Great+Railroad+Strike+of+1877

=Great Railroad Strike of 1877=

//**"Labor has gradually, but surely, been becoming cheaper, and its demand less. Workingmen have not economized in the proportion that economy became necessary. Want and penury followed. Workingmen consequently have become discontented and embittered. They have been taught steadily, as their needs increased, that they were being enslaved and robbed, and that all that was necessary for bettering their condition was a general uprising against capital. So that when, under the leadership of designing men, that great class of railroad employees—than whom no body of workingmen in were ever better compensated—began their strike, nearly every other class caught the infection, and by these dangerous communistic leaders were made to believe that the proper time for action had come."**// **//-//Allan Pinkerton's //Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives//**

**__Railroads in the late 19th century__**
__Companies:__ In the late 18th century railroads were a huge and upcoming business. In 1830 there was only 35,000 miles of track. By 1916 there was 254,000 miles of track. In fact before World War I one out of every twenty-five laborers worked for a railroad company. In the 1860s in the wake of the Civil War, there was great pressure from the government to build a transcontinental railroad. As a result, over 600 miles of railroad needed to be laid. By 1869, the last spike was driven in. The transcontinental railroad increased the popularity of railroads and more and more were built as a result. The two main railroad companies that emerged were the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. //Source:// http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=510 __Workers:__ A large majority of railroad workers were immigrants from countries such as Ireland. With no place else to go, immigrants often turned to railroad work. Conditions were hard on the railroads. Even after railroads are built they must be constantly maintained to keep up to the standard. As a result, railroad workers worked long, hard hours through hard rain and burning sun. They received poor wages and were often paid in company bills instead of US currency. Some were even forced to live in company housing. This allowed employers to gain even more control of the lives of their workers. An excerpt from a ballad song by Irish workers outlines these hard conditions:

// **Every morning about seven o'clock** // // **There were twenty tarriers drilling at the rock** // // **The boss comes along and he says, "Keep still** // // **And bear down heavy on the cast iron drill."** //

// **Chorus** // // **And drill, ye tarriers, drill** // // **Drill, ye tarriers, drill** // // **For it's work all day for the sugar in you tay** // // **Down beyond the railway** // // **And drill, ye tarriers, drill** // // **And blast, and fire.** //

In addition to the hard conditions, workers were treated as mere commodities. With so many workers unemployed, employers could easily dispose one worker for another. In addition, the accelerated pace of mechanization allowed skilled workers to be replaced by unskilled laborers. Source: []

__The Panic of 1873__
The Panic of 1873 caused the failure of many businesses including eastern railroads. To catch the attention of passengers, railroad companies slashed their rates due to the depression. The Pennsylvania railroad made 10% wage cuts and decided in July decided to cut costs by doubling the length of freight trains without increasing the crew. The B&O railroad cut the workweek to 2 to 3 days. Many workers labored 10 or more hours per day, 6 days per week.

Strikers against Erie R.R. stop a train. The Railroad Strike was part of the labor unrest caused by the economic Panic of 1873.
 * [[image:http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam312/decades/187507.jpg]] || **Labor Strife (1877)**

Source: [] ||

__﻿The Strike!__
Strikes began in late July through the week of July 17th, 1877. They began in Baltimore and Pittsburgh and spread to St. Louis and Chicago. Unlike most, these strikers destroyed and blocked trains as well as refusing to work. They occurred all over the United States, but here are some prominent ones:

__Pennsylvania:__ In Philadelphia, a mob attacked the militia and set fires that destroyed more than 1,200 <span class="googie_link">rail cars, 46 passenger cars, 104 locomotives, and 39 buildings. Also, in Pittsburgh, a strike began on July 21, 1877, and the local Pittsburgh militia was sent to protect the Pennsylvania Railroad's property. The militia refused to use force against the strikers, and many militiamen joined the strike. The National Guard troops were then called from Philadelphia. The troops fired on the crowd, killed 20 strikers and wounded several hundred more. The striking workers began an assault on railroad property in response. Then they took over the local telegraph office and the armory. In the end, more than 40 people had been killed, and over $4 million in rail equipment had been damaged.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//**The mayor made a <span class="googie_link">speech to the citizens of <span class="googie_link">Pittsburgh :**//

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//**The lawlessness and violence which has boldly defied all authority and all restraint, shows that it can only be suppressed through the prompt execution of the sternest measures. I have determined that peace, order, and quiet SHALL BE RESTORED to the community, and to this end, now call upon all good citizens to come forward at once to the Old City Hall, and unite with the police and military now organized.**//

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Chicago:__ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Chicago strikers closed down the B&O railroad line on July 23rd. More than 20,000 workers organized under the Workingmen’s Party protested the railroads. Many of the strikers were German immigrants and they demanded better wages and fought for nationalism. The mayor of Chicago immediately called in 5000 militia to stop the strike. The National Guard was also called in to stop the strike. The press reported: //**“The sound of clubs falling on skulls was sickening for the first minute, until one grew accustomed to it. A rioter dropped at every whack, it seemed, for the ground was covered with them.”**// The police stopped the riot, but only after 30 strikers were killed and many more wounded.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__﻿St. Louis:__ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In St. Louis the strikes were organized by the <span class="googie_link">Workingmen's party which consisted of four sections grouped by nationality: German, English, French, Bohemian. As in every other strike, the authorities took over. The police raided the headquarters of the Workingmen’s party arresting 70 people, which meant that the executive committee that was in charge of the city was now in prison. The strikers surrendered and the wage cuts remained.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> Source: []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__**The Strike**__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="ds4cHgzN-S8" height="314" width="382" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This video provides a good overview of the strike in an entertaining way.

__The Aftermath__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Source: []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The strikes were all stopped by local militia and the National Guard by the end of the summer. The leaders of the strikes were arrested and the trains were up and running. Over one hundred people were dead; a thousand in jail, and over 75 thousand miles of track had stopped running. Interstate commerce was paralyzed without railroads for transportation. The Strike was successful in causing many employers to stop making wage-cuts. Some even got rid of initial cuts. However, the strike increased police and military regulation of the railroads.

President Rutherford B. Hayes reflects of the strikes in his diary:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16.8pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in 18.75pt;">// The strikes have been put down by // force // ; but now for the // real // remedy. Can't something [be] done by education of the strikers, by judicious control of the capitalists, by wise general policy to end or diminish the evil? The railroad strikers, as a rule, are good men, sober, intelligent, and industrious. The mischiefs are: — // **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16.8pt; margin: 0in 75pt 0pt 11.25pt;">//1. Strikers prevent men willing to work from doing so.// **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16.8pt; margin: 0in 75pt 0pt 11.25pt;">//2. They seize and hold the property of their employers.// **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16.8pt; margin: 0in 75pt 0pt 11.25pt;">//3. The consequent excitement furnishes an opportunity for the dangerous criminal classes to destroy life and property.// **

__Impact__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Great Railroad strike of 1877 exerted a profound effect on American businesses, as well as political and intellectual life. People debated about what had caused the strike. The Greenback Party, which supported laborers, was blamed. Communists and Union leaders were blamed as well. As a result, the United States government began to regulate business more and more. The Granger movement was the government’s first attempt to regulate land purchases or railroads. The Interstate Commerce was created in 1887 to monitor railroad companies. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Source:http://www.thefullwiki.org/Interstate_Commerce_Act_of_1887 //

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">The strikes led many to believe that government was needed to protect individual rights. Social Darwinism began to appear in a new light, and many began to believe that the capitalist economy needed to be regulated. The Great Railroad Strike was one of first of many strikes in the struggle between businesses and labor.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Source: [] //

__Sources__
__Primary:__ Pinkerton, Allan, "Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives" New York: Carleton, 1878. [] //"Drill Ye Tarriers Drill" The Historical Society of Pennsylvania//. __[]__ "Proclamtion by the Mayor" //The Pittsburgh Daily Journal//, 24 July, 1877. []

"Rutherford B. Hayey's Diary" Rutherforb B. Hayeys, 5 August 1877. []

__Secondary__: "The Great Railoroad Strike of 1877" Digital History. [|http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=224__] 15 May 2011.

"1877: The Great Railroad Strike" libcom.org. http://libcom.org/history/1877-the-great-railroad-strike 15May, 2011

VandeCreek, Drew, "Gilded Age: 1877: The Great Strike." Illinois Historical Digitization Projects: Northern Illinois University Libraries. [], 15 May, 2011

//American History//, s.v. "Great Railroad Strike of 1877," accessed May 16, 2011. [].

<span class="wiki_link_ext">Boardman Jr., Fon W. //America and the Robber Barons.// Virginia:Young America's Foundation,2009. Print.