• captainlezbian@lemmy.world
    12·
    1 year ago

    So company towns that haven’t started issuing scrip yet. My country tried that for a while. It ended in literal class warfare.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        14·
        1 year ago

        United States. Look into Appalachian coal miner union history. The company towns were part of the story but not the whole of the exploitation of the workers. The Battle of Blair Mountain is the most famous incident. Also the music involved fucking slaps.

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 year ago

            Yeah that makes sense. They were absolutely kept in economic bondage, with brutal treatment. And when they resisted tensions escalated. They matched to unionize and the bosses brought in mercenaries. Gunfire was exchanged, and at times machine guns were mounted to trains or nested in mountains to stop strikers. Teenagers charged them.

            It’s worth learning more. If for no other reason than because Appalachia is a special part of the country that’s often misunderstood and it helps put their distrust of outsiders into context