The Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could issue injunctions against union organizing efforts at workplaces where employees had signed yellow-dog contracts, dramatically expanding the legal weapons available to employers. Justice Mahlon Pitney’s 6-3 majority opinion held that union …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Mahlon PitneyUnited Mine Workers of AmericaHitchman Coal and Coke Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-erayellow-dog-contractsinjunctions
In the early morning hours of August 1, 1917, six masked men dragged IWW executive board member Frank Little from his Butte, Montana boarding house, tied him to the rear bumper of an automobile, dragged him through the streets, and hanged him from a railroad trestle. A note pinned to his body read …
Frank LittleIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyButte vigilanteslabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eramining+1 more
At dawn on July 12, 1917, a sheriff’s posse organized by Phelps Dodge copper company rounded up approximately 1,300 striking miners, labor organizers, and bystanders in Bisbee, Arizona, loaded them into cattle cars, and deported them to the New Mexico desert without food or water. The mass …
Phelps Dodge CorporationWalter DouglasSheriff Harry WheelerIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Cochise County Loyalty Leaguelabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eramining+1 more
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act into law, prohibiting interference with military operations or recruitment, preventing insubordination in the military, and preventing support of U.S. enemies during wartime. The Wilson administration, knowing many Americans were conflicted about …
President Woodrow WilsonIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Eugene V. DebsVictor L. BergerEmma Goldman+1 morelabor-suppressionfree-speechworld-war-iiwwstate-repression
On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out 2,400 feet underground in Butte, Montana’s Speculator Mine when an assistant foreman’s carbide lamp ignited the frayed insulation on an electrical cable. The fire spread rapidly through the mine’s timber supports and ventilation system, trapping …
Anaconda Copper Mining CompanyIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Metal Mine Workers' UnionMontana National Guardlabor-suppressionmining-safetyiwwprogressive-eracorporate-negligence
On November 5, 1916, an armed posse of business owners and deputized vigilantes opened fire on a boatload of IWW members attempting to land at Everett, Washington’s city dock, killing at least five Wobblies and two deputies in what became known as the Everett Massacre or “Bloody …
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Everett Commercial ClubSheriff Donald McRaeWeyerhaeuser Companylabor-suppressioncorporate-violenceiwwprogressive-eralumber-industry
On August 3, 1913, a confrontation between migrant hop pickers and armed deputies at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland, California left four people dead and triggered a massive crackdown on the IWW across California. The violence erupted after workers organized to protest abysmal conditions: no drinking …
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Blackie FordHerman SuhrRalph DurstCalifornia National Guardlabor-suppressioniwwprogressive-eraagricultural-labormigrant-workers
Approximately 25,000 silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey walked out on February 25, 1913, beginning one of the most significant industrial conflicts of the Progressive Era. The IWW-led strike united diverse immigrant workers - Italian, Jewish, German, and native-born - demanding the eight-hour day, …
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Big Bill HaywoodElizabeth Gurley FlynnCarlo TrescaJohn Reed+1 morelabor-suppressioniwwprogressive-eratextile-industrystrike
On April 18, 1912, approximately 7,500 coal miners in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek districts of West Virginia went on strike against abysmal conditions in company-owned towns, initiating fifteen months of armed conflict that would see the declaration of martial law, the imprisonment of …
United Mine Workers of AmericaMother Jones (Mary Harris Jones)Governor William GlasscockBaldwin-Felts Detective AgencyWest Virginia coal operatorslabor-suppressionminingprogressive-eramartial-lawcompany-towns
On March 25, 1911, a fire—likely sparked by a discarded cigarette—swept through the Triangle Waist Company factory on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building in New York City, killing 146 workers, mostly teenage Italian and Jewish immigrant girls. The victims died not from the fire …
A federal court sentenced AFL President Samuel Gompers to one year in prison, Vice President John Mitchell to nine months, and Secretary Frank Morrison to six months for contempt of court in the Buck’s Stove and Range Company boycott case. The case exemplified how federal courts had become …
Samuel GompersJohn MitchellFrank MorrisonAmerican Federation of LaborBuck's Stove and Range Company+1 morelabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-eraantitrustinjunctions
The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously 9-0 in Loewe v. Lawlor (the “Danbury Hatters’ Case”) that the Sherman Antitrust Act applies to labor unions and that individual union members can be held personally liable for damages caused by union boycotts. Chief Justice Melville W. …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Melville W. FullerUnited Hatters of North AmericaD.E. Loewe & CompanyMartin Lawlor+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agesupreme-courtantitrust-misusejudicial-capture+1 more
The Supreme Court struck down Section 10 of the Erdman Act, which prohibited railroads engaged in interstate commerce from requiring workers to sign “yellow-dog contracts” - agreements not to join labor unions as a condition of employment. Justice John Marshall Harlan, who had dissented …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice John Marshall HarlanWilliam AdairLouisville and Nashville Railroadlabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-erayellow-dog-contractsrailroad-labor
Sheriff James Martin and 150 armed deputies open fire on 300-400 unarmed striking coal miners marching to support a newly formed United Mine Workers union at Calvin Pardee’s Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The peaceful demonstration consists mostly of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian, and …
Sheriff James MartinLuzerne County deputiesUnited Mine WorkersImmigrant minersPennsylvania National Guard+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepolice-violenceimmigrationmining-industry+1 more
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a unanimous 9-0 decision in In re Debs, upholding the federal government’s use of injunctions to suppress labor strikes and affirming Eugene V. Debs’s contempt of court conviction for continuing the 1894 Pullman Strike in violation of a federal court order. …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice David Josiah BrewerEugene V. DebsFederal judiciaryCorporate interestslabor-suppressiongilded-agejudicial-captureinjunctionsupreme-court+1 more
On July 3, 1894, President Grover Cleveland deployed federal troops to Chicago to crush the Pullman Strike, marking the first time the federal government used an injunction to break a labor action. The strike began on May 11 when Pullman Palace Car Company workers walked out after the company …
Eugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionPresident Grover ClevelandAttorney General Richard OlneyPullman Palace Car Companylabor-suppressionstate-violencefederal-intervention
Workers at George Pullman’s railroad car manufacturing company in Pullman, Illinois—a company town where Pullman owns all housing, stores, churches, and infrastructure—launch a strike protesting wage cuts averaging 25% following the Panic of 1893 while rents and prices at company-owned …
George PullmanEugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionGrover ClevelandU.S. Army+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepullman-strikecompany-townsfederal-intervention+1 more
Violent confrontation erupts between striking silver and lead miners and company guards at mines in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, after union workers discover a Pinkerton agent has infiltrated their organization and routinely provided confidential union information to mine owners. The violence follows …
Western Federation of MinersPinkerton Detective AgencyIdaho National GuardU.S. ArmyGeneral J.M. Schofield+2 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agemining-industrymartial-lawfederal-intervention+1 more
Three hundred Pinkerton Detective Agency agents attempt to forcibly seize Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel mill in Pennsylvania, triggering a 14-hour armed battle with locked-out steelworkers that leaves seven workers and three Pinkertons dead, with dozens more wounded. The violent …
Andrew CarnegieHenry Clay FrickPinkerton Detective AgencyAmalgamated Association of Iron and Steel WorkersPennsylvania National Guard+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agehomestead-strikeprivate-securitycorporate-violence+1 more
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency operates throughout the Gilded Age as a private corporate army deployed against labor organizing, providing armed guards, infiltration agents, and strikebreaking services to employers seeking to crush unions through surveillance, espionage, and violence. …
Pinkerton National Detective AgencyAllan PinkertonCorporate employersState governmentsLabor unionsgilded-agelabor-suppressionprivate-securitycorporate-violenceunion-busting+1 more
Pennsylvania coal companies established hundreds of “patch towns” where corporations owned all housing, stores, and infrastructure, creating systems of debt peonage that trapped workers through company scrip and inflated prices. Coal operators “controlled employment, housing, local …
Coal Mining CompaniesCoal and Iron PolicePennsylvania Coal Operatorslabor-suppressioncorporate-powereconomic-coerciongilded-ageinstitutional-capture
A peaceful labor rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago advocating for the eight-hour workday descends into violence when an unknown person throws a dynamite bomb at police officers attempting to disperse the gathering. The blast and ensuing retaliatory police gunfire kill seven police officers and at …
Chicago Police DepartmentAlbert ParsonsLucy ParsonsAugust SpiesCarter Harrison+3 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepolice-violenceanarchismred-scare+2 more
President Chester A. Arthur signs the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first significant federal law restricting immigration into the United States based on race and nationality. The law prohibits all immigration of Chinese laborers—defined as “both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese …
Chester A. ArthurU.S. CongressChinese immigrant workersLabor unionsWest Coast employersimmigration-policyracismlabor-suppressiongilded-agescapegoating+1 more
George M. Pullman establishes the town of Pullman, Illinois, just outside Chicago city limits as one of the most substantial and comprehensive company towns in the United States. Entirely company-owned, the town provides housing, stores, a library, churches, parks, and entertainment facilities for …
George PullmanPullman Palace Car CompanyCompany town workersgilded-agecompany-townscorporate-controllabor-suppressionpaternalism+1 more
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 begins when Baltimore & Ohio Railroad workers walk off the job in response to a 10% wage cut—the second reduction in eight months during the severe economic depression following the Panic of 1873. The strike spreads rapidly across the nation’s rail …
Baltimore & Ohio RailroadRutherford B. HayesU.S. ArmyRailroad workersState militiaslabor-suppressiongilded-agerailroad-strikefederal-interventionmilitary-force+1 more
Ten Irish-American coal miners were hanged in Pennsylvania on “Black Thursday,” the first mass execution in a coordinated corporate-state campaign against labor organizing. In 1873, Reading Railroad President Franklin B. Gowen hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate the Molly …
Pinkerton Detective AgencyFranklin B. GowenPhiladelphia & Reading RailroadJames McParlanPennsylvania Courtslabor-suppressioncorporate-powerjudicial-corruptiongilded-ageinstitutional-capture
American courts systematically suppress labor organizing throughout the early 19th century by prosecuting unions and strikes as criminal conspiracies under common law doctrine inherited from England. From the 1806 Philadelphia Shoemakers’ case through 1836, labor unions face conspiracy charges …
State courtsLabor unionsEmployersProsecutorslabor-suppressionworkers-rightscriminal-conspiracyjudicial-hostilitylabor-organizing