On this day in 1877, the demand of train workers in East St. Louis, Illinois for higher wages was rejected, marking the beginning of a general strike in which workers seized and destroyed property, dismantling over forty factories.

The 1877 St. Louis General Strike was one of the first general strikes in the United States, growing out of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a national period of strikes and rioting due to economic depression. The St. Louis strike was largely organized by the Knights of Labor and the Marxist-leaning Workingmen's Party, the main radical political party of the era.

On this day in 1877, in East St. Louis, Illinois, train workers held a secret meeting, resolving to call for an increase in wages and to strike if their demands were not met. The demand was made and rejected that same night, and so, effective at midnight, the strike began.

Within hours, strikers virtually controlled the city. Although the strike was mostly bloodless, the protesters seized the city's Union Depot, stopped freight and some passenger trains from passing through the city.

Workers attacked productive capital, including flour mills and sugar refineries, dismantling over forty factories in total. The strike ended when the National Guard and U.S. Marshals began to break up demonstrations by force five days later.

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  • ClassUpperMiddle [they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Im so mad that this Zionist sleezy spoiled party bro moron got into a music program I couldnt get into.

    It's not fair why does this party bro idiot not have to pay his loans, can get married straight out of the stupid expensive undergrad and go on an expensive honey moon and I have to continously work for everything I have with no one supporting me.

    What gets me is like, he never practiced like I did and he sounded so bad even when coming up but like... did he really get that much better in six years as I was trying to piece together my life? He didn't even go to jam sessions!

    I hate that I had to constantly start and stop my progress and get stuck with stupid bullshit but this literal idiot just gets to coast through life. I hate this planet omfg I work hard for everything and there's no fucking payoff. Let me win once for fucks sake. Please let this anger fuel me to a higher place, im going to make these lesson work and im going to work even harder. Fuck everything.