Today in Labor History February 19, 2006: A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, killed 65 miners. Workers had gone on strike at least 14 times against the company for safety violations.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #mexico #mining #strike #union #WorkerDeaths #WorkplaceSafety #CorporateGreed
Today in Labor History February 17, 1906: The authorities arrested "Big Bill" Haywood and two others on trumped up charges for the murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Stuenenberg. Clarence Darrow successfully defended them, telling jurors, "If at the behest of this mob you should kill Bill Haywood, he is mortal, he will die, but I want to say that a million men will grab up the banner of labor where at the open grave Haywood lays it down . . ." The actual perpetrator was a one-time WFM union member named Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association.
Haywood and his WFM comrades had been framed by James McParland, an agent for the Pinkertons Detective Agency. This was the same James McParland who framed dozens of Irish coal miners in Pennsylvania in the 1870s, whom he, and the media, had falsely branded as terrorists (Molly Maguires). Ten of them were executed in one day—the 2nd largest mass execution in U.S. history after the 1862 mass execution of 38 Dakota warriors. My novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, is about one of these Irish miners, a teenager named Mike Doyle.
Read more on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/
Read more on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/
You can get a copy of Anywhere But Schuylkill here:
keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://boundtogether.org//
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn
Or send me $27 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, I will send you a signed copy! (Shipping included)
#workingclass #LaborHistory #BigBillHaywood #IWW #WFM #union #strike #mining #socialism #clarencedarrow #pinkertons #mollymaguires #terrorism #racism #irish #books #novel #historicalfiction #writer #author @bookstadon
Today in Labor History February 16, 1931: The Harlan County War (AKA Bloody Harlan) began when the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%, leading to a nearly decade-long series of coal strikes, executions, and bombings in Harlan County, Kentucky from 1931-1939. At least 13 coal miners were killed, along with 5 cops and vigilantes working for the coal operators. The bosses also evicted union organizers, and their families, from Company housing. The companies owned every in the entire county. Evicted workers flocked to the three that were independent, particularly Evarts. The scabs were protected by private cops, who were given full police privileges, as well as the right to act with impunity outside the coal properties. The thugs were organized and led by Sheriff Blair.
It was during this strike that Florence Reece composed the famous folk song, “Which Side Are You On?” which has been covered by Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello, among many others. She wrote the song after Sheriff Blair and his men had come to her house in search of her husband, Sam, one of the union leaders. She was home alone with their seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then remained outside, waiting to shoot him down when he returned. But he didn't come home that night. Afterward she tore a sheet from a calendar on the wall and wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?” to an old Baptist hymn: “Lay the Lily Low.” Reece also supported a second wave of strikes in the 1970s, as portrayed in the documentary “Harlan County, USA,” in which she performs "Which Side Are You On?."
#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #coal #harlancounty #coal #mining #vigilantes #police #police brutality #florencereece #folk #folkmusic #whichsideareyouon #communism
Today in Labor History February 16, 1931: The Harlan County War (AKA Bloody Harlan) began when the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%, leading to a nearly decade-long series of coal strikes, executions, and bombings in Harlan County, Kentucky from 1931-1939. At least 13 coal miners were killed, along with 5 cops and vigilantes working for the coal operators. The bosses also evicted union organizers, and their families, from Company housing. The companies owned every in the entire county. Evicted workers flocked to the three that were independent, particularly Evarts. The scabs were protected by private cops, who were given full police privileges, as well as the right to act with impunity outside the coal properties. The thugs were organized and led by Sheriff Blair.
It was during this strike that Florence Reece composed the famous folk song, “Which Side Are You On?” which has been covered by Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello, among many others. She wrote the song after Sheriff Blair and his men had come to her house in search of her husband, Sam, one of the union leaders. She was home alone with their seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then remained outside, waiting to shoot him down when he returned. But he didn't come home that night. Afterward she tore a sheet from a calendar on the wall and wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?” to an old Baptist hymn: “Lay the Lily Low.” Reece also supported a second wave of strikes in the 1970s, as portrayed in the documentary “Harlan County, USA,” in which she performs "Which Side Are You On?."
#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #coal #harlancounty #coal #mining #vigilantes #police #police brutality #florencereece #folk #folkmusic #whichsideareyouon #communism
