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Pullman Strike Dbq

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On May 11, 1894 a widespread strike lead by railroad workers brought business to a complete cessation; only willing to discontinue until the federal government took unprecedented action to end the strike. The Pullman Strike began “as a peaceful labor protest against a single Chicago employer (54)”, and later ended up “into a national labor boycott of more than twenty railroads and then into a violent confrontation between the federal government, the railroad companies, and American workers (55.)” With the “mix of employer resistance, government aggression, worker bitterness, and general economic desperation (54)”, the Pullman Strike presented questions towards the “rights of employers and workers in an industrialized democracy and about the role …show more content…

With the closure of railroads “vital trade arteries in twenty-seven states were stalled and snarled, which meant delays and disruptions for travelers, manufactured goods, fuel, livestock, produce, and- most important- the U.S. mail (57.)” During the time of the Pullman Strike, urban newspapers “had become a vital part of American public life (58.)” Both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Times contributed to the production of stories of the Pullman Strike. On one hand, “the Chicago Tribune was opposed to the ARU boycott and the Chicago Times supported it (60).” With two popular newspapers publishing stories about the Pullman Strike, discrepancies are without a doubt present. It can be argued to a certain extent that media can help or hinder the cause of unions during the Pullman Strike because with each newspaper represented two different sides presenting biases, the validity of the information could be screwed due to deadlines, and because newspapers sometimes put on a “show” in order to get a desired reaction from the reader.

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You touched on a critical point in your forum, as of why workers went on strike. While poverty played a significant role, in 1877, railroad employees experienced a significant pay cut, which sparked the Great Railway Strike, triggering violence and a shutdown of the railways lasting nearly six weeks. Next, the Pullman strike began with railroad owners becoming increasingly wealthier, while none of the profits trickled down to the employees. The labor walk-outs encompassed the substantial divide between social classes. Hence, rich businessmen were increasing their profits, while poor workers often remained stagnate with low wages and company issued paycuts.

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The Fire That Changed America is a historical monograph discusses the rise of labor reforms along with the Progressive Movement throughout the state of New York during the early 1900’s, and pushes forward the argument that the fire which decimated the Triangle Waist Company was vital to the entrance of laws advocated by unions that protect the safety of workers. Drehle himself is a journalist, a former editor of Time Magazine, and a frequent visitor of American History in most of his works. The fire at Triangle was a devastating tragedy, but its sheer scale caused incredibly welcoming effects on the common workplace. Before the fire, labor unions that belonged to the progressive movement were only able to secure “a pay raise, [and] a fifty-two hour work week” for a pitifully limited number of workers, as the

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1505 Words | 7 Pages

The year 1894 was only the official holiday for the entire nation, but labor days and craftsmen parades had already been established nationally years before. Labor Day, by becoming nationally approved, helped to sate union movements that were crying out for public recognition of the wage-earners and the importance of their labor, and how it helped to release pressure of work in the new capitalist industrial society (capitalist industry is better?). This holiday, though state approved, was not state sponsored, depending on the labor union leaders to organize and pay for these parades and events that were to commemorate the usefulness of wage-earners in this new society. It was a problem from labor leaders due to their smaller unions, since each labor day parade was just a local celebration with no aid from other unions or leagues from around Canada, unemployment, strikes, and fleeting number of members by the twentieth century. (3) Though it was difficult, many cities were able to have parades and athletic events to celebrate Labor during the nineteenth century.

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The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive.

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408 Words | 2 Pages

The organized labor of 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in proving the position of workers because of the future strikes, and the intrinsical feeling of preponderation of employers over employees and the lack of regime support. In 1877, railroad work across the country took part in a cyclopean strike that resulted in mass violence and very few reforms. An editorial, from the Incipient York Time verbalized: "the strike is ostensibly hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and splenetic demonstration of resentment by men too incognizant or too temerarious to understand their own interest" (Document B). In 1892, workers at the Homestead steel plant near Pittsburg ambulated out on strike and mass chaos the lives of at least two Pinkerton detectives and one civilian, among many other laborers death (Document G).

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1261 Words | 6 Pages

Have you ever wondered what it would be like without transportation? In the 1890’s the railroad system, the main source of transportation at that time, came to a halt after a strike called the Pullman Strike. A severe depression had hit the United States in 1893. This hit a railroad manufacturing company called the Pullman company hard.

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Many months passed between the call to go on strike in September and when the first shot was fired in April. During these months, Rockefeller’s stance on the strike can be summed up in his statement to the

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Miners marched on the state capitol led by the union organizer “Mother” Jones, and from there decided to free the imprisoned miners and force the mine owners to allow unionization in the non-unionized

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Such as a strike that happened in 1877; the strike had failed to be successful when the government has authorized the approval of police force resulting in strikers being killed and workers beginning to arm themselves for protection. Since employers continually turned a deaf ear to union demands, and unions saw a need to push harder to get the desired results.

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His leadership potential was seen whether or not he held office and from quite a young age due to his place with the working man where he still aligned most of his beliefs. His conviction of social order in harmony and justice however was constantly called into question by the capitalistic nature of American economics which led Debs to become involved in efforts like the Pullman Strike. When George Pullman lowered the wages of his sleepercar factory workers to “the starvation point” and dismissed two members of the “grievances committee” that met with him afterward to negotiate the wage cut (Painter, 19). After going to A.R.U. the unofficial unions started after the decrease in salary became associated with a larger railway union and began a strike against any train pulling Pullman cars. Debs used this platform to truly move into the world of politics and become an outspoken socialist in

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114 Words | 1 Pages

These time in American history was well-known by frequent strikes for workers nationwide. Moreover, police tried to controlling lower society levels, in special workers who went on strike against large corporations. It was a corruption triangle among politicians, police and big business owners.

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The Haymarket affair is one most important events in Chicago’s labor protest is questionably still unknown to many of high school kids and down. At this mark in Chicago history several horrifying, and great events happened. Industrial workers were getting fed up with the intense hours and wanted change from their shady bosses. People associated with all the industrial works started to arrange private meeting to talk about what’s wrong within the industries. Soon several of the bosses found out about these meeting and paid the police to eliminate these meetings.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

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The Pullman Strike occurred at the Pullman Palace Car Company due to the Panic of 1893. The Panic of 1893 caused the car company to reduce the worker’s wages because the demand for luxury cars declined. George Pullman himself, who was a very successful businessman know for his innovation as an engineer (made the sleeping car), refused to negotiate, so the workers, and it eventually led to a boycott to the point that any train that transported Pullman cars were to refuse. The other major strike seen during this time period is the Homestead Strike. This strike took place at the Homestead Steel Plant run by Andrew Carnegie (one of the richest entrepreneurs in the Gilded Age).

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Eugene V. Debs, leader of the labor movement and, later, an outspoken founding socialist, mobilized the working class toward fighting for greater wages, safe conditions, and the 8-hour-day. Initially, entering the workforce as a railroad laborer, he rose to prominence by organizing the American Railway Union, the Socialist Party, and the International Industrial Workers of the World. Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana to French-German immigrants, and dropping high school, he ended up stoking fires for the railroad. There, he rose to prominence as editor for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen’s magazine from 1880 to 1894. As editor, he actually pursued a conservative, friendly relationship between laborers and owners, even condemning the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

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