August 25 is the anniversary of the start of The Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921. It is the largest labour uprising in American history.

The conflict arose due to the coal miners of West Virginia unionising. The mine owners had a very strict no union policy. They fired the workers immediately, and sent armed thugs to evict them from their homes. Violence ensued, and the thugs were killed. Fights between the miners and the mine owner’s thugs would continue for the next few months. The mine owners did their best to make life miserable for the miners. After murdering two of the miner’s leaders, the miners decided enough was enough and made their demands. They were rejected.

On August 25, over ten thousand miners had gathered for a march on the mines to unionise it by force. The owners had assembled nearly two thousand men to create a private army. The first skirmishes would begin today

Fighting would continue for the next week. The mine owners would use every weapon available to strike the miners, up to and including chemical weapons delivered via airstrikes. The US military entered the conflict on the side of the mine owners, and put down the strike.

Nearly a thousand miners were arrested, and many of them served prison time for fighting for their human rights. The union was left devastated, and lost 80% of its members over the next few years. The mine owners faced no charges for their actions.