A Missing Mountain Memory: The Marion Manufacturing Mill Strike of 1929

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Stevens, M. (2020). A Missing Mountain Memory: The Marion Manufacturing Mill Strike of 1929. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

In Marion, North Carolina, the local residents of the city and surrounding region have forgotten a tragic strike that took place at one of the local mills in 1929, though it was possibly the deadliest textile mill strike in the South. The strike, which officially took place between July 11, 1929 and October 2, 1929, was in response to inhumane labor practices and unsatisfactory pay. While the strike was supported by the United Textile Workers, it was primarily organized by the local strikers who were unhappy with their working conditions. While the UTW was not affiliated with the Communist Party, and the strikers in Marion were decidedly anti-communist, past and present criticisms of the strike revolve around the inaccurate perception of the strikers being led by communists, which turned their neighbors against them. The strike ended on October 2, 1929, when a group of deputies fired into a strike-line, killing six men and injuring an untold number of others. Rather than reconcile and heal from this event one could call the residents of the town, including the mill workers, experts at forgetting. Shame, misinformation, and an unease toward perceived communist ties have fueled this forgetting fire. Not only has this event been ignored in local history, but it also is missing from the study of labor history, labor in the South, and the history of resistance in Appalachia.

Details
Author

Stevens, Megan

Title

A Missing Mountain Memory: The Marion Manufacturing Mill Strike of 1929

Physical Description

1 online resource (112 pages) : PDF

Date

2020

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

In Marion, North Carolina, the local residents of the city and surrounding region have forgotten a tragic strike that took place at one of the local mills in 1929, though it was possibly the deadliest textile mill strike in the South. The strike, which officially took place between July 11, 1929 and October 2, 1929, was in response to inhumane labor practices and unsatisfactory pay. While the strike was supported by the United Textile Workers, it was primarily organized by the local strikers who were unhappy with their working conditions. While the UTW was not affiliated with the Communist Party, and the strikers in Marion were decidedly anti-communist, past and present criticisms of the strike revolve around the inaccurate perception of the strikers being led by communists, which turned their neighbors against them. The strike ended on October 2, 1929, when a group of deputies fired into a strike-line, killing six men and injuring an untold number of others. Rather than reconcile and heal from this event one could call the residents of the town, including the mill workers, experts at forgetting. Shame, misinformation, and an unease toward perceived communist ties have fueled this forgetting fire. Not only has this event been ignored in local history, but it also is missing from the study of labor history, labor in the South, and the history of resistance in Appalachia.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

History, Modern
History

Subjects--Places

America

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Appalachia
Clinchfield
Labor
Marion
Mill
Strike

Subject Area

History

Advisor(s)

Goldfield, David

Committee Members

McKinley, Shepherd
Buchenau, Jurgen

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Stevens_uncc_0694N_12658

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2502