On this day in 1912, the Paint Creek Mine War began when West Virginia miners struck, demanding formal union recognition and fairer labor practices. The incident quickly escalated into one of the worst labor conflicts in U.S. history.

The event, also known as the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, centered on the area enclosed by two streams, Paint Creek and Cabin Creek. It is considered part of the "Coal Wars", a series of armed conflicts between workers and coal companies from the 1890s - 1930s in the United States.

The strike lasted for fourteen months, and over 5,000 workers participated. Notable labor organizer Mother Jones (shown) came to West Virginia to support the workers, organizing a secret march of 3,000 armed miners to the steps of the state capitol in Charleston to read a declaration of war to Governor William E. Glasscock.

The confrontation directly caused approximately fifty violent deaths from armed conflicts between miners and strike-breaking forces, as well as many more deaths indirectly caused by starvation and malnutrition among the striking miners. In terms of casualties, it was among the worst conflicts in American labor history.

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  • makotech222 [he/him]
    ·
    8 months ago

    I just watched the movie "Some like it hot" from like 1958, and boy do those old movies move fast. Its kind of amazing how information dense they are; not a single frame wasted. Plot moves quickly compared to modern movies.

    • GinAndJuche
      ·
      8 months ago

      I can’t remember the name, but there’s a romcom about late 40s early 50s reporters and I truly think the mid Atlantic accent is part of how’s that possible. They have like five witty exchanges per minute with how fast they talk.

      • makotech222 [he/him]
        ·
        8 months ago

        yeah they do talk rather fast in this movie. I think i only looked at my phone like twice during the entire movie.

        • GinAndJuche
          ·
          8 months ago

          As much as love the slow establish shots of the dune director, there’s a strong appeal to rapid banter and quick moving that old movies have. I’m surprised oldy films aren’t more popular with younger people. Each scene is basically the length of a long YouTube short

    • vertexarray [any]
      ·
      8 months ago

      the maltese falcon is like this. it's like trying to follow a mathematics lecture by a squirrel

    • Moss [they/them]
      ·
      8 months ago

      I think old movies put more faith in their audiences to understand something than modern audiences. Maybe because they weren't trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator like Marvel does.