Black Lung Revolt In West Virginia

Black Lung Revolt In West Virginia

Nearly 40,000 West Virginia soft-coal miners returned to their jobs March 4 after conducting a political general strike in support of a state bill to make “Black Lung” a compensable ailment under the state’s workmen’s compensation system.

The walkout began February 18, when about 2,000 miners in the Beckley area—rankand-file members of the Black Lung Association—struck in support of a bill they had introduced into the state legislature in Charleston (West Vi...


Socialist thought provides us with an imaginative and moral horizon.

For insights and analysis from the longest-running democratic socialist magazine in the United States, sign up for our newsletter: