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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums120 Years ago today: The beginning of the Pullman Strike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike
Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago during the Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of 1894. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages.
Most factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The industrialist George Pullman had designed it ostensibly as a model community.
When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike. They had not formed a union. Founded in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, the ARU was an organization of unskilled railroad workers. Debs brought in ARU organizers to Pullman and signed up many of the disgruntled factory workers. When the Pullman Company refused recognition of the ARU or any negotiations, ARU called a strike against the factory, but it showed no sign of success. To win the strike, Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. The over-the-rail Pullman employees (such as conductors and porters) did not go on strike.
Debs and the ARU called a massive boycott against all trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of Detroit and at its peak involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states. The Railroad brotherhoods and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed the boycott, and the General Managers Association of the railroads coordinated the opposition. Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage that caused $80 million in damages. The federal government secured a federal court injunction against the union, Debs, and the top leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President Grover Cleveland ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team including Clarence Darrow, Debs was convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU dissolved.
Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago during the Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of 1894. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages.
Most factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The industrialist George Pullman had designed it ostensibly as a model community.
When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike. They had not formed a union. Founded in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, the ARU was an organization of unskilled railroad workers. Debs brought in ARU organizers to Pullman and signed up many of the disgruntled factory workers. When the Pullman Company refused recognition of the ARU or any negotiations, ARU called a strike against the factory, but it showed no sign of success. To win the strike, Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. The over-the-rail Pullman employees (such as conductors and porters) did not go on strike.
Debs and the ARU called a massive boycott against all trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of Detroit and at its peak involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states. The Railroad brotherhoods and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed the boycott, and the General Managers Association of the railroads coordinated the opposition. Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage that caused $80 million in damages. The federal government secured a federal court injunction against the union, Debs, and the top leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President Grover Cleveland ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team including Clarence Darrow, Debs was convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU dissolved.
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120 Years ago today: The beginning of the Pullman Strike (Original Post)
Cooley Hurd
May 2014
OP
Rhiannon12866
(205,161 posts)1. My first thought when I saw the pic was a reminder of Kent State...
Another recent anniversary.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)2. You're right...
Government turning its firepower on its citizens.
Rhiannon12866
(205,161 posts)3. I thought Kent State was a horrific aberration...
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)9. I think it is a warning about our future.
Our own will shoot us!
RKP5637
(67,103 posts)4. IMO it's also sort of what happened to OWS. ... not exactly the same, of course, but in no
way was OWS going to be allowed to migrate/morph into a mass movement for "we the people."
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)5. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!
Omaha Steve
(99,580 posts)6. Thank you for the post
This wildcat strike woke up the country and started the "union era" that started the middle class.
K&R!
mountain grammy
(26,614 posts)7. I learned about the Pullman strike in high school
then came home and learned the real story from my mom. Eugene Debs was a hero of hers. Even though this all took place before her birth, Debs was alive until she was a teenager. Happy Mother's Day, mom, I miss you.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)8. An even bigger union defeat followed in Pittsburgh
in the Homestead strike at the Carnegie Steel Company.
Carnegie is best known for libriries and "How to Win Friends and Influence People," but he was one of the first and most ruthless steel barons.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)10. If only people would join together and do this now.
Instead our political system is infested with corporate money and control.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)11. "How to Win Friends and Influence People,"
Dale Carnegie not Andrew