The Ludlow Massacre

The Ludlow Massacre

Introduction

There have been a number of incidents in the history that involves the leaders in any establishment or settings exercising various unjust practices on the followers. In fact, history is full of a number of incidents that involved rebellion against any leaders by the groups of followers. Any such clash in the past has ended with nothing but destruction and devastation. However, the brutality and the cruelness shown by the powerful in some of these conflicts are just impossible to forget. In addition, the loss of precious lives as a result of these clashes is the reflection of to what extent human race can go to impose its power over the less unfortunate and less powerful. One of such events in the history includes The Ludlow Massacre. Occurred in the year 1914, this is one of the most discussed incidents in the history of America.

Discussion

The 1913-14 Colorado Coal Strike of was undoubtedly one of the most vicious strikes in history of United States history. Granted that they were eventually vanquished, the coal excavators held out for around 14 months in this strike in the tent colonies located on Colorado prairie. Irrespective of the fact that the mineworkers lost the strike, it was and still regarded as a triumph in a wide sense for the major labor representing union in that time, that is the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America) (Walker, 2003).

It is important to note that in spite of being one of the deadliest war in the history, it took thousands of horrifying incidents and years of frustration to build up ultimately resulting in the incidence. It all started when the Coal Industry in Colorado was at a boom and labor migrants from many regions poured in the region to work for the Coal companies (Saitta, Walker & Reckner, 2005). However, the essential thing to note here is that the mine or company owners never truly gave careful consideration to the working conditions at these processing plants notwithstanding hardships and challenges the labor force confronted.

The Southern Coal filed was a major supplier of bituminous coal, essential utilized for coking the for many steel business operations. Because of this increasing demand of coking coal, the Colorado field was intensely industrialized. The most essential coal operations include the Rockefeller which is owned by CF&I (Colorado Fuel and Iron Company). Established by John Osgood in1880, CF&I produced around 75% of the Colorado's coal (Walker, 2003). Even by 1906, it is estimated that 10% of Colorado's populace relied on CF&I for earning their livelihoods if which the majority was the labor force at the mines.

The strong position and control that the company enjoyed over both the industry and the labor force made it ignorant of the difficulties and challenges for them in the mines. The unsafe and dangerous working conditions took the lives of many workers, monthly and annually, thereby widowing many wives and orphaning hundreds of children. In fact, the death of the workers between ...