more and more people are bringing up the Gilded Age lately so it's probably important to remember how laborers gained victories back then because it sure as fuck wasn't through polite protest: it was by absolutely, 100%, unquestionably wrecking symbols of wealth and capitalism
here's a general rundown of what kicked off the Gilded Age
1873- Cooke & Company investment bank collapses, triggers economic panic
1875- 238 Grant cabinet members and associates are indicted for fraud
1877- Congress declares Hayes president after massive voter fraud scandal
1873- Cooke & Company investment bank collapses, triggers economic panic
1875- 238 Grant cabinet members and associates are indicted for fraud
1877- Congress declares Hayes president after massive voter fraud scandal
Then in 1877 you have the Railroad Strike, which was in response to B&O Railroads slashing wages. It went on for 45 days, brought the American economy to a stop and only ended because the federal government sent in troops to intervene because state troops refused to fire.
The Railroad Strike had major impacts not just on labor relations (the workers were not allowed to unionize then) but also on how our government and society responded to labor organizing efforts and protests, it remains relevant to today.
B&O had to call on Henry M. Mathews, the governor of West Virginia, to take action against the revolting laborers but WV state troops mostly sympathized with the workers, even though they were wrecking the state.
By that point, the strike was spreading outside of West Virginia and the federal government essentially had to have its army go from city to city putting down the protests with force.
But before the federal government shut down the strike, B&O laborers caused millions of dollars in property damage in WV, Pennsylvania, Illinois. Pittsburgh had the most damage, dozens of buildings were destroyed, something the government and railroads never forgot.
In Pittsburgh, robber baron backed militias killed 20 strikers. In Shamokin, 14 civilians were shot because they were not given fair wages for work they had already done. In Scranton, 20 people were shot by the militias. This is what the civilian population remembered.
The strike would probably have gone on longer if the federal troops weren't equipped with crowd control-designed weaponry like gatling guns, which made it clear the casualties would be far higher than anything anyone had ever seen.
But even though the federal government ended the strike after 45 days, the strikers had struck enough fear that they got results ranging from the eight hour work day to the ban on child labor to pensions and benefits (B&O was the first railroad company to offer those last two).
From 1877 through the 1880s, literally tens of thousands of strikes happened, more or less all of them violent and destructive, usually because companies inflicted violence first. The National Guard was actually formed because of this.
And this is just one small era of the Gilded Age! Right up until the formation of the FBI, which always largely focused its resources on shutting down labor activism, the labor movement in the US was a terrifying force to be reckoned with and it worked.
There is no progressive movement in the history of humanity that has achieved its aims solely through polite protest and "listening to both sides." Progress has always happened by being loud and disruptive and fearless and, where necessary, yes, destructive.
