Tribute to William Blizzard, a champion of the working class

American history is full of characters, leaders and scoundrels. Unfortunately the current practice of “balanced” reporting often degenerates into a false moral equivalency. William Blizzard who passed away recently at 92, knew which side he was on; he knew who was right and he spent his life telling their story.

 

He was the son of Bill Blizzard, the miner who led the "Red Neck Army" during the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, during the West Virginia Mine Wars. After the historic march from Marmet over Blair Mountain into Logan County, the senior Blizzard was tried in Harpers Ferry for treason. He and his co-defendants were all acquitted.

 

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement in tribute to this champion of working people:

 

“Bill Blizzard wrote the definitive story about the struggles of coal miners in southern West Virginia to win justice for themselves and their families through the UMWA.

 

“He wasn’t just a bystander, he was there. He experienced the grim realities of living in a coal camp, saw the brutality of the mine guards, heard the cries of wives and children put out of their company-owned houses when miners did nothing more than talk about freedom.

 

“I urge every person who believes in justice for working families to read Bill’s work. He understood that the fight for a better life for the working class did not end at Blair Mountain – it continues today.

 

Bill’s words remind us that without strong unions working on behalf of their members, we will soon be back to where we were 92 years ago at the beginning of Bill’s life – living and working at the whim of giant corporations and their hirelings.”

 

Today’s battle is over the Employee Free Choice Act which is opposed by union busters who continue the work of the mine guards who stopped at nothing to keep workers from exercising their right to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act allows workers to negotiate with their employer in good faith after a majority approve through a simple card check procedure. Only after an agreement is reached and approved by a majority of workers in a secret ballot election do the employees have a union.

 

Blizzard wrote "When Miners March," a book filled with previously published articles about the birth and growth of the United Mine Workers in West Virginia. The articles were first published in Labor's Daily, a nationally circulated newspaper based in Charleston.

 

One personal note: Each morning when I arise early to write, the Postscript to “When Miners March” posted above my desk, serves as my mission statement:

 

“Some readers, some scholars, may protest this writer's method of departing from academic ‘objectivity,’ and rooting enthusiastically for the coal miners. That is too bad, but we have no apologies. We want our writing to be read, not grow musty in the library of any elite coterie. This is a people's history, and if it brawls a little, and brags a little, and is angry more than a little, well, the people in this book were that way, and so are their descendants.”

 

 

For more information visit: http://whenminersmarch.com/