Nonviolent Movements Achieve Social Change Nonviolent movements are a way for groups of people to achieve change and create an impact in society. The labor, African American, and Vietnam antiwar movements had significant success in abolishing harsh working conditions, gaining civil rights for blacks, and withdrawing from the Vietnam War (Upchurch). Nonviolent and violent movements have been used throughout history to evoke change in society, achieve equality, civil rights and peace. While violent protest leads to the same changes, nonviolent methods can eventually go beyond local violent protest, spread nationwide through movements, and protest without requiring violence. These events due to nonviolent protests have forever changed American society, creating better relations between labor, race, and foreign countries. The success of the workers, African-American and peace protests of the 1960s demonstrates that the nonviolent approach is the most effective means of achieving social change. Violent strikes during labor movements in 1865-1919 were ineffective in achieving social change. This movement started because of wage cuts and new modern machinery used in factories, which replaced workers and created protest. In 1892, the Homestead strike resulted in a bloody clash between workers and management. Andrew Carnegie, an American industrialist who made his fortune in the steel industry, and Henry Clay Frick, an American financial industrialist, presented a review to the union, which included a substantial cut in wages (Danver). On June 28, 1892, Frick, without warning, closed the plate factory and opened the health department, leaving 800 unemployed. “Over the next few days, Frick fired one hundred to two hundred… half of the paper… took the scale of dissent to a truly national level, calling for a march on Washington to protest the bombing. On April 17, 1965, between 15,000 and 25,000 people gathered in the capital. (Barringer) In 1968 widespread opposition began to occur within the government and on March 25 all Democrats and Johnson finally withdrew from the war (Barringer). This demonstrates how nonviolent protests such as anti-war protests are effective in achieving social change compared to the violent approaches of the Weathermen Underground and Jackson State College. While violent movements may prove to be somewhat effective, ultimately the workforce, African Americans, and peaceful Nonviolent protests have proven to be the most effective in achieving social change, because they have improved working conditions, won rights for blacks and influenced the military's withdrawal from the Vietnam War..