On this day in 1898, the Battle of Virden began when armed members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) surrounded a train full of strikebreakers and exchanged fire with company guards. 13 people were killed, dozens more wounded.
After a local chapter of the UMW began striking at a mine in Virden, Illinois, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company hired black strikebreakers from Birmingham, Alabama and shipped them to Virden by train.
The company hired armed detectives or security guards to accompany the strikebreakers, and an armed conflict broke out when armed miners surrounded the train as it arrived in town. A total of four detectives and seven striking mine workers were killed, with five guards, thirty miners, and an unrecorded number of strikebreakers wounded.
After this incident, Illinois Governor John Tanner ordered the National Guard to prevent any more strikebreakers from coming into the state by force. The next month, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company relented and allowed the unionization of its workers.
"When the last call comes for me to take my ๏ฌnal rest, will the miners see that I get a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives on the hills of Virden, Illinois...They are responsible for Illinois being the best organized labor state in America."
Mother Jones
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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
- โค๏ธFoundations of Leninism
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Crushposting:
I know their phone number is correct, because we did a test call when swapping. I know they have low days. I know they struggle with answering messages. Either of these reasons is valid enough on its own, and should calm me down.
โฆBut there are also other possibilities: that they stood me up, or that they got into trouble. In both these cases thereโs nothing I could do. (Except of course to have been a better person all along so nobody would stand me up, or to constantly be by their side to help them out of trouble ๐คก)
Itโs probably just a low day, and I sent them 2 short messages and attempted 1 call spread out over like 5 hours, which I hope is not too clingy or annoying.
Seems reasonable if you had plans. This is a chance to earn some points by being cool about it if nothing else