Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The often forgotten takeover of St. Louis by workers showed that the U.S. isn't immune to Paris Commune–style eruptions of class consciousness.

In 1877, one million workers went on strike and fought police and federal troops in cities across America.

Spontaneous strikes led by the working class in 1877 resulted in violent clashes with police.

Why does the government have the power to break massive union strikes? Part of the story is a history of conciliatory railway unionism.

A cautionary tale about the costs and benefits of public/private partnerships.

How did a radical social activist, killed for his politics, become the figurehead of capitalist and imperial power?

On the long tradition of Black third-party activism.

The history and context of the made-up aesthetics of the early Ku Klux Klan.

The railroad company remains a site for Americans to grapple with key questions about the nature of American capitalism.

Congress was able to break the rail strike last week because of a century-old law designed to weaken the disruptive power of unions.

Some rail unions are resisting government pressure to accept a new employment contract, but history suggests the authorities will keep the trains running.

The late socialist writer's first book was a deep exploration of how the US labor movement became so weakened.

While W. E. B. Du Bois praised an expanding penitentiary system, T. Thomas Fortune called for investment in education and a multiracial, working-class movement.

After over a century, the unelected mascot of St. Louis is finally losing its place in public life.