John L. Lewis the colorful head of the United Mine Workers Union was the devil incarnate to the mining companies. The United We Stand philosophy of unionism was a cancerous comunist growth in the eyes of corporate interests across the nation from the Rockefellers and Getty's to the bottomline bottom-feeding company mine owners who invaded and raped Appalachia of resources both human and natural. Appalachians were a simple hard working people whose American roots were deep in tradition living in a vortex of moonshine, poverty and illiteracy since the nation was formed, and they were made to order as the perfect victims for the voracious vultures of profiteering that proliferated in the nation begnning with the birth of the industrial age during the late 1800's. This independant pioneer spirit was about to fornicate with the utopian mantra of unionism...the result would be explosive and in the end, victorious for the workers.
While the Lost Generation of writers and artists hob nobbed with the rich and famous in Paris, in the coal fields of West Virginia it was a lost generation of poverty and illiteracy who could barely hob let alone nob. Poverty wages, unsafe working conditions and child labor were the fashion and in vogue at the time in Appalachia while the rich drank champagne at "21" and entertained at the Copa. The workers felt that they were the actual lost generation and under the thumb of the company, which they were. They were subjected to the inequity and indignity of the systematic robbery of their paychecks forced to by goods at the "company store" well above market price. They lived in tents and shacks that today would be uninhabitable in a third world country by any standard, and had to pay exhorbitant rental prices for the privilege of poverty and unsanitary conditions that bred disease and in some cases, death, especially among the children. Soon, hot lava of discord and disconnent bubbled to the surface. Workers were getting vocal in their condemnation of the system that literally held them in the grip of the new industrial slavery that was cinematically portrayed in Fritz langs "Metropolis" with the False Maria and her minions.
In the fossil fuel coal fields of West Virginia, the times were a changin' Mr. Dylan. A change that was highballing faster than a runaway locomotive heading for the "bridge out" precipice. A workers rebellion was fomenting and would soon color this portion of the big blue planet blood red. It was a rebellion with as many facets as a diamond......worker vs. company....worker vs. police...worker vs. the federal government of the people, for the people and by the people. Now the people were in the government crosshairs and marked for elimination.
Although the rebellion would bring about a workers victory and anew mine workers bill of rights, President Herbert Hoover would send in armed Federal Troops to squash the rebellion at the side of the mining companies goon squads who brutalized women, children and the miners. Buring their tent homes and belongings and in the process down the line..murdered the leader of the rebellion who was shot dead unarmed and in cold blood.
The union warrior was Sid Hatfield. Yep, those Hatfields who had been fueding with the McCoys since the days of the Civil War. The battlelines were drawn now against an incommon enemy in the mining regions of West Virginia. Tempers and tensions were growing at a feverish rate and pace. Weapons and ammo were being cached in secret by the miners as Federal troops were on the march from one direction while miners from all regions of Appalachia would watch in horror as the carnage began. It wouldn't be long until they too joined the fight and wearing symbolic red bandanas around their necks, these "rednecks" as they became known raced to the defense of their brother workers and the union organizers, making the Hatfield and McCoy fracas pale in comparison.
The seeds of the discord of 1920 were planted in 1912 when miners went on strike at the Paint Creek - Cabin Creek mines. The primary instigators of the anti-worker terror where the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency who were not above firing machine guns at women and children, which they did when they drove Klan style at night through the miners tent village, no one was killed, but numerous injuries were sustained not to mention the emotional trauma induced on a work force with no where else to go and living in near slave conditions under the corporate heel of the mine operators.
The UMW had worked hard, and by 1920 had unionized most mines in West Virginia, except for the southern coalfields where they had effectively been kept out of for over a decade. The line in the sand, or coaldust in this case, were drawn and Mingo County was selected as the next target for John L. Lewis and the union organizers. They had done their research and found that many in Mingo County's towns, including the mayor in Matewan were pro-union. In fact, so pro, that he appointed Sid Hatfield as police chief, a pro-unionist if ever there was one. Thanks to Sid and others in town...the yellow brick road to unionization in the mines was paved and the wicked witch of the corporate north was about to give up her heavy handed ruby slippers as the union house would fall from sky.
The mine owner minions however, did not roll over easily. Every action has a reaction...and this time it was reactionary with a vehement vengeance. Workers were blacklisted and evicted from the mine property near Matewan, so when looking for similar work elsewhere they were now labeled as red agitators. In those days the Bolshevik Revolution was fresh on everyones mine. Although some felt as Frank Zappa said.."It can't happen here..." there were real fears on one side that it could and spell the end of corruption and capitalism...on the other side there was hope that it could happen here for the long awaited workers paradise of union utopia. Both were wrong but comprise was eventually reached between capitalism and communism and today we have arbitration. But bullets and battles paved that road of rebellion..as Che said..."the only sucessful revotion is one that sheds blood...from both sides"
Though evicted, most would not leave the area and the UMW sent up tent villages for the displaced homeless miners near town on the river. They wre now not just the huddled masses in the American tradition, huddled and pissed off. Did you ever anger a hive full of bees? Makes them angry and they act as one. The union member numbers in the region were swelling and 3,000 out of 4,000 area mine workers were now card carrying members of the UMW. In nearby Matewan at the Stone Mountain Coal mine, they were one 100% unionized..as well as 100% fired, blacklisted and evicted.
Tensions were higher than a junkie overdosing in an alley, and the Felts detective agency moved into town to take direct action against the union. They tried to bribe the mayor into letting them place machine guns on the rooftops of local downtown businesses to literaly mow down the workers and their unarmed families. Outraged, he refused. That afternoon the detectives went to the mine camp outside of town while the men were at work and the families unprotected. There they evicted a woman and her children at gunpoint forcing them out into the rain along with thier personal property. Her husband was looking for other work at the time and was not at home, but other miners coming off shift witnessed the atrocity, but were helpless against an armed crew of goons. Instead they sent word out around the county of what happened and then went to town to confront the offenders with the help of police chief..Sid Hatfield who had been notified by messenger. This goes to show you haw history can take u turns and left turns!
The detectives were back in town and weren't wasting anytime to board the train to "get out the hell out of Dodge" to borrow a phrase and as they were about to "all aboard it" they had to abort it. Sid Hatfield had arrived on the scnene with his band of deputized merry men of the mines to arrest them. In a turn around, the detectives produced a warrant for the arrest of Sid Hatfield, (funny they didn't produce it earlier or go looking for Sid to effect his arrest!) It doesn't matter now, because at this point it was a mine workers Mexican standoff, Apppalachian style with hillbillies and handguns. Mayor Testerman was alerted that Sid was about to be arrested and ran to the scene, where Sid had ducked into a store. When the mayor arrived gunfire broke out killing the mayor, two detectives and seven others on both sides of the union fence. Sid was unscathed, but in true Hatfield fashion took a few out on the other side.
This was the mountain version of the shoot-out at the OK Corral and in the annals of union lore became known as the Matewan Masscre. The white hat of the hero now belonged to Sid Hatfield, while the mine workers were now fuel injected to overthrow the coal mining company Bolshevik style and have it's hired goons and guns walk the gauntlet. This was Appalachia after all when it came to guns....this was the bonafide capital of the Second Coming of the Second Amendment. These were deer hunters with an eye for a target and could pick off a squirrel, let alone a company goon, at 200 yards with ease.
The union was on now on a rock and roll ride of unionization making Mingo County the proverbial red thorn in the side of management. MOre violence broke out in other coal fields and camps. West Virginia state police were called into action to part the "red" sea of agitation near Williamson, West Virginia at the Lick Creek miners tent colony. The police went into a frenzied attack firing at miners, arresting them and ripping the tents to shreds and destroyting the miners belongings and possessions as if the police themselves were possessed and in need of a good old fashioned exorcism.
In Matewan, Sid Hatfield, who was about to go on trial for the murder of two detectives during the Matewan Massacre, was gettint ready to administer a good old fashioned ass kicking as he urged the miners in his area to collect arms and ammunition to prepare for the inevitable battle which they did with mucho gusto. Sid's trial was local but was covered nationally effectively elevating Sid to legendary mythical stature. The more the prosecution attacked him...the more the public lined up behind him thanks in large part to the rather fluid and glowing writing style of the reporters covering the trial. It was dime novel reporting at it's best and Sid had the best PR machine the Fifth Estate could provide. The medium, truly is the message. By the time the jury of his peers had reached a verdict of NOT GUILTY all the mines that had gone on strike in support of Sid were once again operational..this time with scab workers imported to break the strike along with ex-strikers who signed what were called "yellow dog contracts"
Sid Hatfield, in yet another event, was once again arrested, this time charged with dynamiting at a coal mine. He traveled to court to stand trial in anther county along with a close friend and both of their wives. Entering the courthouse, unarmed, holding hands with their wives, detectives opened fire from the top of the stairs where Sid was killed instantaneously, his friend was riddled with bullets but was still breathing...a dangerous condition as he might just recover and recount what happened that day. As his wife fought off detectives they pushed her aside and deliver a coup de grace shot to back of his head. This time he stopped breathing, ensuring his silence. The word was spread of the assasinations and the valley ignited with miners from around West Virginia. They left their mines...grabbed their guns and went on the march. This time the United Mine Workers called for a mass rally with guns in the state capital. Along the way in Logan County troopers tried to stop the march...they were disarmed...beaten by the miners and ran with their tails between their legs. Head shots were not necessary ...that time.
In August of 1921, back in Mingo County, miners marched on the jail to free arrested miners and put an end to martial law. The police stood in the way. The fuse was getting shorter and it didn't take long for the explosion to rip through the communty. Gun battles ignited and by August 20 over 13,000 armed miners had arrived to fight along side the outnumbered and outgunned union brehternno who up until then were facing a force of 2,000 private armed goons of the Logan County Coal Operators Association. The tables had turned.
Full scale warfare broke out on August 25, and the next day, President Warren G. Harding threatened to send in federal troops and army bombers to blast the miners on the ground into oblivion. In Sharples, a town just north of Blair Mountain, sherrifs deputies were firing at unarmed miners and sympathizers and were dropping small bombs on the mining camps from small airplanes. The miners across the state had had enough of Harding and hardly needed an excuse to go on the offensive...American government be damned..as indeed it will in the final analysis.
The battle was now engaged full tilt boogie and the company squads hired more small planes to drop bombs left over from WWI, including gas bombs on women and children. General Billy Mitchell..another American paper "hero" ordered an assault by military bombers from Maryland and it's the first time that American military planes were used against it's own civilian population...ironically one crashed on the way back to base killing all crew members aboard...no loss in the column in my book.
The miners then attacked the military holed up like rats in the town of Logan and in the end up to 150 deaths on both sides were the tally at the end of the day. Hundreds were injured, and by September..federal troops arrived on the scene. The miners leaders knew it was futile at this point and told the miners to leave post haste and return home before more got killed...but not before they hid a huge cache of arms and ammo in the nearby woods...those artifacts are still being found today inside old trees and buried in the ground by collectors.
At battles end almost 1,000 miners were indicted for murder or conspiracy to murder...no military or police were ever charged, nor were the mine operators. The heaviest charge was treason against the state of West Virginia. ..juries needless to say were sympathetic to the miners but some were found guilty and imprisoned..and all paroled by 1925. The union had made it's point and by the time FDR had occupied the White House in 1935 all mines in southern West Virginia were now unionized under the auspices of the UWM.
No longer were battles the weapon of choice under the New Deal..negotiation was now in vogue and the mining companies corruption was exposed for all to see and mine safety was now a key issue with changes forthcoming. The Battle of Blair Mountain still rages on today in a smoldering fire of heritage status.
In 2006 archeologists teamed up to investigate the various battlesites an in the process found 15 confirmed combat sites and unearthed more than a thousand artifacts including rifles, shell casings, batteries and yes, coins. Then in 2008 Blair Mountain was chosen by the feds for inclusion for protection on the National Register of Historic Places. Not surprisingly, it was contested. This time the protest came from the state of West Virginia! In 2010 still an unprotected region, two of the nations largest coal producers hold permits to blast and strip mine the upper slopes and ridges of Blair Mountain....there goes the neighborhood..or in this case..there goes the mountain top! Proving that money maybe can't buy love, but it sure can by a politician in West Virginia. You also can't judge a judge by his cover, as a federal judge in 2012 this time around ruled against the preservation groups in favor of the interests of the coal mining companies that want to mine the historic site.
The struggle continues by the Blair Mountain Heritage Alliance which runs a small museum in Blair, W. VA and led a commorative march along the same route taken by the miners on their way to battle in 1921. The battle of Blair Mountain continues...but this time with out the rednecks of red bandanas and blue collar bullets. It seems to me they got more done with a bullet than a ballot...maybe a lesson we can put to use even today for all the battles for all the Blair Mountains...or Monsantos....or Walmarts....the list goes on...and the beat goes on....grab your crotch..face Congress and tell them..."Occupy This!" Remember what Thomas Jefferson said..."The people should not be afraid of their government (add corporate interests) ...the government should be afraid of it's people..." and of course don't forget...Go for the headshots!