Some of what made the Western Miners special is on display in this report on a strike in isolated northern California against the London-based Mountain Copper Company in the smelter at Keswick.

‘The Great Strike at the Keswick Smelter’ by A Member W.F. of M., No. 143 from The Advance (San Francisco). No. 437. December 29, 1902.

Our Socialist Brothers in Benighted Shasta County Making a Grand Fight for a Principle.

The Western Federation of Miners, which is recognized in our ranks as a militant Socialist army, is fighting a battle up in Shasta county with the Mountain Copper Company of Keswick and Iron Mountain which is of vital importance to Socialism in Northern California. Trades-unionism is a big step towards Socialism, and the Western Federation leaders have used their organization to go advance the cause of Socialism to the attention of their brothers that the great body of Western Federationists recognize Socialism as the only solution to the gigantic war now on between capital and labor. Up in Shasta county, while we find evidences of the earliest mining in California, we also find abundant proofs of its benighted attitude to progressive thought.

The Federation is fighting with this Mountain Copper Company, Limited, whose directors and shareholders are located in London, England, for the recognition of the union and reinstatement of discharged unionists, and either willfully or ignorantly the press and people (capitalist section at least) of Shasta county, are doing their damnedest to smash the Federation’s fight and keep the county a scab one. These parasites, the so-called business people of Shasta county, and all the attorney vultures and political bums and grafters, along with these rush-light newspaper editors, are howling and screeching at the men and leaders of the strike. The smeltermen are named as hobos, stiffs and such, and open threats have been made of white-capping against The leaders and strikers. Dirty tools of the company, a Dr. Sevenman, the company’s doctor, a man named Lamus and two or three others, went to Redington and tried to vilify Donnelly, the Socialist President of Union No. 143, but all the dirt throwing availed them nothing. J.L. Donnelly happens to be a born general; B.F. Barbee, the State Organizer, is a staunch Socialist; and all the Executive Committee claim the red flag of fraternity as theirs also.

The Mountain Copper Company reckoned without its host when it threw down the gage of battle to the Federation of Miners. It thought the “hobos of Keswick” were as brainless as its manager, Lewis F. Wright, and his superintendent, A.S. Haskell, but fortunately for unionism and Socialism the “hobos” were old hands at the game of war, and soon had this corporation on the run. The union has completely outgeneraled this foreign lot of fossils and moss-backs and the company is busy seeking what cover it can find. It tried the old bluff of arresting, two of the leaders, Barbee and Donnelly, on a trivial charge, and made them put up heavy bonds, expecting they would have to go to jail in lieu of bondsmen, But again we knocked them out in their game, and we have a hearty laugh on them.

This strike is more like a well fought battle than a labor struggle. We have a captain and sergeants of pickets, tents are located at stated intervals with big watch fires, and every inch of the lines round the smelter and mine are patrolled ceaselessly. We have our commissary, feeding hundreds of men at our “Mulligan;” families have all they need supplied by wagon daily, and free barber and cobbler shops are run, and a bath-house, too. We have our own doctor and dispensary. So you see we are very near a Socialist cooperative basis and we are all getting a No. 1 lesson in good, sound, practical Socialism. I enclose a circular detailing the facts of the strike, which please append to this article.

Advance began as The Class Struggle, the official paper of Section San Francisco of Daniel De Leon’s Socialist Labor Party, launched as a weekly in 1896. In 1900 the paper was taken over by George B. Benham and allied with the Social Democratic Party (Springfield) Massachusetts, the name changed to Advance and Emil Liess as editor. The paper became the official organ of the Local San Francisco, of the Socialist Party of America when it was formed in 1901 and ran for another few years before financial difficulties closed its doors.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/class-struggle-advance/021220-advance-w437.pdf