Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{short description|Deadly, failed labor action}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Campaignbox Railroad strikes}}
The '''Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911''' was a labor action in the United States of a number of railroad workers unions against the [[Illinois Central Railroad]], beginning on September 30, 1911. The strike was marked by its violence in numerous locations.  At least 12 men were killed in shootings across the country, and in March 1912, some 30 men were killed when a locomotive boiler exploded in San Antonio, Texas.  

The strike was judged a failure within months, long before its formal ending on June 28, 1915. The railroads hired strikebreakers, often from African-American and immigrant minorities, which added to the social and economic tensions associated with the strikes.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Philip Taft|first1=Philip Ross|title=AMERICAN LABOR VIOLENCE: ITS CAUSES, CHARACTER, AND OUTCOME|journal=The History of Violence in America: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence|date=1969|issue=ed. Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr|url=http://www.ditext.com/taft/violence1.html|access-date=March 31, 2016}}</ref>

== Causes == 

The Illinois Central and the eight affiliated [[E. H. Harriman|Harriman lines]] had recognized and successfully negotiated with individual shopcraft unions for some time.  But in June 1911, these unions <ref> consisting of the [[Brotherhood of Railway Clerks]], the [[Brotherhood of Railway Carmen]], the [[International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers|International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths]], [[International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers|Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders' International Union]], [[International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers|International Association of Machinists]], the Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers' Alliance, the International Association of Steamfitters, the Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers' International Union, and other miscellaneous unions; see {{cite book|last1=Park|first1=W.L.|title=The Facts About the Shopmen's Strike|date=October 12, 1911|publisher=Illinois Central Railroad Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/factsaboutshopme00illi/page/4 4]|url=https://archive.org/details/factsaboutshopme00illi|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> sought additional leverage by negotiating together as the "System Federation".  

The railroad simply refused and replaced the strikers. The first day of the strike was relatively peaceful, with a reported 30,000 strikers <ref>{{cite news|title=30,000 Men Strike on Harriman Lines|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1911/10-01/page-10?tag=1911+illinois+central+strike+killed|access-date=April 1, 2016|work=New York Times|date=October 1, 1911}}</ref> walking out at 10:00 a.m. in at least 24 cities. Most were in the South and Midwest in the main areas served by the railroad, but men struck as far west as [[Seattle, Washington]], and [[San Francisco]] and [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref>{{cite news|title=General Strike of S.P. Shopmen is Inaugurated|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19111001.2.20|access-date=April 1, 2016|issue=123|publisher=San Francisco Call|date=October 1, 1911|volume = 110}}</ref>

== Conflict == 

Because of its geography, the state of Mississippi was dependent on Illinois Central lines.  Violence flared there first, on October 3.  When a train carrying strikebreakers pulled in to [[McComb, Mississippi]], a railroad center, it was met by an armed and waiting crowd of 100 strikers.  The crowd and passengers exchanged gunfire and thrown bricks, then the badly shot-up train fled.  Reports of high casualties were not accurate.  A striker named Hugh Montgomery was reported as killed by a brick, but he was documented as later testifying for an investigating committee, and nobody on the train was killed.  

But as  many persons were wounded by the hundreds of shots exchanged in the space of 20 minutes, the incident was serious enough for Governor [[Edmond Noel]] to call out the state guard. <ref>{{cite news|title=Bloody Battle Marks Strike|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/albert-lea/albert-lea-times-enterprise/1911/10-11/page-7?tag=superintendent%20clift%20mccomb%201911|access-date=April 1, 2016|publisher=Albert Lea (Minnesota) Times-Enterprise|date=October 11, 1911}}</ref>  Also on October 3, a striking switchman named Robert Mitchell was killed by a strikebreaker in [[Cairo, Illinois]]. In [[Denison, Texas]] an angry mob chased 35 strikebreakers out of town.<ref>{{cite news|title=Strike Breakers are in Conflict|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/laredo/laredo-weekly-times/1911/10-08/page-5?tag=houston+strike+pipes+killed+1911|access-date=April 1, 2016|publisher=Laredo (TX) Weekly Times|date=October 10, 1911}}</ref>

The same day, a "special guard" named J.J. Pipes was killed at the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] yards in [[Houston]], perhaps from the [[friendly fire]] of other strikebreakers, and other men were wounded. <ref>{{cite news|title=Officer is Killed in Houston Yards|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/laredo/laredo-weekly-times/1911/10-08/page-5?tag=houston+strike+pipes+killed+1911|access-date=April 1, 2016|publisher=Laredo (TX) Weekly Times|date=October 10, 1911}}</ref>  At one o'clock the following morning on the shop grounds in Houston, a strikebreaker named Frank Tullis was shot and killed, most likely by a striker or sympathizer. <ref name="commission">{{cite book|title=Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony, United States Commission on Industrial Relations|date=1916|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|url=https://archive.org/details/industrialrelat01walsgoog|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>  Also on October 4, in McComb a striker named Lem Haley was fatally shot by other strikers, even as the governor ordered four more companies of state militia to counter "hundreds of heavily armed men" reported to be pouring into the town.<ref>{{cite news|title=Troops at M'Comb Stop Strike Riots|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1911/10-05?tag=truly+curtis+carl+canton+mccomb+1911|access-date=April 2, 2016|agency=New York Times|date=October 5, 1911}}</ref>

On October 5, strikebreakers arriving in New Orleans were met with two separate riots, with women "prominent in several of the mobs".<ref>{{cite news|title=Violence at New Orleans|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1911/10-06/page-16?tag=1911+harriman+railroad+strike+new+orleans|access-date=April 1, 2016|agency=New York Times|date=October 6, 1911}}</ref>

On October 6, violence similar to that in McComb broke out in [[Water Valley, Mississippi]], causing Governor Noel to send the state guard there as well.  From October 2 through at least November 29, a steady pattern of strike-related shootings and assaults plagued downstate Illinois, centered in [[Carbondale, Illinois|Carbondale]], [[Centralia, Illinois|Centralia]], [[Mounds, Illinois|Mounds]], and [[East St. Louis, Illinois|East St. Louis]].<ref name="commission"></ref> Striker J.S. Coldereau was fatally shot in a saloon fight by a strikebreaker in [[Bakersfield, California]] on November 25, 1911.<ref name="commission"></ref> On December 5, in [[Salt Lake City]], John G. Hayden, a striking carman of the [[Oregon Short Line]], was shot by two Italian strikebreakers, Frank Malazia and R. Pucci.<ref>{{cite news|title=Union Man Shot|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19111206.2.75.3|access-date=April 7, 2016|issue=6|publisher=San Francisco Call|date=December 6, 1911|volume = 111}}</ref> Hayden died days later of his injuries.  Malazia was indicted for murder but ultimately acquitted. <ref>{{cite book|title=Railway Carmen's Journal|date=1913|page=491|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yd5JAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA491|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>  On December 16 there was a third related fatality in Houston, when a non-striking shop worker named Thomas Lyons was reportedly shot while feeding his cats.

== Into 1912 == 

Despite the numbers of strikers and the level of conflict, the unions were in a poor bargaining position.  By the end of the year, the railroads had been able to replace the strikers and were operating normally. <ref>{{cite book|last1=Fine|first1=Sidney|title=Without Blare of Trumpets: Walter Drew, the National Erectors' Association, and the Open Shop Movement, 1903–57|date=1995|publisher=University of Michigan Press|page=140|isbn=0472105760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XgpI1qW5ikC&pg=PA140|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>  

The strikers' position had been undermined by an economic slowdown in rail traffic, which increased the available labor pool.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Louis B. Perry|first1=Richard S. Perry|title=A History of the Los Angeles Labor Movement, 1911–1941|date=1963|publisher=University of California Press|page=62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_uZSJ8ApRAC&pg=PA62|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> In addition, the union engineers, firemen, and brakemen cooperated with the company and strikebreakers, keeping the railroads functioning.  These were dubbed "union scabs", a phrase that inspired the [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]] song ''[[Casey Jones—the Union Scab]]'', written for this strike. <ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Gibbs M.|title=Joe Hill|date=2009|page=21|publisher=Gibbs Smith |isbn=9781423610106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFwsHQVuHVUC&pg=PA21|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>

Resistance continued.  Back in McComb, Mississippi, on January 17, 1912, five black strikebreakers were shot while walking down a road.  Three were killed.  On January 25, a striking car inspector named Ed Lefevre was shot to death in [[Mojave, California]]; several guards were arrested but no one charged.<ref name="commission"></ref>  There were at least seven incidents of attempted sabotage with dynamite, and elevated numbers of accidents along the lines. The boiler of locomotive #704 exploded in [[San Antonio, Texas]], killing 30 men on March 18, 1912.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fine|first1=Sidney|title=Without Blare of Trumpets: Walter Drew, the National Erectors' Association, and the Open Shop Movement, 1903–57|date=1995|publisher=University of Michigan Press|page=140|isbn=0472105760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XgpI1qW5ikC&pg=PA140|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> Sabotage was suspected but never proved in that incident.<ref name="commission"></ref> 

Lastly, on December 30, 1913, Carl E. Person, an official of the union System Federation, was lured to an inter-urban station in [[Clinton, Illinois]] and assaulted by a strikebreaker named Tony Musser.  Person shot him to death.  Defended by [[Frank D. Comerford]], Person was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.  

As replacement workers became more proficient, public awareness of the strike waned.  The [[American Federation of Labor|A.F.L.]] discontinued strike benefits at the end of October 1914, and quietly called an end to the strike eight months later.  The shopmen would [[Great Railroad Strike of 1922|strike again in 1922]].  

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Riots in the United States (1865–1918)}}

[[Category:1910s strikes in the United States]]
[[Category:1911 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:1911 in Illinois]]
[[Category:History of labor relations in the United States]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Illinois]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Rail transportation labor disputes in the United States]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in Illinois]]
[[Category:Transportation labor disputes in the United States]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in California]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in Texas]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in Utah]]
{{Навигационная таблица/Портал/Английская Википедия}}
[[Категория:Английская Википедия]]
[[Категория:Википедия]]
[[Категория:Статья из Википедии]]
[[Категория:Статья из Английской Википедии]]