Anti-union violence
Encyclopedia
Union busting
Union busting is a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which attempt to prevent the formation or expansion of trade unions...
, or in connection with a labor dispute or strike.
Violence against unions may be isolated, or may occur as part of a campaign that includes spying, intimidation, impersonation, disinformation, and sabotage. Violence in labor disputes
Labor unrest
Labor unrest is a term used by employers or those generally in the business community to describe organizing and strike actions undertaken by labor unions, especially where labor disputes become violent or where industrial actions in which members of a workforce obstruct the normal process of...
may be the result of unreasonable polarization, or miscalculation. It may be willful and provoked, or senseless and tragic. On some occasions, violence in labor disputes may be purposeful and calculated, for example the hiring and deployment of goon squad
Goon squad
A goon squad is a group of thugs or mercenaries, commonly associated with anti-union or pro-union violence. In the case of pro-union violence, a goon squad may be formed by union leaders to intimidate or assault non-union workers, strikebreakers, or parties who do not cooperate with the directives...
s to intimidate, threaten or even assault strikers.
Historically, labor spying
Labor spies
Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, typically within the context of an employer/labor organization relationship....
upon workers has been widespread, and is closely connected to violence. Labor spying creates intense bitterness among workers, and the sudden exposure of labor spies has driven workers "to violence and unreason", resulting directly in at least one shooting war
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892
There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: the labor strike of 1892, and the labor confrontation of 1899....
.
Incidents of violence during periods of labor unrest are sometimes perceived differently by different parties. It is sometimes a challenge to ascertain the truth about labor-related violence, and incidents of violence committed by, or in the name of, unions or union workers have occurred as well.
History
In the book Violence and the Labor Movement, Robert Hunter observed that workers have every reason to discourage violence, because "every time property is destroyed, or men injured, the employers win public support, the aid of the press, the pulpit, the police, the courts, and all the powers of the State. [Workers] do not knowingly injure themselves or persist in a course adverse to their material interests." Yet labor-related violence has been common throughout history.Hunter believed that violence during a strike benefits the employer, in that they are able to characterize workers negatively. Writing in 1914, Hunter stated that some employers give vague instructions to their agents to "create trouble", and that there is evidence that some employers directly instruct "incendiaries, thugs, and rioters." With insurance to cover losses, Robert Hunter maintained, injury to property generally helps employers, and cannot hurt them. Hunter summarized, "If the workers can be discredited and the strike broken through the aid of violence, the ordinary employer is not likely to make too rigid an investigation into whether or not his 'detectives' had a hand in it."
We can identify specific examples of such circumstances, such as U.S. Senate testimony in 1936 about an employer who wanted to contract with the Pinkerton agency
Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
. Known personally to the author of the book The Pinkerton Story, this employer was characterized as a "sincerely upright and Godly man." Yet Pinkerton files record that the employer wanted the agency "to send in some thugs who could beat up the strikers." In 1936, the Pinkerton agency changed its focus from strike-breaking to undercover services. Pinkerton declined the request from this employer.
The argument that violence benefits employers is not just theoretical, it has frequently played out in a very specific manner. For example, mine owners have used violence as an excuse to demand intervention by state police, the national guard, or even the United States army. Such forces become an occupying army in a strike zone, thereby creating a protective shield for strike-breakers hired by the struck company in order to replace strikers. However, attacks on workers or their leaders could also backfire. "Rather than rendering workers docile, acts of violence frequently led to greater militancy and allegiance to [labor] leaders."
Historically, violence against unions has included attacks by detective and guard agencies, such as the Pinkertons
Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
, Baldwin Felts, Burns
William J. Burns International Detective Agency
The William J. Burns International Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States, which was operated by William J. Burns.-Wheatland Hop Riot:...
, or Thiel
Thiel Detective Service Company
The Thiel Detective Service Company was a private detective agency formed by George H. Thiel, a former Civil War spy and Pinkerton employee.The Thiel Detective Service Company headquarters were in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was formed to be a direct competitor to the Pinkerton Detective...
detective agencies; citizens groups, such as the Citizens' Alliance
Citizens' Alliance
The Citizens' Alliance is a defunct political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Former finance minister Wendell Mottley was leader and businessman Peter George was deputy leader...
; company guards; police; national guard; or even the military. In particular, there are few curbs on what detective agencies are able to get away with. In the book From Blackjacks To Briefcases, Robert Michael Smith states that during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, anti-union agencies spawned violence and wreaked havoc on the labor movement. One investigator who participated in a congressional inquiry into industrial violence
Commission on Industrial Relations
The Commission on Industrial Relations was a commission created by the U.S. Congress on August 23, 1912. The commission studied work conditions throughout the industrial United States between 1913 and 1915...
in 1916 concluded that,
Espionage is closely related to violence. Sometimes it is the direct cause of violence, and, where that cannot be charged, it is often the indirect cause. If the secret agents of employersLabor spiesLabor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, typically within the context of an employer/labor organization relationship....
, working as members of the labor unions, do not always investigate acts of violence, they frequently encourage them. If they did not, they would not be performing the duties for which they are paid, for they are hired on the theory that labor organizations are criminal in character.
According to Morris Friedman
Morris Friedman
Morris Friedman was, until 1905, the private stenographer for Pinkerton detective James McParland. Friedman came to the attention of the public when he published an exposé of anti-union actions by the private detective industry which was called The Pinkerton Labor Spy.The book focused in particular...
, detective agencies were themselves for-profit companies, and a "bitter struggle" between capital and labor could be counted upon to create "satisfaction and immense profit" for agencies such as the Pinkerton company. Such agencies were in the perfect position to fan suspicion and mistrust "into flames of blind and furious hatred" on the part of the companies.
Agencies sell tactics including violence
Harry Wellington Laidler wrote a book in 1913 detailing how one of the largest union busters in the United States, Corporations Auxiliary CompanyCorporations Auxiliary Company
Corporations Auxiliary Company was a corporation created to conduct "the administration of industrial espionage", essentially, providing labor spies who could propagandize, sabotage, or act as goons in exchange for payment...
, had a sales pitch offering the use of provocation and violence. The agency would routinely tell employers — prospective clients — of the methods used by their undercover operatives,
Once the union is in the field its members can keep it from growing if they know how, and our man knows how. Meetings can be set far apart. A contract can at once be entered into with the employer, covering a long period, and made very easy in its terms. However, these tactics may not be good, and the union spirit may be so strong that a big organization cannot be prevented. In this case our man turns extremely radical. He asks for unreasonable things and keeps the union embroiled in trouble. If a strike comes, he will be the loudest man in the bunch, and will counsel violence and get somebody in trouble. The result will be that the union will be broken up."
Different types of violence
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 76,377. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. It and Salem are...
, in which a police officer fired into a crowd of strikers, killing Anna LoPizzo
Anna LoPizzo
Anna LoPizzo was a striker killed during the Lawrence textile strike , considered one of the most significant struggles in U.S. labor history...
.
Anti-union violence may be used as a means to intimidate others, as in the hanging of union organizer Frank Little from a railroad trestle in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
. A note was pinned to his body which said, "Others Take Notice! First And Last Warning!" The initial of the last names of seven well-known union activists in the Butte area were on the note, with the "L" for Frank Little circled.
Anti-union violence may be abrupt and unanticipated. Three years after Frank Little was lynched, a strike by Butte miners was suppressed with gunfire when deputized mine guards suddenly fired upon unarmed picketers in the Anaconda Road Massacre
Anaconda Road Massacre
The Anaconda Road Massacre was a deadly incident that occurred on April 21, 1920 during a miners strike in Butte, Montana's copper mines. A group of striking miners who were picketing near a mine of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company were fired upon by company guards, killing a miner named Tom...
. Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died.
Lattimer massacre
The Lattimer massacre was the violent deaths of 19 unarmed striking immigrant anthracite coal miners at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1897. The miners, mostly of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian and German ethnicity, were shot and killed by a Luzerne County sheriff's...
, nineteen unarmed immigrant coal miners were suddenly gunned down at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...
, on September 10, 1897. The miners, mostly of Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Slovak
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
and German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
ethnicity, were shot and killed by a Luzerne County
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
- Demographics :As of the 2010 census, the county was 90.7% White, 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.3% were of some other race, and 1.5% were two or more races. 6.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry...
sheriff's posse
Posse comitatus (common law)
Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...
. In this group as well, all of the miners had been shot in the back. The shooting followed a brief tussle over the American flag carried by the miners. Their only crime was asserting their right to march in the face of demands that they disperse.
The sudden and unexpected nature of these two shooting incidents bring to mind another; in 1927, during a coal strike in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, state police and mine guards fired pistols, rifles and a machine gun into a group of five hundred striking miners and their wives in what came to be called the Columbine Mine Massacre
Columbine Mine massacre
The first Columbine Massacre, sometimes called the Columbine Mine massacre to distinguish it from the Columbine High School massacre, occurred in 1927, in the town of Serene, Colorado. A fight broke out between Colorado state police and a group of striking coal miners, during which the unarmed...
. In this incident as well, many of the miners were immigrants, and there had been a disagreement over the question of trespassing onto company property in the town of Serene
Serene, Colorado
Serene, Colorado was a company town owned by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company.Serene had company housing, a post office, a tipple, and was the site of the Columbine Mine.- History :...
, with the miners asserting it was public property because of the post office. There was, once again, a tussle over American flags carried by the strikers.
While the Columbine mine shooting was a surprise, newspapers played a deadly role in conjuring the atmosphere of hate in which the violence occurred. Lurid editorials attacked the ethnicity of the strikers. Newspapers began calling for the governor to no longer withhold the "mailed fist", to strike hard and strike swiftly, and for "Machine Guns Manned By Willing Shooters" at more of the state's coal mines. Within days of these editorials, state police and mine guards fired on the miners and their wives, injuring dozens and killing six.
In all of the above incidents, the perpetrators were never caught, or went unpunished. An exception resulted from a shooting of strikers at the Williams & Clark Fertilizing Company near the Liebig Fertilizer Works at Carteret, New Jersey
Carteret, New Jersey
Carteret is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 22,844.Carteret was created as the borough of Roosevelt on 11 April 1906, incorporating Woodbridge Township, and was a result of a referendum on 22 May 1906...
in 1915. One striker was killed outright, and more than twenty were injured in an unprovoked attack when deputies fired on strikers who had stopped a train to check for strikebreakers. The strikers found no strikebreakers, and were cheering as they exited the train. Forty deputies approached and suddenly fired on them with revolvers, rifles, and shotguns. As the strikers ran, "the deputies ... pursued, firing again and again." According to attending physicians, all the strikers' wounds were on the backs or legs, indicating the guards were pursuing them. A local government official who witnessed the shooting called it entirely unprovoked. Four more of the strikers, all critically injured, would die. Twenty-two of the guards were arrested and the crime was investigated by a Grand Jury; nine deputies were subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Other anti-union violence may seem orchestrated, as in 1914 when mine guards and the state militia fired into a tent colony of striking miners in Colorado, an incident that came to be known as the Ludlow Massacre
Ludlow massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914....
. During that strike, the company hired the Baldwin Felts agency, which built an armored car so their agents could approach the strikers' tent colonies with impunity. The strikers called it the "Death Special". At the Forbes tent colony,
"[The Death Special] opened fire, a protracted spurt that sent some six hundred bullets tearing through the thin tents. One of the shots struck miner Luka Vahernik, fifty, in the head, killing him instantly. Another striker, Marco Zamboni, eighteen ... suffered nine bullet wounds to his legs... One tent was later found to have about 150 bullet holes..."
After deaths of women and children at Ludlow,
[T]he backlash was vicious and bloody. Over the next ten days striking miners poured out their rage in attacks across the coalfields...
The U.S. Army was called upon to put an end to the violence, and the strike sputtered to an end that December.
Anti-union violence may be devious and subtle, as when union busting
Union busting
Union busting is a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which attempt to prevent the formation or expansion of trade unions...
specialist Martin Jay Levitt assigned confederates to scratch up cars in the parking lot of a nursing home during an organizing drive, and then blamed it on the union as part of an anti-union campaign.
Violence against working people can be an unintentional result of management policy but still deadly, as when garment workers were trapped in the building during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history...
. The doors were locked to allow managers to check the women's purses as they left, to deter theft. Triangle had been the target of a prolonged strike two years before the fire. At least one hundred forty-three workers were killed while trying to escape the flames. The company had "employed extreme measures against strikers who demanded higher wages and safer working conditions."
Bisbee Deportation
The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal deportation of about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 vigilantes on July 12, 1917. The workers and others were kidnapped in the U.S. town of Bisbee, Arizona and held at a local baseball park. They were then loaded...
, some 1,300 striking
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
Arizona mine workers were deported from their community at rifle point by 2,000 vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
s in 1917. The workers and any suspected supporters were loaded onto cattle cars
Stock car (rail)
In railroad terminology, a stock car or cattle wagon is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock to market...
and transported 200 miles (321.9 km) for 16 hours without food or water. The deportees were dumped in the New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
desert without money or transportation, and ordered never to return to Bisbee.
Anti-union violence may take the form of sabotage, for example, the effort to destroy a union's finances during a strike, or to create dissension between the strikers and the union. Bill Haywood
Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
, Secretary Treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
, wrote in his autobiography about anti-union sabotage during a strike:
I had been having some difficulty with the relief committee of the Denver smelter men. At first we had been giving out relief at such a rate that I had to tell the chairman that he was providing the smelter men with more than they had had while at work. Then he cut down the rations until the wives of the smelter men began to complain that they were not getting enough to eat. Years later, when his letters were published in The Pinkerton Labor SpyThe Pinkerton Labor SpyThe Pinkerton Labor Spy is a nonfiction book published in 1907 as an exposé of intrigue and abuses by the Pinkerton Detective Agency in general, and by chief agent James McParland in particular....
, I discovered that the chairman of the relief committe (sic) was a Pinkerton detective, who was carrying out the instructions of the agency...
In such an event, the violence impacts only the union's bank account and those dependent on it. However, spying may be combined with violence to sabotage a strike by brutally targeting and intimidating key individuals. In 1903-04, the Pinkerton Agency infiltrated the top ranks of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). The UMWA declared a strike, which seemed destined to succeed. However, whenever the union sent an organizer to talk to miners, groups of thugs would learn about it. Morris Friedman
Morris Friedman
Morris Friedman was, until 1905, the private stenographer for Pinkerton detective James McParland. Friedman came to the attention of the public when he published an exposé of anti-union actions by the private detective industry which was called The Pinkerton Labor Spy.The book focused in particular...
, the former stenographer of the Pinkerton Agency in Colorado, explained:
As a result of Operative Smith's "clever and intelligent" work, a number of union organizers received severe beatings at the hands of unknown masked men, presumably in the employ of the company.
Friedman offers examples of these incidents:
About February 13, 1904, William Farley, of Alabama, a member of the [UMWA] National Executive Board ... and the personal representative of [UMWA] President MitchellJohn Mitchell (United Mine Workers)John Mitchell was a United States labor leader and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1898 to 1908....
... addressed coal miners' meetings ... [on their return trip] eight masked men held them up with revolvers, dragged them from their wagon, threw them to the ground, beat them, kicked them, and almost knocked them into insensibility.
And,
On Saturday, April 30, 1904, W.M. Wardjon, a national organizer of the United Mine Workers, while on board a train enroute to PuebloPueblo, ColoradoPueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....
, was assaulted by three men at SargentsSargents, ColoradoSargents is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office located in Saguache County, Colorado, United States. The Sargents Post Office has the ZIP Code 81248.-See also:* List of cities and towns in Colorado* Saguache County, Colorado* State of Colorado...
, about thirty miles west of SalidaSalida, ColoradoThe City of Salida is a Statutory City that is the county seat and most populous city of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The population was 5,504 at the U.S. Census 2000.-History:800px|thumb|left| Panoramic View of Salida, 1910...
. Mr. Wardjon was beaten into unconsciousness.
Morris Friedman accused the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
Colorado Fuel and Iron
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company was a large steel concern. By 1903, it was largely owned and controlled by John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould's financial heirs. While it came to control many plants throughout the country, its main plant was a steel mill on the south side of Pueblo, Colorado...
(CF&I), operated by John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
and his lieutenant in Colorado, Jesse Welborn, of responsibility for the beatings during the 1903-04 strike.
Anti-union violence can take the form of abuse and humiliation. During the Telluride strike in 1901, a union man named Henry Maki had been chained to a telegraph pole. Bill Haywood used a photo of Maki to illustrate a poster displaying an American flag, with the caption, "Is Colorado in America?" The poster was widely distributed, and gained considerable attention for the WFM strike. Peter Carlson, author of a book about Bill Haywood, described the "desecrated flag" poster as famous, and "perhaps the most controversial broadside in American history."
Anti-union violence has existed for a very long time, and even when carried out in the name of the law, it may be cruel and indifferent to workers' rights. The Tolpuddle agricultural workers
Tolpuddle Martyrs
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as...
were arrested in 1832, found guilty, and transported as criminals
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
from their homes in England to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, simply on the accusation of having sworn an oath to support each other toward improving their lot in life.
Sometimes, there is simultaneous violence on both sides. In an auto workers strike organised by Victor Reuther
Victor G. Reuther
Victor G. Reuther was a prominent international labor organizer. Along with brothers, Walter Reuther, and Roy Reuther, he helped make the labor movement a powerful force in the lives of millions of working people around the world...
and others in 1937, "[u]nionists assembled rocks, steel hinges, and other objects to throw at the cops, and police organized tear gas attacks and mounted charges."
Notable perpetrators
A study of industrial violence in 1969 concluded, "There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904Colorado Labor Wars
Colorado's most significant battles between labor and capital occurred primarily between miners and mine operators. In these battles the state government, with one clear exception, always took the side of the mine operators....
." On September 10, 1903, the Colorado National Guard under Adjutant General Sherman Bell
Sherman Bell
Adjutant General Sherman M. Bell was a controversial leader of the Colorado National Guard during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-04. While Bell received high praise from Theodore Roosevelt and some others, he was vilified as a tyrant by the leadership and the miners of the Western Federation of...
began "a series of almost daily arrests" of union officers and supporters during a strike in the Cripple Creek District
Cripple Creek, Colorado
The City of Cripple Creek is a Statutory City that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic...
. When District Judge W. P. Seeds of Teller County held a hearing on writs of habeas corpus for four union men held in the stockade, Sherman Bell's response was caustic. "Habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
be damned," he declared, "we'll give 'em post mortems
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
." Bell justified the ensuing reign of terror as a "military necessity, which recognizes no laws, either civil or social."
About the middle of February, 1904, leadership of the Colorado National Guard became concerned that the Mine Owners were failing to cover the payroll of the soldiers. General Reardon ordered Major Ellison to take another soldier he could trust to "hold up or shoot the men coming off shift at the Vindicator mine" in order to convince the mine owners to pay. The implication of the secrecy was, the incident would then be blamed on the union.
However, Major Ellison reported that the miners took a route out of the mine that would not make ambush possible. Reardon ordered Ellison to pursue an alternative plan, which was shooting up one of the mines. Major Ellison and Sergeant Gordon Walter fired sixty shots into two mine buildings. The plan worked, and the mine owners paid up. Ellison would later testify (in October of 1904) that General Reardon informed him
Adjutant General Sherman Bell and Colorado Governor James Peabody
James Hamilton Peabody
James Hamilton Peabody was the 13th and 15th Governor of Colorado, and is noted for his public service in Cañon City.-Family background:...
knew about the plan.
A plot by detectives to derail a train, which would then have been blamed on the union, failed when court testimony implicated the detectives moreso than the union officials they'd accused.
Major Ellison, who had been under the leadership of Adjutant General Sherman Bell, testified in October of 1904,
At about the 20th of January, 1904, by order of the adjutant of Teller County military district, and under special direction of Major T. E. McClelland and General F. M. Reardon, who was the Governor's confidential adviser regarding the conditions in that district, a series of street fights were commenced between men of Victor and soldiers of the National Guard on duty there. Each fight was planned by General Reardon or Major McClelland and carried out under their actual direction. Major McClelland's instructions were literally to knock them down, knock their teeth down their throats, bend in their faces, kick in their ribs and do everything except kill them. These fights continued more or less frequently up to the 22d of March.
Major Ellison's testimony about the shooting plot, and about the staged attacks on striking miners, was corroborated by two other soldiers.
Four months after the Colorado National Guard shooting plot, an explosion killed thirteen miners. The Colorado National Guard, the Mine Owners Association, and the Citizens' Alliance
Citizens' Alliance
The Citizens' Alliance is a defunct political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Former finance minister Wendell Mottley was leader and businessman Peter George was deputy leader...
laid blame on the union, and used the explosion as a pretext to beat or kill union members, round up union supporters, ransack and burn the contents of union cooperative stores, and to clear Colorado mining communities of any suspected members or supporters of the Western Federation of Miners.
During a coal strike just a decade later and less than two hundred miles away, Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt
Karl Linderfelt
Karl Linderfelt was a soldier, mine worker, soldier of fortune, and officer in the Colorado National Guard. He was reported to have been responsible for an attack upon, and the ultimate death of, strike leader Louis Tikas during the Ludlow Massacre....
told a civilian who had been abused by a soldier, "I am Jesus Christ, and my men on horses are Jesus Christs — and we must be obeyed." Professor James H. Brewster, a faculty attorney with the University of Colorado
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado system is a system of public universities in Colorado consisting of three universities in four campuses: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in...
who was investigating the strike for Governor Ammons
Elias M. Ammons
Elias Milton Ammons , originally a Republican, was the elected Democratic 19th Governor of Colorado from 1913 to 1915. Born in 1860 in Macon County, North Carolina, he is perhaps best remembered for ordering National Guard troops into Ludlow, Colorado during the Ludlow Massacre...
, was aware that Karl Linderfelt was guilty of abuse and beatings of innocent citizens, including a small Greek boy "whose head was split open". Referring to Linderfelt's character, Brewster would later testify,
...[Linderfelt's] moral character is bad ... he is such a brute, as officer after officer will tell you, that he is totally unfit to be in the company of anyone... I foresaw that Linderfelt's retention in the militia... would surely lead to bloodshed.
Professor Brewster sent a telegram to Governor Ammons requesting Linderfelt's removal. No action was taken. In a subsequent face to face meeting with the governor, three months prior to the Ludlow Massacre, Brewster again insisted that Linderfelt be removed, but again, Ammons declined. In later testimony, Professor Brewster stated that Linderfelt was the reason for the massacre.
On the day that the Ludlow Massacre
Ludlow massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914....
occurred, Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt, commander of one of two companies of the Colorado National Guard, had Louis Tikas
Louis Tikas
Louis Tikas was the main labor union organizer at the Ludlow camp during a 14-month coal strike in southern Colorado from 1913-1914. In 1910, the year Louis Tikas filed his citizenship papers, he was part owner of a Greek coffee house on Market Street in Denver...
, leader of the Ludlow tent colony of striking miners, at gunpoint. Tikas was unarmed, and the miners would later explain that he approached the militia to ask them to stop shooting. While two militiamen held Tikas, Linderfelt broke a rifle butt over his head. Tikas and two other captured miners were later found shot dead. Tikas had been shot in the back. Their bodies lay along the Colorado and Southern railroad tracks for three days in full view of passing trains. The militia officers refused to allow them to be moved until a local of a railway union demanded the bodies be taken away for burial. A court martial found Lieutenant Linderfelt guilty of assaulting Tikas with a Springfield rifle, "but attaches no criminality thereto. And the court does therefor acquit him."
Professor Brewster also testified, "K. E. Linderfelt has two brothers (in the militia) who are quite reputable; don't confuse them."
Congressional investigation
In 1916, the Commission on Industrial RelationsCommission on Industrial Relations
The Commission on Industrial Relations was a commission created by the U.S. Congress on August 23, 1912. The commission studied work conditions throughout the industrial United States between 1913 and 1915...
, created by the U.S. Congress, issued a final report on its investigation of industrial unrest. The main report concluded, in part,
The greatest uncertainty exists regarding the legal status of almost every act which may be done in connection with an industrial dispute. In fact, it may be said that it depends almost entirely upon the personal opinion and social ideas of the court in whose jurisdiction the acts may occur.
The general effect of the decisions of American courts, however, has been to restrict the activities of labor organizations and deprive them of their most effective weapons, namely, the boycott and the power of picketing, while on the other hand the weapons of employers, namely, the power of arbitrary discharge, of blacklisting, and of bringing in strikebreakers, have been maintained and legislative attempts to restrict the employers' powers have generally been declared unconstitutional by the courts. Furthermore, an additional weapon has been placed in the hands of the employers by many courts in the form of sweeping injunctions, which render punishable acts which would otherwise be legal, and also result in effect in depriving the workers of the right to jury trial.
On the question of violence in industrial disputes, the Commission stated, in part,
Violence is seldom, if ever, spontaneous, but arises from a conviction that fundamental rights are denied and that peaceful methods of adjustment can not be used. The sole exception seems to lie in the situation where, intoxicated with power, the stronger party to the dispute relies upon force to suppress the weaker...
The origin of violence in connection with industrial disputes can usually be traced to the conditions prevailing in the particular industry in times of peace, or to arbitrary action on the part of Governmental officials which infringes on what are conceived to be fundamental rights. Violence and disorder during actual outbreaks usually result from oppressive conditions that have obtained in a particular shop or factory or in a particular industry. Throughout history where a people or a group have been arbitrarily denied rights which they conceived to be theirs, reaction has been inevitable. Violence is a natural form of protest against injustice.
The principal sources of an attitude leading to violence are ... arrogance on the part of the stronger party. This may result immediately in violence through the use of force for the suppression of the weaker party... Such physical aggression is seldom used by employees, as they are strategically the weaker party and the results are negative; only under exceptional circumstances can an employer be coerced by the use of force or intimidation...
Many instances of the use of physical force by the agents of employers have ... come before the Commission, indicating a relatively wide use, particularly in isolated communities... The instruments of industrial force belong chiefly to the employer, because of his control of the job of the worker. Their use is more common and more effective than any other form of violence at the command of the employer. The most powerful weapon is the power of discharge, which may be used indiscriminately upon mere suspicion, which under certain conditions may be almost as potent, either in use or threat, as the power of life and death. It is the avowed policy of many employers to discharge any man who gives any sign of dissatisfaction on the theory that he may become a trouble maker or agitator...
The immediate cause of violence in connection with industrial disputes is almost without exception the attempt to introduce strikebreakers...
Two alternate reports were also issued by the Commission. One of these reports noted violence by labor unions, most notably a campaign of violence by the structural iron workers which included the Los Angeles Times bombing
Los Angeles Times bombing
The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California, on October 1, 1910 by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper...
, ostensibly in defense of the closed union shop.
Contemporary anti-union violence
By the early 1900s, public tolerance for violence during labor disputes began to decrease. Yet violence involving strikebreaking troops and armed guards continued into the 1930s. The level of violence that anti-union agencies engaged in eventually resulted in their tactics becoming increasingly public, for there were a very great number of newspaper and muckraking articles written about such incidents. Resources that once were allocated to overt control over workforces began to be assigned to other methods of control, such as industrial espionage. After the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1929, the public no longer considered companies unassailable. Yet legislation related to employer strategies such as violent strike breaking would have to wait until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Beginning in the 1950s, employers began to embrace new methods of managing workers and unions which were still effective, but much more subtle. In 1973, Warren R. Van Tine observed that from a very early period,
The more sophisticated anti-unionists perceived a more subtle and respectable means of doing away with unwanted labor leaders—through legal prosecution, and, when possible, imprisonment. With the aid of anti-union judges like John J. JacksonJohn Jay Jackson, Jr.John Jay Jackson, Jr. was a United States federal judge, first from Virginia, and then from West Virginia, at the time of its creation as a separate state.-Early life and career:...
—who in one decision labeled labor leaders "vampires" who "have nothing in common with the workingman"—harassment of union officers under the facade of justice proceeded at a pace.
While the level of violence in the United States decreased significantly by the 1950s, it did not drop to zero. Violence still occurs in labor disputes, for example, when one side miscalculates. Bringing in outside security forces, as one example, can lead to violence in modern labor disputes.
The use of cameras and camcorders may have an impact on levels of violence in labor disputes today.
Recent examples
- Victor Reuther, a leader of the United Auto WorkersUnited Auto WorkersThe International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
in Detroit, survived an assassination attempt in 1949, with the loss of his right eye.
Internal union violence
There are occasions that violence may be committed against a union or union member by other unions, or even within a union.- In 1978, William Anthony "Tony" Boyle, President of the United Mine WorkersUnited Mine WorkersThe United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
, was tried and found guilty of the 1969 murder of fellow United Mine Workers challenger Joseph YablonskiJoseph YablonskiJoseph Albert "Jock" Yablonski was an American labor leader in the United Mine Workers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was murdered in 1969 by killers hired by a union political opponent, Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle...
.
Threats
Sometimes, threats of violence cause damage to union members or supporters. Other times, threats against unions or their members may backfire. For example, Indiana Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Cox was fired after suggesting that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker should use live ammunition against pro-union protesters involved in the 2011 Wisconsin protests2011 Wisconsin protests
The 2011 Wisconsin protests were a series of demonstrations in the state of Wisconsin in the United States beginning in February involving at its zenith as many as 100,000 protestors opposing the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill. Subsequently, anti-tax activists and other conservatives, including tea...
. More recently, a Deputy Prosecutor in Indiana's Johnson County, Carlos Lam, suggested that Governor Walker should mount a "false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
" operation which would make it appear as if the union was committing violence. After initially claiming that his email account was hacked, Lam admitted to sending the suggestion and resigned.
Cullen Werwie, press secretary for Governor Walker, states that Walker's office was unaware of Lam's email. According to CBS News, Werwie also commented, "Certainly we do not support the actions suggested in (the) email. Governor Walker has said time and again that the protesters have every right to have their voice heard, and for the most part the protests have been peaceful. We are hopeful that the tradition will continue."
Violence in Latin America
- Isidro Gil, a leader of the National Union of Food Industry Workers at the BogotáBogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
bottling plant of the Coca-ColaCoca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
company who was shot dead at the plant on December 5, 1996. Four other leaders of the union have been killed since 1994, as have other union leaders in Colombia.
Violence in other parts of the world
- Chea VicheaChea VicheaChea Vichea was the leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia until his assassination on Chinese New Year, 22 January 2004...
, leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
(FTUWKC) was shot in the head and chest while reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
on January 22, 2004. He had been dismissed by the INSM Garment Factory (located in the Chum Chao District of Phnom Penh), as a reprisal for helping to establish a trade union at the company.
- Shankar Guha NiyogiShankar Guha NiyogiShankar Guha Niyogi was founder of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, a labor union run in the town of Dalli Rajhara Mines in Chhattisgarh, who succeeded in sustaining the Mine Worker movement for 14 years from 1977 till his death in 1991.-Early Life:Dhiresh Guha Niyogi was born in 1943 in Jalpaiguri,...
, a leader of the Mukti Morcha union movement in the IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state of ChhattisgarhChhattisgarhChhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
was killed in BhilaiBhilaiBhilai or Bhilai Nagar is a city in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh, in eastern central India. As of 2001, it had a population of 753,837. The city is located west of the capital Raipur, on the main Howrah–Mumbai rail line, and National Highway 6...
, on September 27, 1991, allegedly by a hired assassin, in the middle of a major dispute about the regularisation of workers' contracts in the steel and engineering industries. The alleged assassin and two industrialists were convicted of his murder but released on appeal; their release is itself now subject to appeal.