The Pullman Case: The Clash of Labor and Capital in Industrial America

by David Ray Papke

When the American Railway Union went on strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1894, it set into motion a chain of events whose repercussions are still felt today. The strike pitted America's largest industrial union against twenty-four railroads, paralyzed rail traffic in half the country, and in the end was broken up by federal troops and suppressed by the courts, with union leader Eugene Debs incarcerated. But behind the Pullman case lay a conflict of ideologies at a watershed time in our nation's history.

David Ray Papke reexamines the events and personalities surrounding the 1894 strike, related proceedings in the Chicago trial courts, and the 1895 Supreme Court decision, In re Debs, which set important standards for labor injunctions. He shows how the Court, by upholding Debs's contempt citation, dealt fatal blows to broad-based unionism in the nation's most important industry and to any hope for a more evenhanded form of judicial involvement in labor disputes--thus setting the stage for labor law in decades to come.

The Pullman case was a defining moment in the often violent confrontation between capital and labor. It matched wealthy industrialist George Pullman against Debs and gave a stage to Debs's fledgling attorney Clarence Darrow. Throughout the trial, capital and labor tried to convince the public of the justice of their cause: Debs decrying the company's treatment of workers and Pullman raising fears of radical unionists. Papke provides an analytically concise and highly readable account of these proceedings, offering insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the law at the peak of industrial capitalism, showcasing Debs's passionate commitment to workers' rights, and providing a window on America during a period of rapid industrialization and social transformation.

Papke shows that the law was far from neutral in defending corporate interests and suggests what the Pullman case, by raising questions about both the legitimacy of giant corporations and the revolutionary style of industrial unions, can teach us about law and legal institutions in our own time. His book captures the passions of industrial America and tells an important story at the intersection of legal and cultural history.

Genres: Labor, History

152 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

David Ray Papke is the R. Bruce Townsend Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and professor of liberal arts at Indiana University/Purdue University-Indianapolis. His publications include Framing the Criminal: Crime, Cultural Work, and the Loss of Critical Perspective; Narrative and the Legal Discourse: A Reader in Storytelling and the Law; and Heretics in the Temple: Americans Who Reject the Nation's Legal Faith.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that this book is geared for a law student rather than just the regular person interested in the social impact of the Pullman strike. I got this book on Labor Day because someone somewhere said that this strike was the reason that we have Labor Day. I don't think that Labor Day was ever mentioned (so that's still not confirmed for me). I also recently read about the textile union strikes in New York in the early 1900's, so I'm interested in the rise of unionism and the gilded age struggle. This was not the right book for where my interests are coming from.

Honestly, it's a short book and it does fine in conveying the history up until it gets to the appeal. This seems to be where the author is most engaged and it is a little esoteric legalize for me. If you are a law student and interested in the legal apellate arguments, this is a good book. If you are looking for a tie-in for the Pullman strike to the larger political struggle involving labor unions, however, this is not it.

[Schwimfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent description of the legal implications of In re Debs - focusing not so much on the minutiae of the briefs and opinions but rather the social influences and implications on the legal system's handling of the case. As Debs himself described, the courts did not end the strike, the troops did. The court system merely affirmed the power that capital had over labor and the government's complicit acquiescence to this arrangement.

[Bill Pacello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent analysis and coverage of a backstory in the history of the United States that is still relevant today in some industries.