E96: Bootleg miners, part 2

Working Class History

Society & Culture, Education, History

5.0 • 813 Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in this two-part podcast.
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With Mitch Troutman, author of the excellent book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942, we learn how these workers and their families fought against company guards, police, coal bosses and the legal system, formed a union, and organised an entire industry – not for profit, but for meeting human needs. We also hear from the miners themselves, in audio recorded by Michael Kozura, and shared with Mitch by Michael’s widow. Part 2 covers attempts to repress the movement, the development of bootleg mining as a major industry, the involvement of women and children in the movement, and miners’ collaboration with truck drivers.

More information

The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942 – Mitch Troutman – get hold of Mitch’s book here in our online store, with global shipping.
Full information, show notes and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e95-96-bootleg-miners/

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano and Nick Williams.
Produced and edited by Tyler Hill
Episode graphic: Bootleg miners. Courtesy Jack Delano/Library of Congress
Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to part two of our double episode on the Bootleg Coal Rebellion.
0:05.3	If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, then I recommend you go back and listen to that first.
0:10.4	At the morning,
0:15.4	just upen alzata,
0:20.4	oh, Bella, Ciao, Bella, Bella, Ciao, Bella, Before we get started, just a reminder that our podcast is brought to you by our Patreon supporters.
0:36.6	Our supporters fund our work,
0:38.3	and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes without ads, bonus episodes,
0:43.6	free and discounted merch, and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com
0:48.5	slash working class history. Link in the show notes. Let's talk about something that might be keeping you up at night, cyber security.
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1:43.6	it's not just about keeping the lights
1:45.2	on, it's about keeping everything secure. At the end of part one, we left off during the Great
1:51.0	Depression, when miners in the anthracite coal region had already been engaging an increasingly
1:55.6	militant labor action as they established a union across all mines in the area after a massive and bloody strike in 1902.
2:03.6	It was around this time that bootleg mining started to become a common practice,
	...

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