Anthracite Coal Strike Begins in Pennsylvania, 147,000 Miners Walk Out

On May 12, 1902, 147,000 anthracite coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania, organized by the United Mine Workers under President John Mitchell, went on strike after railroad companies that owned the mines refused to meet with union representatives. The miners demanded better wages, shorter work weeks (reduction from ten to nine hours), and recognition of their union. As the strike dragged through summer and into autumn, coal production dropped and prices doubled, threatening a national fuel crisis as winter approached. President Theodore Roosevelt initially had Commissioner of Labor Carroll D. Wright investigate the strike on June 8, 1902, but negotiations remained deadlocked for months. The conflict represented a critical test of the relationship between government, labor, and corporate power during the Progressive Era. Unlike previous administrations that had routinely sided with management and used federal troops to break strikes, Roosevelt viewed the dispute differently—he was troubled by the intransigence of the mine owners and sympathetic to the miners’ legitimate grievances. The strike would last 163 days and force Roosevelt into unprecedented federal intervention, ultimately establishing the principle that the president could act as a neutral arbitrator between labor and capital rather than automatically supporting corporate interests—a revolutionary shift in the role of government in industrial disputes.