On this day in 1919, the United Mine Workers (UMW) initiated a nationwide strike of more than 400,000 coal miners, demanding better wages and a 30-hour week. The U.S. declared the strike illegal while the media smeared workers as communists.
U.S. Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, the same individual behind the infamous Palmer Raids, declared the strike illegal by invoking the Lever Act, a wartime measure that made it a crime to interfere with the production or transportation of necessities.
The law had never been used against a union before, and in fact American Federation of Labor (AFL) founder Samuel Gompers had been promised by President Woodrow Wilson that the Lever Act would not be used to suppress labor actions.
The strike was subject to Red Scare propaganda: coal operators made false charges that Lenin and Trotsky had ordered the strike and were financing it, and some of the press repeated those claims. Others used words like "insurrection" and "Bolshevik revolution". Because of this propaganda and the Attorney General's injunction against the strike, the UMW called the strike off on November 8th.
Many workers ignored this order, however, and the strike continued for over a month, with a final agreement being reached on December 10th. Workers won a 14% wage increase and the creation of an investigatory commission to mediate wage issues.
The US miners' strikes, 1919-1922 - Jeremy Brecher
:worker
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spoiler mental health/screaming into the void
I feel like I've been doing nothing but sit on the couch or work. I have totally given up on keeping up with friends, I don't even know how to make any online even though all I do is sit on the internet. I just always say the wrong thing. I've gained 50 lbs, I'm always aching from not exercising. I just feel like I've given up on trying. I'm really just waiting to die, but I can't tell anyone that because it will be too heavy for them.
same but i'm also going to quit my job soon and then things will really start going downhill
I'm sorry you're goin through it too. Having mental disorders fucking sucks. I'm lucky enough that I can slack off in my job some days, it's kinda the only way I can keep on I think. Are you quitting because you hate your job or you just can't do it anymore or both?
Stay strong comrade
Try to take it easy on yourself, remember that we are living in hellworld. None of this shit is your fault.
Hit me up if you want to talk, I've got plenty of bullshit self-improvement advice that works 50% of the time
Thank you, really. I appreciate your realistic numbers on the self-improvement advice lol. 50 percent ain't bad though
Yeah. I get a bit of this. the feeling comes and goes but my gut doesn't.
Lollll yes stupid gut! It sucks with exercise because I'll feel great and motivated to do it for like 3 days and then I just get depressed again, it's impossible to keep up with. Only when I was laid off during the pandemic was I really able to keep up with it because all I would do is exercise and play animal crossing all day. It was sweet. Miss those giant unemployment paychecks