Reply #36: "American" [View All]

[Aries]

>It wouldn't be American to go on strike, or even to get together to demand better treatment. Remember: Reagan fired all the strikers in '81 and for a lot of people Reagan is the greatest president - the man who stood up to those Godless Commies. To strike would be to go against that iconic image.

Depends on what you mean by "American", and what your definition of "history" is:

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_073500_railroadstri.htm

RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877

What came to be called the great railroad strike of 1877 began on July 17 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had cut wages for the second time in a year. Protesting workers refused to let any trains move until the pay cut was restored. Militia units were sent in by the governor to restore train service, but when the soldiers refused to use force against the strikers, the governor called for federal troops, the first time such troops had been used for strikebreaking since the 1830s. In the meantime, the strike had spread to Baltimore, triggering bloody street battles between workers and the Maryland militia; when the outmanned soldiers fired into an attacking crowd, ten people were killed. In Pittsburgh, as in Martinsburg, local law enforcers refused to fire on the strikers, and soldiers brought in from outside were routed by a ferocious crowd, which took control of the city until federal troops imposed order.

By then, sympathy strikes had spread out along the railroads in every direction, from line to line, from city to city, from railroad workers to other industries. In Chicago, demonstrations organized by the Workingmen's party drew crowds of twenty thousand; in St. Louis, a general strike put the city in the workers' hands for nearly a week. In towns throughout the country, streets were thronged with strikers and their supporters; there were battles and arrests, injuries and deaths. The struggle seemed to align all workers against all employers. To some, this was a hopeful sign, bearing the promise of future labor victories, but others saw it as a threat to the very foundation of American society. Federal troops were rushed from city to city, putting down strike after strike, until finally, a few weeks after it had begun, the great railroad strike of 1877 was over.

In the aftermath, union organizers planned future campaigns, and politicians and business leaders took steps to ensure that such chaos could not recur. Many states enacted conspiracy statutes. New militia units were formed, and National Guard armories were constructed in many cities. For workers and employers alike, the strikes had dramatized the power of workers in combination to challenge the most established structures of American life.

See also Labor; Railroads.