The Ludlow Legacy, Part II: Colorado
by David Sirota
Note to Editors: This is the second of two columns looking at the legacy of the Ludlow Massacre on its 94th anniversary.
The Ludlow Massacre's tiny monument off I-25 in Southern Colorado is easily missed if you don't know where to find it. Though the nearby coal mine garnered international attention in 1914 after a government militia slaughtered union organizers there, the minimalism of the memorial is predictable. History books venerate Rockefellers — the union-busting mine owne ...
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Posted by: Suzanne Lynch
Comment: #1
Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:06 PM
I t was the families of the striking miners, not the miners themselves who were attacked at Ludlow. More important is the fact that the tent city in which they were living was set on fire by the Colorado militia at the behest of the then Governor. A journailist named Brian Beshoar (I think) wrote an account called, I believe, Out of the depths" published in the 1950's. It is wonderful to me that this part of our history is ignored. Thanks!
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Posted by: T Hammer
Comment: #2
Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:15 PM
It is interesting that by period accounts there was no proof that the Colorado National Guard actually started the fire that distroyed the tent colony at the Ludlow Train Station. It is also interesting to note that the only people killed in the actually gunplay was one boy in the camp and one militia private. The women and childrens bodies that were found in the tent dugout showed no wounds sustained by gunfire. There again has been no scientific proof that the guard started the fire. With the combination of Model 1903 Springfield Rifles and m1895/1917 browning machine gun that the Guard was using and the winchester repeaters and other similar weapon including .50 express long range rifles that the strikers were using in conjuction with the rapid evacuation of the camp with its inherrent combustibility (oil lamps, coal stoves, rags, tent, wood etc.) any one or anything could have started that fire. To place blame without evidence is historic libel and unethical for the academic world. It is also interesting to note that the actually detachments of the Guard that were present at Ludlow were very small and severely outnumbered by the strikers (Again the Strikers were heavily armed).
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Posted by: Sam Taylor
Comment: #3
Sun Apr 20, 2008 7:02 AM
David, I really appreciate your telling this story "like it is". You probably are aware of a piece in a book entitled "Everything You Know is Wrong". Howard Zinn, the noted historian, writes about Ludlow and describes how it played out.
By the way. Are you still being carried in the Denver Post?
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