Strike! Mother Jones and the Colorado Coal Field War

When the bloodiest labor dispute in U.S. history burst forth in 1913-14 in the coal fields of Southern Colorado, the miners knew whom to praise, and the owners knew whom to blame. Mary Harris Jones, known from New York to Colorado as Mother Jones, could incite a riot or calm a crowd with her amazing oratory gifts. She dedicated her life to helping miners organize to negotiate, even demand, better wages and working conditions.

“I hope there is no war in Trinidad,” Mother Jones had said, referring to the entire Trinidad coal field expanse, “for it will cause suffering. But if the war has to be made that the boys in the mines may have their rights let it come!” In the long run, did she help or harm the progress toward workers’ rights? Were the deaths of mothers and children at Ludlow too great a price to pay?

“It is extremely important that readers of all ages know what happened at Ludlow, and the role played by that spectacular rabble-rouser, Mother Jones. Lois Ruby has told this gripping story with just the right balance of fact and dramatic power. The eyes of the nation were on southern Colorado in 1914, when much that has made America what it is—the lives of immigrants, the conflict between corporate power and organized labor—lay in the balance. This story will speak to our time as provocatively as it spoke a century ago, and this book will engage and inform anyone who gives it attention.”
—David Mason, Colorado Poet Laureate