Ludlow Massacre

About 10,000 miners under the direction of the United Mineworkers (UMW) had been on strike since September 13, 1913, protesting low pay and abysmal working conditions in the coalfields of Colorado. Evicted from the company towns by the operators, including John D. Rockefeller's Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, striking miners constructed tent colonies, the largest of which housed about 1,200 strikers, in Ludlow, Colorado. The striking miners were a polyglot of ethnicities, including a large number of Greeks and Italians.

Tensions ran high between the armed strikers and the company-hired detectives. The Colorado National Guard, which had been deployed to reduce violence, favored the operators by escorting strikebreakers to the mines and overlooking the violent actions of the detectives. Labor activist Mary “Mother” Jones led a campaign to bring national attention to the strike in the Colorado coalfields.

In April 1914, because of the cost of maintaining the troops, the National Guard presence was reduced, resulting in an increase in violence. On Sunday, April 19, 1914, Greek Easter, the National Guard encircled the Ludlow camp and deployed a machine gun on a bluff overlooking the strikers. In the morning, officers of the National Guard demanded that the miners turn over two Italian strikers. The miners refused on the grounds that the officers failed to present arrest warrants. The National Guard opened fire on the camp, initiating a pitched battle that lasted throughout the day. As the strikers ran out of ammunition, they retreated from the camp into the surrounding countryside. Three of the striking leaders, including the Greek labor organizer Louis Tikas, were murdered by the National Guard after having been captured. The National Guard troops soaked tents in kerosene and set them on fire. Women and children huddled in cellars dug underneath their tents to hide from the bullets that strafed the camp. In one cellar, 11 children and 2 women were found suffocated. In all, 25 people were killed during the Ludlow Massacre. Three of the dead were National Guard troops.

Miners retaliated and attacked anti-union town officials, strikebreakers, and the mines, taking control of an area about 50 miles long and 5 miles wide. As many as 50 died during the reaction to the Ludlow Massacre. Fearing a further escalation of violence, President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops to restore order. Unlike the National Guard, the federal troops were impartial and kept strikebreakers out of the coal mines. The strike ended on December 10, 1914. While the workers got little in the way of tangible benefits from their strike, the UMW gained 4,000 new members. In all, 200 people had died during the 15-month-long strike.

Congress held hearings but took no concrete actions. The trials of more than 400 miners dragged [Page 876]on until 1920, but none received convictions. Twelve National Guardsmen were exonerated before a court-martial. Determined to undercut unions and avoid another violent strike, John D. Rockefeller instituted a system of company-sponsored unions as an alternative to the UMW.