1877: Year of Violence

by Robert V. Bruce

This is not simply the story of a year from our past but a dramatic account of a social and political uprising that became a crisis in the course of American development. By 1877 the United States had ground through four years of depression with no end in sight. The mood of the nation was explosive. As labor sought to unite against the great corporations, violence and lawlessness spread through the cities, accented by race riots, lynchings, government corruption, scandal in high places, and the shocking growth of teenage gangs. The summer of 1877 produced a climax: a nationwide railroad strike accompanied by rioting coast to coast. Mr. Bruce's moving account of these events portrays a nation trying to cope with an industrial depression before it had learned about the problems of industrialism. The upheaval was perhaps our closest brush with class revolution in America. "A taut narrative that is relieved by flashes of an appropriately sardonic humor. Mr. Bruce has resisted the temptation to let his spectacular story turn into a mere hour-by-hour re-creation of mayhem and emotion. All along the way he thoughtfully assesses just what this year meant in American history."-Eric F. Goldman, New York Times. "The author goes to the sources in scholarly fashion but reports it in a popular style...An informative and readable book."-C. Vann Woodward.

Genres: History, Labor, Nonfiction, American History, United States, Economics

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Robert Vance Bruce was an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. After serving in the Army during World War II, Bruce graduated from the University of New Hampshire, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He received his Master of Arts in history and his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University, where he was later a professor. He also taught at the University of Bridgeport, Lawrence Academy at Groton, and the University of Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic account of the great railroad strike in 1877. Although most intense in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, the strike touched most states except for those in New England and the South. According Bruce's compelling and highly readable chronicle, the strike spread along the railroad lines from community to community without any effort at coordination. There were no national and few local leaders. Railroad workers mixed in long-standing grievances, such as safety, with recent wage reductions that coincided with large dividend payments to stock holders. Women, children, and unemployed men joined the strikers and sometimes drown them out. There was significant violence and bloodshed as mobs, strikers, police, militia, and regular army and marine forces clashed. The strike shocked the citizens of the United States as well as the economic and political elites. Bruce argues that the strike put a crack in the Social Darwinism that was starting to dominate the national culture because the middle class came to feel vulnerable to same perils that bedeviled the working class. Finally, the strike led to calls for railroad regulation.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book with lots of details that are presented well. It is almost overwhelming, however. It tells the story and consequences of an important segment of history that is not generally known. (Think how much history is not generally known). The extent and type (for instance, from some state militias against citizens) of the violence is amazing, but it is also curiously juxtaposed with restraint from both strikers and militias at times. It is interesting to compare it against today’s viewpoints. (Led me to read Progress and Poverty.)