WV and Asturias

[Mouguias]

I first heard of West Virginia about one year ago, when I began to read the columns from Fred Reed, a proud West Virginian. You can read his essays at www.fredoneverything.net
I felt quite familiar with the stereotypes from that land: those stories about rude highlanders living in the middle of the woods just reminded me quite a lot of my own country. Then I discovered that in WV they have coal mines and metal industry, just as we do. And then I heard about the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Apparently, in the second half of the XIX th century, and first decades of the XXth, the miners from that state developed a strong leftist movement and organized powerful trade unions. Eventually, they started some sort or "rebellion", almost a civil war. The peak of this war it was the Battle of Blair Mountain, in 1921. Washington needed to call EVEN THE AIR FORCES to defeat the miners. Amazing, uh? Well, I still don`t know much on the matter, but I think it is worth the research. Maybe there was some Asturian around?
In Asturias, by the same time, the socialist and anarchist unions were preparing their own revolution. The Blair Mountain battle took place only four years after the "Huelgona", the Big Strike of Asturian miners. In 1934, miners and working men from the port of Xixon raised against the Republican government. Madrid eventually had to send the army, headed by the (then loyal) general Franco.
I think it is more than a coincidence, it all took place during a very interesting historical moment, when there was some sort of struggle between the far-left and the far-right, both in Europe and America. In fact, the KKK harassed the unions for a long time...
Well, that is all I can say about the matter, so far. I don`t know much about it, just wanted to say, for the record, how surprised I was when I discovered those unexpected English-speaking cousins living on the other shore of the Atlantic...

[Suronda]

Hola Mouguias,

The parallels you see between characterizations of Asturias and West Virginia are important ones, and are also quite interesting to me. The two regions do really have lots of industrial and environmental history in common. Further, as "mountain people" there are stereotypes of both that have familiar elements. What I know less about, however, is the influence of one region on the other in terms of labor organizing. Your post had important information about the situation in Asturias that sheds light on this issue.

You mention, in particular, the Battle of Blair Mountain. Have you seen the movie MATEWAN? It was the "Matewan Massacre" (a gun fight between the citizens and police of the town of Matewan, and the coal company's hired men) that sparked the Blair Mountain incident. While I know for sure that some Spaniards (including some from Andalusia as well as Asturias) worked and lived in southern West Virginia, I believe that the majority of Asturianos were concentrated in the northcentral region of the state. You can see Tom Hidalgo's work for more information on this community. You can also see Art's post on Hidalgo's dissertation that situates Asturianos quite nicely.

It is interesting to note that at the same time the coal miners were unsuccessful at their unionization efforts, Spaniards working in zinc were making important gains. In 1919, the Asturianos working in Harrison County's zinc plants went on strike, and were granted an 8-hour day and wage concessions. I think the fact that they did skilled work in the furnaces that others did not want to do helped their cause. I'd like to know more about later struggles, since I know that all strikes weren't as successful at this one. I'd like to know too, how the experience of organizing in Asturias (and the Huelgona) informed organizing efforts of Asturianos in the U.S. and elsewhere. I hadn't heard about the "Huelgona" before, but I'm sure that at least some of the Asturianos in West Virginia knew about it. Thanks again for brining this to our attention.

Also see the conversation in "Work and Industry" for more on the issue of labor protest in Spain and in West Virginia.

[Xose]

My great-grandfather (not Spanish) participated in the battle of Blair Mountain during the Mine Wars. West Virginia, like Asturias, has a long, tragic history of being exploited for its resources, mainly coal. Mieres looks just like a WV mining community, for example. I think that Suronda is correct, though, that probably not too many Spaniards participated in the WV Mine Wars, as they mostly occurred in the southern part of the state. Most Asturians came to the northern part of WV to work in the zinc smelters (most, like my great-grandparents) came from the smelter areas around Castrillón, Aviles, and Xixón. The immigrant coal miners in the southern part of the state were mostly from Ireland, Wales, Poland, Italy, and Hungary.

[Art]

Actually, Tom Hidalgo's dissertation shows that there were a number of Spaniards (and a few Asturians) working in the mines in southern West Virginia. I don't know, though, whether any participated in the armed struggles, like the battle at Blair Mountain. Maybe we can get Tom to comment?

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En realidad, la disertación de Tom Hidalgo muestra que había un número de españoles (y unos asturianos) trabajando en las minas en el sur de West Virginia. No sé si algunos participaron en las luchas armadas, como la batalla de Blair Mountain. ¿Tal vez Tom pueda comentar?

[Sonia Garcia Mandzok]

Regarding mining and strikes in Asturias, does anyone have inrormation about the miners of Cabanaquinta staging a strike in the late 1800's or early 1900's? However, I may have the dates wrong.