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The Great Railroad Strike. The Great Railroad Strike In the first half of the
19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing ...
... Document H Source: The New York Herald (on the great railroad strikes of 1877 ... with
a rising schism between rich and poor, the workers decided to strike back at ...
... the strike served to seriously weaken the railroad unions and ... In response to the
strike, Frick shit down the plant ... a chance to succeed and attain great wealth. ...
... Police have to intervene in this type of strike, and it is this type of ... in the public
eye when it had its first major victory in the great railroad strikes of ...
... Beginning in August 1893 to March 1894, the Great Northern Railroad, cut the wagees
of the people. By April, the ARU wanted a strike and to shut down the ...
Submitted by gotruth on March 11, 2007
Category: American History
Words: 1033 | Pages: 5
Views: 168
Popularity Rank: 68,670
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The Great Railroad Strike
In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.
Railroads were the big business of the mid-nineteenth century. The rail companies employed thousands of people and ran operations nationwide. The railroad transformed American society from a rural, agrarian society to an urban, industrialized one. The railroads contributed to an economic boom which pulled millions of peasant immigrants from southern and eastern Europe in search of job opportunities and a better life. However, this same industry took advantage of a vast labor surplus and exploited its workers.
A record number of immigrants were admitted into the U.S. during the mid-nineteenth century. Attracted mainly by job opportunities and cheap passage from all corners of southern and eastern Europe, a wave of immigrants flooded the American economy. This mass immigration created a labor surplus which produced a marketplace where workers could be hired and fired at will and had to sell their labor for whatever the going rate; labor had become a commodity.
Adding to the surplus in available labor was the boom-bust cycle. The depression of 1873 undermined the position of many workers and trades unions. With so many workers out of work, employers no longer feared strikes. If one man was opposed to his wages or working hours, a hungry and unemployed man would take his place.
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