Which 1877 labor strike is known for a large-scale nationwide shutdown and clashes between workers and railroad companies?

• A. Knights of Labor
• B. Great Railroad Strike
• C. Haymarket Affair
• D. War Industries Board

Answer: (B)

The key idea is how a single, massive labor action can shut down a vital industry across the country and reveal both the strength and the limits of organized workers in that era. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began during a severe economic downturn when railroad wages were cut again. Workers across many states walked off the job, stopping trains and halting rail traffic from coast to coast. The nationwide disruption led to violent clashes with company guards and cleared authorities, with state militias and even federal troops sometimes brought in to restore order. This event stands out as the first large-scale, nationwide labor action in U.S. history, illustrating how workers could mobilize across multiple cities but also showing how powerful business interests and government responses could suppress such actions.

For context, the Knights of Labor was a broader union organization active in this period but not the strike itself. The Haymarket Affair occurred later, in 1886, in Chicago and involved a rally that turned violent, not a nationwide shutdown in 1877. The War Industries Board was a WWI-era government agency established in 1917, well after this event.