Colorado Labor Wars

Colorado Labor Wars

"Victor, Colorado, The Scene Of The Rioting Of June 6th", c. 1904.
Date	1903 - 1904
Location	Colorado, United States

The Colorado labor wars were a series of labor strikes in 1903 and 1904 in the US state of Colorado, by gold and silver miners and mill workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Opposing the WFM were associations of mine owners and businessmen at each location, supported by the Colorado state government. The strikes were notable and controversial for the accompanying violence, and the imposition of martial law by the Colorado National Guard in order to put down the strikes.

A nearly simultaneous strike in Colorado's northern and southern coal fields was also met with a military response by the Colorado National Guard.

Colorado's most significant battles between labor and capital occurred between miners and mine operators. In these battles the state government, with one exception, sided with the mine operators. Additional participants have included the National Guard, often informally called the militia; private contractors such as the Pinkertons, Baldwin–Felts, and Thiel detective agencies; and various labor entities, Mine Owners' Associations, and vigilante groups and business-dominated groups such as the Citizens' Alliance.

The WFM strikes considered part of the Colorado labor wars include:

Two scholars of American labor violence concluded, "There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904." The WFM as well embraced more violent strike tactics, and "entered into the one of the most insurgent and violent stages that American labor history had ever seen."^{Page 93}

In 1880, miners represented 14 percent of Colorado's working population in 1900. Colorado miners were divided into two groups: hard rock miners, and coal miners.

The Colorado labor wars took place at the precious metal mines and ore mills. During the same period, but considered separate from the Colorado labor wars, the United Mine Workers of America, attempting to organize the Colorado northern and southern fields, called a strike in September 1903. The Colorado National Guard under Adjutant General Sherman Bell took the side of the mine owners against the miners.