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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when I take breaks from drinking I just find other shitty ways to self medicate, like playing fighting games all night. I'm kinda starting to think no one actually raw dogs reality, even if their drug isn't directly an actual drug.
Yeah it's tough, I can mostly say I don't endulge in escapism, I mean hexbear and lemmygrad if that counts lol, I try to minimize harmful usage though. Just trying to read a lot.
Wish I had your discipline lol I maybe finish like one full length book a year with my nuked attention span :/
I quit all non-essential tech services for a month and I managed to read a book every like 2 years just by reading in my spare time, our environment really sucks. And I'm mostly sure I have ADHD. You can do it comrade, it's just that everything is grabbing our attention nowadays. If you want you can join the GZD reading group or DM me on Matrix if you want an accountability partner or just to talk. I read the most when I'm not at home funnily enough.
Yep. To live is to suffer. To cope is a necessity. To find the least damaging coping mechanism is a worthy goal.
To live is to suck. To cum is a necessity