Miners From The Aoh example essay topic

"The Mollie Maguires" was a name that was bestowed upon the militant coal miners in the harsh late 19 h century. Although there were no official records saying that such an organization existed, nineteen men were hanged for their crimes as "Mollies". This story was an excellent historical reference of the background, conditions, and struggles faced by the Pennsylvania miners in the anthracite fields. These miners faced low wages, bad working conditions, and long work days. They had finally had enough of this harsh treatment and they formed a union called the Workingmen's Benevolent Association. Since these miners were mainly Irish, most of the WBA also belonged to an Irish fraternal organization known as the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The AOH had several people from several different classes of prestige. This membership in the AOH would eventually doom the miners. Overall, the militant working class man, who gave any protest to his mistreatment in the coal mines would in time become known as a Mollie Maguire. These Mollie Maguires in time, will be subject to some of the worst atrocities and treatment that I could have ever imagined. This book begins with a lesson in the background of the Mollies. Then it goes on to explain their Irish origin and their connection with the WBA and AOH.

The next section of the book gives accounts of the working conditions that the miners faced in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields. In the early 19th century developing industries needed more fuel and the greatest usage came from anthracite, mainly in eastern Pennsylvania. With this demand for fuel came the demand for labor. People swept from all over into the region which "rivaled the rush to California in 1849". (p. 18) This land eventually became terrain in which the capitalists rushed to so they might find instant fortune. Not long after towns came up.

Wealthy men began sending these laborers to the coal mines to exploit them for every ounce of time and energy they had. Although many towns were flourishing and lots of money being made, there were several settlements of working class miners and laborers. Bimba states that these workers left home "not reasonably certain when he leaves home for the pit mouth that he will return alive". (p. 20) These mines were literal death traps in that there were no provisions for safety or proper ventilation in the pits. There were no mine inspectors to ensure the safety and well-being of these poor souls. Nothing could be done because state legislature was being controlled by and under the influence of the coal operators. The book states that in Schuylkill County 566 miners were killed and almost two thousand injured as a result of mine conditions.

On top of this wages were incredibly low, paying no more than $1.25 per day. These low wages and low living standards were equally active in arousing the militant mass of miners that demanded improved conditions. I find this interesting to me because minimum wage per hour is $5.50 now much less per week. The wages dropped and the companies were taking money for supplies and housing which left the workers with nothing to show for their labor. But it gets even worse, the miners were not even paid in money. They were given credit to buy things at the company shops which resembled an endless struggle which made the rich richer.

I view this as an outrage which is so crooked and underhanded that it is beyond belief. Sometimes if mine owners were having financial difficulties they wouldn't even pay their workers at all. All they needed to do was transfer their money to another location and leave the workers with nothing. This book gives so many details and descriptions that I can get an accurate depiction of what these miners lives might have been like in late 19th century Pennsylvania.

As I have mentioned before this was only adding fuel to the fire which would eventually lead to the first great coal miners strike in 1849. Now that I had gotten a picture of these working conditions, the next section gave some insight into these early miners' organizations. The strike of 1849 was the work of the Bates Union led by John Bates who fought for higher wages bitterly. But it failed and the organization fell in 1850. In 1860 the workers called for a National Miners Union which was established in 1861. This organization grew very rapidly but it only contained several local groups and could never reach regional or national status.

Finally in 1864 the Workingmen's Benevolent Society of Carbon County, Pa was formed and combined with the workers of Schuylkill county to form the Workingmen's Benevolent Association. John Siney, who was an Irish immigrant, was elected president. This organization was based on respect from the beginning and he declared that any acts of violence were forbidden. This group would eventually grow in numbers and be the base for which all of the miners in the area would gather and protest. The operators were determined to destroy this group which had now become a union that controlled this industry. The WBA and AOH, which I mentioned earlier, were the two influential groups left.

The book gives good examples by using actual bits of newspaper clippings describing the intent of these organizations. The AOH was very powerful and the mine owners knew that they could not crush the miners unless they were crushed. In order to defeat the AOH the mine owners attached the name "Mollie Maguires" and pictured a secret conspiracy that involved terror and crime. The true power of the AOH was exaggerated in order to scare the capitalist society and receive support from the public. This group remained powerful until the mine owners found ways to legally murder most of the members in the anthracite region. It was illegal, supposedly, for workers to fight for working conditions through a union.

After reading this story the next few chapters were the most elaborate and entertaining. The strike of 1875 was the first great contest between miners and operators in Pennsylvania. The miners defeat would end up being the cause for the destruction of the labor unions. This strike was made with long thought and with a plan. The mine owners had advantages because they had the government, the church, and lots of money on their side.

The miners struggled because they didn't have the support of the Miners National Association. John Siney claimed that they should be more worried about peace and well being than higher wages and better working conditions. Bituminous worker in central Pennsylvania struck to no compromise and John Siney was arrested and charged with conspiracy. "Through the strike, trade unionism became a crime". (p. 59) Miners were being charged and sentenced to crimes because of the fact that they were in a union. This broke the workers and they returned to work but declared they would never give up.

Now that the strike had ended, the miners were at the mercy of the operators. The owners became increasingly militant resorting to murder. The miners turned to the AOH as a defense structure. The owners put even worse conditions on their workers by this time. Franklin B. Gowen, who was the leader of the operators, admitted that the murders they framed against the miners would be the final straw that resulted in the destruction of the AOH.

All of the influential or militant miners were being sent to trial for murders they didn't commit. Pinkerton's labor spies were the people who carried out the acts with full endorsement by everyone. By this time the owners created such terror that anyone who even questioned his boss could be sent to the gallows for "Mollie Maguirism". I find this unbelievable that this occurred in such a fashion, which was very similar to the ways in which women were labeled as witches during the Salem Witch Trials.

The owners sadly began murdering any mine workers to put the union into submission. Spies such as the infamous McParlan made up false testimony to accuse several AOH leaders in the trials which I will mention later. Murders were being committed with instant blame on the miners. The Catholic Church was also active on the side of the operators. Bimba states that Catholic Priests formed and denounced the miners from the AOH.

The operators used the Catholic Church to turn the general public against the miners. To many people in the country being dismissed by the Catholic Church was enough to convince people that the AOH was nothing more than murderers. The killings by these labor spies would lead to the trials of most all important leaders of the miners. When looking at Bimba's accounts of the trials, you must take into account that the verdict was already in. These miners were going to hang because of weak testimony, weak evidence, and weak judges which was a complete shame.

I'll only mention 2 particular trials used in the book. Michael Doyle was convicted and hanged because a man claimed he saw him shoot his gun and crawl into the bushes. The ironic thing was that there were no bushes in the area. Hugh McGee han and James Boyle were hung also. A man named Kerrigan gave testimony that he committed the murder.

The jury decided that since he was such a liar and scoundrel in real life, that he was lying and that the two members of the AOH were guilty. This was how cheap and underhanded I believe the trials were. Once accused there were no hopes for the miners. This effectively crushed the miners and the operators won their battle.

There are no words to describe the outrage of this whole situation in history. This book by Anthony Bimba, although old, gave excellent information about the conditions during this time. This book was so well written that it seems almost just that the real story has come out and we really know what happened almost a century ago. I am really glad I chose a book on the Mollie Maguires because I had no idea what impact they had in their time. The Mollie Maguires are a true representation of labor and working class struggles. What we now know is that this was an occurrence that only added fuel to the labor movement.

And that one day those struggling coal miners would have their say thanks to their courageous predecessors "The Mollie Maguires.".