The year 1919 saw unprecedented levels of unrest and violence in the United States, as it did in many other places.
The continual outbreaks of strikes, rioting, labor unrest, and anarchist terror made it easy to believe that behind it all was a Bolshevik plot to undermine the US government.
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“The Memphis Blues”
Composed in 1912 by W.C. Handy. Public domain.
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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Mark, when you refer to the coal strike, to which one are you referring? I ask because there is a massive coal strike in West Virginia in 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain. If you’ve yet to encounter it, it’s intense.
I’m aware of Blair Mountain, but we’re not there yet. This one was in 1919. There were a number of coal strikes in this era, and they were always important. In those days coal powered most factories, trains, and heated most homes, so an interruption in the coal supply was a very big deal.
This was a disturbing episode. Just replace the year with 2025 or 2026 and the names with Trump (and others of his ilk), MAGA, and ICE, and the yellow journalism of the media companies mentioned with Fox “news” and…the more things change, the more things stay the same.
Mark, thanks again for reminding everyone why returning America (i.e., MAGA) to some mythical previous good time is, well, mythical. One would think that now that most have completed high school and 40% have college degrees, that some modicum of “ability to think, reason, and distinguish real information from stuff some demagogue made up” would be a reality. I guess not. How depressing.