While I understand that The Great Railroad Strike didn't quite have the factors in it needed to turn into an actual Civil War or Revolution, how is it possible to fan the flames a bit the strike into something a little larger, a little more unified, and a little more threatening to the Federal Government?
A couple of possible PODs to reach this end, divided by railroad:
Pennsylvania Railroad (Pittsburgh, PA):
In many of these strike locations, the locals expressed sympathy for the workers and would often willingly forgo rail travel in support of the strike, offer food, shelter, and supplies to the strikers, and generally try to be as helpful as possible without becoming directly involved. Also inspired by the Railroad Strike were other workers (oftentimes miners or factory workers), who sometimes started their own strikes for better working conditions and pay alongside the railroad workers, turning some strikes into general labor freezes for days (or weeks) until Federal troops could be sent in to break the strikers' morale.
Although in many cities great bodies of men were mobilized in support of the strikes and the (sometimes) reluctance of local government to support State and Federal efforts to break the strikes took on aspects of a general insurrection, the chances of the labor dispute boiling over into an actual civil war were very slim in OTL:
NOW, all that being said, what's the closest the Great Railroad Strike can get to being a civil war or socialist uprising?
A couple of possible PODs to reach this end, divided by railroad:
Pennsylvania Railroad (Pittsburgh, PA):
-On July 19th, 1877, the strike began on the PRR. In Pittsburgh, a major stop on PRR lines, strikers took over the rail yard and stopped all traffic, freight and passenger, in and out of the yard. The assistant superintendent of the Western Division (two or three notches down from the President of the company), David Watt, went in person (along with a 10-man police detail) to the yard and tried to talk/force the strikers to quit. Near the main yard Watt had a run-in with a striker and got socked in the eye.
What if Watt had impulsively swung back, triggering a general fight right there? What if Watt had been struck several times and had been gravely injured, or even killed if weapons were used? What if a striker had struck a member of the police detail accompanying Watt?
-On July 20th, the Pittsburgh militia was called out to put down the PRR strikers. Fearing that these locals may be too sympathetic to the workers' plight, militia from Philadelphia (whom Pittsburgh had a longstanding rivalry with) where called in to assist. The next day, both militia went to the PRR railyard to end the strike. While the Pittsburgh militia stood back and did nothing against the strikers, the Philadelphia militia marched on the strikers, bayoneted some, and then fired a few volleys (killing at least twenty). According to some reports, the local Pittsburgh militia had to be restrained from firing on the Philadelphians in anger.
What if the two militias had begun firing on each other? What if armed strikers had begun to fire back on the Philadelphia militia? What if any of the Philadelphia militiamen had been killed during the incident?
-In response to the bloodshed, many Pittsburghers rushed to the railyard and drove the Philadelphia militia to the nearby railroad roundhouse, where they were basically beseiged by the crowds outside. The troops inside were likely scared out of their wits, and were well-armed not only with breech-loading rifles, but also with a few Gatling guns.
What if the Gatling guns had been fired on the crowds outside?
-Later that night, a mob of angry Pittsburghers attempted to drive out the beseiged Philadelphia militia by setting coal and petroleum cars down the railyard track to the building, setting parts of the roundhouse on fire. The militia, panicked and exhausted by this point, was lucky to find the fire hose inside the roundhouse in working order, and put out the fires.
What if the beseiged militia had been unable to put out the fires? What if they had attempted to escape then and thus were attacked by an angry crowd outside the roundhouse? What if they stayed inside and burned with the building?
Reading Railroad (Reading, PA):What if Watt had impulsively swung back, triggering a general fight right there? What if Watt had been struck several times and had been gravely injured, or even killed if weapons were used? What if a striker had struck a member of the police detail accompanying Watt?
-On July 20th, the Pittsburgh militia was called out to put down the PRR strikers. Fearing that these locals may be too sympathetic to the workers' plight, militia from Philadelphia (whom Pittsburgh had a longstanding rivalry with) where called in to assist. The next day, both militia went to the PRR railyard to end the strike. While the Pittsburgh militia stood back and did nothing against the strikers, the Philadelphia militia marched on the strikers, bayoneted some, and then fired a few volleys (killing at least twenty). According to some reports, the local Pittsburgh militia had to be restrained from firing on the Philadelphians in anger.
What if the two militias had begun firing on each other? What if armed strikers had begun to fire back on the Philadelphia militia? What if any of the Philadelphia militiamen had been killed during the incident?
-In response to the bloodshed, many Pittsburghers rushed to the railyard and drove the Philadelphia militia to the nearby railroad roundhouse, where they were basically beseiged by the crowds outside. The troops inside were likely scared out of their wits, and were well-armed not only with breech-loading rifles, but also with a few Gatling guns.
What if the Gatling guns had been fired on the crowds outside?
-Later that night, a mob of angry Pittsburghers attempted to drive out the beseiged Philadelphia militia by setting coal and petroleum cars down the railyard track to the building, setting parts of the roundhouse on fire. The militia, panicked and exhausted by this point, was lucky to find the fire hose inside the roundhouse in working order, and put out the fires.
What if the beseiged militia had been unable to put out the fires? What if they had attempted to escape then and thus were attacked by an angry crowd outside the roundhouse? What if they stayed inside and burned with the building?
-Workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, began a general strike the day after the massacre and roundhouse incident in Pittsburgh. The Reading Railroad immediately called upon the local militia (which refused to do anything) and two regiments of the Pennsylvania National Guard to come in and break the strikers. Rioters sympathetic to the workers' plight burned down a bridge just outside of town, severing the city of Reading's connection with the main line. The next day, on the 23rd of July, the two National Guard regiments marched down to the Reading depot (where the strikers congregated) and fired several quick volleys into the crowd, killed ten and wounding another forty or so.
What if the Nat'l Guard had fired a few more volleys, slaying more strikers and further inflaming the crowd? What if strikers had fired back? What if the local militia had intervened, either reinforcing the National Guard regiments or siding with the strikers and firing on the Guard?
Incidents like these happened on many railroads, as the news of the strikes spread across the country. However, most of the major strikes took place in the industrialized northeast, with the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia & Reading, New York Central, Erie, Lake Shore, and Baltimore & Ohio (where the first strike actually started) Railroads suffering the worst of it. Some major strikes did occur further westwards, in cities such as San Francisco (CA), St. Louis (MO), and Chicago (IL), and smaller towns in-between sometimes came under the direct rule of workers as the strike became general-- north of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Railroad was effectively run by the strikers for a week from a central location in Allegheny City.What if the Nat'l Guard had fired a few more volleys, slaying more strikers and further inflaming the crowd? What if strikers had fired back? What if the local militia had intervened, either reinforcing the National Guard regiments or siding with the strikers and firing on the Guard?
In many of these strike locations, the locals expressed sympathy for the workers and would often willingly forgo rail travel in support of the strike, offer food, shelter, and supplies to the strikers, and generally try to be as helpful as possible without becoming directly involved. Also inspired by the Railroad Strike were other workers (oftentimes miners or factory workers), who sometimes started their own strikes for better working conditions and pay alongside the railroad workers, turning some strikes into general labor freezes for days (or weeks) until Federal troops could be sent in to break the strikers' morale.
Although in many cities great bodies of men were mobilized in support of the strikes and the (sometimes) reluctance of local government to support State and Federal efforts to break the strikes took on aspects of a general insurrection, the chances of the labor dispute boiling over into an actual civil war were very slim in OTL:
For one, there was no central authority and leadership to control and/or coordinate these strikes; several unconnected unions were involved in the strike, and each strike/uprising/riot was a spontaneous act often triggered by news of a strike in another town.
For another, support for the strike was generally limited to the working-class, and few intellectuals or people with the resources to organize a revolt gave their full backing to the railroad men. Unlike, say the Bolsheviks of the 1900s or the French Communards behind the 1871 Paris Commune, the Strikers of 1877 had no central cadre or professional revolutionaries supporting their efforts. The closest the workers probably had to a revolutionary cadre was the Workingmen's Party of the United States, which attempted to lead and help the strikers, but failed utterly thanks to weak leadership within their own party and internal divisions between Marxists, Lassallists, and others.
For another, support for the strike was generally limited to the working-class, and few intellectuals or people with the resources to organize a revolt gave their full backing to the railroad men. Unlike, say the Bolsheviks of the 1900s or the French Communards behind the 1871 Paris Commune, the Strikers of 1877 had no central cadre or professional revolutionaries supporting their efforts. The closest the workers probably had to a revolutionary cadre was the Workingmen's Party of the United States, which attempted to lead and help the strikers, but failed utterly thanks to weak leadership within their own party and internal divisions between Marxists, Lassallists, and others.
NOW, all that being said, what's the closest the Great Railroad Strike can get to being a civil war or socialist uprising?
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