Democratic Miners: Work and Labor Relations in the Anthracite Coal Industry, 1875-1925 (American Labor History (Dis))

Democratic Miners traces the history of work and labor relations in the anthracite coal industry, focusing on conditions that led up to, and followed, the famous strike of 1902. That strike, an epic five-and-a-half-month struggle, led the federal government to intervene in a labor dispute for the first time in American history. Focusing on the workplace, Blatz puts the 1902 strike in the context of a turbulent half-century of labor-management relations. Those years saw the unionization of the anthracite fields under the United Mine Workers of America, amidst an evolving democratic tradition of rank-and-file protest against corporate control, and ironically ended with a growing rift between miners and union leadership. Unlike many books on labor relations, this work concentrates especially on the workers themselves. Working-class as opposed to union history, it contributes greatly to our understanding of working-class formation in the Progressive years.

Business & Money

Blatz, Perry K.

Economics

State University of New York Press

Democratic Miners traces the history of work and labor relations in the anthracite coal industry, focusing on conditions that led up to, and followed, the famous strike of 1902. That strike, an epic five-and-a-half-month struggle, led the federal government to intervene in a labor dispute for the first time in American history. Focusing on the workplace, Blatz puts the 1902 strike in the context of a turbulent half-century of labor-management relations. Those years saw the unionization of the anthracite fields under the United Mine Workers of America, amidst an evolving democratic tradition of rank-and-file protest against corporate control, and ironically ended with a growing rift between miners and union leadership. Unlike many books on labor relations, this work concentrates especially on the workers themselves. Working-class as opposed to union history, it contributes greatly to our understanding of working-class formation in the Progressive years.

Reference

Eckley, near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was a typical company mining town, or "patch," which was in existence from 1854 to 1969. Coal companies constructed and operated villages, such as Eckley, for their workers, providing housing, stores, churches, and schools--and by extension making the workers wholly dependent on the company. The workers were originally English, Welsh, and German, and later in the century they were joined by immigrants from Ireland and southern and eastern Europe, forming an ethnically diverse community. The site interprets the day-to-day life of the workers and their families.

Eckley Miner's Village: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide (Pennsylvania Trail of History Guides)

History

Benner, Craig A.

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

Americas

Stackpole Books

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