On what date did the Pullman Strike begin in the United States?

The Pullman Strike began on May 11, 1894, when workers at the Pullman Company near Chicago went on strike.

The dispute followed wage cuts during an economic depression. Rents and other charges in the company town of Pullman did not fall along with workers’ pay, creating intense resentment. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, supported a boycott of trains carrying Pullman cars.

The boycott spread widely across the rail network. The federal government obtained an injunction and sent troops to enforce the movement of mail trains, leading to violence and arrests. The strike collapsed in July 1894, and Debs was jailed for violating the injunction.

The conflict is often linked with the creation of Labor Day as a federal holiday later in 1894, but President Grover Cleveland’s administration had already acted amid broader pressure from organized labor and concern about public unrest.