Western Federation of Miners |
The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mine fields
of the western United States. The WFM organized miners and smelter
workers in the Western Rocky Mountains states after it was created in
1893 by the merger of several miners' unions. On several occasions battles between union
members and company guards, state militia and federal troops broke out during strikes.
When Frank Steunenberg, a former governor of Idaho, was murdered in 1905, Charles Moyer, president of the union,
Bill Haywood, secretary, and George Pettibone, a former
member, were arrested and stood trial for Steunenberg's murder. All three were acquitted.
The WFM had joined the American Federation
of Labor (AFL) in 1896, but the conservative policies of the AFL caused the WFM to withdraw, and, in 1898, they attempted to organize a rival federation called the
Western Labor
Union.
In 1901 the WFM adopted a socialist
program and, after the failure of the Western Labor Union, helped to form the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905. Factionalism within the IWW led to the
departure of the WFM from that organization. The WFM then rejoined the AFL in 1911. The
failure of several strikes and the depression of 1914 caused damage to the union causing a
decline in membership. In 1916 the union changed its name to the International
Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers.
The International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers was in turn expelled from the Congress of Industrial
Organizations during the early phases of the red scare in 1948. It eventually merged with the United
Steelworkers of America.
The 1954 movie The Salt of the Earth, directed by Herbert J. Biberman - a
member of the Hollywood Ten, portrays a strike by New Mexico zinc miners who belonged to Mine,
Mill; many of the actors were rank-and-file members of that union.
See also
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