strike
... Despite the nationwide mobilization of workers in the first truly national strike in American history, in the end the strike failed when faced with the massive powers of the railroads and their allies in state and national government. ... I was being badly taken advantage of, so I decided to strike. I went on strike primarily because of the continuous wage reductions the railroad company forced me to endure. ... Before we went on strike we sort out help in the form of a group known as a brotherhood. ... We eventually left the brotherhood, because they forbade workers to strike and they also were inactive during the striking period.