On this day in 1898, the Battle of Virden began when armed members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) surrounded a train full of strikebreakers and exchanged fire with company guards. 13 people were killed, dozens more wounded.
After a local chapter of the UMW began striking at a mine in Virden, Illinois, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company hired black strikebreakers from Birmingham, Alabama and shipped them to Virden by train.
The company hired armed detectives or security guards to accompany the strikebreakers, and an armed conflict broke out when armed miners surrounded the train as it arrived in town. A total of four detectives and seven striking mine workers were killed, with five guards, thirty miners, and an unrecorded number of strikebreakers wounded.
After this incident, Illinois Governor John Tanner ordered the National Guard to prevent any more strikebreakers from coming into the state by force. The next month, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company relented and allowed the unionization of its workers.
"When the last call comes for me to take my final rest, will the miners see that I get a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives on the hills of Virden, Illinois...They are responsible for Illinois being the best organized labor state in America."
Mother Jones
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The "you can make the tv show/movie/game you want" AI hype guys are so annoying. exactly what I want isn't what I want, there isn't some abstract realm of media out there that I can search from to find the best fit for me. Just yelling at a computer until it spits out a pastiche of stuff I like sounds horrible.
I can already make the games I want, because what I want is the games I make and not the amalgamous vomit of a dream machine
Yeah as it turns out the biggest appeal of art is that it is the product of someone else's inner world, not mine. If I had everything I needed to be fully entertained with no effort right here in my noggin then I would be happy to just daydream all the time and not interact with anyone else.