Anthony Pasciuto notes on 1877 Great Strike.
-1877 workers strike was one of the largest strikes in American History.
-It consisted of 80,000 plus, railroad workers that stopped work, among other workers
It started in Martinsburg, West Virginia and spread across the rail lines through the continent
-It represented the turn for America, from the old working order, skilled labor, less technological, to the modern industrial time, where large scale, specialized workers were employed, and the old skilled shop workers were practically extinct, on the large scale.
-It was the railroad industry that sparked the great advancement for the turn to Modern America. Thousands upon thousands of workers employed to build the railways across the country, helped industry boom significantly
-Railway corporations were buying all the major resources of income in the country, and dominating the economy
-They allowed for a more nationalist view of the country, as people across the continent were buying same goods and reading the same news and so forth.
-The railway industry, being the largest, employed the most, but it was a very dangerous job, and did not pay that well. 2000 people a year, died from railroad related causes.
-All the industries, like coal, mining, steel, and so forth were dangerous and low paid.
-These problems lead to many and most workers to develop the idea of free labor, and not be submerged into a slavery-style work place, which became very republican at that time.
-This idea of 'free labor' was short lived, for it split into many differences, and the large coporations still held the same wage working environment as before.
-Then in the mid 1870's, an Industrial Depression struck, and made the conditions even worse for the majority of the working class. All working class families suffered and starved, as the large corporate leaders still prospered. Yet the government did not get involved, for the country felt it was not their place. It was felt that the government should not get involved in the economy, and that it was only natural for the weak to be eliminated and the strong, prosper. The egalitarian principles of the country soon sought to fix that.
-Unions at the time weren't strong enough to unite, for whites refused to work with blacks, females, and unskilled, so it was difficult for them to take off. The railway coporation was so strong, that the unions could not effectively deal with them.
-The wage cuts, the danger, the Industrial depression, the constant dominance of the few rich industrialists finally lead to a massive union strike across the country, the Worker's Strike of 1877.
It had a large varity of support, from farmers, to factory workers, to shop workers, and so forth. It was violent, large scale, and very effective.
-It was condemned by American Railway owners to be communist and anti-American. They called for military aid. Pres. Hayes, eventually gave in and used the military to stop the strike, which confirmed the power and growth of the federal government, and the support for employers.
-The Great Strike, although put to rest after a few weeks, did achieve minor pay increases and better treatment, and also divided the big businesses and coporations. It also feuled the fight between capital and labor for years to come, and laborers continued to push for better work environment, better wages, and 8-hour days, as well as worker class investment in large business. It was the primary influence to the strength of the labor unions today, the fair wages, and fair treatment, taking alot of the power out of the business owners.