LABOR WARS IN COLORADO
Growing up in the flat farm lands of western Colorado in the 50’s and 60’s, I didn’t hear much about the labor issues in Colorado, but I did have a friend that never wanted to tell me what her father did for a living. He didn’t have a farm, he didn’t have a business, and he was always on the road. I assumed he was an ordinary traveling salesman with a boring job that no one want to talk about. But one day my friend, under an oath of secrecy, told me that her dad was a “union man.” I didn’t know which union, but I became aware that some people didn’t like unions and that it was dangerous for anyone involved.
Considering the labor wars that went on in Colorado, I can understand why there were still hard feelings because even back then there were still fresh memories of range wars between cattlemen and sheepmen. Many people and animals were killed in the fight over open range and unfortunately the law did little about it.
Considering the labor wars that went on in Colorado, I can understand why there were still hard feelings because even back then there were still fresh memories of range wars between cattlemen and sheepmen. Many people and animals were killed in the fight over open range and unfortunately the law did little about it.
When it came to mining the same problems existed. The mines were owned by big corporations and the super-rich, who were more interested in making money than in the lives of their employees. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was producing the majority of Colorado's coal and coke by 1900 and had over 15,000 workers. The company was taken over by John D. Rockefeller, who became the principal shareholder in 1903 along with his son, John Jr. |
Whether they worked in coal or metal mines, nineteenth-century miners held one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. They worked fourteen-hour shifts in dirty, cramped conditions. Mine shafts could collapse, flood, or fill with flammable gas and explode, like when the Jokerville Mine blew up near Crested Butte in 1884. Meanwhile, mill and smelter workers were also subject to injuries from machinery, toxic air, and other workplace hazards. Many companies paid miners not in cash but in script, a kind of company currency that could be used only at “company stores,” which were often the sole local source of tools and food; this ensured that most wages were ultimately returned to the company.
In this arrangement, workers held little power. Before the 1890s, when they struck to protest their pay, hours, and conditions, they were often fired or jailed for trying to improve their situation. These brutal corporate reprisals created fertile ground among workers for the formation of labor unions.
The Western Federation of Miners activity in Colorado began with the Cripple Creek Strike in 1894, where the union was helped by a sympathetic politician, Populist Governor Davis Waite. During the conflict, Waite initially refused to send in the National Guard to assist mine owners. When owners got the local sheriff to bring in an armed, strike-breaking posse, WFM members dynamited the train platform where the posse was about to disembark. Violence continued on both sides until Waite finally brokered an agreement that favored the miners, gaining the WFM fame and a broader membership. By 1903 the union had 28,000 members in Colorado across forty-two local chapters.
In this arrangement, workers held little power. Before the 1890s, when they struck to protest their pay, hours, and conditions, they were often fired or jailed for trying to improve their situation. These brutal corporate reprisals created fertile ground among workers for the formation of labor unions.
The Western Federation of Miners activity in Colorado began with the Cripple Creek Strike in 1894, where the union was helped by a sympathetic politician, Populist Governor Davis Waite. During the conflict, Waite initially refused to send in the National Guard to assist mine owners. When owners got the local sheriff to bring in an armed, strike-breaking posse, WFM members dynamited the train platform where the posse was about to disembark. Violence continued on both sides until Waite finally brokered an agreement that favored the miners, gaining the WFM fame and a broader membership. By 1903 the union had 28,000 members in Colorado across forty-two local chapters.
In 1913, civil war breaks out in the Southern Colorado coalfields between coal miners and mine operators. About 10,000 miners under the direction of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had been on strike since September 13, 1913, protesting low pay and abysmal working conditions in the coalfields of Colorado. Evicted from the company towns by the operators of industrialist John D. Rockefeller’s CF&I, striking miners constructed tent colonies, the largest of which housed about 1,200 strikers, in Ludlow. The striking miners were a mixed group of ethnicities, including a large number of Greeks and Italians.
Tensions ran high between the armed strikers and the company-hired detectives. The Colorado National Guard, which had been deployed to reduce violence, favored the operators and overlooked the violent actions of the detectives. Labor activist Mary (“Mother”) Jones led a campaign to bring national attention to the strike. |
On Sunday, April 19, 1914, the National Guard encircled the Ludlow camp and deployed a machine gun on a bluff overlooking the strikers. Although no one knows exactly what instigated the violence, some accounts suggest that officers of the National Guard demanded that the miners turn over at least one individual, possibly a striker or even a hostage that they were holding, but the miners refused. The National Guard then opened fire on the camp, initiating a pitched battle that lasted throughout the day.
As the strikers ran out of ammunition, they retreated from the camp into the surrounding countryside. Women and children, hiding from the bullets that strafed the camp, huddled in cellars that had been dug underneath their tents. In the evening the National Guard troops soaked the tents in kerosene and set them on fire. In one cellar 11 children and 2 women were found burned and suffocated. In all, 25 people were killed during the Ludlow Massacre, 3 of whom were National Guard troops.
In retaliation for the massacre, miners attacked antiunion town officials, strikebreakers, and the mines, taking control of an area about 50 miles long and 5 miles wide. As many as 50 people died during the reaction to the Ludlow Massacre. Fearing a further escalation of violence, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops to restore order. The strike ended on December 10, 1914.
As the strikers ran out of ammunition, they retreated from the camp into the surrounding countryside. Women and children, hiding from the bullets that strafed the camp, huddled in cellars that had been dug underneath their tents. In the evening the National Guard troops soaked the tents in kerosene and set them on fire. In one cellar 11 children and 2 women were found burned and suffocated. In all, 25 people were killed during the Ludlow Massacre, 3 of whom were National Guard troops.
In retaliation for the massacre, miners attacked antiunion town officials, strikebreakers, and the mines, taking control of an area about 50 miles long and 5 miles wide. As many as 50 people died during the reaction to the Ludlow Massacre. Fearing a further escalation of violence, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops to restore order. The strike ended on December 10, 1914.
Few people are even aware of the Colorado coal strikes or the Ludlow massacre. This information doesn’t make it into ordinary history books and is not even known by many teachers, but the lessons to be learned from this particular labor conflict is more than just the fight for safe working condition and better pay.
The citizens of the Ludlow tent colony were a community of mine workers and their families that represented about thirty-two different racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups that included workers of Greek, Mexican, and Italian descent. Despite what were probably some major barriers in communication, these families came together to demand better working conditions and benefits from their management.
The citizens of the Ludlow tent colony were a community of mine workers and their families that represented about thirty-two different racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups that included workers of Greek, Mexican, and Italian descent. Despite what were probably some major barriers in communication, these families came together to demand better working conditions and benefits from their management.
To make their needs known, they organized a strike that began on September 24, 1913 and brought together various other workers from neighboring colonies. This amassing of so many different types of people made the strike truly unique and mine owners feared what this unprecedented solidarity would mean for them. Concessions that were made to end this strike still remain in Colorado law.
Things are not much different now. The large corporations and the ultra-elite are making more money than ever and the middle class, which is shrinking, are struggling to make “ends meet.” Every effort is being made to separate, alienate, dominate and silence the working class. It is not time to run and hide, it is time to make a stand. The Ludlow Massacre stands as a reminder of the power of diversity and community. |
KLN