#1 ~ Railroad Strike (1877) pp. 170 in book (Bridge Book = 271)(Ship Book = 426)

#2 ~ Haymarket Affair (1886) pp. 170 – 171 in book (Bridge Book = 272)(Ship Book = 426 – 27)

#3 ~ Homestead Strike (1892) pp. 171 in book (Bridge Book = 272)(Ship Book = 427)

#4 ~ Pullman Strike (1893) pp 171 – 172 in book (Bridge Book = 272 – 73)(Ship Book = 427 – 28)

Great Strike of 1877• July 1877• Workers for Baltimore & Ohio went on

strike to protest wage cuts• Strike spread to other railways, stopping

passenger traffic for 50K miles• Riots erupted• President Hayes sent in federal troops• Trains began running again August 2

Summary – Great Strike of 1877

After wage cuts, the first railroad strike occurred in 1877. Initial strikes quickly spread, and state militias were called out. Violence ensued, lives were lost, and costly damage was done. The arrival of U.S. Army troops put an end to the strike.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Strikes and Turmoil (Strikes Clip)The Haymarket Riot

• 1886 was a difficult year for labor.• One of the worst clashes was at

Haymarket Square in Chicago. A bomb was thrown in a crowd gathered to protest violent police action. Gunshots rang out, and eleven people were killed and hundreds injured before it was over.

• Foreign-born unionists were blamed for the violence, and the press fanned xenophobia.

• Eight men were charged with conspiracy, but no evidence connected them to the crime.

• All eight were convicted and sentenced to death. After four hangings and one suicide, the last three were pardoned.

The Haymarket Affair, 1886• May 4, 1886, 1200 people gathered at

Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest the killing of a striker by police

• Someone throw a bomb into the police line• Police fired into crowd• Seven police officers and several workers

died in riot• No one learned who threw the bomb, but

the three speakers and five other radicals were charged with inciting a riot

• All eight were convicted• Public turned against labor movement

Anarchists Meet on the Lake Front in

1886

Haymarket Martyrs

Haymarket Riot (1886)

McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

The Homestead Strike/Overview

Unions made some gains, but conflicts continued. Carnegie Steel workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania, refused to work faster, and the manager tried to lock them out. The workers seized the plant. Gunfire erupted when private guards hired by the company tried to take control. After a 14-hour battle and fourteen deaths, the governor called out the state militia. The steelworkers’ union withered within months.

The Homestead Strike, 1892 (Clip)• Carnegie Steel Company’s Homestead plant in

Pennsylvania ripe for a strike• Henry Clay Frick, president, announced plan to cut

wages• Frick hired Pinkerton Detective Agency to protect the

plant so he could hired scabs• Violence: Three detectives, six workers dead, the

steelworkers ousted the Pinkertons and kept the plant closed until the Pennsylvania National Guard arrived on July 12

• Frick reopened plant• Strike continued until November• Effects: Union lost support, it took steelworkers 40

years to mobilize again

Homestead Steel Strike

(1892)

The Amalgamated The Amalgamated Association of Association of

Iron & Steel Iron & Steel WorkersWorkers

Homestead Homestead Steel WorksSteel Works

Attempted Assassination!

Henry Clay FrickHenry Clay FrickAlexander Alexander BerkmanBerkman

Pullman Strike (Overview)

After laying off a third of its employees in 1893, the Pullman Company cut the wages of remaining workers by 25 percent without lowering their rents. Workers went on strike with the support of Eugene V. Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union. The government ordered the strike be called off, but the union refused. President Grover Cleveland called in federal troops, and the strike collapsed. The late 1800s would remain an era of big business.

The Pullman Strike, 1894• Causes:

-Panic of 1893 forced Pullman company to lay off 3K workers and cut wages

-Company did not cut cost of employee housing and as a result workers took home less than $6/week

-Post Depression: Hired back workers but failed to restore wages

-Pullman refused to bargain-Eugene Debs, a Socialist, called for boycott of

Pullman cars

The Pullman Strike, 1894• Effects:-120,000 railway workers joined strike-Debs notified strikes not to interfere with

mail, but was unsuccessful-Railroad owners appealed to federal

government-President Grover Cleveland sent in federal

troops, a week later the strike was over-Pattern emerges: federal government does

not recognizes unions

A “Compa

nyTown”:Pullman

, IL

Pullman Cars

A Pullman A Pullman porterporter

The Pullman Strike of 1894

President Grover Cleveland

If it takes the entire army and navy to If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card

will be delivered!will be delivered!

The Pullman Strike of 1894

Government by injunction!Government by injunction!