Great+Railroad+Strike+of+1877

=**The Great Railroad Strike of 1877** =  Andréa Pappey and Mike Ottaviano =**The Workers **= =Because of the Depression, the companies had the upper hand in business. The surplus of unemployed workers created an endless supply of strong, hardworking men that would gladly take your job if you feared or disliked the working conditio ns. Workers were forced to work over 10 hours per day, 6 days a week and had to overcome the fear of using life-threatening equipment. Many workers were **immigrants**  who had no other choice than to work for these companies because of lack off education, opportunity, and language barriers. = =Not only were working conditions atrocious but wages were extremely low too. Many companies paid their employees in company scrip instead of US currency. This scrip was only able to be redeemed at company stores who’s overpriced items put a heavy burden on the already struggling worker. = = = =Because of a failing economy,many workers were laid off and had no other place to work. In 1877, northern railroads began cutting salaries of workers, which led to strikes and labor violence. Most workers had wives and children they needed to support, and it was impossible to live on the small wages they were given by the railroad companies. An article from the July 23, 1877 edition of the Chicago tribune outlines the problem with the workers, stating “They ask, with pertinent force, if they receive $9 per week, and have to pay $6 per week for their own meals while on the road, how are they to pay rent and feed and clothe their families on what is left. As they cannot do it, they refuse to starve, and resist. One blow has brought on another, and the fire has rapidly spread through the combustible material.”  This shows the resistance and malice of the workers, but also provides the selfless reason of needing higher wages in order to support their families. =



**The Companies ** The largest railroad company in 1877 was the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad company was accompanied by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Erie Railroad. The railroad companies were economically supported by the federal government. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the first to cut wages by 10%, however,the Baltimore & Ohio soon followed. When workers from the Baltimore & Ohio railroad rebelled, the company attempted to bring in replacements called strikebreakers, but the workers had stopped the movement of trains. The companies had no interest in the safety of the workers.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Financial Panic of 1873 led to labor violence in the North Pennsylvania Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad declared it would double the length of all eastbound trains from Pittsburgh without an increase in the size of crews. As a result, railroad employees blocked the movement of trains.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Problems **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This picture depicts how self-centered the railroad companies were. Railroad companies would do anything to earn their salary, even if it compromised the safety or well-being of their workers.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">** Strike! ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Martinsburg, West Virgina at the station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, workers went on strike, hoping to fight the wage cut. They uncoupled the train engines, ran them into the roundhouse and declared that no trains would leave Martinsburg until the 10% wage cut was gone. A large crowd, unable to be tamed by the police, soon gathered in support. A militia was sent in because of government intervention. Federal troops soon arrived in Martinsburg and the trains were now able to move. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Baltimore, railway strikers surrounded and hurled rocks at the armoury of the National Guard. The soldiers emerged and fired shots at the strikers, leading to a bloody battle. At the end of the day, ten men were dead, one soldier was wounded, and half of the troops quit. The rest of the troops headed to the train depot, where an angry crowd of 200 smashed the engine of a passenger train, tore up tracks, and engaged the militia. 500 soldiers arrived in Baltimore and the strikes began to decrease. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The strike now spread to Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Freight trains stopped moving out of Pittsburgh and troops were soon called in and ten people were killed, resulting in anger from the entire city. Angry mobs surrounded the troops, railroad cars and buildings were set afire and guns were fired. 24 people had been killed in a matter of days. The entire National Guard of Pennsylvania, consisting of 9,000 men, was called out. After a bloody battle, the troops went home and federal troops arrived and local police began making arrests. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the summer of 1877, there was a rally in Chicago where <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**anarchist** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Albert Parsons gave a speech. The next day, people began to go on strike and Parsons was fired from his job. The crowds were attacked by the police, the US infantry, the National Guard and Civil War veterans. The day after, 5,000 armed people fought the police, leading to the death of eighteen workingmen and boys. The labor movement led in Chicago was led mainly by **socialists.** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An Irish Union Army veteran spoke to a crowd of strikers in Chicago and declared: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">"The black man has been fought for, and we have given him the ballot. . . Now why not do something for the workingman? I was through the war, I fought for the big bug capitalists, and many of you have done the same. And what is our reward now? What have the capitalists done for us? The way to bring them to our level is with powder and ball. Powder and Ball!" This exclamation shows the malice of the workers, and the violence they expected throughout the strikes. Railroad workers believed that their rights should be fought for, just as the rights of African Americans were fought for. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Strikers in St. Louis called for nationalism of the railroads, mines and industry. An executive branch was established, and it called for a strike on industry in St. Louis. However, the strike proved unsuccessful, as the police raided the headquarters of the Workingmen’s party and made 70 arrests. Moreover, the executive committee members were put in prison. As a result, the strikers surrendered and the wage cuts remained. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In an 1877 article from the St. Louis Dispatch, the author urges St. Louis to not make the same mistakes in strike that strikers in Pittsburgh and Baltimore did.<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> "The strikers, as stikers, certainly have a case, but as desperadoes and murderers they have thrown away every right to merciful treatment. Let those of St. Louis avoid the mistakes of their brethren of Baltimore and Pittsburgh." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">﻿The author also states that the strikers do have a cause to go on strike, but their role as "desperadoes and murderers" has set them up for serious consequences with the government. media type="youtube" key="ds4cHgzN-S8" height="349" width="425" <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> ** Back to Work ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> When the strikes were over (by August of 1877), many were dead and injured, many people had gone to jail, and over 100,000 workers had gone on strike. Buildings and property damage soared but in all the aftermath, workers were somewhat victorious.The railroad companies made many concessions including the withdrawal of wage cuts and better working conditions but also braced for more strikes to come. Companies started giving money to state militias and to the national guard (were able to possess guns because of loopholes), strengthening them for future use and strength <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ened their own “Coal and Iron Police”. Many railroad corporations did all this in hope that they would be shielded and protected from future strikes. Although workers had gone back to work and agreed on some terms, the power was still in the hands of the company. <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">﻿ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Belle﻿w's "The American Frankenstein" compares American Railroad companies to Mary Shelley's novel, //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Frankenstein //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">, in which a monster turns on its human creator. The railroad companies are portrayed as being controlling and manipulative. The monster is crushing a civilian, showing how railroad companies crushed worker's rights. People in the background are shying a way from the "monster", as a man in uniform salutes him. This shows the fear and problems created by the railroad system, which eventually led to the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

**References**


 * Primary:** Cause of the Strike and a Remedy, Chicago Tribune, July 23, 1877.http://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?views=Strike&rends=newspaper&publication=Chicago+Daily+Tribune&id=rail.str.0305 (accessed May 14, 2011).

Speech from Irish Army Veteran: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/1877/f1877-5.html

"American Frankenstein" picture taken from http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/us/mod05_industry/evidence_detail_02.html

The Strike, Saint Louis Dispatch, July 24, 1877. http://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?views=Strike&rends=newspaper&publication=St.+Louis+Dispatch&id=rail.str.0309 (accessed May 16, 2011).
 * Book: **Stowell, David O. The Great Strikes of 1877. University of Illinois Press, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=Gn_84uMlHSQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=great+railroad+strike+1877&cd=3#v=onepage&q=chicago&f=false (accessed May 13, 2011).


 * ABC Clio: ** ABC Clio. http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/


 * Freebie:** “The Great Railroad Strike.” Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=224 (accessed May 16, 2011).

"Great Railroad Strike of 1877." Ohio History Central. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=503 (accessed May 16, 2011).


 * Pictography (in order of appearance): ** Black and white picture of train: http://www.irwinator.com/126/w190.jpg

Picture of strike hysteria in sepia: http://img.youtube.com/vi/ds4cHgzN-S8/0.jpg

Black and white picture of violence during strike: http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000070/images/uen_fea_grstrike_hrpr.jpg

Picture of workers on strike: http://www.mentalfloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/strike.jpg

Pennsylvania Railroad Company logo: http://www.modeltrains.net.au/hornby/logos/prr.jpg

Picture of the "American Autocrat": http://dlib.gsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/printed&CISOPTR=113&CISOBOX=1&REC=2

Picture of damaged Pennsylvania Railroad train: http://explorepahistory.com/cms/pbfiles/Project1/Scheme34/ExplorePAHistory-a0m3h5-a_349.jpg