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Friday's Labor Folklore 
Con Carbon, Minstrel of the Mine Patch

 Louis Tikas

(1886-1914)
 
  • At the turn of the 20th century -- between 1901 and 1910 -- over 170,000 Greeks emigrated to the United States.  This happened from a country whose population was 2.5 million people.
  • Louis Tikas was born in Crete in 1886.  He arrived in New York in 1906 and, six months later, moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked in the steel mills. 
  • At the time Denver was home to 240 Greek residents.  Tikas opened a cafe on Market Street which was frequented by Greek miners who worked the coal mines in Lafayette, Delagua, and Ludlow.  Next door to his cafe was the office of the local IWW (Industrial Workers of the World).
  • Louis became a translator (1912) and, then, an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).  Founded in 1890 the UMWA sent Tikas to Southern Colorado - to Pueblo and Trinidad - to organize the miners of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The director of the company was John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
  • In September of 1913 over 13,000 coal miners walked off the job; they struck for union recognition, better compensation, the 8-hour day and safer working conditions.  They protested the use of company scrip and the actions of company guards who ruled the mining camps like a coal-and-iron police.
  • Louis Tikas became a community and strike leader. "He was the mayor and guardian angel of the little tent colony at Ludlow." (Trinidad Free Press). He fought on the side of the UMWA during what would become known as the Great Coalfield War, "the most violent and tragic conflict in the history of American labor." (The Great Coalfield War by George S. McGovern and Leonard F. Guttridge) 
  • On April 20, 1914 the Colorado state militia and the company guards opened fire with machine guns into the striking miners' tent colony in Ludlow.  Twenty-one people were killed, including 2 women and 11 children.  This was the infamous Ludlow Massacre.
  • Tikas was captured by the militia; some say he was  trying to negotiate a truce.  He was brought before the  the brutal Lieutenant Linderfelt who smashed him in the head with his Springfield rifle. Tikas' body was later found in an arroyo, with 3 bullets in his back.
  • In retaliation for the massacre at Ludlow, the miners armed themselves and fought the state militia on a 40 mile front from Trinidad to Walsenberg.  Over 50 people died in the ensuing armed struggle, causing President Woodrow Wilson to send in federal troops to restore order.  The strike ended on December 10, 1914 with some minor concessions made by Colorado Fuel & Iron. The UMWA gained some 4,000 new members.
  • Louis Tikas became a martyr of the strike. He was buried on April 27, 1914 in the Masonic Cemetery in Trinidad.
  • In May 1918 the United Mine Workers dedicated a memorial to victims of the Ludlow Massacre.  In 2009 the Ludlow Massacre Memorial was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
  • On June 23, 2018 a statue of UMWA organizer Louis Tikas was unveiled at a ceremony at the Coal Miners Memorial Park in Trinidad. 
Sources, from which I sometimes quoted directly:  "Greek American hero Louis Tikas to be unveiled in Colorado" by Philip Chrysopoulos"; "Crowd fills Miner's Memorial Park to view statue unveiling" by Steve Block in The Chronicle-News, 6/27/2018 ; Wikipedia;   Encyclopedia Brittanica;  "The Ludlow Massacre still matters" by Ben Mauk in The New Yorker, 4/18/2014;  "There was blood" by Caleb Crain, The New Yorker,
1/11/2009; Out of the Depths by Barron B. Beshoar.
The Ludlow miners were called "rednecks" because, in a show of solidarity, they tied red bandanas around their throats.





Mile-long funeral procession held for Louis Tikas.

Most of the workers he fought for were immigrants from Italy, Greece, Serbia and Mexico.
Louis Tikas Monument
Trinidad, Colorado.


Colorado 'tis of thee
Dark land of tyranny
Of thee I sing
Land wherein Labor's bled
Land from where law has fled
Bow down thy mournful head
Capital is king.
 
(Written by a journalist who was evicted from southern Colorado during the Coalfield War.)

by
Tom Breiding

Tom Breiding's River, Rails or Road features 17 original songs that tell stories of  working-class people whose rural or small town experiences are deeply rooted in American life.  Tom's love for his home state of West Virginia, his work with the Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit University and his commitment to heritage and solidarity are showcased here.  This CD is a mix of country, rock and folk performed by some excellent musicians. Highly recommended for readers of Fridays Labor Folklore.  
 
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The Story of Coal
 
The story of coal is always the same.  For a second's more sunlight men must fight like tigers.  That life may have something of decency, something of beauty -- a picture,
a new dress, a bit of cheap lace fluttering in the window. For this men who work down in the mines must struggle and lose, struggle and win.

-- Mother Jones


  The Commemoration of Louis Tikas  
and the Ludlow Massacre

The June 23, 2018 commemoration was sponsored by labor unions, local officials and Greek and Greek-American civic and religious organizations. People gathered to unveil a remarkable memorial -- the new statue of strike organizer and Ludlow martyr Louis Tikas.  National leaders and rank-and-file members of the UMWA, and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, attended the unveiling.  Also attending were Louis Tikas' relatives from Greece and members of several Greek-American organizations
  • "Louis Tikas plays an important role in our community's local history for his contribution to the 1913-14 strike."  -- Yolanda Romero, event organizer.
  • "I used to be a coal miner, and I stand on the shoulders of these people. They set the table for addressing health and safety issues in the mines, as well as other benefits such as wage increases which have trickled down to workers in other industries."-- Bob Butero, Region 4 Director, UMWA, Trinidad, Colo.
  • "If we ask if he lost the battle? At the end, we will say no. He didn't lose. He might die, but he died for a cause. And his cause is still alive today! We need people like him to be our guiding light in everything we do." -- Gregory Karahalios, Greek Consul General
  • "He is indeed a hero in the United Mine Workers. He is a working class hero. And he is an American hero."      -- Cecil Roberts, President, United Mine Workers of America. 
Edited from "UMWA and Greek officials remember Ludlow Massacre" by Tom Burke and Shaine Carrol-Frey in FightBackNews.org cited in umwa.org.


Ludlow Massacre Memorial  
A National Historic Landmark.



-- with thanks to UMWA Region 4 and to
Country Music USA by Bill Malone.