ABSTRACT
The American labor movement grew slowly during the early and mid-nineteenth century. Boisterous labor demonstrations were rare and violent ones even less common. In New York City, as documented by Sean Wilentz, confrontations between police forces and striking or demonstrating workers occurred as early as 1825, when riggers, stevedores, and wharf laborers struck over wages. Female shoemakers played an active role in the strike, staging demonstrations and parades. The Knights of Labor played little direct role, however, in what Jeremy Brecher has called “the first great American mass strike, a movement that was viewed at the time as a violent rebellion”: the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The suppression of the Homestead and Pullman strikes marked a turning point away from local police dealing with strikes in favor of state and federal troops. Finally, Louisville city policemen met up with the rioters; the police had the backing of a hastily assembled special militia, which consisted largely of local white workers.
