After the successful campaign in Anthracite Country, Mother
Jones was drawn back to West Virginia, where the UMW had yet to
gain a strong support base. On June 7, 1902, a strike began that
led to arrests, and to the increased threat of violence on the
part of authorities. Mother Jones herself was put on trial, during
which the district attorney called her the "most dangerous woman
in America." The conservative presiding judge labeled all the defendants
as agitators and condemned them to jail, thereby establishing a
precedent that would effectively prevent the leadership of any
successful strike. The judge suspended Mother Jones's sentence,
however, reasoning that he would not make her a martyr.
Despite the union's failure in West Virginia, Mother Jones
continued to work for UMW, and was sent to Colorado to unionize workers
in the newly developed Rocky Mountain coal industry. Coal production
was dominated by large corporations, which built company towns
where all economic and political control was in the hands of the
corporation. A statewide referendum for an eight-hour day passed
with great public support, but the state legislature never enacted
the legislation because of the influence of powerful businessmen.
This demonstrated to the workers that their elected governments
were controlled by business rather than by citizens, which increased
support for socialist and anarchist ideologies.
The Western Federation of Miners (WFM), which was founded in
1893, had already begun organizing miners. The WFM's strong tie
to socialism was much more radical than the politics of the UMW,
which was more open to compromise with businessmen. However, the
UMW also began to gain support in Colorado, especially in the summer
of 1903, when labor violations infuriated workers and heightened
their interest in organizing unions. In the fall of 1903, the WFM
decided to fight for the eight-hour day and started a strike in
Cripple Creek. This action was endorsed by the local branch of
the UMW, and then by the national UMW office. In November, ninety-five
percent of the region's miners went on strike. The strike lost
some of its impact, however, when the owners of the northern coalmines
began to negotiate with the union, potentially jeopardizing the
success of the strike in the south.
Mother Jones fought for unity among the strikers, opposing
John Mitchell, who supported the settlement in the north. In a
moving speech, Mother Jones persuaded the northern miners to continue the
strike, but after she left, the miners agreed to settle with the owners.
The strike in the rest of the state dragged on for a year, hindered
by the northern miners' decision to stop striking and to start supplying
coal again. The situation grew worse for the southern miners, and
harassment from company officials increased. Eventually, in October
of 1904, they went back to work without gaining any benefits. The
defeat precipitated dissension within the UMW, and Mother Jones
sided with the union's more radical and revolutionary factions.
At the age of sixty-seven, she resigned from the UMW, citing exhaustion,
illness, and her personal differences with the UMW's executive
board.
