The Ludlow Massacre Of 1914 Essay

On the day of September 11, 1857, an emigrant party camped at Mountain Meadows was brutally killed by the Mormon militia aided by Indians. This essay examines two viewpoints regarding the massacre found in Sally Denton’s “American Massacre” and in “Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Turley.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores'; (Mahin 1). A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.     

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.

At the time of Roosevelt’s presidency, workers were treated quite poorly. Corporations provided harsh working conditions, very low wages, and negligible rights. One corrupt corporation was exposed in 1902. The actions from the workers, and Roosevelt’s support were a precedent for the reform enacted in the future. In 1902, a coal mine strike came forth from the workers. The labor accomplished was very dangerous, yet the

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 late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In the early 20th Century, West Virginia was a place where coal barons held immense power. Coal companies owned towns, mayors and governors. Miners were forced to live on coal camps and rent houses from them, as well as purchase all of their coal and other items required to survive from the companies. With this control, mining families where forced to live and work in brutal conditions. In 1921, after a generation of violent suppression, miners erupted in the largest class war in US history. For 5 days miners fought the coal barons, over 1 million rounds of ammunition were fired, this is known as the Battle of Blair Mountain.

The Matewan Massacre, an armed confrontation between miners, police and the Baldwin Felts, caused civil unrest in West Virginia for many years.

In the late 1800, conflicts arose from farmers, workers, and railroad companies. These issues were resolved by significant battles among them, but never had an affect on the railroads. The railroads charged an extraordinary amount of money for transportation of products. This made farmers extremely outraged, and made them use their money more wisely than spend it on the transportation of their products. The railroad companies misused their money given by the government to gain profit of off land grants. The competition led to workers going on strike for their budgets being cut. These concepts show that railroads, in their wasteful competition, exploited farmers and workers because of budget cuts, transportation of products, and rates.(Introduction, Timeline)

The Bloody Sunday massacre unfolded on the 22nd January 1905. An unarmed, peaceful march in St. Petersburg, Russia to the Winter Palace was organized by Father Gapon. Approximately 200,000 workers gathered with pictures of their ‘Little Father’ the Tsar, singing the anthem God Save the Tsar all the way along. The problem that it was illegal to hold any demonstration against the Tsar’s authority had threatened the government to believe that it would became a riot and thus, ordered the Imperial Guard to stop and dismiss the protesters. As there were too many protesters that the limited soldiers could not control over, some started gunning down the demonstrators even if no physical threat was shown. Whether the soldiers was given an order to fire

Eventually, the workers of American Coal, who were once the landowners of the very area they were mining, formed a labor union to fight for better working conditions. The union was met with great opposition by the company’s secret police. As time went on, the coal miners continued to fight for their rights, only to be put down violently by the coal company’s strikebreakers. Union leaders were also fired and blacklisted from the company as a means to put a stop to union activity.

Copper is an essential part of the history of the United States, as most industrial machines need copper to operate. Wiring, vehicle construction, and roofing are but a few things made with copper. PDC was one of the leading copper mines in the Arizona. PDC was the “owner” of Morenci, the company owns or controls major services in the town, everything from electric power to the police service (Rosenblum, 1995 p.5). Many of the mineworkers, a majority (80%), were Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, who settled in Arizona in the early parts of the 20th century. This ethnic group fought long and hard for union representation as a way to solidify employee benefits and hold PDC accountable for unfair labor laws. In 1981, an economic recession affected the price of precious metals, including copper. In 1982, PDC faced three challenges: international competition, hard bargaining unions, and resistance to internal changes. PDC was forced to terminate 3,400 miners’

Carnegie and Frick represented the corporations looking to take advantage of the poor that were unable to empathize with ordinary citizen. However, surprisingly, the author reveals that both Carnegie and Frick came from humble backgrounds. Considering their mass exploitation of the immigrant worker and their ruthless fights against any form of workers union, they had to struggle to reach their goals. However, their own life experiences gave them no sympathy towards their fellow man, which is a blatant example of the ugly side of capitalism that Finn has described (1). The Homestead mill was the product of Carnegie’s first success in the steel mill business. It quickly became the most famous steel mill in America. It was famous for producing the steel used for America’s first skyscrapers and suspension bridges. However, the conditions were abysmal. It was reported that workers slept in the alleys behind the mills, and that there was no sewage system. Instead, trenches were used that would stagnate in the rain. These terrible conditions came on top of a job that paid 14 cents an

Two years after the infamous Triangle fire, 20,000 workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts; angered over wage cuts and deplorable conditions went on strike, prompting the twin reactions of police brutality and press coverage (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). “As a result of the strike, not only were wages raised and conditions improved in the textile industry as a whole, but important legislation was also enacted that restricted the exploitation of child and female labor” (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008, p. 132). It is doubtful that working conditions would have evolved to the level of equity we find today, without the sacrifice and activism of unions and their members.