David Christopher Siwik is the creator and editor of Præteritum Michigan. He can be reached at david.siwik@gmail.com.
On 23 July 1913 the great strike that would last into the Spring of 1914 began in Michigan’s Copper Country – the mines along the copper range of the Keweenaw Peninsula. While there were many collaborative and informative projects launched in 2013 to commemorate 100 years since the strike, it is worthwhile to revisit one of the most important events in the history of the American labor movement. Over the coming months, we will be doing just that here at Præteritum Michigan.
“The working class, and it alone, can and must achieve its own emancipation.” – Charles Moyer, President, Western Federation of Miners
Working men and women are, and always have been, the “producer class” of all industrialized societies. In the case of the Michigan copper mines, capital was turned into copper ore through the sweat, blistered hands and ultimately broken bodies of the men, women, and children who labored in the industry. These workers at one time produced half the copper ore in the United States, working in one of the largest industrial complexes in the Midwest. Now, only shadows of the former productive output remain in the Keweenaw Peninsula. And yet, the memories of the strike and the impact it had on the culture of Michigan’s mining region remain important and worth consideration. And, it is from this starting point that we launch a retrospective into the great strike.
Historically, in the United States, labor stoppages in the form of worker strikes have often times been an action of last resort in American labor relations. This was especially the case in the time of the Keweenaw Copper Strike. In the early-twentieth century, the law did not recognize the right of workers to collectively bargain, and companies could, and did without hesitation employ a variety of means to terminate the employment of striking workers. This included hiring replacements, forming so-called citizens committees to thwart the efforts of strikers, and using “security firms” or compliant local police departments to assault workers. All of this, and more, happened between 23 July 1913 and 13 April 1914 when thousands of workers left the mines, putting their livelihoods and very lives on the line.
What made the workers strike?
This is a common question one often asks when looking back at a work stoppage. Workers usually strike when management do not consider worker demands. In the case of the Keweenaw Copper Strike, the workers demanded an eight hour work day, $3.50 per day wage, and fought the introduction of a one-man drill into the mines, worried it would take away jobs (which it eventually did) and make conditions in the mines less safe. The main target was the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company – the largest and most profitable in the region. For any strike to succeed, workers would have to get concessions from the Calumet & Hecla. This would not be easy, as James MacNaughton, company president, was determined to use the strike as a means of implementing substantial management changes in the mines
Refusing to show up to work beginning on the 23rd, the mining operations in the region came to a halt for a period of time. Yet, management were prepared for this strike, and soon employed all of the means at their disposal to thwart the efforts of their workers. In the end, the strike left the workers in a worse position than before. In the early-20th century struggle between capital and labor, capital usually held the upper hand, especially with the law and agencies of law enforcement on its side. Yet, with low wages, the threat of their jobs being eliminated, and the prospect of an increasingly dangerous work environment, workers walked off the job. In the entries that will follow here on Præteritum Michigan, we will examine more of the details of this strike, and also look at the copper mining industry and the impact it had on the region.
Next up!
Next, a bit of background of the development of the copper mining region and the multi-ethnic workforce that predominated the area.
