Monday, April 6, 2009

Centralia Mine Disaster

Here's a late post to commemorate the Centralia Mine Disaster. The mine exploded on March 25, 1947, in Centralia, Illinois killing 111 miners.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor reported:

"The explosion was caused when an underburdened shot or blown-out shot ignited coal dust. The mine was exceedingly dry and dusty. Heavy deposits of coal dust were present along the roadways and on the roof, ribs, and timbers in working places and entries. At the time of the explosion most of the men were at the man trips on the entries waiting for the shot firers to complete lighting the shots so they could ride to the shaft bottoms on the man trips. At the time of the explosion 142 men were in the mine. Of those, 65 were killed by burns and violence and 45 by afterdamp. Eight men were rescued but one died from the effects of afterdamp. Twenty-four escaped unaided."

UMWA President, John L. Lewis testified before Congress on the disaster. Here's a short video clip of some of his testimony:





Following the disaster UMWA President John L. Lewis invoked the union's right to call memorial days. The miners did not work for six days, beginning March 29, 1947.

In United We Stand: The United Mine Workers of America 1890-1990, Maier B. Fox writes, "The disaster was of such magnitude that both the House and Senate held committee hearings on mine safety. Lewis used those forums to castigate both the operators and the government. He told the representatives that historically the operators philosophy was, 'We kill them, you (the union) provide for their widows and orphans.'"

Lewis' leadership on mine safety during this time is one of the reasons he was held in such high esteem by many miners. In some ways, his actions then make an assessment of his career difficult.

Undoubtedly Lewis was an autocrat that had little use for democratic mechanisms to govern a union.
And there seemed to be no limits to the actions he would take to consolidate and hold power. The names of the PMA martyrs etched on the side of the Mother Jones Monument are testament to how dangerous it could be to oppose him.

While he contributed greatly to the growth of industrial unionism through the formation of the CIO, Lewis' need for control ensured top-down structures which left workers reliant on the paternalistic favor of union leaders and bureaucratic processes of the legal system for protection, rather than building rank and file power through democratic unions.

As the decades wore on those legal protections eroded. Arguably those bureaucratic processes now do more to serve business interests, undercutting the rights of workers to speak, organize and act.

That being said
Lewis' leadership in the 1940's resulted improved mine safety as well as a welfare and retirement fund. The Centralia Mine Disaster provided the catalyst to force the government to act and the mining industry to acquiesce. The UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund continues to this day.




Here's Woodie Guthrie's "Dying Miner", to commemorate the tragedy.
Provided courtesy of the excellent Archive.org
.

5 comments:

exotericeric said...

I suggest reading "Capitalist Collective Action" before exalting John Lewis as a hero of the people.

When John Mitchell, co-founder of UMWA, asked the operators why they did not bring the West Virginia operators to the joint conference in 1898 he received the following reply: "Why don't you bring them. If it was not for the check off system granted you by the operators of these four states [western coal mines] your organization would not last two years. We are giving your organization its strength here today. It is not you... it is the gentleman seated on this side of the hall that are making your organization what it is."

The coal operators, in collaboration with UMWA, sought to organize the market in order to resolve the previous price wars that were inhibiting the western coal mines from maximizing their profits. Industrial unionism was and still is a severe shortcoming from obtaining the ideals of social uplift unionism from truly democratizing the market

I say... Lets look to Mother Jones for a heroin of the people, not a creator of an organization that sought resolution by squelching a movement which sought the coal miners ownership over the precious mineral, coal. A believer and supporter of material revolution signified by the ownership over the means of production.

Although I realize the benefits of the UMWA, this still does not stop me from pursuing a true and just movement which affords all people the ownership over the means of production. And admittedly, it perhaps only today that we can begin to make this ideal a reality.

Make Better Media said...

Hi Joseph –

Thanks for your comments. I agree with much of what you wrote, but your characterization of my assessment of Lewis as an exaltation is inaccurate to say the least. I encourage you to read the other posts in this blog and review my web site, minewar.org.

To my mind, the events of the Illinois mine war show the degree to which the UMWA declined into a corrupt and anti-democratic organization. During that period, Lewis’ collusion with mine operators and state and local government resulted in years of terror and death in the coal fields. Lewis was hardly a “hero of the people.”

Given his sordid record I’m surprised that comments like your aren’t more common. Typically those I interview today tend to speak of the man with reverence rather than scorn. One of the goals of this project is to understand why the memory of Lewis is so disconnected from his actual record.

Thanks

Greg

A Heninger said...

Is there anyway to determine if a "Charles Stuber" was among the 111 men that died in the Centralia Mine Disaster?

Make Better Media said...

Hi -

I don't have a list of the names of those who perished. However, it's likely that one of the local daily newspapers did publish such a list. Also the UMWA Journal would be a likely resource.

Greg

Lost Hills said...

People can rip John L. Lewis, as they rip Jimmy Hoffa, but who is standing up for the working man with that kind of vigor today? No one.