The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
This was not the first time workers in the United States went on strike. It was not the first time workers attempted to negotiate with their employers as a group. It wasn't the first time for a lot of things workers and unions do, and that employers and government officials do in response. But it's a good starting point for a lot of reasons.
It was the biggest strike up until that time in the history of American labor relations. The railroads were perhaps the largest group on non-agricultural employers in the United States at that time, and the strike and its effects were not confined to a single employer or a single place. It happened in spite of a lack of strong union organization in many places, it offered several entities that would become major players a chance to operate on a large stage, and it set the tone for most of the interactions between labor and capital and labor and government for many years to come.
Here is a basic overview of the strike. (I will be linking to quite a few articles from Wikipedia as I go along; they are, for the most part, well-sourced, as whoever has worked on them has taken the trouble to do a reasonable job. Other sources will also be used.)
The strike started small, in response to a pay cut--the second in one year--imposed by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The B&O workers were among the worst-paid in the industry, which was at that point financially troubled as a result of the economic crisis that began in 1873, with many lines facing bankruptcy. The strike began in the Martinsburg, West Virginia shops of the B&O; the governor of West Virginia called on the state militia to restore train service, and the militia refused to fire upon the strikers. The governor then called for federal troops. The strike spread to Baltimore, and when the governor there called out the militia, the militia units were attacked on the streets of Baltimore, and federal troops were called upon again. Railroad workers in Pennsylvania were facing similar problems, and they also went out on strike; and then the strike spread out to the Midwest. It lasted 45 days, with around 100,000 workers striking and receiving widespread support from non-railroad workers; federal troops were sent out across the country to suppress it, and a federal judge declared the strike illegal.
The lesson labor took from this strike was that strong organization and good planning and communication was essential to their efforts; the lesson capital and the government took from it was that organized labor was a very dangerous thing, and that it must be met by firm opposition and the use of force whenever necessary. Marxist influence was blamed for the disturbances, and for neither the first nor the last time in American labor history, "foreign agitators" were were scapegoated. The specters of Communism and foreign agitators were ones which would be brought forward time and again during the course of the American labor movement. The terrible prospect of a general strike was raised. The Pinkertons, who were first formed as railroad detectives, got into the thick of things, and the Knights of Labor took advantage of events as well. What began as a small strike against a single employer over a single issue turned into action against an entire industry, with an impact that was surely not imagined by most of the workers in the B&O's Martinsburg shop.
By the mid-1880s, the B&O had established an employee relief association, with coverage for injuries and illness, and a death benefit, and was the first large employer in the US to offer a pension plan. The other railroads would follow. These things would not have happened without pressure from labor.
At the time of the strike, the railroad workers were not represented by a single union; there was one for the locomotive engineers one for the firemen, and so on. Many workers did not belong to any union at all. The notion of a single union representing all the workers in an industry, regardless of skill or craft, was one labor organizers and union members did not yet have a firm handle on. The notion of nation-wide labor organization, either for an industry or for unions generally, was in its infancy. But the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 foreshadows so much of what was to come in American labor history that it's a good place to start.
There were other industries before the railroads which experienced significant labor activity, and the next two posts I do will look at the start of union activity in the coal mines, as well as the cigar makers' union, which once mattered very much indeed in the world of US labor organization.
It was the biggest strike up until that time in the history of American labor relations. The railroads were perhaps the largest group on non-agricultural employers in the United States at that time, and the strike and its effects were not confined to a single employer or a single place. It happened in spite of a lack of strong union organization in many places, it offered several entities that would become major players a chance to operate on a large stage, and it set the tone for most of the interactions between labor and capital and labor and government for many years to come.
Here is a basic overview of the strike. (I will be linking to quite a few articles from Wikipedia as I go along; they are, for the most part, well-sourced, as whoever has worked on them has taken the trouble to do a reasonable job. Other sources will also be used.)
The strike started small, in response to a pay cut--the second in one year--imposed by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The B&O workers were among the worst-paid in the industry, which was at that point financially troubled as a result of the economic crisis that began in 1873, with many lines facing bankruptcy. The strike began in the Martinsburg, West Virginia shops of the B&O; the governor of West Virginia called on the state militia to restore train service, and the militia refused to fire upon the strikers. The governor then called for federal troops. The strike spread to Baltimore, and when the governor there called out the militia, the militia units were attacked on the streets of Baltimore, and federal troops were called upon again. Railroad workers in Pennsylvania were facing similar problems, and they also went out on strike; and then the strike spread out to the Midwest. It lasted 45 days, with around 100,000 workers striking and receiving widespread support from non-railroad workers; federal troops were sent out across the country to suppress it, and a federal judge declared the strike illegal.
The lesson labor took from this strike was that strong organization and good planning and communication was essential to their efforts; the lesson capital and the government took from it was that organized labor was a very dangerous thing, and that it must be met by firm opposition and the use of force whenever necessary. Marxist influence was blamed for the disturbances, and for neither the first nor the last time in American labor history, "foreign agitators" were were scapegoated. The specters of Communism and foreign agitators were ones which would be brought forward time and again during the course of the American labor movement. The terrible prospect of a general strike was raised. The Pinkertons, who were first formed as railroad detectives, got into the thick of things, and the Knights of Labor took advantage of events as well. What began as a small strike against a single employer over a single issue turned into action against an entire industry, with an impact that was surely not imagined by most of the workers in the B&O's Martinsburg shop.
By the mid-1880s, the B&O had established an employee relief association, with coverage for injuries and illness, and a death benefit, and was the first large employer in the US to offer a pension plan. The other railroads would follow. These things would not have happened without pressure from labor.
At the time of the strike, the railroad workers were not represented by a single union; there was one for the locomotive engineers one for the firemen, and so on. Many workers did not belong to any union at all. The notion of a single union representing all the workers in an industry, regardless of skill or craft, was one labor organizers and union members did not yet have a firm handle on. The notion of nation-wide labor organization, either for an industry or for unions generally, was in its infancy. But the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 foreshadows so much of what was to come in American labor history that it's a good place to start.
There were other industries before the railroads which experienced significant labor activity, and the next two posts I do will look at the start of union activity in the coal mines, as well as the cigar makers' union, which once mattered very much indeed in the world of US labor organization.