Document 17.5 George Pullman, Testimony before the U.S. Strike Commission, 1894
Document 17.6 Eugene V. Debs, On Radicalism, 1902
Document 17.7 Jennie Curtis, Testimony before the U.S. Strike Commission, 1894
Document 17.8 Report from the Commission to Investigate the Chicago Strike, 1895
Interpret the Evidence
Why does George Pullman (Document 17.5) think he has treated his workers fairly?
According to Eugene V. Debs (Document 17.6), what is the purpose of labor activism? How does the Pullman strike teach Debs about socialism?
How might Jennie Curtis have responded to Pullman’s testimony (Document 17.5) that he treated workers fairly?
How does being a woman affect Jennie Curtis’s experiences as a Pullman worker (Document 17.7)?
By comparison, how do you think Pullman and Debs would have responded to the report on the Pullman strike issued by the Commission to Investigate the Chicago Strike (Document 17.8)?
Put It in Context
What do these documents reveal about the complex relationship among labor, management, and government at the close of the nineteenth century?
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