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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  • KittyBobo [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    8 months ago

    I've been sitting here for like thirty minutes trying to put into words how I feel about concepts such as free will and blame and the caliber of people around me and I'm not sure if that's because I care that much about those questions or if it's just any excuse to be posting while I'm at work.

    • KittyBobo [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      8 months ago

      For real though how come in Star Trek they think it's utopian to just have a machine make your food for you. Having the time to cook and prepare your own meals is way better than machine made food on demand could ever be.

          • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
            ·
            8 months ago

            My job is cooking for others and holy hell I would love to have a break from that so I can enjoy making my own food.

              • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
                ·
                8 months ago

                Absolutely, hell I'd still very happily keep being a cook if capitalism went away. I like making food for people and am super fucking good at it. I like what I do in theory, I just want the fucking means of production to do it good.

      • buckykat [none/use name]
        ·
        8 months ago

        The utopian part isn't that the machine does the cooking, the utopian part is that the machine makes the food without exploiting anyone as farm labor.