Civil Railroad Strike : The Pullman Strike

* The crowd pushed a streetcar over  one man killed 30 injured  Bloody Saturday

On May 11th, 1894, one of the most violent labor strikes in American history took place in Pullman, Illinois. This labor strike, initiated by the American Railway Union (ARU) and led by Eugene Debs against the extremely wealthy and powerful George Pullman and his company, the Pullman Palace Car Company. This strike became a turning point in the national battle regarding U.S. labor laws, and was instrumental in the regulation of corporations by the government. The event that would eventually give birth to Labor Day took months of riots, struggles, and ultimately, violence. It showed America how important the lives and wellbeing of American workers was, and helped the nation recognize the rights that employees

The Pullman Strike strike was named after George Pullman. George Pullman was a man who became rich off of his manufacturing of sleeper and luxury railcars (Lawrence). Pullman was so successful that he had a city named after him, which he owned. In the panic of 1893, Pullman’s revenue dropped because of the lessened demand for his cars (McNamara). Because of this drop in revenue, Pullman cut the wages of his workers, but kept the rent the same. Worker’s became outraged because they couldn’t afford these changes. Pullman refused to negotiate with his workers, which caused the American Railway Union, lead by Eugene Debs, to take action (McNamara). This union consisted of over 260,000 workers nationwide to participate in the strike. Worker’s supported the ARU by not moving trains with Pullman cars (Ginger). This caused Detroit traffic to come to an

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Great Railroad strike occurred in 1877 and started in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The original incident was when major railroad companies announced that there would be another wage cut of ten percent, after workers’ wages were already slashed during the financial panic of 1873. This economic downfall caused hundreds of laborers to leave their jobs and go on strike. The word spread to cities across the country that railroad workers were striking causing a domino effect of strikes within other railroad companies as well as other professions. The initial strike led to violence causing the loss of

Crises, such as the great railroad strike of 1877, Homestead strike of 1892, Pullman strike of 1894, and the depression of 1893-1894, were results from the rise of industrial capitalism. By 1900, America produced one-third of the world’s goods. Due to this, cities became polluted and overcrowded, and became breeding grounds for diseases like typhoid and cholera. The working situations were not much better, with unskilled industrial laboring class, child labor, low wages, locked fire doors, and allowance of toxic fumes in the factories; many people were disgusted by the way America’s economy grew, while its people were left in poor health.

The two major Railroad Strikes were the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and Railroad Shop workers Strike of 1922. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, was due to workers not being happy about the pay cuts that were being made by their employer so often. Northern Railroads began cutting salaries and wages. Because of various railroads cutting wages by 10% back to back, workers were not willing to continue working under those conditions. Not only were the wages of the workers being cut, the amount work of work given to the employees increased and the employer did not hire additional workers. This then caused railroad employees to respond by taking control of the rail yard switches, and blocking movement of trains. Throughout various cities such as Baltimore, Pittsburg, St. Louise, and Chicago, Violent acts began to occur. Many people died throughout the cities. The strike cause the country’s commerce to become paralyzed and pushed governors in different states to utilize militia members to reopen rail traffic. This action also helped set the stage for violence that would occur later in the 1880s and 1890s.

The hours were long and the pay was very low. If an employee got injured on the job, the company often would do nothing to help with their medical costs or support their family while they couldn’t work. Some workers couldn’t even support their families with their low wages and as a result many households didn’t have enough for food. One of the reasons that the Pullman strike occurred was many of Pullman’s workers who had worked for him for over a decade were not getting adequate food (Doc 3). Child labor was also a big problem.

In late July of 1877, Chicagoans played their part in the first nationwide uprising of workers. On July 16, railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, walked off the job to protest a 10 percent wage cut leveled by their employer, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Strikes to protest cutbacks in the midst of a period of nationwide economic depression soon spread westward across the country. News of attempts to control boisterous crowds fueled worker protest and sporadic violence.

In the late eighteen hundreds, machines started to take place of people in industries. Work became unskilled labor, or labor that requires zero to little experience. Not soon after, the economy crashed and left millions out of work. Workers who got to continue working had their wages cut. By 1877, railway workers had enough of the wage inequity and went on strike. This was known as the Great Railroad Strike. From Pennsylvania to California, railroad systems had workers leave their posts. Not long after the strikes, state governments started calling for Federal troops to take down the activity. Though the majority of the middle class agreed with the strikers motivations and reasoning, they were disappointed in the damage that occurred.

Most people were angry with railroad owners because of how they treated their employees and were too powerful. (Doc B) This resulted in strikes such as the great railroad strike of 1877 where it began with employees from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company that were angry with them for several reasons but led to many other employees across the nation striking against their large business employers. Furthermore, employees were extremely angry with working conditions and the way in which they were being treated by their large employers and demanded better conditions. (Doc G) One iconic group that came out from this was the American Federation of Labor which was a combination of various unions looking to find better wages, working conditions and and hours for workers. However there was a positive thing that came out from the big businesses which was the creation of department stores. (Doc I) The creation of department stores made it easier for consumers to find everything they need all in one spot. As you can see, there were mixed reactions about big businesses although most were

Even in booming communities such as the city of Pullman that George Pullman started back in 1880, even encountered violence and riots. Due to an economic depression in 1893, over half of the workers of this company had to be fired, while the rest had their pay checks majorly cut. This made them very angry since they were now unable to pay rent in Pullman or support their lifestyles. This caused an official strike in the year 1894, where workers were led by Eugene Debs, the creator of the failed Industrial Workers of the World union. Pullman resisted from negotiations, motivating the laborers to start boycotting train cars as part of the American Federation of Labor. Unfortunately, strikes began turning violent again as army troops were required

The Great Railroad Strike, also known as the Great Upheaval, commenced on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Due to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads lowering wages for the third time in a year, the workers began to revolt. The strike lasted 45 days before it was put down by local and state militias and federal troops. The strike in West Virginia set off a chain reaction resulting in workers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Missouri going on strikes. The strike disrupted work everywhere, as 100,000 workers across the country supported it. Workers burned down factories and destroyed railroads, engines, and cars. In response to the chaotic strike, the railroads organized private militias, as did the city and state governments,

George Pullman was the developer of the Pullman Palace Car, creating his own factory town of Pullman, Chicago. With the massive success of the railroads, Pullman made a fortune producing his luxury sleeping cars. He is well known for suppressing his striking workers in Pullman. When a depression struck the country, he slashed wages the wages of his workers while keeping the wages of his associates and the price of living the same. This created uproar and led to a strike amongst his workers, eventually backed by Eugene Debs’ American Railway Union. The strike was violently put down, showing that labor unions had little power to negotiate.

The Homestead Movement was ultimately was ineffective because no inconsequential change occurred due to the violence of this movement. In 1892, Eugene V. Debs formed the American Railway Union, which resulted in one of the largest strikes in American history: the Pullman Strike (Ushistory.org). When workers repudiated to capitulate the pay cut in their checks, the Pullman Car Company fired 500 employees. Debs and members of the American Railway Union boycotted trains that used Pullman cars. On July 4, mobs started to tip over rail cars using fireworks since the federal troops sent in by President Grover Cleveland to handle the situation (Ladd). “This burning and rioting came to a zenith on July 6, when fires caused by some 6,000 rioters destroyed 700 railcars and caused $340,000 of damages in the South Chicago Panhandle yard” (Hofstader). Ultimately, the violence used in the Pullman Movement proved ineffective in attaining social change because the worker’s pay was not rehabilitated. The Labor Force Movements were more effective, however, in attaining social change compared to the Homestead and Pullman violent Strikes. The Labor Movements brought a halt to child labor, and gave health benefits, and aid to retired or injured workers. One of the hallmarks of the Labor Movement, are the strikes formed in which many workers