On this day in 1912, the Paint Creek Mine War began when West Virginia miners struck, demanding formal union recognition and fairer labor practices. The incident quickly escalated into one of the worst labor conflicts in U.S. history.
The event, also known as the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, centered on the area enclosed by two streams, Paint Creek and Cabin Creek. It is considered part of the "Coal Wars", a series of armed conflicts between workers and coal companies from the 1890s - 1930s in the United States.
The strike lasted for fourteen months, and over 5,000 workers participated. Notable labor organizer Mother Jones (shown) came to West Virginia to support the workers, organizing a secret march of 3,000 armed miners to the steps of the state capitol in Charleston to read a declaration of war to Governor William E. Glasscock.
The confrontation directly caused approximately fifty violent deaths from armed conflicts between miners and strike-breaking forces, as well as many more deaths indirectly caused by starvation and malnutrition among the striking miners. In terms of casualties, it was among the worst conflicts in American labor history.
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Spending my work morning reading about how the IWW protested anti-free-speech laws (anti soapbox laws) in Spokane Washington. Basically, jobs were scarce, and a system developed where day laborers would pay job scouts to get them hired for jobs. This led to a permanent state of spontaneous layoffs for any laborer because the job scouts were in cahoots with hiring managers to purge the workforce whenever there was a risk of rising wages.
The IWW gave soapbox speeches discouraging workers from "buying a job", so the City made soapbox speeches illegal. The IWW complied for a year until the City gave an exception to Churches to give street speeches, so the IWW protested that. They would start giving a speech and get arrested one by one until they filled the jails, then the overflow jails. The public would donate food and cigarettes to the prisoners, who demanded a jury trial, until the courts were packed with nothing but free speech cases. The public began protesting the cost of holding the prisoners. When a boycott of goods from Spokane was called, the City capitulated, released it's prisoners, and revoked licenses for job scouts.