The Ludlow massacre was one of the bloodiest assaults on organized labor in American history. It was the climax of an effort to suppress a strike by coal miners in southern Colorado who were seeking to organize a branch of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union at their mine (Wikipedia, n.p.). Although the miners did not immediately obtain their demands, the massacre generated sympathy for the minersÆ cause. Nonetheless, the power of the mining company enabled them to resist the formation of a true union until almost twenty years later. Still, the massacre played an important role in generating sympathy for and the creations of unions in the American West.
In the years leading up to World War I, coal miners in the West had been trying to organize and join the UMWA. However, they had not met with much success. Then, in the fall of 1913, a union activist was killed. The coal miners of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation (CF&I) had finally had enough. On September 23, 1913, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 coal miners, led by the UMWA, walked out on strike against the John D. Rockefeller controlled CF&I (Millies, n.p.). The workers were primarily of Greek, Italian, Slav, and Mexican ethnicities and they had several demands, which included the recognition of their coal minersÆ union, a raise in their $1.68 per day pay, enforcement of the eight hour work day law and the right to trade at stores other than the company store and live in places that were not company-owned (Sheppard, n.p.). As Steven Millies points out, the coal miners were required to shop at stores, send their children to schools, and attend churches and libraries that were all owned by CF&I (Millies, n.p.). Thus, the coal miners worked in the mines and then were compelled to spend their money only on company-owned products and services.
The strike provoked a harsh response from CF&I. The company evicted the strikers from their hom
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