Pullman Strike![The The](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/intothelongdark/images/4/4f/Broken_Railroad_Map_small.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20170811185555)
![The long dark broken railroad map The long dark broken railroad map](https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/956340884526431370/BFDAE2B57AC5EDE50521A6A6B1A12A7BD2B53016/)
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All Discussions. It's also possible to get into and out of the ravine in the Broken Railroad region without a rope. Not easy mind you, and if you're. In 1911, the mischief-making vagabond robbed a train near Okesa, Oklahoma, then took his spoils — $46 and two jugs of whisky — north, where he holed up in a barnyard on the Kansas border.
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Melvin I. UrofskyMelvin I. Urofsky is Professor of Law & Public Policy and Professor Emeritus of History at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Before joining VCU as chair of the History Department in 1974, he...
Pullman Strike, (May 11, 1894–c. July 20, 1894), in U.S. history, widespread railroadstrike and boycott that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest of the United States in June–July 1894. The federal government’s response to the unrest marked the first time that an injunction was used to break a strike. Amid the crisis, on June 28 Pres. Grover Cleveland and Congress created a national holiday, Labor Day, as a conciliatory gesture toward the American labour movement.
What was the Pullman Strike?
The Pullman Strike (May–July 1894) was a widespread railroad strike and boycott that disrupted rail traffic in the U.S. Midwest in June–July 1894. Responding to layoffs, wage cuts, and firings, workers at Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike, and, eventually, some 125,000–250,000 railroad workers in 27 states joined their cause, stifling the national rail network west of Chicago. Claiming that the strike violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, Edwin Walker, a special attorney acting for U.S. Attorney General Richard Olney, obtained an injunction that U.S. Pres. Grover Cleveland used to dispatch federal troops to address the strike. Following an outbreak of deadly violence, the strike dwindled and rail traffic resumed.
Why did the Pullman workers go on strike?
Responding to falling revenue during the economic depression that began in 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company cut more than 2,000 workers and reduced wages by 25 percent. When it did not also reduce rents and other expenses at Pullman, the company town near Chicago where most Pullman workers lived, many workers and their families faced starvation. A delegation of workers tried to present their grievances to company president George M. Pullman, but he refused to meet with them and ordered them fired. The delegation then voted to strike, and Pullman workers walked off the job on May 11, 1894.
What were the effects of the Pullman Strike?
The massive disruption of rail traffic and the violent confrontations between strikers and demonstrators on one side and strikebreakers, law enforcement, and troops on the other during the Pullman Strike convinced many Americans that class conflict between capital and labour in the United States had reached a crisis stage that needed a solution in the public interest. In the short term, the fear of more violence limited union activity, and the courts acted to suppress strikes.
What was the significance of the Pullman Strike?
![The The](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/intothelongdark/images/4/4f/Broken_Railroad_Map_small.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20170811185555)
By involving as many as 250,000 railroad workers on some 20 railroads, the Pullman Strike demonstrated the power of the labour movement. However, in precipitating the use of an injunction to break the strike, it opened the door to greater court involvement in limiting the effectiveness of strikes. The event also established a greater role for federal government intervention in strikes and introduced the use of the federal military in addressing strikes. The violence that resulted from the strike also temporarily reduced public support for the labour movement.
What role did Eugene V. Debs play in the Pullman Strike?
Eugene V. Debs was the president of the American Railway Union (ARU), which represented about one-third of the Pullman workers and which had concluded a successful strike against the Great Northern Railway Company in April 1894. When the ARU voted to support the Pullman workers, the Pullman Strike became a national action, and Debs became its de facto leader. Although he cautioned against the violence that broke out, Debs received a six-month prison sentence for contempt of court (for violating the injunction issued against the strike) that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in In re Debs (1895). During his incarceration he embraced socialism.
The strike and boycott
In response to financial reverses related to the economic depression that began in 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company, a manufacturer of railroad cars, cut the already low wages of its workers by about 25 percent but did not introduce corresponding reductions in rents and other charges at Pullman, its company town near Chicago, where most Pullman workers lived. As a result, many workers and their families faced starvation. When a delegation of workers tried to present their grievances about low wages, poor living conditions, and 16-hour workdays directly to the company’s president, George M. Pullman, he refused to meet with them and ordered them fired. The delegation then voted to strike, and Pullman workers walked off the job on May 11, 1894. As soon as the plant had emptied, company representatives posted signs at all the gates: “The works are closed until further notice.”
At the time of the strike, 35 percent of Pullman’s workforce was represented by the American Railway Union (ARU), which had led a successful strike against the Great Northern Railway Company in April 1894. Although the ARU was not technically involved in the Pullman workers’ decision to strike, union officials had been in Pullman and at the meeting at which the strike vote was taken, and Pullman workers undoubtedly believed that the ARU would back them. When the ARU gathered in Chicago in June for its first annual convention, the Pullman strike was an issue on the delegates’ minds.
A great deal of sympathy existed in Chicago and elsewhere for the Pullman workers, who were seen as common men and women tyrannized by an abusive employer and landlord. The question was how the ARU could support the workers, who, after all, did not exactly work on the railroads. One plan was to refuse to hitch Pullman cars to trains and to unhitch those that were already attached. Another idea was a boycott: ARU members would refuse to handle Pullman cars or any trains with Pullman cars until the railroads severed their ties with the Pullman Company.
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On June 22 the ARU delegates passed a motion to initiate a boycott unless the Pullman Company agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration by June 26. During the next three days, several committees were sent to the company in the hope of winning concessions that would make the boycott unnecessary, but all were turned away.
Crucial to the success of any boycott would be the switchmen, who had joined the ARU in large numbers. The ARU’s president, Eugene V. Debs, predicted that, once the switchmen refused to add or remove Pullman cars from trains, the railroads would fire them and try to replace them with nonunion workers, and that in turn would lead other union members to walk out in solidarity, thus bringing more and more trains to a halt.
The scenario played out as Debs had predicted. On June 27, 5,000 workers left their jobs and 15 railroads were tied up. By the next day, 40,000 had walked off, and rail traffic was snarled on all lines west of Chicago. On the third day, the number of strikers had climbed to 100,000, and at least 20 lines were either tied up or completely stopped. By June 30, 125,000 workers on 29 railroads had quit work rather than handle Pullman cars. The ARU had few locals in the East or the Deep South, but the boycott seemed remarkably effective everywhere else.
Debs may have been pleased by the effectiveness of the boycott, but he was also alarmed by the anger expressed by the workers, which he feared could lead to violence. During the first week of the boycott he sent some 4,000 telegrams, hundreds every day, urging the ARU locals to stay calm and not to overreact.
On June 29 Debs spoke at a large and peaceful gathering in Blue Island, Illinois, to gather support from fellow railroad workers. After he left, however, groups within the crowd became enraged, set fire to nearby buildings, and derailed a locomotive. Unfortunately for the strikers, the locomotive was attached to a U.S. mail train. That greatly upset Pres. Grover Cleveland in that the strike had now prevented the federal government from exercising one of its most-important responsibilities.
Quick Facts
- May 11, 1894 - July 20, 1894
- location
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Forestry Outlook
Forestry Lookout is a tall, wooden structure found in Mystery Lake.
The forestry lookout sits on a small hill to the north-east of the Unnamed Pond and south of clear cut.
The Long Dark Hunters Lodge
It is difficult to access. It contains bunk beds, wood stove, a radio, food, and a hunting rifle spawn. There is a frozen corpse outside.
The interior is warm enough to keep you from freezing even during a blizzard. The lookout is reached from clear cut by following the sign up the mountain trail.
The Long Dark Broken Railroad Forge
The forestry lookout does not make an ideal base, it is especially cold when exiting due to the high altitude. This means by the time you reach the bottom of the path you may be cold already. There is a wood stove inside to warm you and cook food The long trek down the mountain and back up again means any trip is time consuming. There are only 5 or so nearby buildings to be searched, so if you have searched these a very long trek must be made to gain additional supplies. Wolves patrol the clear cut area, this can be a drain on flares or ammunition as you can't simply turn around and hide in the house if the wolf is in aggression range. Both the Camp Office and the Trapper's Homestead make more adequate bases.