Gunfire and Brick Brats

Gunfire and Brick Brats

‘Gunfire and Brickbats: The Great Railway Strikes of 1877’ by Gerald G. Eggert
In the article ‘Gunfire and Brickbats’ Gerald G. Eggert shows the significant history of the railroad strike and what went through the workers and company owners. The main reason of this article was to show the conflicts and resolution of the strike that occurred at the time. The article shows on how the strikes made many suffer economically and how the country as a whole suffer. The strike was a widespread event that many American workers will never forget.
The article’s thesis is on why and how the workers lead to the strike, and also what they went through during the strike. The article also reviews on the terrifying violence that occurred during this strike. It shows how stubborn the workers were that they didn’t give up as easy, but it also explains on how little power the workers had compared to the company owners. The article also highlights on how popular the strike was that it spread everywhere in the country, including westward. It also explains how immigrants were widely effected by the strike. They were beneficial for the company owners however, enemies for the strike workers-especially the Chinese workers who were targeted. The strike lead to violence which lead to the deaths of many. The strike also showed how the government sided the company owners and didn’t care about the workers. Eventually the strike workers did lose due to the power imbalance but they did change the views of workers, after the strike government decided they would be neutral and try to help both labor and capital.
The article contributes my understanding of the historical period on the strike of 1877. I did however, understand this period better after I read the article because now I know descriptively on each event that occurred during the strike and how it effected everyone socially-before I knew only economically. After reading the article it really convinced me that the workers were...

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