On May Day 2019, LEST WE FORGET, The REDNECKS of The Battle of Blair Mountain

On this May Day, let us remember the redneck American working class at its finest, THE BATTLE OF BLAIR MOUNTAIN.

In general vernacular, the term redneck means a white share cropper, whose neck is turned red by working head down in the sun.

To union people, redneck means something else.

It refers to the battle of Blair Mountain, in West Virginia, when over ten thousand union members showed up with guns to protest working conditions, and fought a pitched battle with police and corporate private security. Over one million rounds of ammunition were fired. The battle claimed the lives of over 100 people,killed.

The union people wore red scarves around their necks; they were known as rednecks.

In those days, the red scarves around the neck of a union man meant he was prepared to kill.

After a significant rise in union membership in Matewan, West Virginia, Baldwin-Felts agents, hired by corporations, arrived to oust union members from Stone Mountain Coal Company housing. The town mayor, Cabell Testerman, and union-sympathizing police chief, Sid Hatfield, confronted the agents near Matewan’s train station. A shot was fired; no one knows who fired it. The ensuing shootout left 10 dead: seven agents, two miners, and mayor Testerman.

Sid Hatfield was arrested and indicted for murder. He was acquitted

Then Hatfield and his deputy were gunned down by Baldwin-Felts agents.

The miners rose and marched on the mines, with guns. The Battle of Blair Mountain ensued.

Sid Hatfield

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