Answer:
The Pullman strike in 1894 was an important episode in US political history, where the power of the trade unions was postponed by a centrally controlled military intervention against strikers at the Pullman Palace Car Company, an Illinois-based railway wagons company.
Explanation:
The background of the strike was the economic crisis of 1893 in the United States, where the company, after heavily declining demand for their products, had reduced the workers' wages by 25%. Many of the workers were already organized in the militant American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene Debs, and several joined the union because of the cuts.
The workers striked on May 11, 1894, and Debs then launched an action during which members of the ARU refused to work in Pullman wagons. This led to the closure of the factory and employers launched a lockout of ARU members. Eventually, it came to more extreme actions, and among other things, a bunch of furious demonstrators set fire to some buildings and derailed a locomotive.
Eventually, the strike attracted nationwide attention, and strikers were ordered to cease action and their leaders to stay out of action. Debs and his people ignored this injunction calling for government troops. A total of about 12,000 soldiers took part in the strike, and their pretext for the intervention came from President Grover Cleveland himself, arguing that the strikers with their actions prevented the delivery of mail - although the Pullman wagons had never transported mail.
The arrival of the government forces further escalated the conflict, and it came to bloody clashes that cost 13 striking lives, while 57 were injured. The approximately 6,000 strikers must have incurred damages of about $ 340,000 (equivalent to $ 6.8 million in 2019 value). Several strikers were arrested, including Debs.
