Nov. 1, 2011 — As Occupy Wall Street swept across the country and the world, Scott R. Nelson, labor and economic historian, and professor at The College of William and Mary in Virginia, discussed what he calls “Occupy Chicago, 1894.” In that year, a grassroots movement of railroad workers led by Eugene V. Debs spread from a Chicago-area strike to much of the country, with railroad workers and many others demanding significant changes in American labor relations. Questions explored in the invterview include: What were the short and long term effects of this “occupation”? And, what can it tell us about the current Occupy movement?
Nelson’s YouTube post that inspired this discussion can be found here.
Note: The above dateline refers to this interview’s original airdate on WRCT-Pittsburgh. It was uploaded unchanged to Remapping Debate in March 2013.
