end of economic progress.

2

Without the mills, people sought other places of employment in adjoining states or even other areas of the country.

2

Those that could afford to move did so; those that couldn’t afford to move mostly ended up on the streets.

2

Without an industrial or a residential base, commerce shrank considerably.

2

It was becoming increasingly clear that without the industrial base provided by the mills, the city of Youngstown would soon become a ghost town, inhabited by those too poor or hopeful to escape.

2

The workers decided they needed to do something to save their city, and so they mobilized in a variety of ways.

3

Attempts to Save the Mills

1

The very first thing that the workers could do was “to get up a petition to stop the shutdown,” says Ed Mann, a local union leader and organizer.

3

However, the representatives were shunted to the side and ignored in Washington, since Youngstown’s political influence had died with its industry.

3

The International chapter of the USWA had much more lobbying power, but they refused to support the local union members.

3

The petition was lost among paperwork and bureaucratic procedure.

3

Next, workers decided to form the Ecumenical Coalition, an organization of local religious groups which spearheaded the attempt to reopen the Youngstown works.

1

Although for other cities this would simply be a minor economic setback, for the people of Youngstown and the surrounding area, it meant disaster.

2

Lykes ignored the letters, so the Coalition turned once again to the federal government.

3

Here, too, they were ignored.

2

The Coalition had no proper funds to buy the mills, so they could do nothing but sit back and watch as the mills closed.

2

Finally, following the shutdown of US Steel’s plant in 1980, local union leaders congregated outside the US Steel Headquarters in Youngstown.

2

They invited local people and politicians to witness the scene, then charged the Headquarters and took it over.

3

The workers stayed there until the next day, when US Steel declared that they were ready to talk about selling the mill.

0

Immediately after the workers left the building, US steel representatives told the local union leaders that they had changed their minds and were no longer interested in allowing the workers to purchase the mill.

3

All these efforts eventually came to nothing, and Youngstown’s steel mills remained closed.

2

These attempts to save the mills were hindered by several major factors, including the decline of the world steel market, which made American steel impossible to sell or export.

0

The Decline of the World Market

2

In fact, American steel imports were beginning to outweigh exports.

3

Mahoning County was a one-industry area, and the people of Youngstown, Struthers, Campbell, Boardman Township, and the numerous other small towns and villages in the area only had one main employer: the steel mills.

0