Great Railroad Strike of 1877 - Laying Blame

Laying Blame

The strike and its repercussions were attributed on a number of factors by contemporaries:

• Xenophobia: German and Bohemian agitators were blamed most often, but in some cities other ethnic groups were blamed as well.

• Idle hands: Illinois governor Shelby Cullom stated that "the vagrant, the willfully idle, was the chief element in all these disturbances," his premise being that an unemployed man was unemployed due to choice, rather than the paucity of jobs.

• Communism: Still others asserted that the Great Railroad Strike was due to Communist influences. The New York World blamed "the hands of men dominated by the devilish spirit of Communism." Given that the Workingmen’s Party (WP) was a Socialist party affiliated with the Marxist movement sweeping Europe, it is understandable that this connection was made. However, it should be noted that the WP did not instigate the strike, rather it fanned its flames. In his 1878 book Strikers, Communists, Tramps and Detectives, Allan Pinkerton blamed the unrest on a combination of Paris Commune proponents and the high degree of transiency of the American working class at the time.

• Lack of trade unions: While there was some union activity, especially from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, many of the strikers had yet to organize.

• The 1876 Election Deal: Thomas Scott, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, delivered the disputed congressional votes to Hayes in exchange for a federal bailout of failing investments in the Texas and Pacific railroad. While it is not clear if this deal led to Hayes’ sending of federal troops to the strike-torn areas, the possibility of a quid pro quo arrangement is tenable.