Labor

Labor

Pullman Strike (1893 - 1894)

By: Samantha Fiester

3/11/2012

One of the most well-known strikes that occurred in the late 1800s, was at the Pullman Palace Car Company manufactured exclusive luxury train cars, the private jets of their era. A recession led to decreased demand for Pullman luxury cars and led to lowered wages. This resulted in a strike that erupted among Pullman workers and quickly spread to other railroad workers through the American Railway Union, headed by a man by the name of Eugene V. Debs.

The strikers burned and looted railroad cars and seven buildings. With the escalation of violence, 12,000 federal troops, along with United States Marshals were called in to quell the strike. Soldiers killed 13 strikers and wounded an additional 57 before the strike was brought to an unsuccessful conclusion. An estimated 6,000 rail workers did $340,000 worth of property damage (about $8,818,000 in 2010 dollars).

I believe that this was so significant because it shows how desperate people were once the recession, (great depression) hit. They didn’t have many options back then as opposed to us now in terms of welfare, government assistance, or Medicaid. The only way they could accomplish something or at least try to was to cause uproar. Clarence Darrow agreed to represent Debs and was robbed of a victory due to the U.S. attorney dropping the prosecution of a charge of conspiracy to obstruct the mail after a juror's illness. Debs was then tried for, and eventually found guilty of, violating the court injunction, and was sent to prison for six months. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 after the strike when President Grover Cleveland and Congress made appeasement of organized labor a top priority. Legislation for the holiday was pushed through Congress six days after the strike ended. (Wikipedia, 2012).

Reference List

Wikipedia. (2012). Pullman Strike. Retrieved from...