MikeDunnAuthor , 5 days ago

Today in Labor History June 24, 1904: Troops arrested 22 workers in Telluride, Colorado. They accused them of being strike leaders and deported them out of the Telluride district. This was a repeat of events in March, in which they deported 60 union miners. And all of it was part of the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-1904. The strikes were led by the Western Federation of Labor (WFM) and heavily suppressed by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives, local cops and militias. Some scholars have claimed said that "There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904."

One of the strike leaders was Big Bill Haywood, who would go on to cofound the even more radical IWW in 1905. Pinkerton agent James McParland tried (and failed) to frame Haywood for the murder of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905. The Pinkerton agency in Colorado at this time was run by James McParland, who had served as an agent provocateur and the sole witness against the 20 innocent Irish coalminers who were executed as Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania in the 1870s. (That story is depicted in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”) McParlan placed numerous spies and agents provocateur within the WFM to sabotage and undermine their organizing.

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

And here is my article on the history of the Western Federation of Miners: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/the-western-federation-of-miners/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #WesternFederationOfMiners #wfm #BigBillHaywood #union #strike #colorado #pinkertons #agentprovocateur #IWW #mollymaguires #prison #deathpenalty #innocent