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Fire in the hole!

Fire in the hole!

Fire in the hole!

[explosion] All clear!

[music - "dark as a dungeon"]

Come all ye young fellers so brave and so fine

Seek not your fortune way down in the mine.

It'll form like a habit and will sink in your soul

till the streams of your blood runs as black as the coal.

Where it's dark as a dungeon damp

as the dew, where the danger is double

and the pleasures are few.

Where the rain never falls, the sun

never shines, it's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines.

[tools clanking]

[water hissing]

[machinery noise]

[man yelling]

[machinery noise]

[wheels turning]

[engine running, metal clanking]

[inaudible]?

Yeah, smile for it.

A lot of them girls got them [inaudible] clothes on.

Whoo!

[man singing]

For forty-two years is a mighty long time I labored

untold down in a coal mine.

Down in a deep hole where the bright lights did glow,

back in a dark room a-spadin' up coal.

My bones they did ache me my knee caps

got bad down on a hard rock on a set of knee pads.

[child yelling in background]

[man singing] The motors were shifting I got sand in my hair.

Both lungs were broke down from a-breathin' bad air.

[speaking] Coal mining was rough.

18 and 20 hours, get wet, come outside,

your clothes would be close to stiff.

It would sound like a [inaudible]

hit 'em, like a rattle noise.

They worked you like working a mule or a [inaudible]..

I heard the boss man to say one time, he said you be sure.

Don't get that mule no place where

the rock will fall in on him.

Don't take that mule to no bad place.

I said, well, what about me?

I was driving the mule in.

What about me, the rock a-fallin' on me?

He said, we can always hire another man.

He said, you gotta buy that mule.

In other words, they thought more of the mule

than they did a man.

[violin music playing]

My grandfather was a coal miner

and belonged to the union, the UMW.

And he died with the black lung.

I can remember sitting around, you know--

[KIDS PLAYING, YELLING IN BACKGROUND]

--when we were younger, and him talking about being

on picket lines and organizing.

And I mean, that was mostly what we talked about, sitting around

the table after supper and all.

Most of our conversation was his union--

when he was organizing for the union and things

that happened on the picket line, and things

that the company did to you.

And so I began to hate the company, you know?

I mean, it seemed like I just always did.

I knew they were enemy, you know?

And then, when I watched him die, and suffer like he did

with that black lung disease, I knew that something

could be done about it.

And I told myself then, if I ever get the opportunity to get

those coal operators, I will.

Because I thought, you know, it was the enemy.

And so when this track came up, I saw the opportunity

and I jumped right in there.

Let's get up there at five o'clock in the morning.

Fix you a good cup of coffee.

Let's be there and show these Brookside

workers what we can do for 'em.

Let's stand on our two feet and show these boys that we

can help them get a contract.

Let's show the people of Harlan County we stand together.

If you file for this contract, we're going to get it.

Hey, the fire's on hot now, it ain't much they can do.

All you boys on that football field where I am,

I want you to be there in the morning.

Let's show Carl Horn that we stand on two feet

here in Harlan County.

We'll set there and sweat when it's snowing.

We'll stand right there until that UMWA contract

gets signed at Brookside.

All you people here in Black Mountain,

we'd really appreciate it if you'd

be down there at five o'clock, sunrise

revival at Brookside, Kentucky.

Let's don't back off.

Let's don't let one man run us out of Harlan.

Yeah, boys, that's where it's happening--

Brookside at five o'clock Monday morning.

Let's be down there to support the Brookside workers.

I got hurt down there about a year ago at Brookside.

I had about 300 pounds of steel on my head.

And they took me to the hospital, sewed my head up,

and a hole cut through my nose here.

And I was off one day.

And the superintendent sent a feller over said,

you need to come on back up here and work

so we'll make it easy on you so you won't lose no time.

[side conversation]

And I went back up.

Finding it knocked me out of compensation or anything.

[inaudible] busted-- my head busted open.

[birds screeching in background]

That's the way they-- that's the way they

want you to work down there.

Protect your family.

UMWA.

[traffic noise]

[interposing voices]

Go on down, boys.

We need your support.

Take some of that money and [inaudible]..

Now you're a real pal.

Need your support, buddy.

May the good lord take a liking to you.

[laughter]

Yeah!

UMWA all the way.

UMWA all the way.

Here, give me one.

I'll put it on the side--

Right on the bumper there.

Tennessee is a UMW [inaudible].

We're out of these Kentucky stickers

or we'd give you one of them.

Organize the unorganized.

With organization, you have the aid of your fellow man.

Without organization, you are a lone individual

without influence and without recognition of any kind.

And exploitation of you and your family

when it pleases some industrialist who desires

to make money from your misery.

But we'd like to have every man to walk this picket

duty with us, to get his name before he leaves,

and we'll break it up.

These boys on this committee will break it down.

And we'll get something going here.

Come on up and sit around.

It ain't no big thing.

You ain't gonna be doing nothin' no way.

Crying about how broke you are, like I am.

[car engine running]

[inaudible].

We sure appreciate that.

[inaudible] a sticker.

We're protesting.

We're protesting Duke Power's control over these men

that voted in the UMW contract.

And Duke Power says no, you can't have that contract.

We have made them dozens and dozens

of proposals of different language

in these areas of disagreement.

They read them and throw them back.

And they have no counterproposal.

If you could settle it quietly,

I would think maybe to do it.

And say, well, maybe they won this battle,

but we've got them off our back.

Well, I would agree with you to this extent--

I'd like to have them off our back.

They're treating us like we're animals, dogs.

Well, we aren't.

We're American citizens.

And they are violating our constitutional rights

when they tell us that we can't have the union of our choice

that those men voted in.

If you looked on TV the other day,

you seen women going up there, men, impeach Nixon.

Impeach Nixon.

But you let us get up there with protest

signs against Duke Power.

And they're sending their gun thugs to intimidate us.

What do you think when unions are

destroying our whole country?

[bell rings]

[side conversations]

Mr. Hoffa's in a penitentiary.

Thinks the union is known communists.

The longshoremen are known communists.

Every union in the country is [inaudible] what

will happen to their country.

The men wants higher wages.

They're going to strike for the union is begging 'em.

They stay on strike till they get their higher wages.

I explained to my daughter, I said there's a spool of thread

there.

I said that thread might have been $0.15.

The men goes on strike.

I said, then if they get--

if they get $0.30 on there, they get their $0.30.

When they go back to work, they got to raise

that price to cover that wage.

The unions is what's doing it.

The unions is what's running the United States.

[men talking in background]

I went to work when I was 10 years old picking

slate in the coal [inaudible].

Well, at that time, we were working 10 hours a day.

And we were getting six and a fraction cents an hour.

Well, we breaker boys, we'd have our feet in the chute.

And we'd be picking the slate out,

when the breaker boss would sneak up behind us,

and if he'd see a piece of slate coming through,

he'd pick up the slate and hit you in the back with it,

and hit you hard.

He'd say, pick that slate up!

You know?

Well, they used to abuse us, actually.

Well, finally, we got to a stage where we figured that, well, we

was gonna strike.

That was when I learned my first real political lesson

about what happens when you take a position

against the coal operators, against the capitalists.

Well, the first thing that happened, the union officials

came to us and told us we'd have to go back to work,

that we were violating the agreement.

We said, the hell with the agreement.

We're going to stay out on strike

until we get our demands.

Well, then the politicians began visiting us

and putting pressure on us, then the parish priest.

Well, finally, the coal company did agree to meet with us.

And they agreed to raise the hourly pay

from six and a fraction cents to $0.08 an hour.

So we thought we got big concessions.

Today that wouldn't mean anything.

That's only peanuts.

But it meant a whole lot to us in our paycheck at that period.

Well, this was my first lesson that if you

stuck to your organization and stuck together in solidarity,

you could defeat them.

Besides that, I learned that the politicians

worked with the coal companies.

I found out that the union officials were working

with the coal companies.

I also found out that the Catholic hierarchy was working

with the coal officials.

Here was a combination of the whole thing, see--

that you had to bump up against the whole combination of them.

When the coal and iron police would

find out who was trying to instigate a union,

well, they'd abuse them.

The miners figured, well, the only way they could fight back

was to abuse them, pay them for what they was doing.

So they began to use, then, violence in retaliation

of the violence that was being used against them.

This kind of a struggle went on to such a degree

that there was many of the mine foremen getting killed.

There were many of the police getting killed, of course.

There was many miners getting killed.

And it was a regular guerrilla warfare.

I saw some of the earlier ideas of guerrilla warfare

that developed out of that kind of struggle.

[marching footsteps]

The coal company gets every dollar which he can

chisel out of some coal miner through

[inaudible] management tactics.

So why wouldn't the coal operators be satisfied?

The government is acting as their muscle man.

[inaudible].

That's the money of Kentucky at work.

Breaking the organized labor.

Organize labor.

Organize labor.

Well, hell, I don't think they're in here for anything

except break the strike here.

They are for the company all the way.

Scabs wouldn't be alive for it.

[crowd chatter]

I don't have any feelings one way or the other.

I just have a job to do.

Then why are you here?

To keep the roads open.

Enforce laws and keep the peace.

Try to keep people from getting hurt.

Put your hands [inaudible].

Bailey?

I'm your [inaudible], Bailey.

Because you're a damn disgrace to the Bailey family.

[laughter]

Boy, this is a damn shame a Bailey on a state cop.

Ain't that a shame?

You want to get a shot of something,

get a shot of this baby hanging over--

[laughter]

That's what I been looking at.

It's the same diameter [inaudible]..

That's a scab?

There are no healing for a scab, you know?

Hell, that's some nerve, don't it?

Put some nerve on there.

[crowd erupts]

[engine revving]

There's the damn guy that drawed

that gun on me right there!

That guy used [inaudible].

[bang]

[sirens]

Get 'em out of here.

Hey!

That's goddamn wrong!

--goddamn law enforcement.

Hey!

[inaudible].

[interposing voices]

Go on, sucky.

Hey, go on.

[inaudible]

Goddamned bastards.

That goddamn scab son of a bitches.

Hey!

All you guys on this injunction, all 36 of you,

remember this.

This is a court order.

You can't block the traffic, and don't call them scabs.

Why not?

Because if you do, you'll be down there behind bars.

Now, I don't think you'll never win a strike by having

six people on the picket line.

There's no way, I mean, that you can

win a strike with six pickets.

So you got to violate these injunctions.

And the lawyers are made to get you out

of trouble after you get in.

Not to get you out of trouble before you get in.

I'll put it like this.

You do what you want to do.

Women all over the country are interested in what

their husbands are doing.

They're interested in the safety laws

that the United Mine Workers have.

And they want their husbands to have the pension funds.

They don't want their husbands going into these scab mines,

with the rock a-falling and running these here

motors with no brakes.

So they want to participate.

They're ready and willing.

The good thing about our club is that now we're giving them

the chance to participate, to say when their husbands go down

in the mine that they're praying that they'll get out.

I think that they feel like that maybe their prayers

will be answered sooner if they are

working under a UMWA contract.

Well, I went down there in support of the miners,

for the miners, and in support of my own children,

too, that I'm raising up.

Now sit down real easy.

Sit down.

[inaudible]

I can't get my foot in.

Angie.

I couldn't get my foot out--

You're messing.

[inaudible] again.

If the scalps starts to cross the picket lines,

we went because we was trying to protect-- you know, the scalps

going to take your daddy's job.

When they sign the contract, Daddy's

going to have hot running water and a big old bathtub.

[traffic noise]

Let's help the striking miners now.

[woman singing]

Come all you coal miners wherever

you may be and listen to a story that I'll relate to thee.

My name is nothing extree but the truth to you I'll tell.

I am a coal miner's wife.

I'm sure I wish you well.

They take your very life blood.

They take our children's lives.

Take fathers away from children and husbands away from wives.

Oh, miner, won't you organize wherever

you may be and make this the land of freedom

for workers like you and me.

And we had to fight for our rights.

You're going to have to fight for that--

if you have more safety in the mines,

if you get your portal to portal pay,

if you have your doctor card so you can be doctored.

Because if you get disabled, and you don't have any backing,

then some home will get you or your family will starve.

For you see, I know what it means.

And this club means a lot to pull us all together.

Everybody stand together in it.

And everybody goes together.

Everybody go out on the picket line.

And we'll win their contract if they'll all stand up.

[applause]

That's good, sweetie.

[horn blowing]

[crowd voices]

All the police were lined up there when we got there.

It was early.

We must have got there quarter after five, maybe five thirty.

But they were there already.

And by that time, all this big crowd had gathered,

you know, supporters.

One car went through with three men in it.

They kind of slipped through.

And the next car come through, we were able to get in the road

and lay down.

[interposing voices]

Come on, guys.

Lay down.

Lay down.

Then we'll see what kind of law we got in Harlan County.

What kind of state police we got?

Get them bastards manhandling women.

That's what to do!

We didn't give 'em any resistance whatever.

We just laid down in the road because they

were there to escort those scabs through to work.

And that's been going on for a whole month.

And we've just come too far for that.

[screaming]

Taking pictures, [inaudible].

[clapping]

[keys jingling]

[door closes]

Oh, honey, they gotta stay on that picket line.

If they start scabbing, man, they gotta go back down there.

They can't let me down.

I mean, shit, just bring me a gun if they're going--

I'd rather be dead if I have to--

have to know that they're scabbing at Brookside.

I can't stand it.

I can't stand the thought of it.

So just don't let them, you know?

[singing] Stay on the picket line,

always on the picket line.

[speaking] I really mean it.

We all [inaudible].

Then just keep on the picket line.

[interposing voices]

Just beat the hell out of them scabs.

Beat the shit out of them.

[inaudible]

Which one ain't took?

I don't know, but I got this one.

- This top one ain't took here. - Right there.

Right there.

This is a double mattress.

I'll take this one.

Hell, I'm legally--

I was legally on the picket line.

I told 'em you wasn't.

Tried to show 'em in court down there,

and they wouldn't accept the damn thing.

Just going to violate one more [inaudible]..

Then that'll put us right back. 'Cause you're

a prisoner out there anyway.

That's right.

So you might as well be in jail.

[inaudible] be in jail.

There's a judgment forth that Bell Dawn, [inaudible],,

Lois Scott, Betty Eldridge, Betsy [inaudible],,

and Melba Strong be incarcerated for a period

of 60 days from this date.

Could I say?

Because I haven't had a chance to give any testimony today.

I knew we weren't going to get any justice.

You say the laws were made for us.

The laws are not made for the working people in this country.

There's a person missing here today, and that's Carl Horn.

The law was made for people like Carl Horn, not for us.

So I knew when I came here, without offering any testimony

or getting up.

I knew what I was doing at Brookside, because that's

what I wanted to do.

For once, I was able to take the offensive instead

of coming down here to take a step backward

to try to defend what we did.

What we did is right, and we all know that.

[applause]

I resent the fact that Judge Hogg is a [inaudible]

and him a coal operator.

And sitting beside him, the circuit

court clerk, Mary Lou [inaudible],,

is sitting up there.

And her son is up there.

He's a photographer up there, taking

the pictures for them, to blacklist

the men on the picket line.

I resent that.

I resent the fact that he can make a law that can tell me

that I can't go where I please.

He's violating my constitutional rights.

My name is Norman Yarborough.

On my right is Mr. Logan Patterson,

who is an attorney, who has been retained by Eastover Mining

Company as chief negotiator.

Mr. Yarborough, I'd like to ask you

what you think about the role of miners' wives

play in this strike.

Well, they certainly played a big role in it.

I would hate to think that my wife

would play this kind of role.

Why?

Well, there's been some conduct

that I don't like to think that our American women have

to revert to.

Is it a fact that the Duke Power Company maintains

housing for its employees that has no water

and no indoor plumbing?

Yes, sir.

We were attempting to move our people,

and these are our people, they're my people,

move our people, upgrade our people into trailers,

Upgrade our people into better housing, better conditions

in all directions, because they'll make us better people

when we are able to do this.

[children playing]

Larry!

Come on to supper!

It's a feudal system, I think.

There's a very rich class of people

and then there are the coal miners.

And then there are the people who are on relief,

and that's about it in Harlan.

They want to keep it this way.

The way they keep it that way is keeping

a monopoly on the labor market.

And they do that by keeping other competitives

or industries that will be competitive for the labor,

keep them out.

There are a few little places to work,

but I mean, they don't pay enough but the minimum wage

there, you know, maybe $2.

And you can't make a living from that no more, you know.

And if me and him-- if it don't go United Miner Works,

me and him are going to have to leave Harlan County.

That's for sure, or maybe Kentucky.

We'll have to go where it's a union state to get a job again.

Duke Power is a Southern conservative company.

Less than 10% of their employees and their power plants and

their line crews are organized.

And they feel that if they give in to the contract here,

it will encourage union organization

in their home state of North Carolina and South Carolina.

[acoustic folk song playing]

[man singing]

They say in North Carolina Duke Power runs the show.

Carl Horn would like to break the strike,

but the miners tell him no.

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?

Going up in New York City.

We've got to spread the news.

Been fighting hard for many months

and we're not about to lose.

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?

[street noise]

You're from the South?

[inaudible] Yeah, he sounds like he's from the South.

You don't look like you're all from--

[laughs]

We're gonna let people know that if you buy

Duke Power stock, it's risky.

We've had several this morning said they had Duke Power stock,

but they wouldn't it long, that they

were going to get rid of it.

And that sounded beautiful to me.

The tunnels here is just like a mine's.

Only ours is about 42 inches high.

I think these are more secure than a mine's though.

I wouldn't mind going under here, but your mines?

Oh, yeah.

[laughs] You wouldn't want to go in the mines?

They can make good profit off of mines, you know,

if they had a union.

They won't give us one.

They make some profit, but they keep

it all to themselves, right?

Yeah.

They don't spread the wealth.

I thought you guys got paid a little more than you do.

You don't get paid a bad salary, but I

thought it was a little more. - We get paid real good.

No, it's not.

But you know--

What's real good--

$5, $6 an hour?

Yeah.

That's not real good.

I make more than that.

Yeah?

Sure I do.

A policeman makes less down there.

We make about seven.

God.

That's good money.

We draw union strike benefits.

And it's real hard, you know, live on a hundred.

Is your job real dangerous, though?

Well, you see, look at me.

[inaudible]

Yeah, but this is what I do.

It's a lot of bullshit.

I mean, a lot of people don't understand that--

that electricity burning over there

takes somebody dying every day for it.

One man dies every day.

You've probably get medical coverage.

Free.

Free medical coverage?

I'd save up, buddy.

Buy a house or something.

Kids all get sick, and I'd have to spend every penny--

What about dental?

No dental.

You got dental? - [inaudible]

God.

We got dental.

We got all kinds of health.

We got drugs.

I could retire at 36, half pay, $10,000 a year.

Well, they don't want us to ever be able to retire.

That's bad.

That's the reason we're here, you know?

That's the reason we're on strike.

Been on strike nine months.

Nine months?

Nine months.

I thought this was the first day?

No, this is nine months!

We can't get it-- they won't sign a contract.

It's a good thing you came up here to bring

some publicity [inaudible].

Yeah, yeah.

The outstanding issues between Duke Power and its coal mining

subsidiary, Eastover Mining Company,

and the United Mine Workers and the opinion--

of the management of Eastover and the management of Duke

Power [inaudible] are the absence of a no strike policy,

refusal of the union to agree to not strike during

the life of the contract.

If there are questions on the contact

of my report to the stockholders,

I'll entertain those questions.

How come you hire gun thugs to harass us around with?

You're saying there that the issue

is for a no strike clause.

Well, if we had a no strike clause in there,

Norman Yarborough could kick us off of that hill,

and there wouldn't be a thing we could do about it.

But I tell you, we are in Harlan County.

All of our life we've been kicked around.

We've been put in jail.

We've been shot at.

We've had dynamite throwed at us.

And then you don't want us to have nothing.

Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Horn.

I'm going to be standing right there on the picket line,

looking at you just as long as it takes.

Thank you.

Coal companies are not the JP Morgans or the Hannas anymore.

It's Occidental Petroleum and Exxon and Sohio.

They're the ones, the oil companies,

who control the coal industry.

70% of all the domestic coal reserves

are owned by oil companies.

There just can't be any question

that the health and the safety of our employees in the mining

industry must be given first priority

on humanitarian grounds alone.

We find violation after violation

after violation in those mines.

We have a national record that looks very poor when laid up

against the German national record, the UK national record,

the French national record, the Netherlands

national record, and the others that I've examined.

So I think that--

I'm not indicting anyone.

If anything, I'm indicting myself.

I'm inditing an agency that I've been associated

with for a long time.

We haven't done all that we should have in this field.

[explosion]

Oh, my god, Frankie.

I said, the whole midnight shift and the mine blew up.

They're trapped in the mine, and I said, Pete's in there, too.

He left for work and he act--

well, just kind of, like, he didn't want to go to work.

He'd rather stayed home.

He said, maybe I should stay home.

And I said, why don't you?

And he went to the door about two or three

different times, kept saying, should I go

or should I stay home?

Says it's bitten snow out there.

He said, I just hate to be on the road.

I said, why don't you stay home, then

and pretend you're sick tonight.

But he went, and then that was the explosion [inaudible]..

I live right almost on the seat of the main explosion,

right, Sara?

And they said, you get out of your house.

And the police told me to get out.

Do you know why?

Because they was notified to tell me, yeah, get out.

Because they didn't want me to see what

was going on up at that damn dirty filthy mines!

I gave up.

I figured we'd never make it out because we just--

we all passed out.

I don't know whether any one man didn't pass out or not.

I couldn't say that, 'cause I know I did.

When I woke up, I was, like, froze to death.

I've worked in the mines about seven years.

And I've really never been too scared of the mines.

But I don't like I'll go back in the mines.

And the television says, if another explosion would occur,

they'd have to seal the mine, and about one o'clock

that explosion came.

And I says, they'll seal them.

They sealed them.

And then we knew that was-- that was it.

[machinery noises]

[music playing]

You can read it in the paper and the radio

tells us to raise our children to be miners as well.

Tell them how safe the mines are today.

And to be like daddy, bring home a big pay.

But don't you believe it, my boy.

That story's a lie.

Remember the disaster at the Mannington mine

where 78 miners were burned alive.

Because of unsafe conditions, your daddy's died.

Now I'd like to know, since they died,

in order to help the living, find

out what caused that explosion.

You know, you learn from a tragedy.

And then maybe they can help--

Others.

--others to live, and then it wouldn't happen again.

But as long as they're greedy, and as long

as they're rushing the coal miner

and wanting the production before lives,

there will always be tragedies.

I know there's something wrong,

but I didn't know what it was.

And the doctors told me.

About 60, don't you know?

Yeah, about 60 something or along there.

What would happen to you, when you started realizing

that something was wrong?

Well, you just couldn't get no breath.

You'd walk a little piece and you would give

out, just a-panting for breath.

And sometimes you couldn't hardly get it no way.

Lots of times I've had to go to the hospital

down here to the doctor and they give me some shots and things.

And I thought I was a goner.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "BLACK LUNG"]

Black lung, black lung, oh, your hands,

I see coal as you reach for my life and you torture my soul.

Cold as that water hole down in that dark cave

where I spent my life's blood digging my own grave.

When you start destroying the lung tissue,

as occurs in miners who have pneumoconiosis and the end

result of pneumoconiosis, there really isn't anything that you

can do to restore the lungs.

There's just simply destroyed.

170 over 100.

[inaudible] are you?

I'll be 67 [inaudible].

67?

Well, you couldn't see your buddy on the other

side of the [inaudible].

We'd be covered just black [inaudible]..

Well, it don't even make what color you went in at,

you all-- we looked the same when you came out.

Right? - That's right.

[laughter]

[inaudible]

We're soul brothers.

Murray, that's right.

When you came out, the whites looked like the blacks

so it wasn't any different.

So you knew you was getting plenty of dust.

There are also miners that are working

and who are very symptomatic, but who

don't dare quit unless they can be reassured that they have

sufficient impairment that they'll

be able to elect some sort of disability benefits.

And it's a kind of a negative system.

Because what we do is we really force

them to keep working until they become that disabled.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "BLACK LUNG"]

He went to the boss man but he closed the door.

Well, it seems you're not wanted when you're sick

and you're poor.

You're not even covered in their medical plans.

And your life depends on the favors of man.

We want to do the right thing about coal

workers pneumoconiosis.

But we think that the best informed medical opinion will

show you that it's not true that the inhalation and retention

of coal dust in the lungs necessarily

results in any impairment of pulmonary function.

And that on the contrary, only a relatively small portion

of coal miners who have coal dust retained in the lungs

have any resulting impairment of pulmonary function,

much less disability.

This is one of your brother's lungs.

And this is what it looks like at autopsy.

And this is why he died.

That's preventable.

Other countries have done it.

Other countries have made tremendous strides.

For example, the Australians believe that they've

completely eliminated the problem of lung disease

in their coal miners.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "BLACK LUNG"]

Down at the graveyard, the boss man

came with his little bunch of flowers.

Dear god, what a shame!

Take back those flowers.

Don't you sing no sad songs.

The die has been cast now.

A good man is gone.

[breathing machine cycling]

It turns out that 1969 was a year

for an election in the United Mine Workers union.

And with all the dissatisfaction going on,

there was, really, for the first time,

I guess, in the union's history, there was really open talk

of people opposing Tony Boyle.

40 years I have to work in a mine to get a pension,

a meager pension at that.

And I suppose when I do quit, which will be in two years

because I can't stand it anymore,

I won't be able to get silicosis,

because you have to be dead.

I doubt Tony Boyles ever knowed

what coal dust is on his hands.

All he's sitting back there, up there on Washington

Drive a big amount of money.

What for?

He doesn't even know what the miners goes through.

And to hell with him!

That's the way I feel.

Boyle's doing nothing for the widows,

Boyle's doing nothing for the pensioners.

I'll give you this.

I'll give you that.

I'll give you pie if I can reach high enough in the sky

in the sweet bye and bye.

Well, the coal miners in this country

are damn sick and tired of having

a national president of its organization

that's in bed with the coal operators.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "COLD BLOODED MURDER"]

Clarksville, Pennsylvania is not too far from here.

Coal miners were hoping for a brighter new year.

But for John Yablonski, his daughter and wife,

the new year brought an ending to their precious lives.

Well, it's cold blooded murder, friends, I'm talking about now.

Who's gonna stand up and who's gonna fight?

We better clean up that union, put it on solid ground,

and get rid of that dirty trash keeps the working man down.

Now we have nine paid holidays.

And I think the one that tops them all is

the holiday for your birthday.

Every miner is given the opportunity

to work on his birthday and he receives triple time

for working on his birthday.

I think that's really something to be proud of.

And this is the thought and the idea

and the accomplishment of President Boyle.

You know, when they asked me how many terms do you want?

You know how many terms I told them?

I told 'em, I said just as long as the Supreme Being up there

gives me the intellect and the health to carry on

and the membership elect me to office,

that's how many terms I want, until I'm 180 years of age.

[applause]

Can you tell us just where the bodies were found

and some of the circumstances surrounding the discovery?

Well, the daughter was in a bedroom

adjoining the master bedroom.

And Mr. And Mrs. Yablonski were in the master bedroom.

The events in Washington, Pennsylvania

show that murder is as institutionalized within

the UMWA as it is in the mafia.

The order to kill--

to kill the whole family, if necessary,

was as routinely transmitted and carried out as an order

to call a strike or settle a grievance.

We loved and admired our father.

We respected him.

And my brother and I would like to carry him

to his final resting place, but we

deem it proper to do otherwise.

My brother Joseph, with our cousins from my mother's

family, will carry our mother.

And I, with our cousins from my father's family,

will carry our sister Charlotte.

We entrust our father to the coal

miners whom he loved so much.

[music - "o death"]

O, death Whoa, death.

Please spare me for another year.

Please spare me over for another year.

The children prayed.

The preacher preached.

Time and mercy's out of reach.

To death I come to take the soul leave my body

and leave it cold.

Take the skin right off the brain,

earth and worms both have their claim.

O, death.

O death.

Please spare me on for another year.

Please spare me over for another year.

In 1969, there wasn't any reform organization.

This is 1972.

And this is the year for Miners for Democracy.

Now you can look around and see your brothers

in other districts who are willing to stand shoulder

to shoulder with you to throw Boyle and his crowd

out for once and for all.

[cheering]

I'm proud of the honor of heading up the slate of rank

and file candidates for the international offices

for rank and file miners.

We must have a safety program that will guarantee our members

a safe journey to and from the mines,

not one which accepts that we must lose 200 or 300

men every year in mining.

I want to make it plain that my commitment is to the rank

and file miner.

[music playing]

When the ninth of December rolls around,

we'll have our election day.

And Boyle, you'd better sit up and listen

'cause here's what we're gonna say.

Well, Tony, you've been at the top too long.

Quit stealing all our pay.

But Miller is here, and the time is near.

There's coming a reckoning day.

There's coming a reckoning day.

[applause]

I now pronounce you President of the United

Mine Workers of America.

[applause]

Congratulations.

Which office was this?

This was Boyles's old office and the other one was

Suzanne Richard's old office.

Neither lives here anymore.

[applause]

I do sign a $0.20 royalty for--

Peabody!

--Peabody Coal Company.

[laughter, applause]

[inaudible]

What'd you say?

Mr. Boyle was giving a civil deposition when he was intruded

upon by three FBI agents.

I think that's grossly unfair.

I never expected that that was going to come through,

anything like this. - Why?

Paul?

Because I had no forewarning.

What about the charge itself?

Well, as I read the charge, I'm

not supposed to say anything.

My lawyer told me.

[laughter]

As you read the charge, what?

As bad as the killers are, Vealey and a Gilly

and whatever they may be, they don't compare to the people

at the top who would use the blood and sweat of miners

to finance for killing.

[inaudible]

Excuse us, please.

Excuse me.

[bluegrass music playing]

The United Mine Workers today is a labor organization

of rank and file miners led by rank and file miners

for rank and file miners.

And that's the way it ought to be.

[cheering] I want to introduce to all of you now,

and I expect that most of you already know her,

Miss Florence Reese.

I'm not a coal miner, as you well know.

But I'm as close as I could be not to be one.

My father was a coal miner, was killed in the mines.

And my husband is slowly dying of black lung.

And my husband and me was in the strike in the '30s

in bloody Harlan County.

And I do mean it is bloody, too.

And they tell me, these miners say,

we're going to stick it out, unless Duke Power

signs a contract until hell freezes over.

[cheering]

And the men know they've got nothing

to lose but their chains and their union to gain.

So I say, hang in there.

And now this song I composed in the '30s.

And you know, I'm old.

That's forty years ago.

And I can't sing very well.

But you can ask the scabs and the gun

thugs which side they're on, because they're workers, too.

Come, all you poor workers.

Good news to you I'll tell, how the good old union

has come in here to dwell.

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

If you go to Harlan County, there is no neutral there.

You'll either be a union man or a thug for JH Blair.

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

[inaudible]

But what about this gun being pulled?

Oh, he pulled it right there.

[interposing voices]

--that station wagon.

He had it concealed in a rag.

[interposing voices]

[inaudible] He said if we got in his way again,

he would mow us down.

I told him, I said, I'll see you in federal court Monday,

if you say that again, sir.

We're here on peaceful business.

And so he put it back his holster then,

wrapped it back up in a rag, and got back in his car.

But he did pull the gun and point it.

[engine running]

That's [inaudible] car and that's the gun thug.

He is a known strike breaker.

Breaker!

That man is the gun thug.

He's the same one that came up here before.

And he had the gun in the car whenever

Red was talking to him.

And he's a-cruising around here now, going up and down,

trying to find out who's here, you see.

Who are you working with, honey?

- What? - Who do you work with?

United Press.

Well, you show me your press card.

It's in the car.

And get my press card.

Show me your press card.

OK.

What's your name, sir?

My name is Basil Collins.

Do you work here?

Yes, ma'am.

What's your position here?

Land foreman.

How do you feel about the people picketing out here?

Well, I would have no comment on that.

And you, sir?

Same thing.

Where's this press card you was gonna show me?

- Can I see your identification? - Ma'am--

May I see your identification?

Yes ma'am, if I had any, I'm sure I've lost it.

All I can do is just say--

Well, I think I might have misplaced mine, too.

OK.

OK.

All right.

He had the nerve enough, believe it or not,

to run for sheriff.

We're not going to have the violence of the '30s.

The conditions are not the same.

There is probably nothing illegal

or immoral about the union trying to get the best

contract they can, including the one

they have with everyone else.

On the other hand, the fact that somebody else has made

a contract with the United Mine Workers

doesn't raise any obligation on our part,

as I see it, legally or morally, to accept this contract

any more than we could go to the union and say,

we want you to accept the Southern

Labor union contract which we have at two other mines.

Is it as simple as that?

You do not want the major industry

agreement with United Mine Workers, that is,

the 1971 agreement?

It's that simple, yes, if you want to make it simple.

We'll bug 'em a little bit this morning,

play with them a little bit.

Lester, you're mean.

I know.

Mean old man.

That's what they say, don't they?

You can tell them different, can't you?

[laughs]

I'm as gentle as a newborn baby.

[engine starting]

This morning was the first time that they went to work.

All of them had guns and pistols.

And it was just-- you know, it was really bad, I thought.

Get the hell out of my way.

[inaudible]

Get back in here now.

Get back in there, all the rest of 'em.

Hold everybody.

[inaudible]

[inaudible]

[inaudible]

[inaudible]

Hey, there's a gun, boys.

Get a picture of that gun. - Where?

Right here, boys.

[men yelling]

Let's go!

[inaudible]

Goddamn daddy over--

Well, there goes that goddamn [inaudible]..

[interposing voices]

Get that gun.

[inaudible]

Come on in, boys.

Come on in.

Hello.

Hell!

[inaudible]

[inaudible]!

Let's go, boys.

Let's go, man.

Everybody, let's go.

I'm not happy about it. We can't hold them.

We can hold them, but we can't hold

with all them guns they got.

They got guns.

We don't got 'em.

They allowed to carry guns and sticks.

We can't have nothing but a knife and a whet rock.

That's right.

AJ, we just heard that Mickey Messer, president

of the Brookside local, his house

was shot up last night by some Highsplint employees.

They called his name to get him to come outside

and he went out the back door.

And they opened up on him with a machine gun.

Right here is one shot.

Up here is a shot.

And then that here is a shot.

I'm sure it was scabs, gun thugs, Eastovers, [inaudible]..

There ain't nobody else that'd want

to do anything like that to me.

I've never bothered anybody.

They was shooting down over [inaudible] house

and we all slept on the floor.

Honey, I [inaudible].

Thugs shooting up--

Yes.

[interposing voices]

Kevin knocked me out of bed, and the kids

was all in there crying.

[inaudible]

Makes my blood broil.

If we don't want it to come back to the '30s and Bloody Harlan,

and all of this crowd, women and men,

can get out on the picket line two or three times,

we've got it made.

If you're afraid to go to sleep and you can't wake up,

just stay up all night.

Let's not let it happen to come back to the '30s.

Because I was here.

I seen children hungry, crying for something to eat.

And oh, I can't.

I can't take it.

I'll be out.

If I get shot, they can't shoot the union out of me.

[music, "which side are you on"]

[fire crackling]

If you don't want your husbands to die in a coal mine,

I'll see you in the morning out on the picket line.

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

We're fighting for a contract.

We're fighting to be free.

And the picket line is a long line.

There's room for you and me.

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

[engines running]

[inaudible]

You find two or three, sometimes four, pickets.

Very rarely are we finding six.

Now where are all these people that

was raising hell because they couldn't

have 50 on these picket lines?

Now the understanding in this local union

was that strike benefits would be paid

and every man would pull his share of picket duty.

Right or wrong?

Right.

All right, then what in the hell's going on around here?

Let me tell you something.

When I was sitting out on the picket line, you was in bed.

And you was in bed.

So don't tell me--

and so I know--

Yeah, but we went to jail--

Oh, you went to jail.

You went to jail.

Who else went to jail?

Was you the only one? - No.

[inaudible]

We stayed over there as long as we could stay

without going back to jail.

Let's call for a moment of silence.

She's not done nothing but cause trouble.

You know, you make me sick.

Well, you make me sick too.

[interposing voices]

--to you and tell you what they tell me,

that you're running around with their husbands,

that you're trying to take their husbands away from them.

Well, OK, then they told me you're an alcoholic

and everything else.

I don't care who takes whose man,

who lives with whose man or what they do.

If they take mine, and take him on, they can have him.

I'll shed no tears.

I'm not after a man.

I'm after a contract.

I'm raising two boys.

[cheering]

[interposing voices]

I'll tell you.

We can't let our brother down.

We got to stand on solid ground.

And then we're going to go through.

If we're going to start letting personal--

what we feel about each other personally get in the way,

then we're not gonna be able to accomplish anything.

I don't count myself nothing big in the club.

I don't count myself no bigger than nobody else.

The rest of 'em has more to do with it than I

do because my husband is messed up in the mines, retired,

and the Eastover just pushed us out.

We was pushed out before the rent was up and all of that.

[crying] It smashed up our daddies, down with coal dust

from that mines.

I went to school, the age of school,

I got part of the sixth grade, because daddy

got $8 and something a shift.

Nothing to go to school on, had to go in overalls.

And [inaudible] probably even after [inaudible],,

coal out of it and sell it, and walk off of that mountain

mines to school.

And they're all burned up there, not even alive.

I've got Mom's coal oil lamps.

I've got her stove irons a setting there for them

to look at and walking to school and back.

[side conversations]

And I know everybody's disappointed

we don't have a bigger crowd.

And we're disappointed that more people haven't come in.

But when you get down to it in this fight,

and like in any other fight, you've

got to depend on yourselves.

Nobody in the end is going to do it for you.

The union is going to back you.

And we're going to do all we can.

But you've got to win this fight yourselves.

Now, it's the first time East Kentucky

has stood up against the coal operators, and you're doing it.

And when you win, you're fighting for your kids

and your grandkids.

Every one of them will have a better life because

of what you're doing here.

And that's why the fight's so hard.

If it wasn't so much at stake, they wouldn't

be fighting you this hard.

They wouldn't shoot into your homes

if there wasn't so much at stake.

And if they're not enough on the picket line,

then when you come to the picket line, on the way,

stop by, and pick someone up, and knock on his door,

and ask them to come along with you.

Bob, are you going to be there?

Where?

At the picket line [inaudible]??

Yeah.

Y'all don't know what y'all's going up against up there.

It's the thugs that's sitting there in the highway

with guns in their hands.

[inaudible]

We can't do nothing except get up there and wiggle.

Well, how do you feel about it, Tommy?

I mean, how do you feel about us come up there?

I don't want to go up there against their will.

I want to be welcomed by [inaudible]..

Well, we've been expecting you [inaudible]..

[laughter]

Now we've got a new president, Sudie Crusenberry

is our new president.

So let's give her a hand.

[applause]

And we've got two treasurers, co-treasurers--

Dorothy Johnson and Mary Lou Ferguson.

[applause]

I'm really tickled that we've got this many people out, you

know, today, and all of us out.

And I think that one thing, it's helped us.

Because last week, we had such a struggle.

But I think that what's come out of it is good.

Come on!

Do you think it's loaded?

Yeah.

Well, you shouldn't carry it with you like that.

Has it got a safety on it?

Oh, it's got a safety on it.

And if it didn't, [inaudible].

[laughter]

Long as we got [inaudible].

I want you to meet the [inaudible]..

Tell them I started out with a switch on that picket line,

but I'm ended up now, carrying a gun.

I mean, all the time, too.

Hell, after, you know, especially

since what's happening up there at Highsplint,

and knowing them and seeing them,

seeing the machine guns now.

It's time to-- well, you'd be crazy not to carry a gun now.

You would.

Yeah?

[laughs] Well, all right.

I'll be going-- are y'all going to be back at six?

[multiple gunshots]

[screaming]

[inaudible]

Basil!

Don't shoot!

[screaming continues]

Look out!

I'm coming back across the road.

Keep showing that [inaudible],, honey.

[grabs camera]

No!

You stay away from me.

Fuck you.

[screaming, crying]

Fucking A. Take 'em back over there and take your pants off,

baby.

All right, men, let's break it up now.

[inaudible],, let these people live.

[pipe clangs to the ground]

You know that nigger?

That nigger is a better man than you will ever be.

He's a better man than you will ever be.

Three or four of them damn ol' gun thugs get on him and start

kicking a woman, and hitting a woman,

and then another one come over and started

beating a man and getting four or five of them on 'em.

And then see Basil Collins holding a gun and calling one--

a union man, that believes in these union men,

I want you to get that nigger.

You hear that, nigger?

Get that nigger.

I'm sick of it!

I'm sick of it.

And it's time for us to stand together and get

just as violent as they are.

I agree.

Right.

They're violent, so by God, you fight fire with fire.

It seemed like they were pretty well-organized

to me this morning.

And we're going to have to get a little tighter organized.

We're going to get together, the women

are going to get together, and be responsible for 10

people each at four o'clock.

If you women going to bring ten each,

then the men ought to be able to say, well, we'll bring five

or we'll bring 10 or we'll bring 15.

And that would be working together.

You're going to have to get some more black people out,

too, 'cause you look odd [inaudible]..

I am odd.

[interposing voices]

They want us to set by and watch 'em shoot

and not us shoot back.

And the police is not going to do nothing about it, either.

They're to blame.

Just like that, just attack the hell out of them.

And not run.

Let your conscience be your--

I never run.

I had one.

One is all I could handle.

But I got him.

He didn't come no farther.

And if they's enough of us up there, and we can get one,

if each one of us can get one, hell, we can do it.

Men, women, and children, all.

It's time to stand up and be counted.

Don't you gonna be throwed back for 500 years.

Now we're gonna have a picket line in the morning.

And we hope to have a big picket line.

It's going to be set up a little bit

different than the last ones.

We can't have a picket line bringing a 30 caliber

machine gun shooting at you.

These ladies are sitting ducks.

Now we're going to have to get out there and back them.

That's all they are to it.

They come up to back us, and we're not even backing them.

And it's pretty disgusting.

And we'd like to see-- we know about who ain't been there.

We'd like to see you out there once in a while.

Has anybody got any questions?

Bob?

Ought to start praying together [inaudible]..

Hell, I'm praying, too, but [inaudible]..

Ed's pretty shaky up there.

We got some good ones, though.

Anything anybody want to bring up?

Can I talk?

Come on up here.

You sure can.

If there's anybody in here that can't or is not with us

and can't go with us in the morning,

I'd rather for them to leave before that I finish this,

because I do want to know if we're

going to have these people here, or if we can depend on them

or what.

Because if we can't, we're not going to go up there no more,

and have those machine guns shot at us

and have the gun thugs a-coming across and attacking us.

We're not going to do that.

Now we're with you, and we'll stick with you.

All these women, we got a whole gang of 'em

that says they'll go with them tomorrow

and we're going to be at Mack's in the morning at 5:00.

Now we're not going to go any earlier

than that, because if we do, we're

just sitting ducks for them.

And they'll wait for us.

And we're not going to tell you where

we're going to set up the picket line until in the morning.

If you want to know where the picket

line is going to be set up, you'll be at Mack's

in the morning at 5:00.

We need every man and woman there.

There's enough Brookside pickets and Highsplint pickets

and women that those scabs wouldn't mean a thing

if we get all of them up there.

But we're not a-going to do it laying in bed.

[voice in background]

Think they're going to shoot at us today?

Shot at us yesterday.

What about today?

I don't know.

You scared?

I hope not.

Yeah.

Ain't you?

[laughs]

I just hope nobody gets hurt.

I don't believe.

No, we would have seen them. 'Cause

we got people out on that.

You let them bastard scabs come.

We got our guns now.

They may not, though.

They may work two shifts.

Nah, they ain't going to do nothing [inaudible] like that.

No, they don't [inaudible] doing that.

You get all disgusted--

All right.

[inaudible]

[whistle]

[squeaking noise]

[inaudible] over here a little bit.

Basil Collins, right in front of you.

[inaudible]

[women chanting] Basil Collins.

We shall not be moved.

[women singing]

We shall be, we shall not be moved.

Just like a tree that's standing by the water,

we shall not be moved.

[inaudible] rise up!

[inaudible] terrified.

[interposing voices]

We're just waiting for you.

Are we close now [inaudible].

And we wasn't blocking the road.

They was blocking the road.

They've got it blocked all the way.

[interposing voices]

You putting the car there, so either remove it

or I'll call the wrecker to remove it.

- That's neutral lanes. - No, it's not.

No, it's not, [inaudible].

And you know it's not, [inaudible]..

It's not, [inaudible].

You know what it is.

And I'll tell you.

You know what I told you?

I don't give a damn how much money you make being a sheriff,

but don't go against the union.

That's all I'm asking.

When you left that car--

That's the only thing I ask.

Baby, you can stand here and raise hell all you want to.

This road's got to be cleared. - All right.

Will you go up there when they shoot machine

guns across the highway?

- No, he won't. - No?

Will you go up there then?

No, he won't.

[inaudible]

[interposing voices] No, he won't do it.

Why don't you [inaudible]?

You went up there yesterday.

I know your grandchildren [inaudible]..

[interposing voices]

[inaudible] that 17-year-old boy, he won't.

I mean, I see.

You know goddamn gee that was told to me.

And I wouldn't believe it before the election.

It was told me that you did this.

[BASEBALL BAT RHYTHMICALLY BANGING THE GROUND]

We're not home.

Excuse me, Mr. Runes?

I have a warrant for Basil Collins.

[interposing voices]

We want you to--

Hurray!

--throw Basil [inaudible] in jail.

[inaudible] you've got a warrant for him.

[interposing voices]

--right now.

You won't do it.

Will you two give me a chance to do my job?

[inaudible] Let's see you hang him, now.

Let's see you do it.

Somebody pay me $7.00 for the fee of the arrest.

[crowd erupts angrily]

[interposing voices]

Here's your $7.00.

How much more you want?

Hell, you can have it all.

We'll get you up $100.

We'll raise it.

Now look.

Take him to jail.

I am going to do my job.

And this happens to be part of my job.

Yes!

Now he's got it.

He's got it.

OK, now let's see it.

Do him in priority, though.

He'll be arrested.

But these cars got to move one.

Well, get him right now.

You arrest him.

We'll detain him for you.

Hell, don't you worry.

[cheering]

[SINGING, "BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC"]

[interposing voices]

--hallelujah.

Glory, glory, hallelujah.

Mark?

Under arrest for what?

Uh, disorderly conduct, I guess.

I don't know.

Flashing a deadly weapon.

Once again, that's part of my job.

And moving this car is part of my job also.

[inaudible]

I want to see that you've moved.

Then we'll go into town.

All right.

Soon as these people leave my truck.

Move back from his truck.

Get away from my truck.

Let's move back from the truck.

Now did you arrest him?

[interposing voices]

If you've come to get us to get him out, [inaudible]..

This is not a one-sided thing, Melissa.

Now I'm going to take him to town,

but I'm also moving that car.

You're letting him drive himself to town after he gets up there.

That's what you're doing?

What's the difference, so long as--

Oh, no.

They's a lot of difference.

There's a lot of difference.

I tell You one thing, if they got a warrant for us,

you would come and take us to jail.

Lois, you're taking things in your own hands.

You're considering--

I'm not taking things in my own hands.

You're thinking one way, and no other way.

Oh, know what?

How other way are there to think?

Whenever you get shot at with machine guns.

They shot at us with machine guns.

How many of your men have I up and hauled off to jail?

This is the first time you've come out.

I will say that.

This has shocked me.

This has absolutely shocked me to death.

So be it.

Well, you tell me--

You're down here on a public highway now.

You're not up there at the picket line.

You're not curbside at the picket line.

You're here in the middle--

[inaudible] they're shooting machine guns at us.

Well, they can also transfer them down here

if they're going to kill you.

They know that.

Well, yeah, but see, we've got a better chance down here.

[women singing]

Well, nevertheless, that car has got to go.

[singing] They got the sheriff.

We shall not be moved.

Just like a tree that's planted by the water,

we shall not be moved.

We shall not be, we shall not be moved.

We shall not be, we shall not be moved.

Just like a tree that's planted by the water,

we shall not be moved.

[cheering, whistling]

We shall not be moved.

[BAND PLAYING, "THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE"]

Whoa, [inaudible] on the mountain top.

We gonna let it shine.

Oh, the mountain top.

Oh, we gonna let it shine.

Whoa, on the mountain top, we gonna let it shine.

Let it shine.

Let it shine.

Let it shine.

Well, we're going to try to get more eyes,

and give these brothers a little help.

I think it's a great day.

It's really rejoicing to me.

[band in background] I'm gonna let it shine.

Let it shine.

Let it shine.

[marchers chanting] [inaudible] All the way!

All the way!

Go in tomorrow.

[interposing voices]

We're Harlan County union from the top of our head

to the sole of our foot.

You think that the company has any possibility

of breaking the strike?

Well, at this point in time, I don't think so.

The show of strength on the part of our membership here,

and the general public awareness in East Kentucky

indicates to me that it isn't going to be easy,

but we're going to be successful.

Do you have any idea how long this may go, and are you

prepared to--

It's pretty hard to say how long it's going to go.

But we're here to stay, as I said earlier.

[singing] Yeah, but my name is Sam.

I'm a shuttle car driving man.

Said my name is Sam, I'm a shuttle car driving man.

With the six big wheels a-rollin' up [inaudible]

I'm neverending [inaudible].

Well, this may not be a [inaudible]..

But I'm going to work hard at it every day.

So let's [inaudible] the union.

And I'll keep doing my dirty work underground.

Yeah, my name is Sam.

I'm a shuttle car driving man.

Said my name is Sam.

I'm a shuttle car driving man.

With six big wheels a-rollin' [inaudible]

a neverending [inaudible].

[cheering]

I don't know of any time in coal mining history

when the president and principal officers

of an international union have come to the coalfields

during an organizing battle.

It's most gratifying to me to see busloads in here

from Indiana and Illinois.

[marchers chanting]

I think if I were [inaudible],, I think that that

would mean something to me.

To bring people hundreds of miles

to just march around town and listen to a couple speeches

don't make too much sense to me.

That although it generated a lot of enthusiasm and fortified,

you know, maybe strengthened people's morale here,

a lot more could have been done when they came here.

That we could have, for example, marched down to Brookside

and confronted Yarborough face to face,

who was sitting at the Brookside office during the day.

Uh, we could have gone to [inaudible]

and expropriated their machine guns.

And the miners here, I'm convinced,

were ready to do something like that.

Either that contract's signed, it's going

to be better on everybody.

Let's show Normy Yarborough he don't run Harlan County.

Let's show Judge Hoggs he don't run Harlan County.

And if you people don't get out here and help us out,

we ain't going to get none of this right.

Now we want you down there at five o'clock.

That's the sunrise revival at Brookside, Kentucky.

[men talking]

They claim to be rock stars [inaudible]..

Excuse me.

Thought you said we'd already been here.

Tell him to come over here a minute.

We don't know what caused the shooting or nothing,

but we can figure it was just a disagreement.

Before the mineworkers, he was shot in the face.

We helped bring him over here.

[interposing voices]

What happened? What happened?

He got shot in the damn head.

[inaudible] got shot in the face with a shotgun.

Who shot him?

A god damn scab, Bill Bruner.

That's brains laying in the car of a goddamn fellow when

he-- he tried to do something.

That's what a scab does to a person,

by god, when they're not looking.

See the little shit.

The piss ant cut off a god damn man's brain, put another one

in the hospital dying.

They been shot all to hell [inaudible]..

[inaudible]?

I'm almost done with it.

[car door shuts]

[crickets singing]

He got dead shot in the goddamn head [inaudible]..

Yeah, my son [inaudible] and that's what he got shot on.

You got two sons fighting?

Yeah, yeah.

My other son, too-- he [inaudible]..

[hospital announcer paging]

How long have you been married?

Almost a year.

How old are you?

16.

Do you have any children?

One.

Are you proud of your husband?

Yeah.

What made him decide to go on a picket line?

Well, the union, I guess.

Yeah, he's a union man.

That's why.

I want my kids all to be union.

I don't want them to be a yellowback scab.

I don't want them to be kicked around

like we was when we was kids.

And my daddy, he worked all his life

and didn't get a thing before he died.

Worked all of his life in the coal mine,

and we never did see him either.

We'd just sleep in the bed.

Mommy'd give us what we had to eat, and we'd go to bed.

And he'd eat when he'd come, and he'd

be gone when we got out of bed.

Then whenever he got too old to work in the mine,

they just kicked him out to die.

They didn't care.

Because there wasn't no union then.

And I don't want my kid to be like that.

I want my kids to stick up for their rights

and be a union man.

Well, the next time somebody gets up in our meeting

and says, let's have non-violence,

and well, don't bother them, let's shoot their god damn ass.

The women get up there and they park their car

across the road and they get up there and say what they think,

and we hide behind the goddamn car.

Don't you know [inaudible].

I'll be honest with you.

I done got enough goddamn shotguns

pushed in my goddamn face.

Non-violence?

We don't have no violence.

And we stand back there, and we don't say a goddamn thing.

We don't even do nothing.

Most of you were real close friends with Lawrence Jones.

He left a 16-year-old wife and a five-month-old daughter.

But I think at this time that we should at least

wait till the morning before--

and not let things get out of hand.

I've just talked to Chip Novalski and Rick Banks,

and they've asked me to tell you that the company and the union

is talking, and that they're close.

It looks to me like the best part is to be to try to get

[inaudible] Basil Collins.

Amen!

Now that--

[applause]

--them's the leaders, boys.

Them's the leaders, and they-- if some way

that they can be got.

They's plenty of big trees down there,

and they's plenty of high-powered rifles.

I went at 'em back in the '30s.

I know just exactly.

I've seen them buddy.

I've seen them carrying and putting [inaudible]..

And now I see the man get right out in the open.

So I tell everybody-- take the shelter if you can,

and lay the lead to 'em.

Amen, brother.

[applause]

The contract is what we are fighting for.

That's what Lawrence Jones died for, to get a contract.

But I told his family--

I said, it was for a good cause.

And what I said, why couldn't it be

somebody like me, some old man just about spent anyhow?

But it took a young man's life to bring

this thing, the government and the union and the operators

together.

If his shooting hadn't a-happened,

probably this contract-- they wouldn't,

probably might not have been a meeting

to negotiate a contract.

But every contract that we've ever got has been hard.

We have to fight for it.

I've been all around the blood shed back down in the '30s.

Blood all around me, where a man died right around my feet

for a contract.

And I think if we ever did hold our peace,

let's try to hold it tonight.

The price has been paid for it.

[men singing hymn]

Leave behind, yes, leave behind.

What will I leave behind?

After I leave, for worlds not known,

what will I leave behind?

[piano music]

[crying] Oh god.

No, no, no!

Oh, no, no.

[inaudible]

Oh, god, I [inaudible].

[sobbing]

Reckon it needs to come on up the river just a little bit,

don't it?

[side conversations]

[shovel scraping]

When you believe in something strong enough

that you're ready to die for it, that's when you get it.

Because that's what happened to Lawrence Jones.

He believed in it so strong, and he was ready to die for it,

and he did.

But it could have been me.

It could have been anybody that was

out there on the picket line.

I feel like that this is just a little pebble on the beach,

because we've got a lot of organizing

to do in Harlan County.

Because Harlan County will be UMWA coal.

I guess that I'd have to say that as much as we fought down

here and as hard as we fought, I don't think it was

for that young boy, Lawrence Jones,

I doubt if we would have got a contract as fast as we did.

I'd like to ask that we pass a motion

that we accept this contract.

Somebody--

I'll make it.

--make-- somebody make the motion.

I'll make the motion.

I'll second it.

All Brookside miners stand for a count then.

All right.

Allow 'em to sit down, [inaudible]..

Sit down.

Everybody sit down.

The ayes have it and so ordered.

The ayes have it.

And it is so ordered.

The contract's accepted.

The contract's accepted.

The only thing I hate about this is on account of that boy

getting killed, you know.

And it all had to come--

of course--

It's a sad [inaudible].

--expected that.

I really expected more, you know, than that to happen

and it probably would have if it had gone on, you know,

this week and this week.

That's right.

We all knew that it was coming.

But we didn't know who or when.

Do you feel you've been changed by this strike?

Oh, yes.

How so?

Many different ways.

I can look for a future now.

[laughing]

I feel good about it.

It's just great, marvelous.

After 13 months, waiting to see, you know, him

go back to work.

Boy, it's been a long time.

I always said I wouldn't go up there, but I did.

I did.

I said I wouldn't go.

But when I seen him go, his fight's

my fight, so I want to stand beside of him, fight, too.

If this had just been a Harlan County strike,

and there hadn't been publicity, if there hadn't been

a fight against their rate increase,

there hadn't been a fight against their stock,

Duke Power wouldn't have given a damn about any of the pressure

down here.

Because all we had was their coal.

We never had shut off enough of that to hurt their stockpiles

up until the end.

And the same thing with Lawrence.

They never would have cared if Lawrence Jones died in Harlan.

There would have been a two inch paragraph from the Harlan Daily

Enterprise, and Carl Horn wouldn't

have given a god damn about it.

And so I don't think a strike is won by any one thing.

It was won by a lot of different people

in a lot of different ways, fighting together

and playing different roles.

[crowd chatter]

Victory!

Harlan County!

The other thing we're trying to do

is investigate how the fix was put in here in Harlan.

What fix?

Well, it's pretty clear that when a man commits murder

and the state police charges him and witnesses

say that he fired on the man unprovoked,

that a grand jury is duty bound to indict him.

But this grand jury was Harlan County.

And it seemed like, despite the fact

we had won a contract, not that much had changed here.

It was just like in the old days.

If a company kills a man, the company gets laid off.

If one of our people had shot any company

man throughout this strike, he'd be serving 25 years now.

Bill Bruner is scot-free.

Once a concession is won, and once a strike

is won, that the workers have to move

right on to the next struggle.

And if they don't, the concession that was won,

you gonna lose it.

Well, there's two types of ways to win strikes and concessions.

And the first type is where the workers fight and struggle

and force the concessions out of the mine owners or factory

owners, what have you.

And these strikes are strikes that are won from below.

The other type of strike, the strikes

are given to you from above.

Whenever anybody gives you something,

they don't give you nothing for nothing.

To get something and be given it,

you're going to have to give up something.

[machinery noise]

The BCO member companies ought to be

expected to provide substantially higher

levels of wages and benefits.

It is essential-- be necessary for the bargaining parties

to give serious consideration to contract provisions which will

contribute significantly to increased

production and productivity.

The membership of our union no longer

was willing to accept $2 more a day, and a bar of soap

and a towel in a bathhouse.

The areas, the main areas of concern to our membership,

has been well-established and should be recognized

by everyone in this country, particularly

the coal operators-- that safety is our highest priority.

The men's asking for more than they did before.

And they're going to get it.

They either get it, or there won't be no coal.

This strike?

They've been looking forward to this.

This is a big thing for the miner,

that he will better his lot after today.

Because when Miller took office, he

said that he was going to get the miner

what he was entitled to.

OK, this is flat track.

[metal clanking and squeaking]

[inaudible]!

[inaudible] starting now from the work area,

and they're coming to what we call the manway.

They'll be coming up [inaudible] cage,

in another 32 minutes they'll all be out, god willing.

Well, I think that the ratification's great, if we

have something to say about it.

[showers running]

[inaudible] retirement, we want vacations.

Yeah--

Fuck.

--better vacation.

Sick pay.

It'll never be ratified the first time if it's not

at least a $15 a day increase.

You've been through this before?

Many a time.

Six months one [inaudible].

Are you afraid of going out on strike?

No, I'm not afraid.

I don't want to see no strike, definitely.

No miner wants a strike with no contract, no work.

And if it's not a good one, we get to ratify.

It would never have gone the way it has if we'd

have been able to vote before.

Just like Boyle.

We didn't vote.

He says, oh, this is what they'll take.

That's what we had to take, was what they give us.

Now we're going to take what we want.

See you later.

Even those who criticize it, acknowledge it is probably

the best agreement that's been made in any industry

in modern times.

Mr. Miller, do you expect to recommend

ratification of this contract to the membership?

I will recommend ratification of this contract

to the membership.

Sir?

Will you have a right to strike at the local level.

No.

Do you anticipate that will cause

you any trouble in ratifications,

since that's one of the things--

No, I'm sure there are some divergent views

among the membership, and I never

expected 100% ratification.

But I'm confident the membership will ratify.

You can't take the right to strike away from miners.

If you go through the proper grievance procedure,

and it doesn't work, you have only got one right left--

the right to strike.

And if you take that away from a man, you've had him.

It's not in the agreement?

But it's not ruled out yet.

Well, I'd like to have it.

Well, I can't speak for everyone--

Well, let me step out here and talk to you privately about it.

Yeah.

I don't want-- that's 35.

[inaudible]

The international has gone and changed

the whole ratification process without giving

any reason for it.

But they're trying to keep us apart.

He could be getting pressure from the government.

He could be getting pressure from the companies.

It's hard to say.

We don't know.

That's what the problem is.

We don't know, and we're not being told.

Everybody was under the impression,

I think, when Miller was elected,

that he was the man for the job.

- That's right, yes. - I mean, everybody--

- That's the way he acted. - Everybody--

He act like he was.

He's an honest man.

But he's no match for them bunch of clowns in the other cars.

That is their job.

He's honest.

He got bagged. [interposing voices]

Coal companies don't need to tell you

they can't afford us, either.

Because they're owned by the oil companies and the power

companies and who has more money in the world than those people?

So they go afford everything.

I'll tell you what.

I'll tell you what.

The company kept the apple.

It throwed us the core!

[cheering]

You look at these coal companies.

You look at Consolidated Coal--

181 goddamn percent profits.

You look at Piston--

886.

And now [inaudible],, they're giving us a goddamn

five more days' vacation.

Burn 'em all!

[cheering]

Hey!

[inaudible] goddamn [inaudible].

This is unprecedented, isn't it, Mr. Secretary,

for a Secretary of the Treasury to step in like this?

I don't think it's unprecedented, no.

I think this is a very serious issue in the economic area

in our country.

And a prolonged coal strike would have very

serious economic implications.

So as the chief economic spokesman,

I consider this my very deep responsibility

to attempt to work toward a resolution of this issue.

What is your reaction to the government

stepping in at this time?

Well, I hope that we can resolve the matter ourself.

That's the way I feel about it.

Some of this contract has got some goodies.

But most of this contract is against you.

What contract?

As far as I can see, this is no contract at all.

Take it and read it and shut up.

That's what I did with the last one.

You worked three years at Wheeling Steel,

you can get 13 weeks.

Well, you're not working at Wheeling Steel.

No, but by god, I ain't working in a hole all the time.

I work down in the hole, too, and I deserve

just as much as he gets.

That's right.

What about your high cost of living?

What about your sick leave?

Five goddamn days.

Have you been off sick?

I can't afford to get sick.

I have to spend all my money going to the doctor,

getting doctor's slips.

They got the cost of living index set up for people

making $2 and $3 an hour.

Where we should be on a 0.3, or 0.25 instead of 0.4.

That's right.

It's a joke.

[side conversations]

Yeah, just keep [inaudible].

[paper rustling]

Yes, yes.

Uh oh, a lot of yeses, boy, I'm telling you.

[inaudible] local number [inaudible]..

105.

106.

107.

The 1974 Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement

has been ratified by the membership

of the United Mine Workers.

The figures for those voting for is 44,754.

And 34,741 voting against.

I think that we have a great contract.

I think our people will adapt theirselves to it.

They will be more familiar with it as they work along with it.

And it's my hope that we can now get on

with the job of running this union

and doing the kind of organizing job

that will make the United Mine Workers number

one in the country again.

I'm directing the membership of our United Mine Workers

organization back to work.

I'm glad to get back.

Feel you got a good contract?

Aw, oh, I feel mine's all right.

I got a good raise.

I'm happy about it.

I'm not too worried.

Good morning.

How do you feel about going back to work?

Well, going to work, I don't feel like working any time.

But I have to go.

Do you feel you got a good contract?

Well, not for us old timers, we don't have a good contract.

Why not?

Well, we ain't going to get too much benefit.

You take three years ago the coal miners are supposed to be

getting $50 a day, [inaudible].

And within six years, 1976, I still

won't be getting $50 a day with these new rates in there.

And the papers had to be forged three years

ago that they'd start up $50.

But now that it's after six years,

I still won't be making $50.

When are you going to be able to retire?

Well, I've maybe old enough to retire now.

But I couldn't live off $150 a month.

So, I gotta go to work.

Hey, have a safe day.

Well, I'm going to try.

It was a fight before and it's still a fight.

Fight before we had the union and still fighting.

And they're going keep fighting.

The coal miner will always be fighting.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "THEY'LL NEVER KEEP US DOWN"]

United we stand, divided we fall.

For every dime they give us, a battle must be fought.

So working people, use your power, the key to liberty.

Don't support that rich man's style of luxury.

There ain't no way they can ever keep us down, oh no.

Ain't no way they can ever keep us down.

We won't be bought, we won't be sold.

To be treated right, well, that's our goal.

And there ain't no way they can ever keep us down.

But you have got them going now

and you've got to keep them going.

If you don't, God bless America, you're down.

[crowd chanting]

[inaudible]

That we get a grievance procedure that

has a right to strike in it.

So that we can fight the companies

and win our grievances.

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "THEY'LL NEVER KEEP US DOWN"]

We've been shot and we've been jailed, lord.

It's a sin.

Women and little children stood right by the men.

But we got that Union contract that keeps the worker free,

and they'll never shoot that union out of me.

And they'll never shoot that union out of me, oh no.

Never shoot that union out of me.

Got a contract in our hands signed

by the blood of honest men.

And they'll never shoot that union out of me.

[crowd cheering]

[inaudible] if you get those junctions lifted,

you get those junctions struck, automatically

you've got the right to strike.

[cheering]

[MUSIC - HAZEL DICKENS, "THEY'LL NEVER KEEP US DOWN"]

Well, the power wheel is rolling, rolling right along.

And the government can keep it growing, growing strong.

So working people get your help from your own kind.

Your welfare ain't on the rich man's mind.

Your welfare ain't on that rich man's mind, oh no.

Your welfare ain't on that rich man's mind.

They want the power in their hands

just to keep down the worker, and your welfare

ain't on that rich man's mind.

And they'll never, never, never keep us down, oh no.

Never, never, never keep us down.

They can cheat, lie, frame or steal,

but we'll stop that big wheel.

And they'll never, never, never keep us down.