"The Battle of Blair Mountain"

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how Shogan presents a rather succinct account of the labor movement in West Virginia that ultimately culminated in a legitimate battle between coal miners and federal troops. It discusses how the conflict remains perhaps the most significant labor struggle in the United States during the 20th century, but has been largely ignored by scholars and historians. It concludes that by publishing this book, Shogan aims to shed much needed light onto this fault in American history and to re-affirm the fact that the labor movement in the United States possesses a powerful and bloodied past.

From the Paper:

"The coal miners' movement was spurred by what they perceived to be unreasonable practices that were adopted by the coal distributors in efforts to maximize their profits and, while minimizing the incomes of their workers, to take measure ensuring the miners' dependence upon them. The company store is one of the most glaring examples of how the miners were manipulated to continually feed off the company that controlled their employment. "The company stores that sold them food and other necessities charged exorbitant prices, which the miners had to pay, since there was no other available outlet. Just to guarantee the captivity of their consumers, coal companies paid the miners in scrip, which only the company store would accept." (Shogan, 33). This made the workers almost entirely dependent upon the mines for their survival."

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