Blood on the Tracks in Pullman: Chicagoland's Failed Capitalist Utopia
Source: Paleofuture
By Matt Novak
In 1880 industrialist George Pullman set out to build a capitalist utopia. The town of Pullman was established just outside of Chicago as a model community—a place that was supposed to produce both happy workers and a nice return for Pullman's investors. It turned out to be a miserable failure. And conditions in the town were so terrible that it was the catalyst for one of America's most famous strikes: the Pullman Strike of 1894.
Americans were told that the community of Pullman was both scientific and the visionary project of a lone genius. It was to be an ambitious experiment in transforming American society; and even though it borrowed heavily from the ideas of company towns already developed in England, it was to be a shining example of ingenuity for the entire industrialized world.
... After the devastation of the 1893 market crash, Pullman laid off large numbers of workers. He gave preference to those living in the town of Pullman, but slashed wages. One thing he didn't slash? Rents. In fact, some workers (whose rents were often automatically deducted from their paychecks) found that they literally only had pennies left to live on after getting paid.
... The situation was clearly unsustainable. Despite the fact that his company was worth roughly $62 million in 1893 (an astronomically larger amount when you adjust for inflation), George Pullman would not concede an inch in the town that bared his name. His greed would ultimately prove the town's undoing.
... But after a rough and tumble decade this supposed paradise would become the epicenter of American labor's struggle against industry—a shining example of the failures of arrogant businessmen who believed they had found the utopian answer to America's labor problem. All because the bottom had fallen out, and nobody at the top was willing to accept a financial loss. This capitalist utopia was to be built on the backs of the working people. But they wouldn't take it for much longer.
Read more: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/blood-on-the-tracks-in-pullman-chicagolands-failed-cap-1574508996
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