Everett Massacre Research Paper

On July 16, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, some of the workers decided to ‘quit' and refused to work. This spontaneous strike sparked protests in other cities including St. Louis,

In his book, “Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War”, Thomas G. Andrews construes the trajectory of a unique labor movement of the southern Colorado coal workers. The labor movement is unique as it integrates the social, ecological and industrial context of the strike for a captivating narration of the Ludlow massacre. Andrew’s account is valuable as he insists that credible conclusions must be grounded in complete and sophisticated provenance as opposed to oversimplified explanations. The intent of this response paper is to analyze the burdensome nature of obtaining coal, substandard pay and the treacherous working conditions. Secondly, the paper discusses the ways which helped employees to achieve autonomy and solidarity.

Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after

In the 1800s and early 1900s working conditions were much harsher than now. Long hours and small wages made up a day in the life of someone living in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The Haymarket Riot was the result of the bombing in Chicago. “In the summer 1886 the campaign for an eight-hour day, long a rallying cry that united American laborers, culminated in a national strike on May 1, 1886. Between 300,000 and 500,000 workers struck across the country. In Chicago, police forces killed several workers while breaking up protestors at the McCormick reaper works. Labor leaders and radicals called for a protest at Haymarket Square the following day, which police also proceeded to break up. But as they did, a bomb exploded and killed seven policemen. Police fired into the crowd, killing four. The deaths of the Chicago policemen sparked outrage across the nation and the sensationalization of the “Haymarket Riot” helped many Americans to associate unionism with radicalism” (Yawp). As a result of the Haymarket Riot was the loss of members of the Knight of Labor. “The national movement for an eight-hour day collapsed”(Yawp). The Haymarket Riot played an important role in illustrating how labor was in the late 1800s to the

    One of the most horrific events that happened in 1917 was the Tulsa Outrage. The Tulsa Outrage was most known for when seventeen men were murdered. One late November night a group of about fifty men dressed in all black known as the “Wobblies” approached seventeen men. The seventeen men were then “pulled from the lineup, tied to a tree, a Knight approached every man with a double piece of hemp rope and whipped the victim’s back until blood draped their backs. Another man stepped forward and slathered boiling tar on the victim’s backs with a paint brush, coating him from head to seat. The final act of humiliation, the Knight then padded the victim’s back with feathers from a down pillow”(Chapman 2). “According to multiple interviews conducted by National Civil Liberties Bureau Investigator L.A.

Still attempting to unionize coal mining in southwestern West Virginia, tensions rose. Conflict finally erupted on August 25, 1921, when the coal miners

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

The workers demanded an eight hour workday for which the average work week was sixty hours or more. The company hired strikebreakers which were often used by this era. On May 3rd, 1886 as a protest resulted in the killing of an individual by the police, and on May 4th a mass meeting was called to take place in the Haymarket Square to protest what was seen as police brutality. At the meeting there were approximately 1500 people as radical speakers addressed the crowd. As the mood of the crowd began as a peaceful meeting that quickly turned confrontational when the police began to break up the crowd. As fights broke out, a powerful bomb was thrown. The police began to use their guns. Seven police officers lost their lives which was later proclaimed that they were not killed by the bomb but however from the bullets from other police officers from the chaos of the event. Four citizens were killed and over a hundred were injured. The public was outraged because of the event. Within the next two weeks, on the cover of a magazine, illustrations were drawn of the bomb thrown into the crowd, cutting down police officers, and a priest giving last rites to a police officer at the local police station, thus leading to the blame of the riot on the labor movement and particularly the Knights of Labor.

Striking workers had not committed any violent acts, but their standoff with obstinate planters was heading toward a violent climax on January 14, 1871. For two days in a row, Henry C. Minor—reinforced by the local “colored” sheriff,

Hoxie, believing that the strike was a direct violation of the agreement reached between Gould’s Missouri Railroad Company and the Knights during the Wabash strike not to strike before arbitration was attempted on any issue, began a violent campaign against the Knights of Labor, firing its members and recruiting new workers. The Knights of Labor were eventually forced into a desperate state.

The Haymarket Riot was an opportunity for the people to fight for what they believe but the police tried to stop that . A bomb was thrown in a crowd of officers because they wanted less working hours.So the people throw a bomb to make sure that they could get what they want but it backfired on them. McCormick Reaper Works hired new and untrained people to take their places in the company that was not from the same union as the past workers.

The Ludlow Massacre of 1914 is one of the bloodiest strike in the American labor history. Historians have debated whether the event was a massacre of innocent lives caused by the Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) or as a battle between the company workers and the company militiamen. The CF&I stated that the event was an act of its workers to demilitarize the company and to prevent importation of “strikebreakers”. However, Thomas Andrews’ Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War introduces the concept of workscape in which gives an understanding of the event internally, above the surface and underground the mines of Colorado. Within the book, the operation of Colorado coal companies in capitalizing the coal industry lead to the formation of the mine workscape in which united coal miners underground the mines and above the surface to fight for industrial and political rights. This paper would define the concept of workscape in the definition given by Andrews, and provide evidence of the responsibility of the exploitation of capitalism in forming the mine workscape in the Colorado coal fields between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Furthermore, the closer inspection of several events that occurred within and outside the grounds of the Colorado coal fields related to labor unrest with the knowledge of the concept of workscape will help understand the culmination of the Ludlow massacre within the larger history of capitalism. A careful investigation of the book and other

Once called 'The City of Smokestacks', Everett, Washington was booming with blue-collar jobs, with over two dozen saw and shingles mills making home there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. However, the workers of Everett (and indeed, the entire United States at the time) dealt with extensive labor hours and hazardous working conditions. In response to these conditions, much of the city's workforce began to unionize, which was readily accessible with Everett's twenty-five local unions.

The Seattle General Strike, in February of 1919, was one of the primary events of the Red Scare. This strike was the first city-wide labor action to be names a general strike in America. It began at the shipyards and froze the Seattle port, as well as started spreading fear throughout America. September 9th, 1919, the Boston Police Department went on strike as well. The American people feared the “Reds” were the cause of this strike and it shook the people of Boston to their core. Theft and looting ran rampant in Boston and the whole city was paralyzed. In the fall, steel workers went on strike to get eight hour work days, which slowed the nation’s economy. That November, the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, were created in Centralia, Washington. All of these strikes started the fear that the IWW was attempting to revolt. Panic filled the nation as more and more immigrants entered the United States to

Today was the first time in months I had a flashback of the wartime. The strike was nothing like I imagined. We held a parade to protest the mayor’s actions, firing civic workers, arresting strike leaders and appointing special police to control the strikers. All of a sudden, some people in front of us overturned a streetcar and started to set it on fire. I already knew we were in big trouble. As the smoke from the car raised, the NWMP armed with clubs and pistols charged the crowd. Many were being arrested as well. This strike was no longer peaceful. Everyone rushed to get away from the police, others stayed there to show their rage. I had rushed to home as soon as possible. All I could remember was a 40 year old male getting beat