Many wonder what Labor Day was meant for, and many people nowadays do not really know the history behind it. But during the labor strikes of the 1880's, one particular strike stood out, the Pullman strike.
George Pullman was in charge of the Pullman sleeping car company. He invented the sleeping car on trains and created a business manufacturing his invention. He recruited laborers and even created a town for them to live in. He intended the town he created to solve many of the labor problems such as poverty and labor unrest. However, the town's tenants were furious over Pullman. The housing was not equal and many things such as independent newspapers, public speeches, town meetings, or open discussion were restricted.
When economic depression hit the economy, Pullman laid off 30% of his workforce and lowered wages. He didn't lower the prices of rent of commodities which added to the problem. Because of this, his workers went on strike which affected the entire nation's railroad system, stopping trains in 27 states stretching from the West Coast to Chicago. The Illinois state government refused to send troops to Pullman to suppress the strike, but the federal government sent in troops to suppress it. The strike got very severe, where protesters were burning hundreds of railroad cars and buildings when the federal troops arrived. the mob overwhelmed the troops which forced them to shoot into the crowd and ultimately kill around 30 people and wounding many more.
The Pullman strikes was important as it marked the transition in the progressive era, where the federal government had a role in the country's economy and social life. The federal government arrested the leaders of the strike for violating the injunction and served 6 months in jail. At the peak of the Pullman strike, Congress passed legislation for a day celebrating labor and making it a legal holiday. That was on the Monday of September which would later be known as Labor day, which occurs on September 7th. The truth behind the passing of the holiday was that President Cleveland wanted the labor unions to continue support the democratic party as they made up a large constituency of the party. He passed the holiday before he sent the federal troops in the hopes to compensate and to keep some parts of the his party.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/labor-day-pullman-railway-strike-origins
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-M-Pullman
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article and I liked how clear and concise your arguments were. After reading this, I decided to do a little research on what measures were taken by the government to end these labor strikes and mitigate class struggles. Although not much was done in the 19th century, at the start of the 20th century, President Teddy Roosevelt sided with laborers and demanded that employers (such as coal mine owners) had to cooperate with labor unions in a fair manner. Along with Teddy, Franklin Roosevelt some decades later signed acts to enforce labor laws and mitigate class struggles. These included the Wagner Labor Relations Act and the creation of the National Labor Relations Board.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-gilded-age/gilded-age/a/labor-battles-in-the-gilded-age
I really liked how you organized your post, making it super easy to follow each point discussed. When you brought up the term Progressive Era and described it, I got curious of what else happened during that time period. One thing of interest I saw was how "The First Red Scare" emerged towards the end of the era, kicked off by the Bolshevik Revolution in Europe and troubles faced in America from far-left ideology, such as the anarchist bombings of 1919. While America had introduced reforms to protect workers and the working class, it's clear that from the First Red Scare, there was still a line between American society versus the growing far-left ideologies around the world. But, many feared that this line could go away, leading to the First Red Scare.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2019/05/31/1919-anarchist-bombings-paterson-nj/3741015002/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era#First_Red_Scare
I really enjoyed your post and how it explained The Pullman Strike and its significance towards the creation of labor day extremely clearly. It was especially interesting to see how the federal army shot at the protesters and killed around thirty of them. The federal army only shot into the crowd because of how violent the strike became. In contrast to today, the strike would be completely illegal. I decided look up the strike laws for in the 21st century and any found that any violent action that would occur in a strike is illegal. Then, this raises the question on how strikes would play out back in the 19th century and if they would have been anymore or less effective as a result of non-violence?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/strikes.html