On April 20, 1914 in Ludlow, Colorado the Ludlow Massacre occurred between the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and striking coal miners. The miners in Colorado and several other Western States had been trying for several years to join the UMWA (United Miners of America), but the coal operators bitterly opposed these propositions.
Soon enough because of the persistance to join, the miners were kicked out of their company-owned houses and had to set up tent colony's on public land to live in. Even though they were off company property the company's were still not happy with the strikers and tent colony's, so they called in Baldwin Felts Detective Agency, the thugs, Colorado militiamen, and coal company guards, to get rid of the strike once and for all. Which during this time period would often lead to violence and sometimes even death.
On Greek Easter, at 10:00 A.M. 19 innocent men, women, and children were killed. Death caused by shootings into the tents, and keroscene put onto the tents burning them and their inhabitants. Some women and children even burried themselves into holes under their tents so they wouldn't be shot, but they suffocated in the pits.
Because the strike and deaths were between capital and labor, which during this time was not protected by the government, none of the massacrists were punished. Though none of the killers were punished many miners and strike leaders were arrested and black-balled from the coal industry.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/rockefellers-ludlow/
http://www.umwa.org/?q=content/ludlow-massacre
This is very informative and the brutality of it is critical to understanding the fighting of the time. What is also interesting is the response to this massacre. After this fighting, the strikers took to the hills and Union leaders armed them. This led to a 10 day guerilla war in Colorado that finally ended when the Federal Government came in and disarmed anymore. It is interesting to see that only after such a huge tragedy did people actually begin to grant labor unions what they wanted.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.du.edu/ludlow/cfhist.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/colorado-1913.htm
Like Connor said, it is only after a tragedy has happened that the government actually starts listening to the demands of the labor unions. In the whole struggle between big corporations and the federal government, the workers themselves were often regarded as nothing more than a means to an end. However, with instances like the Ludlow Massacre, one has to realize that the workers were as powerful a force as both the government and the corporations.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/01/19/there-was-blood
Like Connor said, it is only after a tragedy has happened that the government actually starts listening to the demands of the labor unions. In the whole struggle between big corporations and the federal government, the workers themselves were often regarded as nothing more than a means to an end. However, with instances like the Ludlow Massacre, one has to realize that the workers were as powerful a force as both the government and the corporations.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/01/19/there-was-blood