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Blood on the Tracks in Pullman: Chicagoland's Failed Capitalist Utopia
Fantastic post about George Pullman's eponymous capitalist utopian city, and how conditions there instigated a series of labor strike actions culminating in the bloody 1894 Pullman Strike.
"The town of Pullman was built and gets up and running in 1880-81 and the first strike is in 1882. And there were many strikes long before this strike," Baxter tells me. "So one thing I encourage people to think about is that there never was a utopia in the first place."
As much as two-thirds of the country's rail transportation was affected by the 1894 strike. The mail stopped being delivered. Eugene V. Debs indeed made his name in Pullman and would eventually serve time in jail for conspiracy to obstruct the mail and refusal to shut down the strike. He would emerge from jail a socialist after having read Karl Marx, something he apparently never had time to do before getting locked up in Woodstock, Illinois.
If Pullman's capitalist utopian experiment had achieved anything, it was making a socialist out of what would become one of America's most famous labor activists.
"{Pullman} really wanted to create a place where there would be no need for a strike—that workers would be so content that you would never have labor unrest," Baxter tells me. "Well, labor unrest starts within a year {of the town's formation}. So the vision never really has any kind of traction."
As much as two-thirds of the country's rail transportation was affected by the 1894 strike. The mail stopped being delivered. Eugene V. Debs indeed made his name in Pullman and would eventually serve time in jail for conspiracy to obstruct the mail and refusal to shut down the strike. He would emerge from jail a socialist after having read Karl Marx, something he apparently never had time to do before getting locked up in Woodstock, Illinois.
If Pullman's capitalist utopian experiment had achieved anything, it was making a socialist out of what would become one of America's most famous labor activists.
"{Pullman} really wanted to create a place where there would be no need for a strike—that workers would be so content that you would never have labor unrest," Baxter tells me. "Well, labor unrest starts within a year {of the town's formation}. So the vision never really has any kind of traction."
If you're starting to wonder why so many of the photos of the city are completely devoid of people, there's a very simple explanation: Pullman forbade public gatherings not sanctioned by the Pullman Company. It may have been picturesque, with its ornamental lake and lush parks. But who could enjoy them with bans on any large gatherings?
Full post: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/blood-on-the-tracks-in-pullman-chicagolands-failed-cap-1574508996
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