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And the Pullman company famous for its luxury railroad cars, whose paternalistic policies in the “model town” established outside Chicago to house its workers l
by smacktoward 7y ago
And the Pullman company famous for its luxury railroad cars, whose paternalistic policies in the “model town” established outside Chicago to house its workers led directly to one of the great industrial crises in American history, the Pullman strike of 1894: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike
- ryanmarsh 7y agoFrom the Wikipedia article you reference: "When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike." Was it the paternalistic policies or economic factors that caused the strike?
- CalChris 7y agoBoth. The economic conditions of 1894 were the precipitating cause. The paternalistic policies were a contributing cause. Pullman, Illinois was the definition of a company town. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/business-july-dec01-labor_day_9-2 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/business-july-dec01-lab...
- smacktoward 7y agoThe rent problem was the straw that broke the camel's back, but the paternalism was what inclined the workers to respond to it so forcefully. The workers in Pullman were already frustrated with the company, and then the rents-and-wages issue pushed the situation over the edge.