Debs/Labor

Pullman/Capitalist

Debs/Socialist

Pullman Strike

Debs was jailed later that year for his part in the Pullman Strike, which grew out of a strike by the workers who made the Pullman Company’s cars and who appealed to the American Railway Union at its convention in Chicago for support. Debs tried to persuade the ARU members who worked on the railways that the boycott was too risky, given the hostility of both the railways and the federal government, the weakness of the ARU, and the possibility that other unions would break the strike. The membership ignored his warnings and refused to handle Pullman cars or any other railroad cars attached to them, including cars containing U.S. mail.

The federal government did, in fact, intervene, obtaining an injunction against the strike on the theory that the strikers had obstructed the railways by refusing to show up for work, then sending in the United States Army on the grounds that the strike was hindering the delivery of the mail. An estimated $80 million worth of property was damaged, and Debs was found guilty of interfering with the mail and sent to prison.

A Supreme Court case decision, In re Debs, later upheld the right of the federal government to issue the injunction.