Today in Labor History June 8, 1917: The Granite Mountain/Spectacular Mine disaster killed 168 men in Butte, Montana. It was the deadliest underground mine disaster in U.S. history. Within days, men were walking out of the copper mines all over Butte in protest of the dangerous working conditions. Two weeks later, organizers had created a new union, the Metal Mine Workers’ Union. They immediately petitioned Anaconda, the largest of the mine companies, for union recognition, wage increases and better safety conditions. By the end of June, electricians, boilermakers, blacksmiths and other metal tradesmen had walked off the job in solidarity.

Frank Little, a Cherokee miner and member of the IWW, went to Butte during this strike to help organize the miners. Little had previously helped organize oil workers, timber workers and migrant farm workers in California. He had participated in free speech fights in Missoula, Spokane and Fresno, and helped pioneer many of the passive resistance techniques later used by the Civil Rights movement. He was also an anti-war activist, calling U.S. soldiers “Uncle Sam’s scabs in uniforms.” On August 1, 1917, vigilantes broke into the boarding house where he was staying. They dragged him through the streets while tied to the back of a car and then hanged him from a railroad trestle.

Author Dashiell Hammett had been working in Butte at the time as a striker breaker for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They had tried to get him to murder Little, offering him $5,000, but he refused. He later wrote about the experience in his novel, “Red Harvest.” It supposedly haunted him throughout his life that anyone would think he would do such a thing.

You can read my biography of Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

And my biography of Hammett here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/dashiell-hammett/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #FrankLittle #indigenous #nativeamerican #cherokee #freespeech #mining #antiwar #civilrights #Pinkertons #books #fiction #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 6, 1894: Colorado’s governor sent in the state militia to support the Cripple Creek miners' strike, the only time in history that a state militia was used to help a workers’ struggle, rather than to suppress it. The mine owners were demanding a 10-hour day without an increase in pay. In response, the miners went on strike. There was considerable violence from both sides during the strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). On March 16, some miners ambushed, shot and beat some sheriff’s deputies. The judge, a WFM member, let the miners off, but charged the deputies with carrying concealed weapons. Furious, the Sheriff arrested 20 union leaders. Meanwhile, the mine owners conspired to bring in hundreds of scabs and deputized vigilantes. When the new deputies marched on the strikers’ camp, the miners blew up several mine structures, forcing the deputies to flee. The mine owners hired hundreds more vigilantes for their army. When he heard about the size of the miner owners’ force, the governor declared the deputies illegal and sent in state troops to defend the miners.

On June 5, the day before the state troops arrived, the mine owners’ army began cutting telegraph lines and arresting and beating reporters and hundreds of town residents, including many who weren’t miners. When the state troops arrived, there were already gun battles going on between the vigilante army and the miners. However, the state troops gained control of the town relatively quickly and the mine owners disbanded their army and sent them home. 300 miners were arrested, but only four were convicted. And the populist governor pardoned them all. The WFM won, keeping the 8-hour day and their $3/day wages. And, they were so popular because of their victory, that they easily organized most of the other industries in the region (e.g., waitresses, laundry workers, bartenders, newsboys) into 54 new locals.

The Cripple Creek strike was a prelude for the Colorado Labor Wars (1903-1904), led by future IWW cofounded Big Bill Haywood, and the Colorado Coalfield War (1913-1914), which historian Thomas G. Andrews called the “deadliest strike in the history of the United States” and which included the Ludlow Massacre. Hundreds were killed in the Coalfield War. During the Labar Wars of 1903-1904, James McParland ran the Pinkerton agency in Denver. He had served as an agent provocateur in the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s. The state convicted and executed 20 innocent Irish coal miners because of his testimony. (I have depicted that story in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”) Like he did in Pennsylvania, McParlan tried to sabotage the WFM by placing spies and agents provocateur within the union.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #colorado #union #strike #solidarity #militia #sabotage #police #policebrutality #EightHourDay #wfm #vigilantes #cripplecreek #pinkertons #fiction #historicalfiction #books #novel #author @bookstadon

You can read more about the Ludlow Massacre here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/20/the-ludlow-massacre/

My novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill” is available from these retailers:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://boundtogether.org//
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

Today in Labor History, May 27, 1894: hard-boiled detective writer Dashiell Hammett was born. From the age of 21-23, he worked as a Pinkerton detective and then joined the army. But he developed tuberculosis and was discharged shortly after joining. In 1920, he moved to Spokane, again to work for the Pinkertons. From there, he hired on as a strikebreaker in the Anaconda miners’ strike in Butte, Montana. However, when the Pinkertons enlisted him to assassinate Native American IWW organizer Frank Little, he refused, and quit the agency.

His first stories were published in the early 1920s. And his 1929 novel, “Red Harvest,” was inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre, a 1920 labor dispute in the mining town of Butte, Montana, when company guards fired on striking IWW miners, killing one and injuring 16 others. During that strike, vigilantes lynched Frank Little, the same man Hammett refused to murder. André Gide called Red Harvest “the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror." Time magazine named it one of the top 100 novels of the 20th century. Even so, Hammett is far more famous for The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1934), which were both made into successful Hollywood films.

In 1937, Hammett supported the Anti-Nazi League and the Western Writers Congress. He also donated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, fighting the fascists in Spain. He was a socialist and served as president of the Communist-sponsored Civil Rights Congress of New York. In 1951, the authorities sentenced him to six months' imprisonment for refusing to cooperate with the US House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities' (HUAC) inquiries into domestic "subversion." Playwright Lillian Hellman, his long-time companion and lover, said that he submitted to prison rather than reveal the names of comrades because "he had come to the conclusion that a man should keep his word."

McCarthy subpoenaed him again in 1953, during his anti-Communist witch hunt. And again, in 1955, he was called to testify about his role in the Civil Rights Congress. Though he served no more jail time, he was blacklisted. He was also convicted in absentia in 1932 of battery and attempted rape. He died in 1961, of lung cancer.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #IWW #nazis #antifascism #CivilRights #socialism #communism #Pinkertons #lynching #FrankLittle #indigenous #massacre #strike #union #author #books #fiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 9, 1907: Big Bill Haywood went on trial for murder in the bombing death of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. Clarence Darrow defended Haywood and got him acquitted. Steunenberg had brutally suppressed the state’s miners. Haywood had been framed by a Pinkerton agent provocateur named James McParland, the same man who infiltrated the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s and got 20 innocent men executed as Molly Maguires. You can read about that in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”

Read my article on Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #BigBillHaywood #clarencedarrow #deathpenalty #AgentProvocateur #pinkertons #mollyMaguires #AnywhereButSchuylkill #historicalfiction #books #author #writer #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 5, 1884: The Knights of Labor struck at Jay Gould’s Union Pacific over wage cuts and won. Because of their success in this strike, their membership rapidly grew. However, when the Knights struck again, in 1886, Gould defeated them and the union quickly started to unravel. 200,000 workers participated in the Great Southwest Train Strike of 1886. Gould hired Pinkertons to infiltrate union and to work as scabs. The Governor of Missouri mustered the National Guards. The Governor of Texas used the National Guards and the Texas Rangers against the strikers. At least ten people died during the strike.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #railroad #union #strike #KnightsOfLabor #TexasRangers #massacre #pinkertons

Today in Labor History May 4, 1886: A day after police killed four striking workers and injured hundreds, protesters gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago. As the peaceful event drew to a close, someone threw a bomb into the police line. Police responded by shooting into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. Eight anarchists were later framed even though most were not even present at the Haymarket rally and there was no evidence that linked any of them to the bombing. They tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap and convict the Molly Maguires, 20 innocent Irish union activists, just a few years prior. As a result, twenty of them were hanged and the Pennsylvania mining union was crushed. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#LaborHistory #workingclass #anarchism #haymarket #execution #deathpenalty #chicago #union #solidarity #IWW #maythefourth #eighthourday #lucyparsons #bigbillhaywood #pinkertons #mollymaguires #police #strike

History of May Day, or International Workers’ Day: the Haymarket Affair, Chicago.

Today in labor history April 30 1886: 50,000 workers in Chicago were on strike. 30,000 more joined in the next day. The strike halted most of Chicago’s manufacturing. On May 3rd, the Chicago cops killed four unionists. Activists organized a mass public meeting and demonstration in Haymarket Square on May 4. During the meeting, somebody threw a bomb at the cops. The explosion and subsequent gunfire killed seven cops and four civilians, many likely from “friendly” fire from the cops themselves. Nobody ever identified the bomber. None of the killer cops was charged. However, the authorities started arresting anarchists throughout Chicago.

Ultimately, they tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court. The men were: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Only two of the men were even present when the bomb was thrown. The court convicted seven of murder and sentenced them to death. Neebe was give fifteen years. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap, convict and execute 20 Irish labor leaders (the so-called Molly Maguires) in Pennsylvania just a few years earlier. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW, along with Big Bill Haywood, and others. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #lucyparsons #IWW #emmagoldman #strike #union #EightHourDay #PoliceBrutality #killercops #prison #deathpenalty #Pinkertons #police #mayday #generalstrike

Today In Labor History March 27, 1904: The authorities kicked Mother Jones out of Colorado for “stirring-up” striking coal miners. Earlier in March, the authorities deported 60 striking miners from Colorado. In June, they arrested 22 in Telluride. For nearly 2 years, strikers, led by the Western Federation of Miners, were violently attacked by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives. 33 strikers were killed. At least two scholars have said “There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #colorado #union #strike #mining #motherjones #WorkplaceViolence #scabs #coal #pinkertons #minewars #wfm #WesternFederationOfMiners #womenshistorymonth

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