Historical Events of the Revolutionary World Movement

The Battle of Blair Mountain 1921

August/September of 1921

America's largest proletarian armed insurrection.

The Battle of Blair Mountain

Battle of Blair Mountain

A prime example of the sacrifices workers made and the class struggles they faced in order to achieve union rights, benefits, living wages, safe working conditions, and pensions.

The Appalachian mountains have long been a revolutionary battleground for the American proletariat and 100 years ago, the largest hitherto revolutionary uprising in US history took place there.

Efforts to unionize the coal miners Mingo County, West Virginia and surrounding areas faced adamant opposition from the coal bosses. They only hired non-union workers and anti-union laws were strictly enforced. Any one caught being in a union was automatically fired and evicted, as the miners generally lived in company towns.

Despite this, the United Mine Workers union was determined to unionize the miners their and enlist them in their national coal strikes in 1919. Over 3,000 miners joined the union and were immediately fired and the coal bosses hired the Baldwin-Felts Detective Company, a powerful strikebreaking agency of the bourgeoisie, to evict the miners and their families from the company towns. In 1920, a group of detectives were sent to the town of Matewan to force them from their homes and even attempted to bribe the mayor into placing machine guns on roofs. After throwing a woman and her children outside in the rain, a group of furious miners, deputized by the police chief Sid Hatfield, attempted to arrest the detectives, who in turn attempted to arrest Hatfield with a bogus arrest warrant. It resulted in a gunfire, killing 10 people, including the mayor, two miners, and seven detectives.

The victory against Baldwin-Felts, who were seemingly invincible, taught the miners that the coal bourgeoisie and their lackeys could be overthrown and beaten, despite their power. As a result, many miners in Mingo County rallied and joined the UMW, greatly expanding their activities.

However, resistance from the coal companies grew stronger. Occasional shootouts would occur and after a shootout between state police and miners in the Lick Creek tent colony, policemen shot and arrested the miners and tore down their tents and scattered their belongings.

The miners, supported by police chief Hatfield, began gathering arms. The former mayor's jewelry store was converted into a gun store to support them.

Despite this, the union was facing major setbacks. Most of the mines had reopened with the help of outside replacements and scabs who agreed to sign yellow-dog contracts (agreements that they would not join unions). Fights between union miners and non-union miners broke out and after a "Three Day War" in May 1921, martial law was declared and those who committed the smallest of offenses were thrown in jail. Naturally, non-union workers were immune to it as a reward for their class collaboration. The union miners soon employed guerilla tactics to sabotage the mines.

On August 1st, Hatfield was murdered by Baldwin-Felts thugs while going to the courthouse in McDowell County to stand trial for sabotaging a coal tipper. He was unarmed. Hatfield had become a hero among the miners and the news of his death deeply angered them, especially since the murderers would escape punishment. They quickly took up arms and left their settlements. The Logan County Sheriff sent a group of troopers to Little Coal River to stop the miners, but they were captured and disarmed before being chased away.

On August 7th, the UMW marched on the State Capitol in Charleston and presented their demands. Governor Morgan immediately rejected them, but that only strengthed the miners' determination to end martial law and free the imprisoned miners.