August 23, 2007 8:04 AM
Ludlow killings overshadowed real massacre, says author
Scott Martelle, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and author of the new book Blood Passion - The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West, says the "massacre" didn't fit the definition but that the deaths of two mothers and 11 children have historically overshadowed even more heinous acts:
It has to do with definition. We think of a massacre as involving acts of willful violence -- shootings, hackings, that sort of thing -- against a large group of people. The 11 kids and two mothers who died were hiding in a maternity chamber dug below ground, hoping to avoid the daylong gunbattle. When the National Guard torched the tents at dusk, there's no indication they knew the people were there. The fire sucked the oxygen out of the chamber and they suffocated (two mothers survived, of the 14 people who were hiding there). So in reality it was more an act of criminally negligent homicide -- they died as a consequence of the arson. But they were not not intentionally killed, which is a key element of a massacre. And in the horror of what happened, people lost sight of the true "massacre" -- the execution of Louis Tikas and two other strikers at the tent colony, by the National Guard.
Martelle talked about his book during an online chat Thursday. The entire transcript is here.
Martelle writes:
The nadir came on a sunny Monday morning in April 1914, when a detachment from the Colorado National Guard engaged in a ten-hour gun battle with union men at Ludlow, where a tent colony housing some eleven hundred strikers and their families had been erected. Seven men and a boy were killed in the shooting, at least three of the men—all striking coal miners, one a leader—apparently executed in cold blood by Colorado National Guardsmen who had taken them captive. As the sun set, the militia moved into the camp itself and an inferno lit up the darkening sky, reducing most of the makeshift village to ashes. It wasn’t until the next morning that the bodies of two mothers and eleven children were discovered where they had taken shelter in a dirt bunker beneath one of the tents. The raging fire had sucked the oxygen from the air below, suffocating the families as they hid from the gun battle.The deaths of the women and children quickly became known as the Ludlow Massacre, and the backlash was vicious and bloody. Over the next ten days striking miners and their supporters poured out their rage in attacks across the coalfields in “an armed and open rebellion against the authority of the state as represented by the militia. This rebellion constituted perhaps one of the nearest approaches to civil war and revolution ever known in this country in connection with an industrial conflict.” And it was a guerrilla war that stretched along more than two hundred miles of the eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies. Union men—mostly Greek and Italian immigrants—swept in from the hillsides and burned mine works to the ground before disappearing. Guards and strikebreakers were killed. At one point several dozen mine officials, guards, scabs, and their families were holed up in a mine shaft, the entry partially sealed by dynamite blasts, with rampaging miners ready to kill if they came out. It took the U.S. Army to bring the bloodshed to an end.
Rocky reviewer Dan Danborn writes:
The events surrounding what came to be known as the Ludlow Massacre were less about "the romantic notion of the resilience of the union men and women in the face of oppression," and more about class distinctions played out against the incidental backdrop of an ugly strike, according to journalist Scott Martelle in an impressive new book about the conflict.All of this took place during a time of great change in America. The country was gradually making the difficult transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Robber barons controlled the economy and its lifeblood: railroads and coal. Public animosity toward powerful trusts had given rise to reform movements, yet those did little more than "nip at the heels" of the wealthy and powerful.
Martelle will appear tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th St.
August 23, 2007
10:18 AM
Kevin Jones writes:
For those of you who like digging into the primary sources, check out the sections of Mother Jones' autobiography where she visits 1913 Colorado.
August 23, 2007
10:22 AM
JR writes:
This is the appropriate response of citizens when the government is violating our rights. The worst part is that they attacked mining company property when they should have attacked the government itself so they would have learned a lesson.
August 23, 2007
10:37 AM
Anonymous writes:
Yeah, attacking goverment because a far left whack job says so, but you would be totally against it when the Right attacks the loony left goverment and overthrows it. Moron
August 23, 2007
2:07 PM
Anonymous writes:
It's always about immigrants
August 23, 2007
2:33 PM
Anonymous writes:
No, its not. Immigrants fine.
Illegal aliens -go back to your country and stand in line, and quit marching in our streets claiming this is Mexico and stealing benefis not meant for you.
August 23, 2007
6:12 PM
David Hakala writes:
Those who do not learn their history are doomed to have it shoved up their noses by The Rocky Mtn. News.
Seriously, this town is full of current events crying for attention. WTF is with this blatant, all-out plug for an obscure book?
August 23, 2007
9:01 PM
Rich Hulten writes:
The Colorado National Guard were used as tools by Sinclair to bust the Union. The government had a stake in the outcome, because, as was mentioned, the US was moving forward toward an Industrialized nation from an agrarian one.
Personally I've railed against the heavy handedness of the Industrial Revolution. Now that we've come full circle, or at least we can now see our asses from behind, it is known that the Industrial Revolution has befouled our air, water and the very soul of our lives in the form of corruption, greed and a failed life for many. I believe that if we would have followed Jefferson's vision of an agrarian society many of our problems would not have surfaced in crowded over populated cities. Well, it's too late now so we're stuck with what we got. I could be wrong and perhaps I am, but being this close to the end of the road I really don't give hoot any longer.
August 24, 2007
10:11 AM
Anonymous writes:
It is scary that the same class divisions are reforming in America after these painful lessons. We have an upper class that is out of touch with reality and exempt from the law and we have a shrinking middle class that is becoming poorer and more desperate. We also have an election system that favors the rich so the problem is actually accelerating.
August 24, 2007
10:44 AM
Stand and wave writes:
10:11
This problem that you've called attention to has been festering a long time. A lapse into anarchy has to be considered one of the most destructive ideas for this country. The Constitution would be the first thing to go followed by Martial Law. So, to avoid these problems what would you propose?
August 24, 2007
11:16 AM
Anonymous writes:
I would suggest elimination of all corporate donations to all elections, strict reporting of personal contributions, and equal enforcement of the law. These are all very doable. The law part is the most disturbing to find that is has slipped. Rich people walk when guilty and that is a huge problem. Even our executive branch is complicit in letting this happen when they let people like Libby go free without serving the time anyone else would have. Politics are usurping laws and that is bad because criminals get more powerful.
August 24, 2007
11:52 AM
Stand and wave writes:
It sounds as if you're citing political pay back as a problem. One can see that politicians, District Attorney's, Judges and others owe their benefactors to a degree. How will this be overcome?
Rich people are let loose simply because there is not a pattern of their criminality such as those at the bottom of the food chain. They would be less of a threat to society.
This goes along the lines of..."For the greater good...."
Years ago I was accused of being an "Idealist" and I still am, but I now realize that human beings will skim around the edge of the law until caught or scared into staying within the law. Absolutism works well on paper, but in the real world you will cause more animosity and lawlessness. I haven't the answer and I try to be more humored than humiliated by law breakers. I keep a low profile and try not to draw attention to myself, keep an eye out for myself and family and have a concealed weapon permit. The bottom line is to keep a sense of humor about life and the human condition while being responsible for yourself.
History is fun and a great way to see mistakes of the past. Hopefully they won't be repeated. That is where you come in. If you are ever lucky enough to be in a situation where you have some ability to change things, do it for the better and not for self interest. This is where the real opportunities for change come in life.
August 24, 2007
12:59 PM
Anonymous writes:
I didn't say anything about payback unless by payback you mean breaking the law. All pardoning power should have limitations when it comes to pardoning your own staff. What ever happened to a balance of power? This is just bad practice like having no auditors and one accountant on a large business. The mess this administration has made of the law should not be tolerated and they should come back after Bush for his criminal behavior including violations of our treaties. This is the kind of political payback I’ll approve of, everything getting cleaned in the wash works for me. I love and respect America for being a land of laws and I hate these bastards that are playing games with it.
August 24, 2007
1:26 PM
Stand and wave writes:
12:59
Now I understand. Yes, any abuse of power is egregious. You sound as if you want to take the present administration to task. I think this sinkhole was started back during the Kennedy years by society accepting and maybe even condoning activities that where not accepted prior to those years. You will notice that there has been a significant coarsening of society and the call for business and politics to clean up their collective acts. I don't see this happening. It is almost as if there is a lust for getting as much money and power as possible before society finally comes to a crashing end. And then it will be every rat for himself as the ship sinks.
Then this country will become a bit of a small France. Everyone will have their collection of flags and as each "conquerer" comes marching through the appropriate flag will be raised. America will again become an agrarian state for whomever is controlling it. (I always though that the word "appropriate" was a liberal word and not really up to everyday usage, but in this last sentence it fit perfectly).
The balance of power or equality of justice has gone from the landscape. It has quietly become the kings and the serfs. Like it or not society has been this way sine it was created in Iraq when the groups came out of the mountains and became farmers. From farmers came the city folks and here we are again. Someone has to clean the outhouse and it won't be the king. And so it goes. I'll be happy thinking I'm a free man as the king goes by and I Stand and Wave.
What have you to say.................
October 23, 2007
4:01 PM
Carlos writes:
the ludlow massacre is the bloodiest thing ever seen