The Pullman Strike of 1894: American Labor Comes of Age (Great Events)

The strike at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Pullman, Illinois, in the spring and summer of 1894 began a new era in the struggle between American labor and management. Although there had been earlier strikes, the walk-out at Pullman quickly spread into a series of sympathy strikes along the thousands of miles of railroads heading west from Chicago. The participation of the American Railway Union, and its leader Eugene Debs, made this one of the first instances of an industrial union strike. The willingness of the U.S. government to interfere in the strike on the side of management, and to call in federal troops against the expressed wishes of local and state officials, expanded Washington’s power to interfere in the private economy. All of these factors made the Pullman Strike a watershed event in American economic history.