The Pullman Strike

by William Horace Carwardine

A centenary edition of this classic of labor journalism, industrial history and strike-support activism. During the heroic Pullman strike and boycott of 1894, a young Methodist minister defied the conventions of company-town self-censorship by writing this searing expose of the dictatorial and penny-pinching regime of multimillionaire George M Pullman. That the Rev. Carwardine suffered immediate exile from his Pullman church suggests how deeply threatened the giant railroad manufacturing and operating company was by his plainly written book. Filled with appreciation for meaningful details of the everyday lives of diverse workers with common problems, and with a balanced admiration for the leadership of Eugene V Debs, The Pullman Strike vividly shows how a great experiment in industrial unionism like the American Railway Union could arise. Aware of the vast power and ruthlessness of the Pullman Company, Carwardine also suggests why the union was unable to prevail.

Genres: History, Labor

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

Reviews

[Viral · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 130th anniversary edition of this book, which I purchased a few weeks back when I returned to Pullman National Historical Park, is a timeless reminder of the power of working people standing up to the bosses and demanding something better. The story of the Pullman strike is one of the most influential and consequential stories in modern American labor history, and there are often efforts both then and now to try to spin the actions of the workers as unjustified. Reverend Carwardine was an active pastor in the town of Pullman during the strike, and wrote this excellent piece defending the strike and showing the struggles of the people of the town at the time. He faced a lot of blowback for it, and his contribution to labor historiography has been largely overlooked since. I'm glad the NPS site carries this book, I'm glad to have read it, and I appreciated the forewords that contextualized the strike's importance in the labor movement. A timeless read!

[Linda Bieze · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 130th anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Peter Cole. Rev. Carwardine gives a mostly balanced, first-hand account of the events and abuses that led up to the 1894 strike by workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Pullman, IL.

[C.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on the Pullman strike from the man who was pastor at the church in Pullman.