Category: Strike Violence

• The Pullman Strike Sabotage

  This theory held that during the Pullman Strike of 1894, railroad owners and their allies deliberately arranged acts of arson and destruction against rail property in order to blame the unions, discredit Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union, and justify federal military intervention. In its strongest form, the theory claims that company agents, detectives, or provocateurs burned cars and yards on purpose so the strike could be redefined from a labor dispute into a national emergency. The documented record clearly shows that violence and fires did erupt after federal troops entered Chicago, and that the General Managers’ Association was coordinating an aggressive anti-union response. What remains unproven is the central sabotage allegation itself.