“Coal Field Hell Raiser”

The Progressive Miners of America distinguished itself in a number of ways. Perhaps the most important was the role that women played in organizing and leadership. As a community-based union, the PMA viewed its struggle as that of the community and not limited to the male members of the organization. As pointed out in an earlier post, PMA women organized themselves and became active organizers and leaders in the struggle. Sometimes they were willing to take risks that their male counterparts were unwilling to assume.

Much of that early activism was led by the first President of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Progressive Miners of America, Agnes Burnes Wieck.

The East St. Louis Journal noted:

“In the old days, women of the mine areas were a hazard to the success of any strike. The men knew that a complaining woman at home could drive the most militant union man back to the pits without victory.

Now the women, organized under the auxiliary, glory in the privations they suffer. They would not let the men go back if they wanted to go, unless the return was a distinct victory. That, says Mrs. Wieck, is why there never can be a compromise between the Progressives and the U.M.W.A. in Illinois.

The second factor is that as an organization the women have taken an important role in the actual hostilities. The have picketed and the have marched in demonstrations. The have held meetings in the face of orders forbidding meetings. Where they might have starved singly, they have learned through organization to raise money for food, clothing, and strike expenses.”

Charles M. Swart, “Agnes Burnes Weick (sic) – Coal Fields Hell Raiser,” East St. Louis Journal, Illinois Magazine, 22 October 1933, 1.


To learn more about her life and contributions, read Woman from Spillertown, A Memoir of Agnes Burnes Wieck, by her son David Thoreau Wieck