On this day in 1898, the Battle of Virden began when armed members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) surrounded a train full of strikebreakers and exchanged fire with company guards. 13 people were killed, dozens more wounded.
After a local chapter of the UMW began striking at a mine in Virden, Illinois, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company hired black strikebreakers from Birmingham, Alabama and shipped them to Virden by train.
The company hired armed detectives or security guards to accompany the strikebreakers, and an armed conflict broke out when armed miners surrounded the train as it arrived in town. A total of four detectives and seven striking mine workers were killed, with five guards, thirty miners, and an unrecorded number of strikebreakers wounded.
After this incident, Illinois Governor John Tanner ordered the National Guard to prevent any more strikebreakers from coming into the state by force. The next month, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company relented and allowed the unionization of its workers.
“When the last call comes for me to take my final rest, will the miners see that I get a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives on the hills of Virden, Illinois…They are responsible for Illinois being the best organized labor state in America.”
Mother Jones
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They probably just wanna make sure you aren’t a fed and also they’re probably just partially doing some survey data stuff. For a fledgling party it’s not bad to grill people who are joing on why and what they’ve done and what they believe. It’s a filter but also a means of knowing your party demographics. They want members, growing is pretty essential to any political party that isn’t the big 2 and even then really just the dems don’t care about growth, I’m sure it’s just a typical joiner questionnaire. Like, it would be weird to reject someone from a party for not independent organizing experience, a party is.the organization, independent work looks good on a resume but if you only accept those who do outside adventures, your party sucks and isn’t gonna get many members. I’m sure it’s just part of the process