Ludlow Massacre History of the Colorado Coal Field War http://www.du.edu/anthro/ludlow/cfhist.html This is a great example of Corporate greed and what it leads to. It is just the nature of Corporate structures to feel that they own everything, including us working stiffs. And if we are bad boys and girls they will resort to corporal punishment if they can get away with it. Hey, if you have family in school, perhaps they can do a project, “Why We Need Unions”, on the fights we fought on behalf of all working families in America. The 1913-1914 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. . . . The Coal War was a shocking event, one that galvanized U.S. public opinion and eventually came to symbolize the wave of industrial violence that lead to the "progressive" era reforms in labor relations It was this kind of brutality against Working Families just trying to get a fair share for their work that led to laws being enacted to protect workers. Corporations immediately began to limit or undo any laws of this kind. The Taft-Hartley 1947 Amendment to the National Labor Relations Act was a significant Corporate victory in limiting the power of unions. Today, working people are losing the protections fought for years ago. The key to this 1913 struggle was public opinion. Today, Corporate interests utilize sophisticated scientific methods to control public opinion. It has worked well. For more on the manipulation of public thought see Joost Meerloo’s “Rape of the Mind Part 2”  at: http://home.tiscali.de/alex.sk/A_Meerloo2.html and check out the Rockridge Institute which is part of George Lakoff’s approach at: http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/aboutus/ . The Southern Coal Field is in southern Colorado on the east side of the Rockies. . . . C.F.&I. and the other large operators, such as the Osgood-owned Victor-American Fuel Company, wielded formidable political clout in early 20th-century Colorado. Their control over the political of Las Animas and Huerfano Counties was nearly total. Corporations understand that in order to control everything to maximize profit, they must elect Corporate Politicians. But why would Moral Working Families vote for Corporate candidates? Part of what is happening today is ‘Orwellian Doublespeak’. You can read George Orwell’s book “1984” which brought up this aspect of the control of public opinion if you are interested online at: http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/1984/1984.htm . The coal miners in the Southern Field were located up canyons where the coal seams were exposed by erosion. Most of the miners lived in these canyons in company towns, in company houses, bought food and equipment at company stores and alcohol at company saloons. The doctors, priests, schoolteachers, and law enforcement were all company employees. The entries to the camps were gated and guarded by deputized armed guards. This is total control of the workforce. Many times workers in Company Towns would find themselves in debt to the Company for rent, food and clothing. You could not get out even if you wanted to. Take a look at the article below: Authorities Say Homeless Lured into Alleged "Modern-Day Slavery"   A farm labor contractor and his assistants are accused of looking for homeless, mostly African-American men. If the men were addicted to crack cocaine or other narcotics, even better. At the end of each day, the workers were offered crack cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes on "credit," and the expenses were deducted from their wages, authorities say. But soon the debts grew larger than their wages and the workers were told they would have to pay them off. (This employer lacked Family Moral Values in lust for money at any cost.) http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/061405LB.shtml (AP) There is not much to keep things from going back to the way they were. This is why it is critical to elect pro Union Family politicians. Moral politicians. Not what we have running the Country now. We have a ‘Company Town’ here in Washington that you may have passed on I-5 named Du Pont. Here is a link to some information on it: http://heritage.dupont.com /floater/fl_dupontwa/floater.shtml  . The Colorado mines themselves were notoriously unsafe, among the most dangerous in the nation, second only to Utah. In the years from 1884-1912, (28 years), 42,898 coal miners were killed in mine accidents in the U.S. Of these, 1,708 were killed in Colorado mines. Miners died in Colorado coal mines at over twice the national average while hand-picked coroner's juries absolved the coal companies of responsibility almost without exception. For example, in the years from 1904-1914, the juries picked by the Sheriff of Huerfano County, Jeff Farr, found the coal operators to blame in only one case out of 95. The workforce itself was largely immigrant labor from Southern and Eastern Europe, who had been brought in as strikebreakers in 1903. http://www.du.edu/ anthro/ludlow/cfhist2.html The UMWA made its first appearance in the Western States in 1900 with a strike in Gallup, New Mexico. In 1903, the UMWA led a strike in the Colorado coalfields. This strike was successful in the Northern Field, around Louisville and Boulder, but failed in the South. In 1910, the Northern operators refused to renew the contract and the miners struck for the next 3 years. In September 1913, the UMWA, which had been secretly organizing the Southern Field, announced a strike there when the operators would not meet a list of seven demands: Recognition of the union. A 10% increase in wages on the tonnage rates. Each miner was paid by the ton of coal he mined, not by the hour An eight hour work day. Payment for "dead work." Since miners were only paid for the coal they mined, work such as shoring, timbering, and laying track was not paid work. The right to elect their own check-weightmen. Miners suspected, generally with good reason, that they were being cheated at the scales which weighed their coal. They wanted a miner to check the scales. The right to trade in any store, to choose their own boarding places, and choose their own doctors. Enforcement of Colorado mining laws and abolition of the company guard system. This seems reasonable from a Moral Family point of view. The Corporations didn’t care if workers died as long as there were more to replace the “failed” components. Human Resource Management is the modern day science of how to maintain us ‘Human Machines’ for the production of wealth. The operators reacted quickly, bringing in strikebreakers, and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency from West Virginia.  The operators also initiated a campaign of harassment against the strikers. The harassment took the form of high-powered searchlights playing over the colonies at night, murders, beatings, and the "Death Special," an improvised armored car that would periodically spray selected colonies with machine-gun fire. Here we go again. If you can’t beat‘em, beat them up. This is frequently the choice if intimidation and threats don’t work. The workers were, after all, insubordinate. A Corporation is a lot like the military. Orders must be followed and not questioned. When sufficiently questioned, bring out the “Death Special” pictured left. Take a look at the pictures at http://www.du.edu/anthro/ludlow/cfphoto.html . The purpose of this harassment may have been to goad the strikers into violent action, which would provide a pretext for the Colorado Governor to call out the National Guard,  thus shifting a considerable financial burden from the operators to the state. Amid steadily escalating violence in the coalfields and pressure from the operators, Governor Ammons called out the Guard, which arrived in the coalfields in October 1913. Here we go again with the use of “our” government being used by Corporations against Working Families. And the families pay taxes for this abomination! This is not some Third World country. It is our beloved America. The America we all believe in. The America represented by our Flag. How could things like this happen here? Is any of this taught in our Public Schools? Why not? What can you do about it? No wonder people are clueless about unions, their roles in determining every worker’s lifestyle, and complacency during our demise. Names and Ages of Victims Louis Tikas. Age: 30 Yrs. James Fyler. Age: 43 Yrs. John Bartolotti. Age: 45 Yrs. Charlie Costa. Age: 31 Yrs. Fedelina Costa. Age: 27 Yrs. Onafrio Costa. Age: 4 Yrs. Frank Rubino. Age: 23 Yrs. Patria Valdez. Age: 37 Yrs. Eulala Valdez. Age: 8 Yrs. Mary Valdez. Age: 7 Yrs. Elvira Valdez. Age: 3 Mo. Joe Petrucci. Age: 4½ Yrs. Lucy Petrucci. Age: 2½ Yrs. Frank Petrucci. Age: 4 Mo. William Snyder Jr.. Age: 11 Yrs. Rodgerlo Pedregone. Age: 6 Yrs. Cloriva Pedregone. Age: 4 Yrs. Homework It is important to realize that this kind of thing is happening today. No one would have thought it could have happened here, in America, in the first place. If we don’t remember our fight and our heritage, history will reopen the same stories on our current day stage of life. Take back some of what you learn from this posting to the jobsite. Discuss it. Our power to secure better lives, both now and in the future, lies in our ability to focus on commonly understood working class history. This is our heritage. Also, discuss it with the family. Nobody is going to help us and fight for us except ourselves.

"We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace." George W. Bush UN Speech Sept 2004 http://www.dubyaspeak. com/philosopher.phtml Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.'" Abraham Lincoln. http://www.brainyquote.com/ quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin 169194.html