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Subject: [KYBELL] Prepare to Meet Thy God: War in the Harlan County Coal Fields
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 09:08:47 EDT

Prepare to Meet Thy God:
War in the Harlan County Coal Fields
By Katie Rorrer


The only way to understand the Harlan County, Kentucky, miners' strike of
1931-32--the same one depicted by John Yount in his novel Hardcastle--is to
understand the events leading up to the strike. After World War I, the nation was
in a period of economic prosperity (Titler 12). These effects lingered into
the 1920s, providing very favorable conditions for the coal mining industry. New
mines opened, new equipment was bought, and many people were hired. These
conditions quickly led to increased production. However, as the overseas market
began to decline and alternate fuel sources became more extensively utilized,
the demand for coal began to decrease. There were more miners than were needed
so lay-offs and wage reductions began to occur. In early 1931 work became
sporadic. Less than one fifth of the population was employed, and those that did
have jobs were able to work very few days a month (Gaventa 96). Wages were cut
twice in 1931 (Dreiser 27).

Combined with the problem of lay-offs and wage reductions was the way in
which the miners were paid. Instead of paying the miners in cash, each coal
company issued its own private currency, called scrip. Scrip was only good at the
company store from which it was issued (Dreiser 28). Miners were usually
required to buy food and supplies from the company store, which had prices as much as
fifty percent higher than privately owned stores (Costello 5). Cuts were also
made in the miners' wages before they even got paid.

These cuts were for rent, mandatory doctors' bills (even if the miner didn't
see a doctor), a burial fund, and for "mine expenses," which included fuel,
explosives, and any work that needed to be done on a miners' tools (Dreiser 27).

Faced with starvation due to lack of work and less pay for work that was
done, the miners began to rebel. The miners began to organize themselves into
unions, and formed the Harlan chapter of the United Mine Workers Association
(UMWA) (Costello 5). The miners demanded a strike, but, at the time, the UMWA had
an anti-strike policy and refused to agree to one (Dreiser 4). They did
however, offer to support the miners (by providing relief) if a strike did occur
(Gaventa 97). However, the meetings of the UMWA led to the eviction of hundreds of
miners and their families from their coal-company owned homes (Gaventa 97).
When the UMWA was faced with the realities of the miners' needs (legal costs,
relief work, etc), their support suddenly faltered (Gaventa 99).

After the UMWA backed down on their promise of support, many of the miners
joined a new union, the National Miners Union (NMU) (Gaventa 99). The NMU
supported the miners' strike and assisted the miners by setting up more local
chapters, women's auxiliaries, and soup kitchens (Gaventa 100).

The presence of the unions meant that the coal companies were being asked to
give up practices that were profitable to them, such as wage reductions,
company stores, and the issuance of scrip. The unions also demanded that the coal
operators allow an independent person (who was paid for by the miners) to be
present when the coal was weighed, to assure that the coal was weighed
accurately (Dreiser 34). The coal operators didn't want to give up these practices so
they did everything in their power to keep the unions out of the Kentucky coal
fields (Dreiser 48). Men with union affiliations were fired and evicted,
houses were burned down (Dreiser 31) and soup kitchens were dynamited (Gaventa 100).

As the rebellion progressed, the coal companies hired thugs to act as strike
breakers. By July 25, 1931, there were sixty-five hired thugs who had been
deputized by Sheriff John Henry Blair in Harlan County alone (JH Blair is the
sheriff made infamous in Florence Reece's "Which Side Are You On?") (Gaventa
100). The miners were denied their right to join unions and their right to free
speech (Dreiser 4). Houses of striking miners were raided by dozens of machine
gun carrying deputies (Dreiser 66). Miners were beaten and murdered; there were
eleven unpunished murders of mine workers (Dreiser 4).

>From June to November of 1931 national newspapers reported on the harassment
of striking miners. The increased interest in the area also increased outside
support of the miners' cause, such as that which came from the National
Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners (Dreiser 3). However, the coal
operators' thugs also harassed outsiders who came into the area. On June 30, 1931,
Jesse Wakefield, an attorney for the International Labor Defense Fund (ILD) came
into the area and began relief and defense work for arrested miners (Gaventa
99). On the 23rd of July, Wakefield found her home destroyed by dynamite
(Gaventa 100). In addition, an ILD truck carrying food to the starving miners was
blown up (Dreiser 66). People doing relief work were arrested on false charges
(Dreiser 66). Reporters who tried to enter the area were beaten and forced to
leave town.

On the weekend of December 13, 1931, the miners decided to begin a strike on
January 1, 1932. On the eve of the strike, however, two Harlan miners were
murdered (Gaventa 101). On January 3, the NMU's headquarters were raided. During
the second week of January, two key strike organizers were severely beaten
(Gaventa 102). As violence and hunger increased, the rebellious attitude of the
miners decreased. Although the strike was not officially over until March,
there were very few strike-related incidents after January. According to one
miner, "the strike was broke . . . because the men did not get anything to eat from
the organization (the UMWA) . . . They were starved back in" (qtd in Gaventa
99).

Although the end of the strike should have meant that conditions in Harlan
County improved, this is not true. There has been an ongoing struggle between
the miners (with their unions) and the coal operators. The miners want better
working conditions with better pay, the operators want to maximize their profit.
There have been numerous strikes in Harlan County since the thirties,
including a major one in the 1970s. While watching a documentary on the strike of the
1970s entitled Harlan County U.S.A., it is easy to imagine the strike of
1931. It seems that conditions haven't changed much; the hell in Harlan County
continues.

Works Cited
Costello, E.J. The Shame That Is Kentucky's: The Story of the Harlan Mine
War. Appalachian Movement Press, Inc., Huntington, West Virginia: 1972.

Dreiser, Theodore, Ed. Harlan Miners Speak: A Report on Terrorism in the
Eastern Kentucky Coalfields. Da Capo Press, New York: 1970.

Gaventa, John. Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an
Appalachian Valley. University of Illinois Press, Chicago: 1980.

Harlan County U.S.A. [videorecording]. Cabin Creek Films. Produced and
directed by Barbara Kopple. RCA/Columbia Pictures, Burbank, California: 1987.

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