University of Virginia Library

SSOC Sponsors Speech
By Strike Leader Shaw

The Southern Student Organizing
Committee (SSOC) will present
a speech by Harry Shaw of the West
Virginia Mountaineer Freedom
Party tonight at 8:00 in the South
Meeting Room.

Mr. Shaw was the leading
organizer of student support behind
the recent wildcat strike of 42,000
W. Va. coal miners. The strike, one
of the most important in the
history of American labor, occurred
in February and March to force
passage of a workmen's compensation
law for the victims of the
disease pneumoconiosis (Black
Lung).

Mr. Shaw will describe the
historic alliance between the striking
miners and hundreds of students
and faculty from West Virginia
University, as well as the long
range effects of the strike on labor
organizing in the mountains.

The Black Lung strike marked
the first time that the miners, who
are among the highest paid workers
in the nation, have stopped work
for purely political reasons, i.e.,
legislation for the protection of
their lives.

The miners also realized that the
company-controlled United Mine
Workers was not operating in their
interests, and they are following up
their wildcat strike with a full-scale
rebellion against the powerful
UMW.

For the students, the strike
represented a strong alliance with
the working class. For a time, a
general strike was developing in
West Virginia, as students roaming
the state touched off strikes against
the State Road Commission, the
universities, textile mills, glass
plants, brass works, and limestone
mills, virtually shutting down the
state's economy.

The Black Lung strike has
continuing implications for the
Appalachian region, as the movement
for mine safety spreads into
Kentucky and Virginia. Black Lung
Associations are beginning to form
in western counties of Virginia, and
students at schools such as VPI are
already beginning educational and
support activities.

Mr. Shaw will also deal with
other problems and movements in
the Appalachian region, such as the
fight against strip mining. The
struggles now occurring in Appalachia
are fast giving the area a
reputation as the nation's leading
hotbed of revolutionary activity on
the part of white people. Harry
Shaw has been playing a major role
in Appalachia's revolutionary politics
and has been called one of the
New Left's most eloquent speakers
as well.