Jobs with Justice
Eugene Debs was thrown in prison for his role in the Pullman Railway Strike (also known as the “Debs Rebellion”). – 1895 White firemen on the Georgia Railroad struck against the hiring of blacks. A New York Times correspondent reported that there was much violence against the black firemen, coming not from the strikers but … Read more Today in Labor History May 22nd
At the height of the movement for the eight-hour day, police shot into a crowd of workers engaged in a general strike at McCormick Harvester Company in Chicago. Four workers were killed and hundreds were injured. Anarchists called for a public rally the following day at Haymarket Square to protest the police brutality. At the … Read more Today in Labor History May 3rd
The Great Northern rail strike began in Helena, Montana, spreading to St. Paul within a few days. The strike was led by Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, and succeeded in shutting down critical rail links, resulting in a settlement giving in to nearly all of the union’s demands. The successful strike … Read more Today in Labor History – April 13th
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Debs v. United States, affirming the labor leader’s conviction under the Espionage Act of 1917 for an anti-war speech he gave in Canton, Ohio in 1918. Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison and disenfranchised for life. While in prison, he ran for president in the 1920 election … Read more Today in Labor History – March 10th