Power, culture and conflict in the coalfields: West Virginia and south Wales, 1900-1922

Abstract

This text provides a comparative perspective on two major coalfields, in order to allow a historically constructed view of the patterns of experience and behaviour in mining communities. It shows how the contrasting cultural formations, social structures and power relationships within West Virginia and South Wales definitely shaped the content and form of industrial conflict, as well as broader political identities and languages. This led to huge labour civil wars in West Virginia, backed by appeals to an ambigous Americanism, while the South Wales miners embarked on less violent solidaristic strike activity, accompanied by a shift towards labourist and class politics. The book draws on a wide range of sources in both Britain and the US, and provides an insight into the complex world of the coal miner. It should be useful to those interested in US and British social and labour history, and the regional histories of Wales and Appalachia.