The Battle of Blair Mountain

The History of America’s Largest Labor Uprising

De: Charles River Editors

Narrado por: Jim Johnston

“I have been in West Virginia more or less for the past 23 years, taking part in the interminable conflicts that arose between the industrial slaves and their masters. The conflicts were always bitter. Mining is cruel work. Men are down in utter darkness hours on end. They have no life in the sun. They come up from the silence of the earth utterly wearied. Sleep and work, work and sleep. No time or strength for education, no money for books. No leisure for thought. With the primitive tools of pick and shovel they gut out the insides of the old earth. Their shoulders are stooped from bending. Their eyes are narrowed to the tiny crevices through which they crawl. Evolution, development, is turned backward.” (Mother Jones)

As labor unions and movements began to form and coalesce in the 19th century, the tensions between workers and companies led to demonstrations, encounters, and even conflicts that descended into violence. Among those, none were larger than the colloquially known Battle of Blair Mountain, which pitted West Virginian miners against authorities in 1921. It represented the largest labor uprising in American history and the largest armed uprising in the country since the Civil War, and it would have lasting ramifications on unions and labor moving forward.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was hardly the first time fighting erupted in West Virginia over mining. Over time, coal came to be used to power other advances in industry and technology, such as plants that produced steel and electricity. By the dawn of the 20th century, it seemed that there was nothing that the country could not accomplish, and that the future was brighter than ever. But then, as always, there was the price. The vast majority of people burning coal to heat their farms and homes, and those watching skyscrapers rise over the city’s landscape, likely never stopped to think about the price thousands of miners across the country were paying for these and other conveniences. Many never knew that coal had to be dug from the ground, typically in dark mines where dust poisoned miners’ lungs, and that these men barely made enough to feed and clothe their families despite their hard days of toil. The people using the coal wanted it to be cheap, the miners wanted to earn enough money to survive, and the companies wanted to turn a profit.

In some ways, it seems safe to say that conflict was inevitable, but while there were numerous labor disputes during the early decades of the 20th century, few were as violent as the one that erupted in the hills of West Virginia in 1912. In fact, this conflict, which lasted about a decade, has rightly been called a war, because men and women killed and were killed on its battlefields, culminating with the largest domestic insurrection since the Civil War in 1921. The coal companies’ army was a hired force, professional gunfighters brought in to stop miners. But while they had the best training and the best weapons, they did not have Mother Jones - Mary Harris Jones - perhaps the most inspirational union organizer in United States history.

With the help of Frank Keeney and other miners like him, Jones successfully brought the owners to their knees and won the right to unionize for miners who had only dreamed it might be possible. Now that a century has passed and mining is at least somewhat safer than it was, those working today can thank Jones and Keeney, not to mention the ones who died at the hand of hired guns, for what freedom they do have to fight for a living wage.

©2021 Charles River Editors (P)2021 Charles River Editors

interesting topic, unfortunate narrator

I found the subject interesting and the writing well done, but I couldn't get past the narrator. He whistles through his teeth when he speaks and unfortunately it became distracting and ultimately grating and I couldn't keep listening.

Tried too hard to “both sides” a very one sided conflict.

This book provides a general overview of labor movements in early 20th century West Virginia coal mining towns. It states major events leading up to the titular conflict and describes some of the aftermath even to present day. I wanted to like this book more, but it tried too hard to paint a “fair” picture of both sides. This approach is flawed for a few reasons.

The book glosses over the horrific working hazards, living conditions, morality policing, and the like that would force entire communities to risk their lives for meaningful change. It painted individual company agents or sheriffs as antagonists as opposed to pointing out the deep relationships company owners had with local, state, and federal government. Also, saying things like during strikes “shots were fired on both sides” is at best unhelpful and at worst disingenuous if you don’t also point out that law enforcement always escalated strikes by beating the strikers. The most egregious example is mentioning that at the height of the battle planes were seen to drop shrapnel bombs and mustard gas, but it was “unclear” which side was responsible. Yes, you know those same underpaid, underfed workers risking their lives to go from 10 hour work days to 8 hour days? The author wants us to believe there is a chance they may have had access to transport-stable mustard gas, bomb building materials, and planes hidden behind their ramshackle housing.

The book did a good job of pointing out the owners’ fear of class solidarity and using racism to keep groups separated. It touched on Mother Jones, key union leaders, and Sheriff Hatfield. However, I would have liked to read more about company leadership and what role state leadership had in placating company anxiety. I don’t understand why this would be left out the story. It would have been a less biased account to just state the how mine owners had basically unlimited help with money, police, and national guardsmen to keep workers at starvation wages than to make it sound like “there were bad folks on both sides.”

Overall, this book is good for some understanding of the build up and for some historical events. But I’m not sure I’d recommend the book of you want a more detailed account of state/company activities or what life was really like for the workers.

3/5 stars