The moment when the belief that the United States was immune to class conflict was shattered.

In July 1877, railroad workers across the United States stopped work. What began as a wage dispute in a small rail town in West Virginia quickly became the largest labor uprising in American history. Trains sat idle, freight yards were occupied, and entire cities ground to a halt.

In Chicago, unemployed workers, socialists, labor organizers, and immigrant communities joined a movement that seemed capable of bringing the nation’s economy to a standstill.

In response, business leaders armed private militias, police opened fire on crowds, and federal troops occupied American cities. The violence of 1877 exposed deep divisions between labor and capital and helped lay the foundations of both the modern labor movement and American anarchism.

In this episode, we follow the strike from the rail yards of Martinsburg to the streets of Chicago, where Albert and Lucy Parsons first encountered the movement that would transform their lives and American history.

This is Season Two—The Age of Anarchism: Chicago and the American Labor Revolt

Next: What is Unionism? Building Power From Below

Written and produced by Matt Payne.

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Original Musical Compositions by Ian Payne: https://www.jamesianpayne.com/

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