On this day in 1891, armed Tennessee Coal Miners freed hundreds of prisoners who were being used as strikebreaking convict labor. The raid took place in the context of the "Coal Creek War", a militant labor uprising in the early 1890s.
The Coal Creek War took place primarily, but not exclusively, in Anderson County, Tennessee. This labor conflict ignited in 1891 when coal mine owners in the Coal Creek watershed began to remove and replace their company-employed, private coal miners then on the payroll with convict laborers leased out by the Tennessee state prison system, used in this case as strikebreakers.
Coal workers at the Tennessee Coal Mining Company (TCMC) went on strike on April 1st, 1891, demanding to be paid in cash, not scrip (currency only usable at company stores) and to be allowed to check the weight of their haul (they were paid by weight, but not allowed to check the company's measurement).
Workers initiated a series of raids against the TCMC - on July 14th, armed miners surrounded the stockades where leased convicts were held and sent them by train out of the city. On October 31st, 1891, the miners burned company stockades to the ground and freed hundreds of convicts being held there. On Nov. 2nd, another band attacked stockades in a different location and freed those prisoners as well. From those two events alone, at least 453 convicts were set free.
The strike was forcibly put down by state militia, ending with the arrest of hundreds of miners. All but one were either acquitted or merely fined. Tennessee ended its policy of leasing convict labor, using convicts to work in state-owned mines instead.
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This is a pretty bad take to me. Reactionary takes can come from people of all walks of life. Whatever vanguard has been established will have to try and guide everyone. Whenever a lib wanders in asking about tianmen square, a lot of good resources get posted. One was a source explaining how a lot of city uni students were protesting black people attending their uni. This reactionary sentiment deserved stamping out, and it very much came directly from a major city. If we go digging, we'll find just as many urban reactionaries as rural ones. This idea that rural = stupid and bigoted is american brainpoisoning and lacks material analysis.
Reactionary sentiment can come from anywhere and anyone. While you're right that a socialist state will have to spend a lot of time educating people and stopping bigotry, it will have to do so across the map, not just in one particular section.
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Mfw im reading this from my home in rural america
Obviously not you sweatie
A lot of communists and socialists are rural people lol
Word. Lot of good people putting in the work in the most neglected parts of Appalachia. Check out Reverend Ollie Snow. He's a trans dude, father of two, leftist, and all around good guy in West Virginia and has a lot of important things to say. Plus; Lots of mothman jokes.
I think this is his website.