During the Depression brave working class men, women and children stood up to let their voice be heard.
During the illegal war of 1930 working class men, women and children stood up to let their voices be heard.
The embedded media censors the real past and presents a status quo fairy tail.
The past has been riddled with class struggle. The wealthy killed working men, women and children in the streets asking for the eight hour day, the weekend, minimum wage, pensions, health care, eight hour workday.
Perhaps you believe we working class were given these benefits by benevolent benefactors? You would be wrong. Every benefit you readily and eagerly give up today was won in a class struggle of working people everywhere who were beaten, battered, shot, maimed, tortured, wounded, and killed.
We need yet another General Strike plus a renewed rebuilding of our communities and families into an open source, gift economy structure of native living, open technology and local communities.
These men, women, children and babies were slaughtered in the
coal strike at Ludlow….
Introduction
The Colorado Coal Strike was one of the most violent strikes in United States History. Although they were ultimately defeated, the coal miners in this strike held out for 14 months in makeshift tent colonies on the Colorado prairie. The strike resulted in an estimated 66 deaths and an unknown number of wounded. Although the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) lost the Colorado Strike, it was, and still is, seen as a victory in a broad sense for the union. The Coal War was a shocking event, one that galvanized public opinion and eventually came to symbolize the wave of industrial violence that lead to the “progressive” era reforms in labor relations.
Prelude to the Massacre
T he massacre was preceded by a period of increasing tensions. Based on their experience of past strikes, the UMWA leadership sought to keep the strike peaceful in order to avoid the state calling out the militia. In contrast, the coal companies wanted the militia to be called out. The coal companies and their private detectives (the Baldwin-Felts Company from West Virginia) initiated a campaign of harassment in order to goad the strikers into violence. This campaign included shooting up tent colonies with the “Death Special,” an improvised armored car, lighting up the tent colonies with searchlights at night, and intimidating strikers and their sympathizers.
The “Death Special.” This was an improvised armored car built by private detectives using the CFI plant in Pueblo.
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