The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-03-29

Editors Note: THIS is the fifth
instal1ment from the new book,
Forced Labor In the United
StStes,7 by Walter Wilson. A COM
pfete picture OF the forced labor
system is given in the book, which
should be read by all workers. 1t
was prepared under the direction
Of the Labor Research Association.
Introduction by Theodore Dresser.
international Publishers, SSi Fourth
Ave, New York, 81.
THE workers in the prisons Of
L this country, on their own initia-
tive, have waged some bitter strug-
giles against the conditions that I
have described. IN some cases these
prison revolts have been aided by
workers on the outside who were act
ing in solidarity with their impris-
oned and victimized fellow workers.
In the period from 1881 to 1900, for
example, there are % recorded
strikes against convict labor in coal
mines. Perhaps the most significant
OF all such rsvoits was the Coal Greek
Rebellion In l891-1992 in the coal
mines Of East Tennessee. Following
a combination lockout and strike
convict strike-breakers were brought
in by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and
Railroad Co. (now a subsidiary OF
the U. s. Steel Corp, which leased
an average Of 1900 to 1000 convicts
from the state.
The miners, Negro and white, aided
by the farmers Of East Tennessee,
drove out the guards, burned the
prison stockades and released the
convicts, who escaped. Governor
Buchanan sent in the militia to sub
due the workers. After a pitched
battle the entire force OF soldiers
was captured and driven out after
being diSarmed and after promising
never to return to the mining Sec
ton. The struggle had begun in
earnest. 1t lasted from July IA 1891
(Bastille day, to November, 1892,
with few skirmishes as late as 1893.
1000 Prisoners Freed.
Before the struggle was over nearly
a dozen prisons were burned to the
ground and over 1000 convicts given
their freedom, food and, clothing.
Three commanding officers, a gen.
eral, a colonel and captain were
captured, as well as several hundred
soldiers, including whole train loads
at time. Even the United States
War Department was forced to ad-
nit that most of the people Of Ten
nessee, including the militia" we're
in sympathy with the miners.
Negroes and whites, men who
fought for the North and men who
fought for the South in the Civil
War, farmers and miners, convicts
and free" men, stuck together in
the face Of the entire armed forces
of Tennessee. Approximately 10000
soldiers and members of business
mems posses were used to crush the
revolt. Workers and convicts stormed
forts and cannons and died together.
But they died with the knowledge
that they had killed a great many
more Of the common enemy than the
enemy killed of them.
Revolts and strikes have broken
out in prisons all over the United
States during 1881 and 1892. Many
OF them were not reported, or if re-
ported were played down" or called
riots" There we're strikes in at
least three reformatories for girls in
the South and the institutions were
wrecked or burned.
The most important chain gang
strike in 1881 occurred in Loudon
County, Tenn. The Negro and white
convicts there asked for an s-hour
day and better food. Two guards
quit in sympathy. In July, 1882,
seventy convicts on the Sunbeam
prison chain gang in Florida went on
strike against brutal conditions and
won transfer. In October, 1882, a
strike took place In the State Road
camp at Indiantown, Florida. The
strike was led by several political
prisoners, the militants of the Tampa
tobacco workers case.
The workers and farmers held in
peonage have likewise waged mill
tant battles against their conditions.
In many Of these struggles Negroes
and whites fought shoulder to shoul-
der. One Of the early efforts to or
ganize tenant farmers on large
scale in the South was the attempt
to form Colored Farmers Alliance
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