Dear friends PLEASE remember Ludlow today..19 men, women, and children killed in the Ludlow Massacre

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Tue Apr 21, 2015, 01:41 PM - Edit history (2)

2:00 minute audio story here: http://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/april-20-1429540569/#

For the 19...




Ludlow Massacre Monument Junction of Del Aqua and Colorado and Southern Railroad tracks, Ludlow, CO. This monument marks the site where striking miners and their families were killed in their tent colony on April 20, 1914.


http://www.umwa.org/?q=content/ludlow-massacre




The date April 20, 1914 will forever be a day of infamy for American workers. On that day, 18 innocent men, women and children were killed in the Ludlow Massacre. The coal miners in Colorado and other western states had been trying to join the UMWA for many years. They were bitterly opposed by the coal operators, led by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

Upon striking, the miners and their families had been evicted from their company-owned houses and had set up a tent colony on public property. The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs hired as private detectives and strike breakers. They shot and burned to death 20 people, including a dozen women and small children. Later investigations revealed that kerosene had intentionally been poured on the tents to set them ablaze. The miners had dug foxholes in the tents so the women and children could avoid the bullets that randomly were shot through the tent colony by company thugs. The women and children were found huddled together at the bottoms of their tents.

The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency had been brought in to suppress the Colorado miners. They brought with them an armored car mounted with a machine gun—the Death Special— that roamed the area spraying bullets. The day of the massacre, the miners were celebrating Greek Easter. At 10:00 AM the militia ringed the camp and began firing into the tents upon a signal from the commander, Lt. Karl E. Lindenfelter. Not one of the perpetrators of the slaughter were ever punished, but scores of miners and their leaders were arrested and black-balled from the coal industry.

A monument erected by the UMWA stands today in Ludlow, Colorado in remembrance of the brave and innocent souls who died for freedom and human dignity.

In December, 2008, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the Ludlow site as a National Historic Landmark. "This is the culmination of years of work by UMWA members, retirees and staff, as well as many hundreds of ordinary citizens who have fought to preserve the memory of this brutal attack on workers and their families," UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said.

"The tragic lessons from Ludlow still echo throughout our nation, and they must never be forgotten by Americans who truly care about workplace fairness and equality," Roberts said. "With this designation, the story of what happened at Ludlow will remain part of our nation's history. That is as it should be."

The dedication ceremony was held at Ludlow on June 28, 2009.

[AuntPatsy]

1. ..

[Cooley Hurd]

2. .

[mountain grammy]

3. Everyone who can should visit this memorial

[niyad]

21. this is true. I saw it after it was vandalized. utterly sickening.

[mountain grammy]

26. Yes that was sickening, but the memorial is now restored and beautiful.

[niyad]

51. I know. time for my annual visit.

[DirkGently]

4. KNR.

[Sherman A1]

5. K&R!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. . . .

[center]

[/center]

[BumRushDaShow]

8. When I listened to the audio book of "The Autobiography of Mother Jones"

she described this incident as part of her travels through the western mining towns (she was arrested in the area and imprisoned for almost a month I believe). The narrative from that book was one of the most depressing things I've ever encountered, but I managed to listen to the whole thing (total of about 6 hours). Her boldness to confront management and their goon strikebreakers, was remarkable.

R.I.P. to those who made that sacrifice.

[erronis]

48. Thanks for that reference to Mother Jones

I think I had long ago looked up who she was but had lost those memories along the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Harris_Jones

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1837[1][2] – 30 November 1930) was an Irish-American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent labor and community organizer. She then helped coordinate major strikes and cofounded the Industrial Workers of the World.

Jones worked as a teacher and dressmaker, but after her husband and four children all died of yellow fever in the late 1860's, and her dress shop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union. From 1897, at around 60 years of age, she was known as Mother Jones. In 1902 she was called "the most dangerous woman in America" for her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners. In 1903, upset about the lax enforcement of the child labor laws in the Pennsylvania mines and silk mills, she organized a Children's March from Philadelphia to the home of then president Theodore Roosevelt in New York. Mother Jones magazine, established in 1970, is named for her.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. Her autobiography is in the Public Domain

https://librivox.org/the-autobiography-of-mother-jones-by-mary-harris-jones/

(various formats available including ebook and the audiobook readings of the book's chapters)

And yup - that's who the magazine (home of our fave David Corn) is named for.

http://www.motherjones.com/

[Canoe52]

9. K & R!

[historylovr]

10. ...

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Thank you. n/t

[Stainless]

12. Ludlow exemplifies corporate thuggery, murder..............

Hasn't changed much if at all.

[secondvariety]

13. Thank you for posting.

[Cheese Sandwich]

14. ..

[justhanginon]

15. So much of our history with regards to early attempts at

unionizing is so goddam shameful it makes one almost cry. The violence and thuggery of the corporate goons and their hirelings is, unfortunately, all too believable. And even now there are those who would take us right back to those days again. The passing of right to work laws, the anti union threats against organizers and political parties that will not stand up for american workers is disgusting. I wonder sometimes just what it will take to get people to rise up and take back from corporate america at least some of the rights won by men and women in those hard fought battles many years ago in many different industries. I'm getting old but I hope it is in my lifetime.
I've never belonged to a union but one has to be blind to not see how they benefit the working men and women of this country in the long run. So many of the benefits we take for granted were won for us by people who stood up and were counted in spite of threats and worse. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.

[sabrina 1]

30. It's been happening with the Longshoremen for several years now. Never see anything on the

'news' about it. Foreign Corporations too. And wait til they pass the TPP, which I hope will not happen, to see what these Corporations will have the power to do.

[appalachiablue]

16. K & R

[blondie58]

17. A very Sad Day in the history

Of our state😟

[Drahthaardogs]

18. My grandfather was at Ludlow as it was near his ranch.

During the strike, he rode into the camps at night on horseback to deliver food to the miners. As a result, the militia hired by Rockefeller (who was a thug) put a bounty on his head and my uncle's head. They had to go into hiding.


All of you anti-union people, please remember, NO ONE GAVE YOU 40 HOUR WORK WEEKS, VACATION, SICK DAYS. These were paid in blood by men and women who took up arms. Please, please, please support labor. Please do not support any candidate who does not support labor.

If you need a reminder, go to Ludlow and walk down the stairs. YOu can sit in the quiet darkness where people were burned to death. Let it wash over you. Realize what it means!

LUDLOW - WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

[niyad]

20. no, we will never forget. your grandfather, and all those in the camp, were so very brave.

[sabrina 1]

31. good post, thank you. I'm sure you are proud of your grandfather and uncle. And there should be NO

anti-Union people on this forum.

[niyad]

19. I remember, steve.

[marmar]

22. K&R

[okasha]

23. ,,,,

[guillaumeb]

24. Corporate, union breaking attorneys have generally replaced thugs

when corporations like Wal-Mart and McDonalds tries to deny the freedom to associate to their workers. The fact that there are no large massacres here in the US allows people to feel that unions are not needed. Especially in the South, where right to work is marketed as a heritage of freedom for poorly paid wage slaves.

workers wages have been stagnant ever since the Reagan years, while the incomes of the top 1% have hit levels not seen since before the Great Depression. When I hear people say that "unions may have done good once but they are no longer needed I know that the GOP has succeeded in brainwashing many US citizens.

As levels of unionization have dropped average wages for workers have dropped, but many workers cannot make the connection. How many more beatings must workers take, how much more must they lose before they realize that, more than ever, unions are the only answer. Only organized labor can beat organized capital.

Great post Omaha Steve.

[burrowowl]

25. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!

In memorium

[WillyT]

27. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[ismnotwasm]

28. K&R

[colorado_ufo]

29. Our local Colorado electric cooperative, Grand Valley Power,

has an outstanding magazine that features Colorado history. One issue recently was about Ludlow. On the cover was a close up picture of some of the children, while alive, exhibiting fear and abject poverty. One small girl's gaze was so penetrating that I could not stand to look at it, knowing that, soon, she would be dead.

What the hell is wrong with people?

I have heard the saying, "Beyond every great fortune is a great crime." Sometimes, I think it could be true.

[azurnoir]

32. K&R thank you

[Pooka Fey]

33. K&R

Thank you for posting this.

[gregcrawford]

34. Ludlow was the worst of many tragic events...

... that mark the Big Coal as the most murderous industry in American history. Big Coal's horrific mistreatment of workers persists to this day, with the complicity of federal regulatory agencies that fail to collect fines levied for the egregious transgression of safety regulations that have cost thousands of lives in the past century.

[Enthusiast]

35. K&R! Thank you, Omaha Steve.

We must never forget. The nation is headed for a return to those times.

[Octafish]

36. ''Not one of the perpetrators of the slaughter were ever punished.''

And today, a century later, the crime is seldom mentioned.

Our Oligarchs love us.

[Drahthaardogs]

37. And Rockefeller is dubbed one of the "Men who built America"

but they leave out the part where he did it by basically enslaving Greek, Italian, Slavic, Mexican, and Chinese poor people. They had a whole mini-series about this cretin and not one word of how he did this to people. They portrayed him as a stand-up, guy that was just very very driven.

He was a murdering thug. Make no mistake, the "militia" he hired were street thugs from Chicago at the time. This is my heritage and my history. I know this story well.

If you go to Ludlow, go up Tabasco Canon. The company houses are still partially standing. Remember he charged them exorbitant rent to live in these tiny little hovels.

[Octafish]

40. The Oligarchs are turning America into a giant company town.

Cheaper than slavery, as the slaves have to pay rent and buy their own food. It's how China operates now. It will take a generation or two to condition America, but it's coming here to, thanks to the victory of capital over democracy.

Thank you for the heads-up, Drahthaardogs. May those in the future remember and may they live in better times because of the suffering and sacrifices of the good people. Good people today need to remember, too, and do all they can to stop the greeheads.

[PADemD]

44. Ludlow is now a ghost town.

Pictures here:

http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/htme/ludlowco.htm

[Drahthaardogs]

70. That's not Ludlow.

At least not the remnants of the camps. Let me see if I can get some pictures to post. IF so, I will show you what it looks like today

[niyad]

58. whenever I hear about how great he was, I want to throw up or scream.

[Starry Messenger]

38. K&R

[deutsey]

39. Thank you n/t

[Gumboot]

41. If you're ever in southern Colorado...

... Please visit the Pueblo Steelworks Museum, which is an amazing place to learn about working local class life - especially the local steel workers, miners and farmers. It's only a little place, but probably my favourite museum in America.

Never forget the lessons of the past, and take your kids there so they can learn as well.

Power to the people!

[olegramps]

42. "Never forget the lessons of the past..."

I fear that these lessons have been erased from today's treatment of labor history. There is little or no coverage of the period of unionization in students history classes.

[niyad]

56. thank you for the reminder about that little treasure of a museum.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

43. kick, rec and saving this entire thread.

-_- _/\_

[tclambert]

45. "Your Honor, the mining company made a profit from killing those workers, so it's justifiable."

"In fact, it was in the defense of their profits, so that makes it a clear case of self-defense. May I remind the court that corporations are people, and the corporate religion is profit. Therefore . . . we get to murder people . . . and it's legal. We may even employ police officers to do our killing for us. So it's double super legal. Move to dismiss all charges, Your Honor."

Edited to add: What am I thinking? This never got near a courtroom.

[cwydro]

46. k and r. nt

[ibewlu606]

47. Kicked!

Proud to be union!

[LittleGirl]

49. The first time I read about this

was in Howard Zinn's book "The People's History of the United States." And it made me cry that so many were murdered that day. That book was a difficult read and still is one of my favorite books of all time. I had several moments of sheer shame for my country when I read it that I carry to this day. If you haven't read the book, it's a must read.

[classof56]

50. Until a few years ago, I had never heard of Ludlow. Interesting, because...

I was raised near Denver, went to junior high and high school there, and not once during our Colorado history classes was the Ludlow Massacre ever mentioned. This was back in the 1950s. Maybe the powers that be didn't want to upset us young Coloradoans so they left this and the Sand Creek Massacre out of the public education curriculum. Not sure why, but I do know I've been haunted by both sad events for quite some time, especially today, the Ludlow anniversary. Thanks for the reminder.

[niyad]

57. of course those two massacres are never mentioned. very hard to put any kind of

positive spin on them.

[Drahthaardogs]

72. Do not be sad for Ludlow...

Ludlow started the great Colorado Coal Wars and became a battle cry for unionization. As I noted, my family was there. My grandfather met Mother Jones. The thing to remember is, the miners lost the battle, but they won the war.

Be sad for this generation. They have forgotten the lessons of the past. The Democrats don't support or value labor. Our own President does not support labor.

Cry for us, not for them. It is our generation that makes their deaths in vain.

[merrily]

52. K & R

[mother earth]

53. K & R, & TY, OmahaSteve.

[former9thward]

55. This is a map of the massacre which is located at the monument

One of the pictures I took when I was there a couple years ago.

[niyad]

59. . . .

[niyad]

60. list of victims:

Massacre
Victims
1. John Bartolotti, 45
2. Charlie Costa, 31
3. Fedelina Costa, 27
4. Lucy Costa, 4
5. Onofrio Costa, 6
6. James Fyler, 43
7. Cloriva Pedregon, 4
8. Rodgerlo Pedregon, 6
9. Frank Petrucci, 4 mo.
10. Joe Petrucci, 4
11. Lucy Petrucci, 2
12. Frank Rubino, 23
13. William Snyder Jr., 11
14. Louis Tikas, 30
15. George Ullman, 56
16. Elvira Valdez, 3 mo.
17. Eulala Valdez, 8
18. Mary Valdez, 7
19. Patria Valdez, 37

[paparush]

61. Matewan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan

[angrychair]

62. lesson never learned

The economic murder of millions continues.

Unions save lives!

Union shop steward and proud state employee.

[Lifelong Protester]

63. You who died are not forgotten...

...

[samsingh]

64. reminder

[Eyerish]

65. .

[LeftishBrit]

66. k&r

[locks]

67. Many thanks, Steve,

for this post. And I'm always thankful for the people, including Denver public TV channels, who have kept the Ludlow massacre before us through the years.

The decline of union workers is a sad loss for our nation. Corporations seem to have all our elected leaders in their pocket, and in the case of the TPP, Obama also.

[hrmjustin]

68. K&R!

[Buenaventura]

69. Thank you for posting this.

Please stop there every time you drive down I-25.

Leave a bouquet and never forget.

Solidarity ...
Buenaventura

[Dont call me Shirley]

71. The 19 men, women, children...

Senseless murders of innocents

I weep for the minds of the violent thinking who will never understand the devastation they cause.