Pullman+Strike+of+1894

= __**Pullman Strike of 1894**__ =

How did the Pullman Strike come about?
The Pullman Strike of 1894 came about a year after The Panic of 1893; which was a devastation to the economy in Chicago at this time. During 1893, George Pullman, inventor of the railroad sleeping car, relieved one third of his employees of their jobs. For those workers remaining he cut 30% of their work wages. George Pullman established Pullman, a small working town right outside of Chicago dedicated to labor on the railroad cars. Going into 1894, workers were beginning to get angered by the control Pullman excersized over their lives and the unfairness of wages.

This image depicts George Pullman.

** ﻿The Strike: **
During the late 1800s, the railroad buisness was booming! Pullman's railroad cars was a very successful buisness. To keep his buisness successful Pullman needed a steady source of labor to meet the growing demand. He believed that by contructing a town made just for workers he could achieve his goal of success. Pullman had high standards for his employees, which the workers viewed as unfriendly at times. Many workers decided to join the American Railroad Union, they organized a grievence commitee to negotiate with the heads of the buisness. The company however ended up dismissing three members of the commitee. And the delegates gave the company four days to accept mediation or face a boycott of all trains with Pullman Cars attached. The threat of a boycott was great and even lead to national issues. The federal government sent troops to control the strike and violence broke out as the troops open fired on the strikers. Atleast 30 people died in this attack.

**Debs Rebellion!**

Eugene Victor Debs, president of the American Railway Union, took charge in the Pullman strike as leader to the workers however he said "I am not a labor leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else. If you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of the capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land, if I could, because if I could lead you in, some one else would lead you out." - Eugene Victor Debs. By June, approximately 125,000 workers joined Debs' boycott.

**__The End Result:__** As the boycott expanded, it greatly affected the rail yards and the 24 rail lines in Chicago. .The railroads alone lost an estimated $685,308 in expenses from the strike. However, the railroads lost even more in revenue an estimated $4,672,916. In addition, 100,000 striking employees lost an estimated $1,389,143 in wages. The total forces of the strikebreakers both government and private were: 1,936 federal troops, 4,000 national guards, about 5,000 extra deputy guards, 250 extra deputy sheriffs, and the 3,000 policemen in Chicago for a total of 14,186 strikebreakers. There were also twelve people shot and killed, and 71 people who were arrested. The results of the Pullman Strike was enormous. At the same time the strike showed the willingness of the federal government to interferre and support the capitalists against unified labor. The results were huge because of all of the unified effort of the unions the workers did not get their rents lowered.

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[] Cayton, Perry, Reed, Winkler; //America Pathways to the Present.// Sidney Lens, //The Labor Wars,// from Molly Macquire's to the sit downs.