As far as major protests go, the United States experienced a period of relative quiet from 1980 until 2011. For 30 years after Ronald Reagan broke the PATCO strike, “class war” in America was largely one sided. America’s working class took hit after hit without much in the way of a response.

While Occupy Wall Street has been in the news of late, uprisings of the American working class are actually nothing new. In fact, the United States boasts a long track record of actions against corporations and the government. Here are 11 of those uprisings that Occupy Wall Street protesters and everyone else seeking social change would do well to study. Each of these movements won lasting social change. Their failures and limitations provide lessons about what not to do, while their successes offer a guide to future action.

2. Great Railroad Strike (1877)

The postbellum political and economic landscape was a brave new world for everyone. With slavery demolished, Union and Confederate soldiers returned, overflowing the labor market. By 1873, the Long Depression (known as the Great Depression until the 1930s) of Europe infected the United States. The rapid, unrestrained growth of the American economy, built on the expansion of rail, ground to a dead halt. Add to this an election many considered rigged or stolen and some kind of social unrest was a foregone conclusion. When the Baltimore & Ohio line cut wages for the second time in a year, the nation exploded.

Centered in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri, the Great Railroad Strike was no friendly, police-approved picket line; it was more analogous to the Great Slave Rebellion of Spartacus. Rail traffic literally ceased in key cities like Pittsburgh. The United States Supreme Court declared the strikes (and all strikes for that matter) illegal.

When the strike moved to St. Louis, America stood on the precipice of real insurrection. The Knights of Labor, one of America’s earliest trade unions and the Workingmen’s Party, affiliate of the Marxist International Workingmen’s Association and forerunner of the Socialist Labor Party, led a demonstration into East St. Louis, setting the stage for the first general strike in United States history.

Perhaps the most militant outpouring of public anger during the Great Rail Strike, the St. Louis General Strike called for (at the time) radical reforms like an eight-hour workday and abolition of child labor. When a black steamboat worker asked an assembled crowd “Will you stand to us regardless of color?” the crowd uniformly responded, “We will!” Without bloodshed, the strikers took over transportation and other industries.

The strike served as the template for later strikes, most importantly the strike wave of the 1930s. Lasting about a month and a half, the strike ended only after President Hayes sent federal troops into combat against American citizens.

Beyond Occupy Wall Street: 11 American Uprisings You’ve Never Heard of That Changed the World

As far as major protests go, the United States experienced a period of relative quiet from 1980 until 2011. For 30 years after Ronald Reagan broke the PATCO strike, “class war” in America was largely one sided. America’s working class took hit after hit without much in the way of a response.

While Occupy Wall Street has been in the news of late, uprisings of the American working class are actually nothing new. In fact, the United States boasts a long track record of actions against corporations and the government. Here are 11 of those uprisings that Occupy Wall Street protesters and everyone else seeking social change would do well to study. Each of these movements won lasting social change. Their failures and limitations provide lessons about what not to do, while their successes offer a guide to future action.

Some of America’s earliest labor strikes, the Lowell Mill women’s strikes bear more than passing similarity to contemporary events. A booming economy led to plentiful jobs with higher wages. When the economy cooled, capital imposed a 15 percent wage cut at the Lowell mills. There wasn’t even a word for “strike” yet, but the overwhelmingly female workforce did just that. The first strike in 1834 failed, with women heading out of town or returning to work at poverty wages.

While the 1834 strike failed, women learned lessons from the bitter, pitched battle in the streets of Lowell, MA. By 1836, the economy degraded further. A rent increase at company boardinghouses acted as the spark to the powder keg. Women formed the Factory Girls’ Association to lead another strike. The second strike lasted several weeks, ending with a victory for the mill workers.

The significance of the Lowell Mill Strike of 1836 lies beyond merely defeating a rent hike. The strike won broad community support, a strategy essential at winning strikes. It was also the first time a woman spoke in public in Lowell. The strike stands as an early example of the power of organized labor, and offers lessons for how labor can draw in the broader community. Finally, the organized withdrawal of funds from local banks finds echoes in today’s “Move Your Money” movement, where people withdraw money from corporate banks, moving them to community banks and credit unions.

Smedley Darlington Butler, later known to thousands of Marines as “Ol’ Gimlet Eye,” was born 30 July 1881. He was the son of Thomas S. Butler, a Representative in Congress from the Delaware-Chester County district of Pennsylvania for over three decades and a longtime chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee. He was still in his teens when, on 20 May 1898, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps during the Spanish-American War.

Following a brief period of instruction at Washington, D.C., he served with the Marine Battalion, North Atlantic Squadron, until 11 February 1899, when he was ordered home and honorably discharged on 16 February 1899.

He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps on 8 April 1899; promoted to captain, 23 July 1900; to major, 13 May 1908; to lieutenant colonel, 1 August 1916; to colonel (temporary), 1 July 1918; to brigadier general (temporary), 7 October 1918; to colonel (permanent), 9 March 1919; to brigadier general (permanent), 4 June 1920; and to major general, 5 July 1929.

In April 1899, 1stLt Butler was assigned to duty with the Marine Battalion at Manila, Philippine Islands. From 14 June to October 1900, he served with distinction in China, and was promoted to captain by brevet for distinguished conduct and public service in the presence of the enemy near Tientsin, China. He was wounded in that battle on 13 July 1900.

Returning to the United States in January 1901, he served at various posts within the continental limits and on several ships. He also served ashore in Puerto Rico and the Isthmus of Panama for short periods. In December 1909, he commanded the 3d Battalion, 1st Regiment on the Isthmus of Panama. He was temporarily detached to command an expeditionary battalion organized for service in Nicaragua, 11 August 1912, in which capacity he participated in the bombardment, assault and capture of Coyotepe, 12-31 October. He remained on duty in Nicaragua until November 1912, when he rejoined the Marines at Camp Elliott, Panama.

His first Medal of Honor was presented following action at Vera Cruz, Mexico, 21-22 April 1914, where he commanded the Marines who landed and occupied the city. Maj Butler “was eminent and conspicuous in command of his Battalion. He exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the 22nd and in the final occupation of the city.”

The following year, he was awarded the second Medal of Honor for bravery and forceful leadership as Commanding Officer of detachments of Marines and seamen of the USS Connecticut in repulsing Caco resistance on Fort Riviere, Haiti, 17 November 1915.

During World War I, he commanded the 13th Regiment in France. For exceptionally meritorious service, he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the French Order of the Black Star. When he returned to the United States in 1919, he became Commanding General of the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia, and served in this capacity until January 1924, when he was granted leave of absence to accept the post of Director of Public Safety of the City of Philadelphia. In February 1926, he assumed command of the Marine Corps Base at San Diego, California. In March 1927, he returned to China for duty with the 3d Marine Brigade. From April to 31 October he again commanded the Marine Barracks at Quantico. On 1 October 1931, he was retired upon his own application after completion of 33 years’ service in the Marine Corps.

Major General Butler died at the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, on 21 June 1940, following a four-week illness.

The USS Butler, a destroyer, later converted to a high speed minesweeper, was named for MajGen Butler in 1942. This vessel participated in the European and Pacific theaters of operations during the second World War.

Vera Cruz
Original General Order Medal of Honor Citation

Haiti
Medal of Honor Citation