1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Hello America, and welcome to the Internet. I'm Robert Evans 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: and this is a podcast. It's called Behind the Bastards 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: and it's about bad people. That's the introduction that I 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: have for you today and I hope you all enjoyed it. 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: My guest today Spencer Grtindon. Spencer, how are you doing today? Oh? 6 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 1: I'm great. Should I match that energy because I don't 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: think that's possible. No, no, but you nailed it. That 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: was perfect. That was that was the energy I brought 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: you in to provide perfect. Spencer. Uh, you are um, 10 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: I mean, among other things, you're kind of the reason 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: uh that that that D and D A big part 12 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: of the reason that D and D went from something 13 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: that I shamefully hid from bullies when I was in 14 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: high school. Uh, to something that is I don't know, 15 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: I'll call it cool. I'm gonna say it's cool now 16 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: to play Dungeons and Dragons and it's it's all on you, buddy. 17 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: So thank you for that. This is my my opportunity 18 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: to say that. Oh yeah, thank you for saying that. 19 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: I mean I keep telling people that, but no one 20 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,400 Speaker 1: believes me. So that's validation I need. Now, you and 21 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: I have casted a couple of pods together in the 22 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,680 Speaker 1: in the past, have we not? Yeah, you went on 23 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: Harmon Town. It was twice twice, Yeah, twice, And it 24 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: was fun. I mean, I don't know a lot of 25 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: times we have people on that don't know much, Like 26 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: it's not like they're not experts in their field or whatever, 27 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: but they're just not on to talk about stuff that 28 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: they have a real perspective on, or information or things 29 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: that aren't pulled out of their ass. So it was 30 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: really refreshing for that reason. Yeah, I mean I pull 31 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff out of my ass, but rarely 32 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: on camera or a stage. So, how has your how's 33 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: your quarantine? Ben Spencer? How are you? How are you 34 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: holding up in the in the plague? Um? So it's 35 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of funny because I'm getting a bit 36 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: too much of my roommate. We're kind of getting in 37 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: each other's way, and um, I was like, man, it 38 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: would be nice to be living alone. And then the 39 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: other day we were doing errands together and she's like, man, 40 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: it's so great that we're not living alone. And I 41 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: was like, oh, okay, that's that's your your version of this. 42 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: Then huh um, but I'm I'm getting a little stir crazy. 43 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,119 Speaker 1: I would like more space. In the past, I would 44 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: just go for car rides to kind of just get 45 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: myself some space. And I can't really do that. I mean, technically, 46 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: maybe it just seems like a risk. I don't know. 47 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: I don't think it's really I don't know how California 48 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: is handling it law wise. I think it's driving alone 49 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: in your car is a pretty safe thing. Um, I 50 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: would say, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm you know, It's one 51 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: of those things I think everybody. I think everybody who's 52 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: quarantined with like roommates or romantic partners, is like, oh 53 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: my god, I wish I was alone right now. This 54 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: would be so much easier if I was alone. And 55 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: I think everyone who's quarantined alone is like, oh my god, 56 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: I wish I had a roommate or I wish my 57 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: boyfriend a girlfriend was here. It's terrible being alone. And 58 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: I think the answer is that it just sucks to 59 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:05,079 Speaker 1: be quarantined. Um. Yeah, that's that's the less that I'm 60 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: taking out of this, is that it's not great to 61 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,239 Speaker 1: be locked in in your house. Well, no matter who 62 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: it's with. I feel like I love being locked in 63 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: my house, so it would just be interesting. I wish 64 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: I had like a good control group to really make 65 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: this experiment pop. Now, Spencer, let me ask you. The 66 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: President has recently stated that people should liberate a series 67 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,119 Speaker 1: of of Midwestern states. Have you have you jumped onto 68 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: the call to start the boogaloo? Are you? Are you 69 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: grabbing your go bag and your a R fifteen to 70 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: to to liberate the sparrow in your neighborhood. Yeah, I'm 71 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: gonna have to come back up at force. It all 72 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: sounds present liberation, you know, like who can get Who 73 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: could stand opposed to that? That is a great question, 74 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: and it actually ties in a little bit to our 75 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: episode today because obviously everyone in America is thinking about, um, 76 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: a civil war, like like a new one, right um, 77 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: And you know we're also there's a lot of thoughts 78 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: back to the old Civil War. You know. It's some 79 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: of those protests in Michigan and whatnot. People are waving 80 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: Confederate flags, which doesn't really make a lot of sense 81 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: in Michigan, but that's just remember the Confederate state of Michigan. Yes, 82 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: the great Jefferson Davis, famed detroitter. Yeah, so we're all 83 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: thinking about civil wars. And you know, when people in 84 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: America think about the civil wars, we have to think about, 85 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: you know, the big civil war, which is civil wars 86 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: go worldwide in the top three or seven something somewhere 87 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: around there definitely a great civil war. Um or they're 88 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: thinking about like the possibility of a new civil war, 89 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: and people will often call that the Second American Civil War. 90 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: But what if, Spencer, what if I were to tell 91 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: you that this country actually already had a second civil war, 92 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: one with machine guns and aerial bombardment and trenches and 93 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: blood and guts. What if I were to tell you 94 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: that already happened. Well, I would have to laugh you 95 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: out of the room. Well that would be hard because 96 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: we are quarantined in separate states, So I would have 97 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: to laugh. Yeah, laugh me off of the internet. Well, 98 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: don't start laughing yet, Spencer, because it turns out there 99 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: was a second American Civil War and it happened in 100 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: West Virginia. Now, most US history textbooks have a painful 101 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: allergy to talking about it because it all hinges on 102 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: the labor movement, and for whatever reason, the people who 103 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: write our textbooks don't like to talk about the reason 104 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: that weekends exist. Uh, but today, in this two part episode, 105 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,359 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the Battle of Blair Mountain. 106 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: Have you ever heard of the Battle of Blair Mountain? No? Literally, no, 107 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: I'm not a big history awesome even that sounds wild. Yeah, 108 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: it's a fucking cool story. Um, it's like, it's like, uh, 109 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 1: it's a cyberpunk story in a steampunk setting. That's that's 110 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: how I would if I was if I was trying 111 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: to like, if I was trying to sell the Netflix 112 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: TV show version of this, That's how I would package it. 113 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: In a fucking elevator pitch. Um, it's pretty cool. I mean, 114 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 1: a lot of people die horribly and a lot of 115 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: people get right. But it's like, just I don't know 116 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: what point I was making. It's interesting. That is very cyberpunk. Yeah, 117 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: So it all starts with coal Spencer. In the late 118 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, coal became increasingly critical to the economic productivity 119 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: and the infrastructure of the United States, and the richest 120 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: veins of coal were underground, So this necessitated large groups 121 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: of men writing down to those veins through vast holes 122 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: in the earth and hacking out big chunks of coal. 123 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: The structural supports that like kept them alive and kept 124 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: the world from collapsing on them were often also made 125 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 1: of coal. Um. It was extraordinarily dangerous. There was like 126 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: trapped gas, sulfur gas and ship everywhere, or methane gas everywhere, 127 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: and like explosions happened all the time. Mine collapses were 128 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: very common. Um, It's one of the most dangerous jobs 129 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: people ever had, to the extent that like, like, like, 130 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: more Americans died from coal collapses over the decades than 131 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: died fighting in Vietnam. Um, I wanted a lot of Minecraft, 132 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: and that does not track with my experience. Minecraft. Um 133 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: has benefited a lot from the decades of mind safety reforms. 134 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: So thank you, Thank you Minecraft, Thank you Notch famed 135 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: Q and honor and fascist for yeah. So UM for 136 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: an example of some soul fucking the terrible cold disasters, 137 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: because I know everybody comes to the show for that 138 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: sort of thing. Um, there was the Ecoles mind disaster 139 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: in West Virginia in April of nineteen fourteen. This was 140 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: a methane explosion that occurred while two hundred and forty 141 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: six miners were underground and a hundred and eighty of 142 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: them died instantly. Uh. In nineteen o nine, there was 143 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,119 Speaker 1: a mine explosion in Cherry, Illinois, which destroyed the entire 144 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: town and killed two hundred and fifty nine men and boys. 145 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: Because an awful lot of boys worked in mind their 146 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: little hands could reach the coal better. Um, so that's cool. 147 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: It's terrifying. Yeah, it sucks. Between eighteen ninety and nineteen seventeen, 148 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: at least twenty six thousand American miners were killed on 149 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: the job, mostly in explosion. Twelve thousand miners were maimed 150 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: every year, often permanently disabled. So not a great job. 151 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: I would say, yeah, less, I think less people are 152 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: named podcasting every year. So if he is, are less 153 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: than twelve thousand people nimed while podcasting every year? I 154 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: cannot confirm it, Tony. I'm trying to get those numbers 155 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 1: up with the machetes, but we still I don't. I mean, 156 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: I may be maimed a thousand people in a year, 157 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: you know, if I'm really, if I'm really getting the 158 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: let out. So it sucked to be a coal miner. 159 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: It was not a great job, right. Uh. Men took 160 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: the gig because they needed money, and mining often paid 161 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,079 Speaker 1: well um or at least the pay that the boss 162 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: is advertised was generally good. Capitalism being what it was, 163 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: the people who owned the minds had a variety of 164 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: fun tactics that they used to funk over the human 165 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,439 Speaker 1: beings who may their business profitable. One of these tactics 166 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: was called cribbing. See, miners were paid based on the 167 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: tonnage of coal that they mind. Every car that left 168 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: the mines was supposed to hold a specific payload of 169 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: one ton or two thousand pounds. However, the mine operator 170 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: got to actually purchase and set up the cars, and 171 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: they would regularly rig them to hold more cold than 172 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: they were supposed to hold. The wooden contraptions that they 173 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: added to the sides of the cart to enable this 174 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: were called cribs, and hence the name cribbing. It was 175 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: not uncommon for miners to be paid for digging out 176 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: two thousand pounds when they had actually dug out twenty pounds. 177 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: So that's stealing five pounds of coal from a minor. 178 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: That's a lot of of bullshit. So like they put 179 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: like a wooden basket around it, so they add more coal, 180 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: and then they essentially said that was one load of 181 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: coal when it was more like two or one and 182 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: a half. Yeah, it was more like one in a quarter, 183 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: but like, yeah, yeah, they would. They would get extra 184 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: coal for free. Basically, yeah, so that's cool. Mine operators 185 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: would also, Yeah, it's not great. It's not great. Mine 186 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: operators would all so often docked the pay of their 187 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: miners when they found slate and rock mixed in with 188 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: the coal. The man who did the weighing was the 189 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: judge of this, and since he was paid directly by 190 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: the mine owner, it was not uncommon for him to 191 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: just cheat the miners and lie about how much non 192 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: coal wound up in the coal. Um, so that's cool too. 193 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: And then of course your skin is crawling. Yeah, that's horrible. 194 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 1: It's just oh man, it gets so much worse. I mean, 195 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: just as a spoiler, we're about to talk about something 196 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:34,559 Speaker 1: called burecraticized rape. So strap in man on a great episode. 197 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: But first let's talk about company stores. Um, have you 198 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: even heard that song that goes you work sixteen tons 199 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: and what do you get another day? Older and deeper 200 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: in it? St Peter, don't you call me because I 201 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: can't go own my soul to the company store that song. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, 202 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: Well it's it's a song about coal mining back in 203 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: these days, and the company's store, um is a thing 204 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,320 Speaker 1: that like a lot of mining towns or mines would have, 205 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: and they didn't start out as necessarily exploitative. So like 206 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:07,839 Speaker 1: a lot of mines in the late eighteen hundreds in 207 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:09,839 Speaker 1: early nineteen hundreds were in the middle of nowhere, and 208 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: there would be like no town near the mine, and 209 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,599 Speaker 1: the miners would have to live nearby because it was 210 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: just the only way for the work to happen. So 211 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 1: the company would have to set up a store where 212 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: they could buy food and necessities. So like not inherently exploitative, 213 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: but having the only place where miners can shop be 214 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: owned by their employer also is super prone to exploitation, right, 215 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: Like you can see how an asshole who would do 216 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:37,960 Speaker 1: something like Cribbin could also take advantage of that bullshit. Um. So, 217 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:39,959 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of research done in company stores 218 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,680 Speaker 1: and a surprising amount of them actually don't seem to 219 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: have been abusive, and prices were in line with prices 220 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,319 Speaker 1: at independent businesses, uh, But a lot of them were 221 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: horrifically abusive and would like jack up prices to wagh 222 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: above what they would cost, and some companies would actually 223 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: make it would ban or fire miners from going into 224 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: other towns to shop at stores that weren't owned by 225 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: the company. Yeah, and West Virginia was a place where 226 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: this was particularly common because West Virginia then and now 227 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: was out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Um like 228 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: it's it is just nowhere stand um, So you could 229 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: really get away with a lot of fucking over miners 230 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 1: out there. Um. And another way they would suck over 231 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: miners was debt peonage. So pay for miners at this 232 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: period happened like once a month, and you also had 233 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: to have been working for a full month to get 234 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,560 Speaker 1: any pay um. And obviously I don't know if you're 235 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: aware of this, but if people don't get food and 236 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: water for a month, they die. Uh yeah, I've heard 237 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: such things. Yeah. Yeah, So companies would have to offer 238 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: script to workers who hadn't gotten paid yet, and this 239 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: was like basically an advance on their salary um. And 240 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: if you know, workers didn't make quite as much as 241 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: they thought they were going to make and they'd already 242 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: spent the company's script, they could wind up in a 243 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: situation where they were indebted to the company for long 244 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,719 Speaker 1: periods of time and basically just kept having to take 245 00:12:57,760 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: script to keep their family fed and never quite got 246 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: out of debts. So it's like you, some really bad 247 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: situations happened in this ship, um, and company stores came 248 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: along with a lot of other things, because in a 249 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: lot of cases you had company town. So like the 250 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 1: company would be responsible for like the school, and be 251 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: responsible for the store, would be the responsible for housing 252 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: all of their workers. That doesn't necessarily sound bad. Um. 253 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,559 Speaker 1: Although company houses were often squalid hovels, they also sometimes 254 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: were houses of decent quality. But the fact that you 255 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: were living in a house owned by your company meant 256 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: that you had no real security. If you got fired 257 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: for any reason, the company would kick you out of 258 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: your home the same day because you didn't have any 259 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: kind of lease or legal protections, so they had the 260 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,719 Speaker 1: ability to kick you out of your home and make 261 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 1: you homeless in the middle of the fucking mountains at 262 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: the drop of a hat. Um. So that's in a 263 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: great situation. I don't know, does does your industry work 264 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: that way? Spencer? Mine does not? Yeah? No, uh, well, 265 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: I don't know. It's the parallels to like your what 266 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: do you call it? Medical insurance coverage is very it 267 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: is it is to me, but it's similarly, Yes, yes, 268 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: there are definitely modern day parallels, but we should also 269 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,839 Speaker 1: acknowledge it was way worse back then, even though it 270 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: still sucks now. But like, yeah, it's that's actually a 271 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: very good point you make that, Like it's kind of 272 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: like health insurance where you can be fucked immediately if 273 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: your company kicks you off mountains in the metaphorical mountains 274 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: and the mountains of not being able to get your insulin, 275 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: which I guess is I don't know, let's say mount Hood. 276 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: Mount Hood is the mountain of insulin. I've always said, um, okay, 277 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: So yeah, there's a song called Company Town by Carl 278 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: Sandberg that I think confys how many miners felt about 279 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: their situation. I'm just going to read out the lyrics. Um, 280 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: you live in a company house, you go to a 281 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: company school, you work for this company. According to company rules, 282 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: you all drink company water, and all use company lights. 283 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: The company preacher teaches us what the company thinks is right. 284 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: So there's like that video game, right that just can 285 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: amount about like you're in space, but it's kind of 286 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: like this, Uh what the fund is that game? Um 287 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: Animal cross No, no, no, no no, although that has 288 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: its own there's a lot, a lot of lessons about 289 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: capitalism and animal crossing. Are you talking about the one 290 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: where you have to like junk a space hulk and 291 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: that's your job for like in the outer worlds, the 292 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: outer worlds? Yeah, and it's got like town you're in 293 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: like a planet that's owned by the company, and they've 294 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: got a preacher I think, and like yeah, that's what 295 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: they're this is like this is all based on actual 296 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: labor history, like that some of the ship in that 297 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: game they just have laser pistols, which they did not 298 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: back then. As a heads up, Yeah, which is lame. 299 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: They should have had laser pistols. This would be a 300 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: funner story different, Yeah, maybe not. Um So. Company stores 301 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: also gave the company a way to increase profits. When 302 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: the value of cold dropped, they could just soak their 303 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: employees by raising the price of goods, and company houses 304 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: gave them a strong lever to raise up if employees 305 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: ever complained about working conditions. If you don't like that 306 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: the boss is one ton, cart is actually one and 307 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: a half tons. Well, now, you're homeless, so like, yeah, 308 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: if this sounds a little bit like slavery to you, 309 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: it actually did to a number of black miners who 310 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: were former slaves themselves. So as a result of a 311 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: lot of the stuff we're gonna talk about in this episode, 312 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: there were a number of Senate inquiries, and in one 313 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: of the Senate inquiries, the Senate wound up talking to 314 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: a black miner named Mr. Eccles, and he asked about 315 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: like what he thought was the problem with the mining industry. 316 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: So here's what he said in the Senate quote. I 317 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: will tell you the miners asked the contractors or operators 318 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: to give them an opportunity to weigh the coal, and 319 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: they announced that they will not weigh it. They promised 320 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: to pay us by the ton, but they don't do it. 321 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: They promised, according to whatever the coal is, to pay 322 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: us by the ton, and we want them to put 323 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: it on the scales. All they do is say that 324 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: so and so much, and we have to take it. 325 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: There are some things that we cannot stand for. I 326 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: was raised a slave. My master and mistress called me 327 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: and I answered, and I know the time when I 328 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: was a slave, and I felt just like I feel now. 329 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: So it is not, um devaluing the suffering of slavery 330 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: to compare what these miners went through with slavery, because 331 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: some of them were former slaves and they specifically said, 332 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: this is actually not all that different. It wasn't there 333 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: like in it farming or something which seems very similar 334 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: share share cropping. Yeah, there's a lot of similarities with 335 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: share cropping, but that is that is a story for 336 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: another day. Um. And this is you know miners where 337 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: there were a lot of black miners and white miners, 338 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: and there were times when they worked together, in times 339 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: when they would like wind up, like white miners would 340 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: throw black miners under the bus to get a better deal. 341 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 1: Like both of those things happened. Um. We're not going 342 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: to get into the kind of racial history of of 343 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: the coal labor strikes and stuff as much as maybe 344 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 1: we ought to, because there's just a lot these are 345 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: all all labor history is very complicated and nuanced. So 346 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: I'm doing my best to tell a discreete story, and 347 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: I apologize for some things that will not be covered 348 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: in as much detail as they should. Um. So yeah, 349 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: coal miners sucked. Coal mining sucked. Coal miners were the 350 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: same as everybody else. Podcast takes a hard stance against 351 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: Suck you coal miners. We just pivot right to just 352 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: tearing a hole through coal miners, and the companies were 353 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: right because these people were motherfucker's Yet. Um, yeah, this 354 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: has been building to me just attacking coal miners for 355 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,719 Speaker 1: six episodes. No, okay, So yeah, all the problems I've 356 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: talked about existed for coal miners everywhere in the United States, 357 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,640 Speaker 1: from New Mexico to Michigan. But one particular piece of fury, 358 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: and maybe the most abusive thing that ever happened to 359 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: American coal miners, was unique to West Virginia, which also 360 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,679 Speaker 1: had a lot of the richest coal veins in the country. 361 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: So back in the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis, 362 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: there's this guy named Esau, right, and Esau was a 363 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: starving hunter who stumbled into his brother's tent begging for food, 364 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: and his his younger brother, Jacob, agreed defeat Esau, but 365 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: only in exchange for Esau giving up his birthright as 366 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: the firstborn son in the family. A bunch of other 367 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: stuff happens in biblical story, but it's not important. I 368 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: just needed to tell you who Esau is so we 369 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: can get to the rest of this. So, mine operators 370 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,439 Speaker 1: had a problem, Spencer, and that problem was that sometimes 371 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: their miners would get sick or would be injured and 372 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: would not be able to work for a period of time. 373 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: And since there was no social safety and at all, 374 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: this meant that they and their family would probably starve 375 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: to death. Now, the company didn't necessarily want these people 376 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 1: just to kick them out, because a lot of times 377 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: they'd get better. And you know, coal miners who were 378 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: good at their job are valuable um. So they found 379 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,160 Speaker 1: a way to deal with this that was still profitable 380 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: to them. And the way that they dealt with this 381 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,600 Speaker 1: was to take usually to take the next oldest male 382 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: member of the family and make them take their father's place. 383 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: But some children were too small to effectively work a 384 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: coal mine, and in these cases the company provided the 385 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 1: wife of a stricken miner with what was known as 386 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: esau script. Now this was a special type of script 387 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: currency only usable for food and other necessities. And I'm 388 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: going to quote now from an article I found on 389 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: CounterPunch based on the book Truth Be Told. Perspectives on 390 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: the Great West Virginia Mine War by Labor his storyan 391 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: Wes Harris quote. ESA was issued only two women, and 392 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: it was a form of script that would enable a 393 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,160 Speaker 1: woman to purchase food for her children during the time 394 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: that her husband could not work. The ESAU was only 395 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: good for thirty days, and if her husband went back 396 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: to work within those thirty days, then the company would 397 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: forgive the debt, and if he did not go back 398 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: to work at the end of thirty days, then the 399 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: script became a loan that was due in payable and 400 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: full on day thirty. At the time, most coal miners 401 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: wives did not hold jobs, but they still had to 402 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: pay back the loan, which was a collateralized loan, and 403 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: the women themselves were the collateral. Their physical selves would 404 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: be used to pay the debt. Yeah, you've picking up 405 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: on what this means. Yeah, a little yeah, yeah. Yeah. 406 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: It was coal mining rape dollars. That's what we're talking 407 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: about here, coal miner rape bucks. Yeah. Um. So the women, 408 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: I mean, you could quibble, I guess over whether or 409 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: not to call it rape. The women who did this 410 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: for their families tended to consent in the sense that 411 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: they agreed to give up access to their bodies in 412 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: exchange for ESAU script to stop their family from starving 413 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: to death. But yeah, exactly, like it's it's not really 414 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: consent if your children will die if you don't do 415 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: it right. Yeah. Yeah, they the coal mining the company 416 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:19,920 Speaker 1: had hostages. Yes, I feel comfortable calling it broadly rape. Um. Yeah, 417 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,439 Speaker 1: The article continues. Many of these incidents allegedly occurred at 418 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: the Whipple Colliery Company's store, located in Oak Hill, West Virginia, 419 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: where woman would walk up to a room on the 420 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,720 Speaker 1: third floor to try on shoes and in the process 421 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: be raped by coal company guards. The Whipple Company Store 422 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,199 Speaker 1: was one of three company stores built by Cold Barren 423 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: Justice Collins in Fayette County, West Virginia. Joy Lynn, who 424 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: now co owns the Whipple Company Store and has turned 425 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:44,239 Speaker 1: it into a museum, told client that she has had 426 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 1: as many as ten women visit the museum, who referred 427 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: to the third floor space as the rape room because 428 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: that is how the mine guards forced the women to 429 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: pay for their shoes. They would have to keep their 430 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 1: mouths shut tight about what had happened to them upstairs, 431 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: Lynn said, because the mining companies would threaten to kick 432 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: them out of their company owned houses. Yeah, so that's cool, 433 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,439 Speaker 1: it's not are you a it's not it's not good. 434 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: But I don't know this is this is terrible though. 435 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: My mind's going to that. But like what's the exchange rate? Like, 436 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: I mean, did is that something they quantified? But it's 437 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: like they got shoes? Yeah, I don't know what. That 438 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: doesn't seem I mean, nothing is worth anything, but like, 439 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but it's just like I don't know. Yeah, 440 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: I think it was more like while you're in I mean, 441 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: so there actually was an amount of an exchange rate 442 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: that was set up. And we don't have as much 443 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: detail on the system as we want because it was 444 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: very much kept under wraps and these women did not 445 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: like to talk about it, and the company certainly didn't 446 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,719 Speaker 1: like to talk about it. Um. The term that one 447 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: labor historian used for it is bureaucraticized rape um. And 448 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: there would be situations where because of their debt, women 449 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: would be essentially rented to a coal mining company and 450 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: sometimes like young girls, like a wife would if she 451 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: was too old for the company to one or whatever, 452 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,399 Speaker 1: would give up her daughter. And there were cases of 453 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,400 Speaker 1: like twelve year old girls um who were ted out 454 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: to the coal mom company for like periods of four 455 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: to six months and sometimes more than once. Like, you 456 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: incur some debt, you give up your daughter for four 457 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: to six months. Uh, she pays off the debt than 458 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,200 Speaker 1: you incur more debt and you give her back up. 459 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: Uh Like, stuff like that would be would be set 460 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: a lot of the time. So usually it was like 461 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: a set limit of time that you would have to 462 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,959 Speaker 1: spend prostituting yourself for your daughter to coal company guards 463 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: in exchange for you know, necessities, right, yeah, so that's good. 464 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, so, um, coal mercenaries, like the guards who 465 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: manned the coal mines were generally mercenaries. A lot of 466 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 1: them are former soldiers or cops or detectives and stuff 467 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: who got hired by the coal companies to brutally enforce 468 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: order in the mining camps. Uh. They took to calling 469 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: these women comfort girls or comfort wives, which is actually, 470 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: interestingly enough, a term virtually identical to the one Japanese 471 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: troops used for the sex slaves they took during the 472 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: occupation of Mancheria, which is neat little bit of historical 473 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: resonance there. That's always fun. Yeah yeah, yeah. So this 474 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: was not something that people discussed a lot at the time, 475 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: and this has led to a lot of controversy around 476 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: the system among historians, which we'll talk about at the 477 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: very end of the second part of this episode. But 478 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: historian West Harris gives one reason why the vast majority 479 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: of women caught up in the system never said anything 480 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 1: about it. Quote my senses, they weren't ashamed. It wasn't 481 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: something they were embarrassed about. It was very much in 482 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: the same vein as the men going into the coal 483 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: mine and taking risks they had no business taking. It's like, 484 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: you do what you have to do to feed your family. 485 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: They didn't talk about it, but they certainly weren't ashamed 486 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,160 Speaker 1: of it. Why would you be ashamed of feeding your kids? So, yeah, 487 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:43,639 Speaker 1: there's some complicated ship. But Spencer, you know what won't 488 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: moleste children as script currency? Um. I can think of 489 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: a lot of things. Only one the products and oh boy, 490 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: this this is a bad ad plug. Um no, yeah, 491 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: but by these purchase items please who we are back 492 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: and we are just still recovering from that really really 493 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: rough ad transition. Hit my head on that segue. Yeah, yeah, 494 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,359 Speaker 1: it's bad. It's as bad as the segue that the 495 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: guy who owned the segway company plunged off of that 496 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: cliff in Scotland on that's a bad segue. Ye oh boy, 497 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,159 Speaker 1: good Lord in heaven. Um. So yeah. In short, what 498 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: I've been talking about all episodes so far is just 499 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: kind of making the point that the coal miners in American, 500 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: particularly in West Virginia, had it rough. They had a 501 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: lot of bullshit to deal with, They were not treated well, 502 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: and they had reason to be very angry. Um and 503 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: people all throughout history have rebelled violently against their leaders 504 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: for a lot less than coal miners put up with. Um. Yeah. Now, unfortunately, 505 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: coal miners tended to be poor as shit. They had 506 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: no real political influence, and at least not on the 507 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: national level, and so the only way they could combat 508 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: all these abuses was to come together and form a 509 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: labor union. In eighteen eighty five, coal miners formed the 510 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 1: National Federation of Miners, which eventually evolved into the United 511 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: Mine Workers or u w M or u MW. Sorry 512 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,639 Speaker 1: I just mistrote it there. Uh. In his book The 513 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: Battle of Blair Mountain, historian Robert Shogun writes this about 514 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: the U m W quote. The UMW grew rapidly, but 515 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: it faced a major problem in one state, West Virginia, 516 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: where the union movement lagged far behind. This reality had 517 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: been driven home to the union in eight nine seven 518 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: when it staged a nationwide walkout in protest against wage 519 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: cuts brought on by the depression that devastated the economy 520 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: for most of the decade. Over a hundred thousand miners 521 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: responded and the strike paralyzed the northern fields. Now, like 522 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,400 Speaker 1: most such fights, this strike was essentially a waiting comp addition, 523 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: if the mining company ran out of money before the 524 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,719 Speaker 1: miners starved, the miners won and got what they wanted, 525 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: and West Virginia there were enough non union mines to 526 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: allow big business to hold out, So the new Union 527 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: called in for backup, bringing in the big guns of 528 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: the American Federation of Labor in to try to help 529 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,919 Speaker 1: them rally non union miners to the cause. As the 530 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: struggle picked up steam, famous left wing organizers flocked to 531 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: West Virginia, men like Eugene V. Deb's, founder of the 532 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: American Railways Union, and Mother Jones, who'd grown prominent from 533 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,360 Speaker 1: organizing miners in Pennsylvania. Do you see what's happening here? 534 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: Like they're the mind. Miners are trying to strike, but 535 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,719 Speaker 1: enough mines in West Virginia or non unionized that, like 536 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: the mind companies are able to to to to pull 537 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 1: out enough coal that they don't go bankrupt, so they 538 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 1: hold on. So like, the only way for the mining 539 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: for the unions to like win in the long term 540 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: is to unionize miners in West Virginia, so they start 541 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: bringing people into West Virginia to help them organized miners there. 542 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: So workers outside West Virginia, supported by groups like the 543 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: a f L, supported their brothers in the mines, and 544 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: so the mine owners found themselves forced to get creative 545 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,360 Speaker 1: to counter all of this, And by creative I mean violet. 546 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: Company police began cracking down on organizers at non union 547 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: mines and forcing them out of the state. Since these 548 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: miners all lived in company housing, it was a simple 549 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: manner of firing and evicting anybody who talked about joining 550 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,200 Speaker 1: a union. Workers around the country started to hold mass 551 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,679 Speaker 1: protests and support of the workers in West Virginia. But 552 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: solidarity only goes so far. One organizer sent by the 553 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,480 Speaker 1: a f L to work with black miners in McDowell 554 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: County wrote that trying to plan under the thumb of 555 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: company police was quote taking one's life into his hands. Quote, 556 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: while we never had any injunctions issued against us, like 557 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: by a court, we had men in winchesters against us, 558 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: which were in most cases just as effective. So he's 559 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: pointing out it was actually illegal to try to stop 560 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: these guys from organizing, but like like you couldn't like 561 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: legally stop them, right like courts couldn't stop them from 562 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: trying to organize. They had a right to do that, 563 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: but you could just send out men to shoot them. 564 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: Um and since there was no law on a lot 565 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: of these places, that worked just as well. And company 566 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: police regularly conducted drive by shootings. They would abduct and 567 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: beat organizers and often even murder them. John Mitchell, who 568 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: became the president of the United mind Workers, eventually was 569 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: attacked by company guards at a meeting. They opened fire 570 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: and he only survived by jumping into a mountain stream 571 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: and swimming away. So this is like like we're not 572 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,480 Speaker 1: talking about just like you know, Amazon just got very 573 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: rightly slammed because they fired a guy who was trying 574 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 1: to create a like organize a union of warehouse workers, 575 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: which is like fucked up and should be illegal. We'll 576 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 1: see if they actually face any consequences to it. Um, 577 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: and we shouldn't we I'm not gonna say that, like 578 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: Amazon shouldn't be slammed viciously for what they've done. But 579 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:46,760 Speaker 1: it was like the stakes were a lot higher back 580 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: in the the these days or those days, right, like 581 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: they were like machine gunning people. Yeah, it's intense, it's 582 00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: pretty cool, pretty pretty cool, Spencer. Yeah, well, it's like 583 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: there's not I mean, they're not shooting people these days, 584 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: but there's not a lot of consequences for sucking over 585 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: people who try to unionize these days. Right in the 586 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 1: court of laws doesn't really go very well, no, because 587 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: like you know, they have all of the money in 588 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: the entire world, so they can, you know, even if 589 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: what they're doing is illegal, they can elongate the court 590 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: case that will eventually, you know, I think it's probable 591 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: that Amazon will eventually pay fines for what they're doing, 592 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: but they'll have made so much more money by breaking 593 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: the law by the time. Like that, I'm sure they 594 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: have been counters who are like, these laws we can 595 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: afford to break because the fines will probably be this 596 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: amount and will make this amount by breaking the law, 597 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: you know, Yeah, I mean a fine is just a 598 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: price for breaking the law. It's like you actually can 599 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: break the law if you pay the law brick tax. Yeah, exactly, 600 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: which is why instead of finds the company that, in 601 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: my opinion, instead of finding Amazon when they are caught 602 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: doing something like this, Jeff Bezos should be forced to 603 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: stand in crotchless pants, uh, in front of a group 604 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: of we'll pick by lottery, let's say a hundred and 605 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: fifty employees from the specific factory UM where the violation occurred, 606 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: and they each get to kick him in the nuts, 607 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: and it's televised that zombie song that you were taunting 608 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: me with by the Cranberries. I love that song, A 609 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: great song about the Irish Civil War. UM. I don't 610 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,479 Speaker 1: see why we're bringing that into here, but I do 611 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: think that Jeff Bezos would think twice before cracking down 612 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: on unions if he had to be kicked in the 613 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: nuts for several hours by a hundred and fifty different people, 614 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: and over and over and over again, twice every time 615 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: you heard that pretty good cover of the song by 616 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: state radio. But this is beside the point. So in 617 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: many rural counties, the local sheriff's department was completely owned 618 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,840 Speaker 1: by one or more mining companies, and normal police were 619 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: very regularly owned as strike breakers. It's almost as if 620 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,080 Speaker 1: police are I don't know, you might call them like 621 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: if if we could divide people who were from people 622 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: who have capital into classes, and police are in the 623 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: same class as miners, but they're like kind of betraying 624 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: them in exchange for money, like a traitor to their class. 625 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. I'm sure no one's 626 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: had this thought other than me. Um. So, Yeah, the 627 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: most infamous example of this happened in eight the Latimer 628 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,719 Speaker 1: massacre in Pennsylvania. A hundred and fifty armed Luzerne County 629 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: deputies confronted three to four hundred immigrant coal miners on 630 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: their way to a pro union protest. They've fired into 631 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: the crowd of peaceful demonstrators, hitting many in the back 632 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: and killing nineteen people. Um, but ship like this happened 633 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 1: all the time, you would regularly have police just start 634 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: shooting into a crowd. Um, because that's actually a really 635 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: good way. I don't know if you've ever tried to 636 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: break up a crowd, but firing wildly into it tends 637 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: to people don't like that. Yeah, oddly enough, you can't 638 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: stay there. No, No, most people don't, yeah, exactly. Most 639 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: people hate bullets for reasons that I think are mysterious, 640 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: but there's documentation of them. So despite numerous atrocities, the 641 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: miners of the UMW held out. They viewed what was 642 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,479 Speaker 1: happening as a struggle for their very survival. And I'm 643 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: gonna quote from a union official named Frank Keney, who 644 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: was a participant in a lot of this stuff. I'm 645 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: a native West Virginia. There are others like me working 646 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: in the minds here. We don't propose to get out 647 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 1: of the way when a lot of capitalists from New 648 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 1: York and London come down here and tell us to 649 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: get off the earth. They played that game on the 650 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: American Indian. They gave him the end of the log 651 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: to sit on and then pushed him off. That we 652 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: don't propose to be pushed off. They say that we 653 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: shall not organize West Virginia. They are mistaken. If Frank 654 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: Keney can't do it, someone will take his place who can. 655 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: But West Virginia will be organized, and it will be 656 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: organized completely. So a lot of brave people in the 657 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 1: Union movement at this period um but also they're like 658 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: it's almost like a situation. I think what Keney would 659 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: say is like, it's not even bravery, there's just nothing. 660 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: It's it's the choice between organizing or extermination. They will 661 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: kill us all by by chiseling away at our lives 662 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: if we don't do this. And it seems like they 663 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: probably had real world like kind of analogs that they 664 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,919 Speaker 1: can see in very recent history. Is like, oh, that's 665 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,320 Speaker 1: happening to us. Yeah, they were probably a bit woker 666 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: than the average American. Like you see, Kenny, they're kind 667 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 1: of acknowledging that, like what was done to the Native 668 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,359 Speaker 1: Americans was horrific and like seeing that like, oh and 669 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: now kind of the descendants of the people who killed 670 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: all of them, um, are are executing the same sort 671 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,279 Speaker 1: of thing here. Like that's his attitude, which is at 672 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: least acknowledging that what happened to the native peoples of 673 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,279 Speaker 1: this continent was bad. Um. So that's interesting. Like you 674 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: can see some like early sort of intersectionality solidarity, like 675 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 1: that kind of thought starting to get woven through the 676 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:47,439 Speaker 1: labor movement, um say yeah, and eventually through blood, toil 677 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: and tiers. The miners of West Virginia forced their employers 678 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: to the table. The result of their victory was the 679 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: Central Competitive Field Agreement, a sort of magna carta between 680 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:00,240 Speaker 1: miners and mine operators in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. 681 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: It did not fix prices for coal, but it's set 682 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 1: a scale for wages and established some minimal conditions from miners. 683 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,279 Speaker 1: The biggest win was that miners got an eight hour 684 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: work day, which is better than a however long until 685 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 1: you collapse deat of a heart attack work day. Now, 686 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,320 Speaker 1: the success of the eight nine seven strike drew huge 687 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,359 Speaker 1: amounts of people to the United Mine Workers Banner. By 688 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: nineteen o one, it had more than a quarter of 689 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 1: a million members. In a few short years, this very 690 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,800 Speaker 1: new union had become the largest union in the country. 691 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: But all was still not well, and in the wake 692 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:34,719 Speaker 1: of the strike, mine operators did their best to claw 693 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 1: back as much as they could from their employees. One 694 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,320 Speaker 1: major tactic for doing this was to have the check wayman, 695 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: the guys who weighed the coal for the company, rigged 696 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,840 Speaker 1: the company scales to show lower weights than we're actually 697 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: being pulled through. UM, so these keep finding ways to 698 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,880 Speaker 1: funk with with with miners On the weights, um, And 699 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 1: so the miners would be like, no, we need to 700 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: have union men. They're watching the weighing of the coal, 701 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: and the company said, no, you can't do that, YadA 702 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,920 Speaker 1: YadA YadA um. And as the nineteen hundreds dawned, unions 703 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: began agitating against this practice too, as described in this 704 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:09,879 Speaker 1: minor ballad quote, union miners stand together, he'd no operator's tail. 705 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 1: Keep your hand upon the dollar and your eye upon 706 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,080 Speaker 1: the scale. Good songs from miners in this period. So 707 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: things were particularly bad in West Virginia, as is usual 708 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: even to this day in West Virginia, where mine owners 709 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: were increasingly shady and huge numbers of miners lived in 710 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: unbelievably squalid camps. In Cabin and Paint Creek, more than 711 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: thirty five thousand non union miners and their families lived 712 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: in coal camps, and life in these places was the 713 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,600 Speaker 1: very worst of coal mining. Only company stores were available, 714 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,320 Speaker 1: and mine owners banned workers from traveling to nearby towns 715 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 1: to purchase goods. The situation grew increasingly desperate, and many 716 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,279 Speaker 1: within the camps began to look to the Union as 717 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: their only hope for a better life. In April of 718 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,440 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve, the non union miners and Paint Creek who 719 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 1: announced the desired to former union and submitted a list 720 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: of demands that included union recognition, the right to free 721 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: speech and peaceable assembly. This is something they were demanding 722 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: from their companies, which denied it to them, um, which 723 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: you may recognize as an inherent human right, um, but 724 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 1: not not for coal miners um. Uh. Yeah, and into 725 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: the blacklisting of union men and into mandatory company stores, 726 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 1: and in and into cribbing. Uh. They also demanded that 727 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: mine owners established two thousand pounds is the official weight 728 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:25,920 Speaker 1: of a ton. And you may recognize that two thousand 729 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: pounds is in fact the weight of a ton, but um. 730 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: And they demanded the right to check the mind scales 731 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,719 Speaker 1: and they have union representatives watch this process. Uh. Now. 732 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: The mine operators rejected these demands and the miners of 733 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,720 Speaker 1: Cabin Creek went on strike for a month. The strike 734 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: went peacefully, with the UMW providing food and other necessities 735 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: from striking miners. So part of what a big union 736 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,480 Speaker 1: that covered multiple states with the um would do is 737 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 1: you would pay dues, and those dues would not only 738 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: go to paying for union officials and like essentially lobbying, 739 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: but when a strike happened, it would go to make 740 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 1: sure that, like people, strikers who weren't working didn't starve 741 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: to death, so that you could actually strike long enough 742 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: to get what you wanted. Um. It's kind of the 743 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: whole point of a union, really, right. Yeah. Uh. Now, 744 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 1: when it became clear to the companies, the people who 745 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: owned the minds that these workers were striking from, that 746 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: this was not going to end quickly, the coal companies 747 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:20,400 Speaker 1: decided to bring in the big guns, which were again 748 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,799 Speaker 1: literal guns, and in this case they were wielded by 749 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: the men from the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency, and Baldwin 750 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 1: Felts was essentially one of the era's equivalents to a 751 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: group like Blackwater. These guys were mercenaries, and a lot 752 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: of them were in fact former soldiers with combat experience, 753 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,319 Speaker 1: and they worked in the United States and cracked down 754 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,880 Speaker 1: on labor. Uh. Now, the agency brought in three hundred 755 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,279 Speaker 1: detectives to act as strike breakers. One contemporary journalist who 756 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:48,920 Speaker 1: interviewed a number of these men wrote, these guards were 757 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 1: professional strike breakers, all try it on a dozen industrial 758 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: battlefields and willing to shoot with or without provocation. They 759 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: immediately began and a campaign of assault, intimidation, and terrorism. 760 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,000 Speaker 1: I'm going to quote next from a study by hoyt 761 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: In Wheeler, a labor historian with the University of Wyoming. Quote. 762 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,560 Speaker 1: The first action of the mine guards was to evict 763 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: miners and their families from company owned houses. Personal belongings 764 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: were loaded on two trains, transported off company property and 765 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,759 Speaker 1: dumped beside the railroad tracks. Miners and their families took 766 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,439 Speaker 1: up residents and tent colonies established by the United Mine 767 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:24,160 Speaker 1: Workers Union. At this juncture, Mary Mother Jones, and aged 768 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,279 Speaker 1: but vigorous and profane labor agitator, was brought into the 769 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,080 Speaker 1: fray by the union. Mother Jones was a veteran combatant 770 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:32,200 Speaker 1: in the labor wars in which the United Mine Workers 771 00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: Union became involved. She's perhaps the most colorful character of 772 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 1: this era of American labor history. At a speech on 773 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:39,799 Speaker 1: the steps of the state capital in Charleston, she told 774 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: a large gathering of miners, arm yourselves, return home and 775 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,440 Speaker 1: kill every goddamned mine guard on the creeks, blow up 776 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: the mines, and drive the damned scabs out of the valleys. Man, 777 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 1: this is like shadow run ship, except the future exactly 778 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:59,440 Speaker 1: definitely happened. It's like this already happened. Well, one of 779 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: the things you realized when you read about labor history 780 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,239 Speaker 1: is that a lot of them, a lot of like 781 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:08,080 Speaker 1: great cyberpunk, you know, including Shadow Run. The guys who 782 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,240 Speaker 1: like wrote that stuff starting in like the late nineteen 783 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: eighties early nineties knew a lot of this history. And 784 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: we're explicitly being like, we see this coming back again 785 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: because like we were paying attention to the news like 786 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,440 Speaker 1: the Reagan era, the chiseling away of workers rights, like 787 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,640 Speaker 1: the things that were gained by the fighting in this era, 788 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:26,279 Speaker 1: Like they were just kind of predicting that, like, as 789 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 1: this stuff is chiseled away, these fights are going to 790 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: start up again, only people will have moved by wire 791 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: systems installed in their reflexes and fancy machine guns in 792 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,480 Speaker 1: the internet. Like yeah, but yes, you're right, this is 793 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: very cyberpunk and would make like an adapted setting like 794 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:46,759 Speaker 1: this would make a pretty fucking cool Shadow Run campaign. Yeah. Man, 795 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,640 Speaker 1: So the Union provided these striking miners with the tools 796 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,960 Speaker 1: to do just what mother Jones suggested because unions, by 797 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,359 Speaker 1: the way, unions are considered kind of boring today, they 798 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: were not in these days. So they the UMW smuggled 799 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,239 Speaker 1: in six machine guns, a thousand rifles, and fifty rounds 800 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:09,239 Speaker 1: of ammunition just to start. And this seems like a 801 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,520 Speaker 1: lot of of weaponry, but all it really did was 802 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: even the scales because the coal operators had also purchased 803 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:18,000 Speaker 1: huge amounts of weaponry for their guards, the Baldwin Feltsman. 804 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,960 Speaker 1: Both sides loaded up with weapons and began to advance 805 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,520 Speaker 1: on one another. Now, the governor of West Virginia at 806 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,840 Speaker 1: the time was a fellow named Richard Glasscock, and it 807 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: was within his power to stop the mine operators from 808 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,319 Speaker 1: hiring mercenaries and deploying crooked, heavily armed cops to break 809 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:34,719 Speaker 1: the strike. The fact that he refused to do so 810 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 1: was noted by Mother Jones and her public speeches. She 811 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,960 Speaker 1: refused to refer to Glasscock by his name, calling him 812 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:46,959 Speaker 1: a crystal Peter for modesty's sake. So that's so good. 813 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:52,879 Speaker 1: That's really good, right, isn't that funny? Man? Yeah, it's 814 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 1: pretty pretty great. In August, she told him during a 815 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,040 Speaker 1: speech to minors, I warned this little governor that unless 816 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: he rids Paint Creek in Cabinet Creek of these goddamn 817 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 1: Baldwin Felt's mine guard thugs, this is gonna there is 818 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:05,840 Speaker 1: going to be one hell of a lot of blood 819 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 1: letting in these hills. Now, officially, the government of West 820 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,560 Speaker 1: Virginia was not a super thrilled with any of this, 821 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 1: and Governor Glascock volunteered to mediate the strike, but the 822 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:20,040 Speaker 1: mine operators said no. Union miners responded by posting up 823 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 1: on the mountain sides of the valley and sniping at 824 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:27,319 Speaker 1: mine guards, killing a number of them. So we are like, yeah, um, 825 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,239 Speaker 1: and remember like mine guards had been shooting in abducting 826 00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:32,440 Speaker 1: and beating and murdering people prior to this too, Like 827 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: this is a cycle of violence here now. So yeah, 828 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,080 Speaker 1: the miners start sniping from the mountain sides and killing 829 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,560 Speaker 1: mine guards. So the operators of the mines respond by 830 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,759 Speaker 1: building fortresses to protect their guards and to protect the 831 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: scabs who are working the mines. So because the mine 832 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,920 Speaker 1: companies had built fortresses, there's nothing for the miners to 833 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: do but to launch an assault at these fortresses. And 834 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: they start at a place called Mucklow on Paint Creek 835 00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: and a massive battle results. More than a hundred thousand 836 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,799 Speaker 1: shots were fired in sixteen people were killed over the 837 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:07,120 Speaker 1: course of multiple days. What I've got a picture of 838 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,560 Speaker 1: these fortresses, Like what are they building? You know, I'm 839 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: imagining mostly wooden ramparts in the like a lot of cases. 840 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,319 Speaker 1: If you look at like the forts that they would 841 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,600 Speaker 1: just like take huge stacks of what were fire would 842 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:20,479 Speaker 1: and they would place like cannons within them, like which 843 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:22,880 Speaker 1: by the way, like it is better than nothing if 844 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: you have if your only cover, as a woodpile would 845 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,480 Speaker 1: will stop a lot of rounds, um if it's thick enough, 846 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,000 Speaker 1: but also shards of wood get kicked up. This is 847 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,439 Speaker 1: why sandbags are ideal if you are a modern day 848 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: striker and you want to build a decent fortification to 849 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: stop say the kind of rifles that police have access to, 850 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:44,560 Speaker 1: a sandbag is going to have less wood shrapnel than 851 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: a pile of wood. Just as a heads up, Um, 852 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:50,840 Speaker 1: this is all good information, important info for I don't know, 853 00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:57,240 Speaker 1: let's say three weeks from now. So more skirmishes followed 854 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,839 Speaker 1: the Battle of Mucklaw, culminating in a massive salt by 855 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:06,000 Speaker 1: six thousand armed Union miners on September one, nineteen twelve. 856 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,040 Speaker 1: These are armies like these are literal armies of people 857 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:16,680 Speaker 1: like wars have been thought like most medieval wars involved 858 00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:20,839 Speaker 1: less human beings armed and fighting than are taking like 859 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:26,399 Speaker 1: fighting in just West Virginia. Um, it's fucking crazy. Yeah. 860 00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:28,440 Speaker 1: Uh so this the army assembled at the mouths of 861 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,799 Speaker 1: Payton Cabin Creek, and it sent a message to the 862 00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,719 Speaker 1: mine operators if they continued to use strike breakers, the 863 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: miners would murder every single mine guard and destroy all 864 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,840 Speaker 1: company infrastructure in the area. And of course, the bosses 865 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 1: refused to back down. They just hired more armed guards 866 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,680 Speaker 1: and prepared to fight. The whole situation might have ended 867 00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:49,080 Speaker 1: in a massive blood bath if the governor hadn't declared 868 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:51,919 Speaker 1: martial law and activated the state militia to pull both 869 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: sides apart from one another. Now, of course, this militia 870 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,880 Speaker 1: was made up primarily of upper middle class gentry of 871 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,359 Speaker 1: West Virginia. These were conservative men, and they had an 872 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 1: instinctive hatred of low income immigrant laborers. Uh. And the 873 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:07,080 Speaker 1: strike was broken up and the militia deactivated. Many of 874 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:09,320 Speaker 1: them stayed on as mine guards for the coal companies, 875 00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,920 Speaker 1: which provided them with enough security to reopen the minds 876 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,799 Speaker 1: with more scabs and of course, the miners grabbed their 877 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,360 Speaker 1: guns and started shooting again, and then the whole situation 878 00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:21,080 Speaker 1: started over. That November, martial law was declared a second time, 879 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:23,880 Speaker 1: and the mine guards basically just threw on official government 880 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:26,800 Speaker 1: uniforms and then cracked out on miners with the approval 881 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,680 Speaker 1: of the state. Union Men who were arrested during this 882 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:33,840 Speaker 1: period were tried by military tribunals under military law, and 883 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,280 Speaker 1: many were sentenced to long prison terms. This was often illegal, 884 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,800 Speaker 1: as the courts were happy to sentence miners for crimes 885 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,759 Speaker 1: committed well before the actual period of martial law. The 886 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,920 Speaker 1: crackdown was eventually successful, and by January the strike had 887 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:48,840 Speaker 1: been broken, but it started up again in February, leading 888 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,360 Speaker 1: to a third declaration of martial law. So this is 889 00:45:52,400 --> 00:46:00,480 Speaker 1: not going super well for anybody, really, is abs salutely 890 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,799 Speaker 1: definitely a better civil war than the last one? I mean, 891 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,279 Speaker 1: as in all civil well not all civil wars, as 892 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:09,200 Speaker 1: in most civil wars, one side is objectively shitty here. 893 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:14,360 Speaker 1: Um yeah, but yeah so um. By this point, the 894 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,279 Speaker 1: chief mine operator, a guy named Quinn Morton, was fed 895 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,360 Speaker 1: up with all of this back and forth, so his 896 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:23,400 Speaker 1: company paid for a special armored train which they filled 897 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,480 Speaker 1: with Canawas sheriff's deputies and mine guards and called the 898 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:32,280 Speaker 1: bull Moose Special. So they drove this armored train filled 899 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,960 Speaker 1: with armed men through the Paint Creek miners camp and 900 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,239 Speaker 1: their official purpose was to serve a warrant to a 901 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:42,479 Speaker 1: guy named John Doe for inciting a riot. I'm gonna 902 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:46,719 Speaker 1: read Professor Howitt Wheeler's recitation of what happened next. As 903 00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:49,240 Speaker 1: the train passed through Holly Grove, a miner's tent colony, 904 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:52,240 Speaker 1: Morton and his mine guards sprayed rifle and machine gun 905 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,320 Speaker 1: fire into the colony. Morton was reported to have said, 906 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:57,720 Speaker 1: we gave them hell and had a lot of fun. 907 00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:03,680 Speaker 1: Let's go back and give them another round. Owned at 908 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 1: least one person was killed and a number were wounded, 909 00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,600 Speaker 1: and we'll never get an accurate count of of what happened, 910 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:11,400 Speaker 1: but yeah, now we've got armored vehicles charging into an 911 00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:15,200 Speaker 1: encampment and stuff like. Yeah. The miners retaliated by launching 912 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,080 Speaker 1: a mass assault on a corporate encampment. A multi hour 913 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,879 Speaker 1: gun battle left another sixteen people, most of the mine 914 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,560 Speaker 1: guards dead. With the guards in flight, miners dynamited critical 915 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:27,760 Speaker 1: infrastructure and successfully turned back a train loaded with scabs 916 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,640 Speaker 1: sent by the bosses to take their jobs. In response, 917 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 1: Governor Glascock sent the militia in Now in March, a 918 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,080 Speaker 1: new governor took office, Dr Henry Hatfield, of the famous 919 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:41,440 Speaker 1: Hatfield family. You know, the Hatfields and McCoy. It's the 920 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:43,839 Speaker 1: feuding families. Yeah, you're gonna hear a lot about halt 921 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 1: Fields this episode. So. Dr Henry Hatfield was more sympathetic 922 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,279 Speaker 1: to the strikers, and he visited the strike area with 923 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: his medical equipment to provide aid as one of his 924 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,600 Speaker 1: first official acts in office. When he arrived, he found 925 00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:59,720 Speaker 1: mother Jones locked in a local jail. She'd been convicted 926 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,399 Speaker 1: of aiding by a military tribunal and sentenced to twenty 927 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,239 Speaker 1: years in prison, and she was very clearly near death. 928 00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:07,520 Speaker 1: Her temperature was a hundred and four degrees and Dr 929 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,239 Speaker 1: Hatfield immediately ascertained that she had been left without any 930 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,799 Speaker 1: medical care in herself. He ordered her remove to the 931 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,920 Speaker 1: capital and provided with medical attention. Dr Hatfield, the new governor, 932 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:19,200 Speaker 1: spent two days at the front talking to miners and 933 00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,640 Speaker 1: providing them with medical assistance. The mine operators complained that 934 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:24,600 Speaker 1: he was toadying to these men, and they sent a 935 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:28,000 Speaker 1: delegation to complain. One of these corporate representatives told the 936 00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,319 Speaker 1: governor to his face that it was unwise for him 937 00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:33,680 Speaker 1: to enter the strike zone. Dr Hatfield responded by punching 938 00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 1: this man repeatedly in his face and knocking him to 939 00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:44,160 Speaker 1: the ground. God solid governoring. They're like, yeah, the idea 940 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:47,319 Speaker 1: of repeated punches to a faith before someone gets knocked down, 941 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,120 Speaker 1: it's pretty funny to me. It is, it is. And 942 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:56,040 Speaker 1: people were talking, won't punch you in the face, you 943 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:59,640 Speaker 1: know what, won't repeatedly punch? Well, actually you want them 944 00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:06,719 Speaker 1: to this kind of person into the face, I'd buy 945 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:18,480 Speaker 1: some products. We're back from another flawless ad transition. So 946 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,360 Speaker 1: Governor Hatfield punches a guy out. Then he orders the 947 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:25,520 Speaker 1: mine operators to settle with the miners in the next 948 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 1: few days, and he threatens that if they don't come 949 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,640 Speaker 1: to a settlement, then Hill settle the strike for them. 950 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,319 Speaker 1: The mine operators failed to do this, possibly in an 951 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:36,719 Speaker 1: attempt to call the governor's bluff, But Dr Henry Hatfield 952 00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:39,480 Speaker 1: was not a bluffing man. He immediately rescinded the sentences 953 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,000 Speaker 1: of all the men convicted under military courts. Then he 954 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:44,920 Speaker 1: mandated that the striking union men should get the majority 955 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:47,960 Speaker 1: of the things that they'd asked for. Um. And he 956 00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,600 Speaker 1: sounds pretty awesome, and he was definitely better than Governor Glasscock. 957 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:52,440 Speaker 1: But we're gonna talk about some shitty things that Dr 958 00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:54,960 Speaker 1: Hatfield did as governor UM in this but he was, 959 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:59,680 Speaker 1: you know, broadly pro union, at least compared to his predecessor. 960 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:04,719 Speaker 1: It's that's good. So uh Yeah. Now, in his last 961 00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:07,520 Speaker 1: year of office, Governor Glasscock had appointed a commission to 962 00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:10,080 Speaker 1: investigate the causes of the strike, and they kind of 963 00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:12,920 Speaker 1: finished their work after the strike was ended by the 964 00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:17,000 Speaker 1: next Governor Hatfield. And not surprisingly, the men that Governor 965 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:20,400 Speaker 1: Glasscock had picked to figure out the cause of the strike, Uh, 966 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:22,920 Speaker 1: they did a bunch of research and shockingly found that 967 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: actually wages in Paint Creek were very fair. Uh, and 968 00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: there was no good reason for the miners to have 969 00:50:28,719 --> 00:50:31,839 Speaker 1: have gone on strike. Uh. They noted that quote as 970 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:33,799 Speaker 1: to the main causes of the trouble, this rises, in 971 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,160 Speaker 1: our judgment, from the efforts of the United mind Workers 972 00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:38,320 Speaker 1: to organize the union and the whole chain of events 973 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:41,000 Speaker 1: alongside said creeks. The desire to make the present strike 974 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 1: region the place for the insertion of a thin edge 975 00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:46,200 Speaker 1: of unionism with the ultimate aim of organizing the whole state. 976 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:50,480 Speaker 1: So they decided that, like, yeah, this this state Commission 977 00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:52,720 Speaker 1: comes to the conclusion that it's all the union's fault 978 00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:57,200 Speaker 1: that things got so bad. Um. Now, thankfully the United 979 00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:00,520 Speaker 1: States Senate also gets involved and decides doing investigate the 980 00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:03,120 Speaker 1: strike and and you know, there they come to a 981 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:08,839 Speaker 1: bit more fairer conclusions than the State of West Virginia's handpickman. Uh. 982 00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:12,120 Speaker 1: They actually called the former Governor Glasscock to testify, and 983 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:16,520 Speaker 1: he tells them in under oath, his his his his 984 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:18,880 Speaker 1: stance changes a bit, and he admits that the trouble 985 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:21,360 Speaker 1: had commenced after the operators on Paint Creek had a 986 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:24,759 Speaker 1: uh sign like declined to enter into a new agreement 987 00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:30,640 Speaker 1: with the striking miners. Um. Yeah, and uh. During like 988 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,239 Speaker 1: his his testimony in front of the Senate, one of 989 00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:36,960 Speaker 1: the senators questioning him asks Governor Glascock, it seems to 990 00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:39,520 Speaker 1: be that the mind guards were the disturbing element among 991 00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:43,239 Speaker 1: which this trouble arose, and Governor Glasscock responded, that was 992 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:49,200 Speaker 1: my impression, Senator, yes, sir, So that's interesting. Um yeah. Now, 993 00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:52,040 Speaker 1: in the end, the Senate Committee concluded the basic cause 994 00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:56,279 Speaker 1: is the private ownership of great public necessities such as coal. This, 995 00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:59,560 Speaker 1: coupled with human greed incident to such ownership, has brought 996 00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,960 Speaker 1: about the deplorable and Unamerican conditions in the West Virginia 997 00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:05,000 Speaker 1: coal fields. Now this is interesting to me for a 998 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:08,120 Speaker 1: couple of reasons. One of them is that we have 999 00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,520 Speaker 1: a coal is not so much a great public necessity 1000 00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:13,640 Speaker 1: these days. Um, But you might call in the middle, 1001 00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:17,600 Speaker 1: particularly of a gigantic pandemic, in which case people aren't 1002 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:19,840 Speaker 1: able to shop at the wide variety of stores that 1003 00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:22,600 Speaker 1: they normally get their necessities from, you might call a 1004 00:52:22,719 --> 00:52:27,280 Speaker 1: service that ships things to people's door nationwide and provides 1005 00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:30,719 Speaker 1: an avenue for small and medium and even large businesses 1006 00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:32,520 Speaker 1: to get their products into the hands of Americans who 1007 00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:34,680 Speaker 1: need them during these times, you might call such a 1008 00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:39,640 Speaker 1: business a great public necessity. And you might say that 1009 00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:44,680 Speaker 1: the rampaging infections and Amazon workhouses, uh, and they're they're 1010 00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:48,040 Speaker 1: illegal crackdowns on union labor, you might call that an 1011 00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:51,399 Speaker 1: example of human greed incident to the ownership of such 1012 00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:55,200 Speaker 1: great public necessities bringing about deplorable, non American conditions. You 1013 00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:59,440 Speaker 1: might you might say that I will. I'll say a 1014 00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:03,320 Speaker 1: right now. Yeah. Yeah, Actually I can't remember all the words, 1015 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,000 Speaker 1: but I just imagine me saying it. Yeah. I I 1016 00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:08,279 Speaker 1: think we can all get that into our head. So 1017 00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:11,880 Speaker 1: the coal companies lost this battle, um, but they were 1018 00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,120 Speaker 1: not about to give up on their greater war against 1019 00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,200 Speaker 1: their own laborers. As Robert Shogun rights in the Battle 1020 00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:19,680 Speaker 1: for Blair Mountain quote, coal Age, the Journal of the 1021 00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:22,480 Speaker 1: Coal Operators, it's like a magazine for coal company man 1022 00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,439 Speaker 1: declared that the so called strike on cabin and paint 1023 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:29,200 Speaker 1: creeks was in reality an armed insurrection formulated by agitators 1024 00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:33,960 Speaker 1: hired by the union, and afterwards reinforced by socialists. That's 1025 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:35,719 Speaker 1: how they you can, that's how they wanted that to 1026 00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:39,080 Speaker 1: be pronounced. I'm canceling my subscription to cole Age right now. 1027 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,840 Speaker 1: Oh now, don't, don't. Don't be a reactionary. Cole Age 1028 00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:44,839 Speaker 1: has a lot of good Like how else you gotta 1029 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:48,799 Speaker 1: learn who the best strike breakers are? Something we all 1030 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:53,600 Speaker 1: need this. This podcast is heavily supported by coal Age. 1031 00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:59,160 Speaker 1: Please keep your subscriptions active, people. So, the coal operators 1032 00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:01,600 Speaker 1: now saw the miners in the union not simply as 1033 00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:05,760 Speaker 1: economic adversaries, but as a diabolical force, uh, not merely 1034 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:09,000 Speaker 1: seeking unionization, but domination of the West Virginia coal industry 1035 00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,920 Speaker 1: and of the United States. Mine operators in Mingo County 1036 00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,640 Speaker 1: were particularly worried about the Cabin and Paint Creek strike. 1037 00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:18,080 Speaker 1: Their non union workforce was perpetually restive, and it was 1038 00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:21,640 Speaker 1: not exactly a secret that UMW representatives had started reaching 1039 00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:24,600 Speaker 1: out to these men. The operators in Mingo County condemned 1040 00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:28,080 Speaker 1: the union as unlawful, per se, revolutionary in character, and 1041 00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,400 Speaker 1: a menace to the free institutions of the country. For 1042 00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:35,200 Speaker 1: their part, the union responded to victory by expanding their ambitions. 1043 00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:39,200 Speaker 1: In nineteen twelve, the United Mine Workers Union amended their constitution, 1044 00:54:39,280 --> 00:54:42,440 Speaker 1: adding a clause that miners were entitled to the full 1045 00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:46,440 Speaker 1: social value of their product. What does that mean? What 1046 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:48,799 Speaker 1: do you think that would mean? The full social Saying 1047 00:54:48,840 --> 00:54:51,160 Speaker 1: that workers are entitled to the full social value of 1048 00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:55,279 Speaker 1: their product, it sounds like they should be owning the 1049 00:54:55,360 --> 00:55:01,319 Speaker 1: means of production. That might be a way to interpret that. Spencer, Yeah, yeah, 1050 00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:03,840 Speaker 1: basically in the way you know, because we have like 1051 00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:05,880 Speaker 1: minutes of the actual debates, because like there were debates 1052 00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:07,920 Speaker 1: even within the union, like they weren't all of one mind, 1053 00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:11,200 Speaker 1: Um and and kind of yeah. One of the ways 1054 00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:14,560 Speaker 1: you'll hear this set is that, like, just and this 1055 00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:16,040 Speaker 1: is kind of like the simplest way to state that 1056 00:55:16,120 --> 00:55:18,480 Speaker 1: if you work an hour, what you get back should 1057 00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:20,400 Speaker 1: be worth an hour of your life. And I think 1058 00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:21,920 Speaker 1: a lot of people would argue that an hour of 1059 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,319 Speaker 1: their life is worth more than seven dollars or even 1060 00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:27,880 Speaker 1: fifteen dollars. Another way to look at this is that, uh, 1061 00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:32,000 Speaker 1: you you are in whatever whatever work you do, the 1062 00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,960 Speaker 1: profit that that work generates, you are entitled to, not 1063 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:38,319 Speaker 1: the bosses, not the shareholders, not the corporate executives who 1064 00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:41,360 Speaker 1: drive armored trains through mining encampments and fire machine guns 1065 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:46,680 Speaker 1: at striking laborers. Um. Yeah. So miners in the wake 1066 00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:49,400 Speaker 1: of this start to talk about writing capitalists out of 1067 00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:53,759 Speaker 1: the social contract essentially, and as you might imagine, these 1068 00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:56,880 Speaker 1: capitalists are not super happy with this, and they begin 1069 00:55:56,960 --> 00:55:59,880 Speaker 1: to gear up for the next round of combat. But 1070 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,000 Speaker 1: in the meantime, the union men celebrated, not just in 1071 00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,360 Speaker 1: West Virginia but all around the country. One of the 1072 00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:08,000 Speaker 1: more remarkable aspects of the victory in West Virginia was 1073 00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,400 Speaker 1: the fact that black and white coal miners had largely 1074 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:13,759 Speaker 1: collaborated in order to achieve victory. Now, it would be 1075 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:15,759 Speaker 1: too much to say that the white miners considered black 1076 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:19,160 Speaker 1: miners their equals. Mining camps were still very much segregated, 1077 00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:21,759 Speaker 1: And it is fair to say that almost everyone in 1078 00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:27,160 Speaker 1: this story, even the heroes, were pretty racist by modern standards. Um, 1079 00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:29,560 Speaker 1: but they were at least able to overcome that in 1080 00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:31,879 Speaker 1: a large degree to kind of work together to make 1081 00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:34,840 Speaker 1: situation better for everybody. And this is was part of 1082 00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:37,479 Speaker 1: a start of kind of like the birth of of Yeah, 1083 00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:40,080 Speaker 1: this kind of understanding, you know that we're we all 1084 00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:43,280 Speaker 1: have are in this this fight together to to improve 1085 00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:46,840 Speaker 1: standards for working people. Did this was did they like 1086 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,880 Speaker 1: try and and divide Like, did the bosses try and 1087 00:56:49,920 --> 00:56:53,040 Speaker 1: divide people along racial lines or anything? Yes? And in 1088 00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,279 Speaker 1: many cases and in many strikes around the country, they 1089 00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:57,759 Speaker 1: were very successful in this. They weren't successful in this 1090 00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:00,280 Speaker 1: particular strike, which is something that makes it no worthy 1091 00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:03,279 Speaker 1: because this often worked. Often bosses would be successful and 1092 00:57:03,320 --> 00:57:06,040 Speaker 1: basically getting white laborers to throw black laborers under the 1093 00:57:06,040 --> 00:57:09,239 Speaker 1: bus to get better terms. Um. So like and that 1094 00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:10,719 Speaker 1: was a way to be like what you want us 1095 00:57:10,760 --> 00:57:13,760 Speaker 1: to say that everybody gets this minimum pay even black people, 1096 00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:15,680 Speaker 1: Like then we're saying they're equal to you. So like 1097 00:57:15,719 --> 00:57:18,800 Speaker 1: that definitely happened a number of times, but it didn't 1098 00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:22,120 Speaker 1: work at this strike. That's just so like I can 1099 00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:25,360 Speaker 1: just see that. But it's like, uh so what you're 1100 00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:28,680 Speaker 1: saying is we got to accept that uh black people 1101 00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:32,080 Speaker 1: deserve the same stuff as we do. That that is 1102 00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:34,440 Speaker 1: one bridge too far, my good man, Like, it's just 1103 00:57:34,800 --> 00:57:38,720 Speaker 1: uh yeah, and it's it's this, you know, there's different. 1104 00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:41,840 Speaker 1: It's very different. And because they're like we're kind of 1105 00:57:41,880 --> 00:57:45,040 Speaker 1: eliminating the racism from But in the modern day, you'll 1106 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:47,520 Speaker 1: hear people talk about like, well, okay, basic income seems 1107 00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:49,720 Speaker 1: like a great idea, but what if X group, you know, 1108 00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:51,720 Speaker 1: what if like rich people, what if like whatever group 1109 00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:54,440 Speaker 1: gets it? Like that's not fair and like part of 1110 00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:58,240 Speaker 1: the like obviously, like one of the problems with that 1111 00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:00,640 Speaker 1: is that when you start saying stuff like we need 1112 00:58:00,680 --> 00:58:04,160 Speaker 1: a basic income, we need free college, we need um 1113 00:58:04,280 --> 00:58:08,280 Speaker 1: uh we need uh universal healthcare, and people start bringing 1114 00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:11,000 Speaker 1: like what about this group? What about that group? Um? 1115 00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:14,240 Speaker 1: You know, what they're really saying is I don't believe 1116 00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:17,880 Speaker 1: that this is an inherent right. I think certain individual 1117 00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:19,560 Speaker 1: groups might deserve it, but I don't see it as 1118 00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:22,240 Speaker 1: an inherent right. And I think one of the lessons 1119 00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:24,480 Speaker 1: of the labor movement is that this ship only works 1120 00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:27,400 Speaker 1: when you act when you when you you really treat 1121 00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:30,560 Speaker 1: it like an inherent right, and you you reject attempts 1122 00:58:30,600 --> 00:58:34,440 Speaker 1: to divide people, even among groups that might make sense 1123 00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:36,760 Speaker 1: to you at the time, because in reality, if you're 1124 00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:40,760 Speaker 1: agreeing to that division at all, um, you are against 1125 00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:42,760 Speaker 1: the idea that people have a right to this sort 1126 00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:48,880 Speaker 1: of thing. Yeah. So all of this Spencer Um, particularly 1127 00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:51,280 Speaker 1: kind of the cross racial solidarity that was that was 1128 00:58:51,480 --> 00:58:54,600 Speaker 1: evident um in this strike, helped inspire one of America's 1129 00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:57,400 Speaker 1: few non racist white guys at the time, a fella 1130 00:58:57,520 --> 00:59:00,560 Speaker 1: named Ralph Chaplin. UM. And Ralph a member of the 1131 00:59:00,560 --> 00:59:02,960 Speaker 1: International Workers of the World or the i w W. 1132 00:59:03,240 --> 00:59:04,880 Speaker 1: The Wobbly some people call them. This is a group 1133 00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:08,520 Speaker 1: that's around today and they're very far left um, you know, 1134 00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:14,040 Speaker 1: anti capitalist workers union. And Ralph Chaplin, inspired by the 1135 00:59:14,080 --> 00:59:18,480 Speaker 1: strike in West Virginia, wrote a song called Solidarity Forever Um, 1136 00:59:18,480 --> 00:59:21,200 Speaker 1: and right after we get through some plugs, I'm gonna 1137 00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:23,480 Speaker 1: close this out by playing that song. But first, Spencer 1138 00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:27,600 Speaker 1: you want to plug your plug doubles drop. Yeah. Man, Um, 1139 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:31,760 Speaker 1: I am on Twitter at the six Sler th h 1140 00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:34,360 Speaker 1: E s I x L E R. I'm on everything 1141 00:59:34,400 --> 00:59:37,280 Speaker 1: else is at the six Sler. Uh. Don't follow me 1142 00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:42,120 Speaker 1: on Twitter. I don't tweet good stuff. Uh, it's bad. Um. 1143 00:59:42,160 --> 00:59:44,960 Speaker 1: I have a show called harmon Quest. Um. If you 1144 00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,160 Speaker 1: like it, you can watch it on vr V or 1145 00:59:47,240 --> 00:59:49,400 Speaker 1: YouTube or you know, I don't know. I'm sure it's 1146 00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:54,440 Speaker 1: downloadable illegally. Um. And if you like it, Uh, send 1147 00:59:54,520 --> 00:59:57,880 Speaker 1: Netflix an email and say, you guys gotta buy this show. 1148 00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:00,240 Speaker 1: You guys got to make more of this Netflix. You 1149 01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:04,120 Speaker 1: know what's up? Send Netflix and email, find their CEO's 1150 01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:06,560 Speaker 1: mailing address and send them letters written in blood whatever 1151 01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:11,760 Speaker 1: works to get Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm telling people that 1152 01:00:11,880 --> 01:00:14,480 Speaker 1: if you can get a goblin head, mail a goblin 1153 01:00:14,560 --> 01:00:18,680 Speaker 1: head to the door of Netflix. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Please 1154 01:00:18,800 --> 01:00:24,880 Speaker 1: continue committing the felonies that we urge in most episodes. Um. Yeah. 1155 01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:26,920 Speaker 1: You can find us on the internet at behind the 1156 01:00:26,920 --> 01:00:29,480 Speaker 1: Bastards dot com. You can find us on Twitter at 1157 01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:32,160 Speaker 1: at Bastard's Pot and also on Instagram at the same thing. 1158 01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:34,640 Speaker 1: I have a podcast called The Women's war that might 1159 01:00:34,680 --> 01:00:36,800 Speaker 1: provide a little bit of a suggestion on how to 1160 01:00:37,440 --> 01:00:42,680 Speaker 1: rebuild society after the collapse. That seems increasingly likely hits um, 1161 01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:45,280 Speaker 1: so check that out too, uh. And now I'm going 1162 01:00:45,360 --> 01:00:48,080 Speaker 1: to close us out by playing the song that I 1163 01:00:48,160 --> 01:00:51,400 Speaker 1: was just telling you about, Solidarity Forever, which was inspired 1164 01:00:51,520 --> 01:00:54,320 Speaker 1: by this West Virginia strike. And this is a recording 1165 01:00:54,320 --> 01:00:57,920 Speaker 1: by the great American folk musician Pete Seeger. Here we go, 1166 01:01:08,360 --> 01:01:20,720 Speaker 1: Salalilarity for everver, solalidarity for that ever, salilarity for ever. 1167 01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:27,840 Speaker 1: Call the Union young bates us strong. When the Union's inspiration, 1168 01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:31,360 Speaker 1: through the worker's blood chill run. There can be a 1169 01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:35,960 Speaker 1: power greater anywhere beneath the sun. Yet what force on 1170 01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:39,400 Speaker 1: earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one. But 1171 01:01:39,720 --> 01:01:52,000 Speaker 1: the Union makes us strong. Sal Alarity foreverver, salilarity for everver, 1172 01:01:53,160 --> 01:02:01,560 Speaker 1: soalalidarity foreverver, for the Union makes so strong. Long. It 1173 01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:04,960 Speaker 1: is we who pow the prairie, built the cities where 1174 01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:08,680 Speaker 1: they trade, duck the mines, and built the workshops, endless 1175 01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:12,800 Speaker 1: miles of railroad laid. Now we stand outcast and starving, 1176 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:17,200 Speaker 1: mit the wonders we have made. But the Union makes 1177 01:02:17,320 --> 01:02:34,320 Speaker 1: a strong salilarity forver, salilarity for him, salilarity firever young 1178 01:02:34,560 --> 01:02:40,200 Speaker 1: days as strong they have taken untold millions that they 1179 01:02:40,280 --> 01:02:43,960 Speaker 1: never toil to earn. But without our brain and muscle, 1180 01:02:44,080 --> 01:02:47,440 Speaker 1: not a single wheel can turn. We can break their 1181 01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:51,280 Speaker 1: boughty power gain our freedom. When we learned that the 1182 01:02:51,560 --> 01:03:11,040 Speaker 1: Union makes a strong sality farver salp salep makes us 1183 01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:15,959 Speaker 1: long in our hands is placed a power greater than 1184 01:03:16,080 --> 01:03:20,640 Speaker 1: their hearted gold, greater than the might of atoms, magnified 1185 01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:23,840 Speaker 1: a thousand hold. We can bring to birth a new 1186 01:03:23,880 --> 01:03:27,800 Speaker 1: world from the ashes of the old. For the Union 1187 01:03:28,360 --> 01:03:47,840 Speaker 1: makes a strong salve sate strong