Molly Maguires seem to have arisen in part as resistence to the
tragedy of the commons.
CB
^
Molly Maguires
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires
For the movie, see The Molly Maguires (film).
Location of the counties in northeastern Pennsylvania where the Molly
Maguires were active
The Molly Maguires were members of a secret Irish organization. Many
historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal
fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the
time of the American Civil War until a series of sensational arrests
and trials in the years 1876-1878. Evidence that the Molly Maguires
were responsible for coalfield crimes, and kidnapping in the U.S.
rests largely upon allegations of one powerful industrialist, and the
testimony of one Pinkerton detective. Fellow prisoners also testified
against the alleged Molly Maguires, but some believe these witnesses
may have been coerced or bribed.[citation needed]
There is little doubt that some Irish miners conspired to resist their
exploitative conditions; however, the trusts seem to have focused
almost exclusively upon the Molly Maguires for criminal prosecution.
This may be a consequence of Irish miners acting as the core of
militant union activism during a bitter strike provoked by a twenty
percent wage reduction. Violence during the period was widespread,
with Irish Catholic miners who reportedly made up the secret
organization also falling victim.
Some aspects of the investigations, trials, and executions are
unseemly. Information passed from the Pinkerton detective, intended
only for the detective agency and their client -- the most powerful
industrialist of the region -- was apparently also provided to
vigilantes who ambushed and murdered miners suspected of being Molly
Maguires. The vigilantes did not spare the miners' families.[1] The
industrialist standing to gain financially from the destruction of the
striking union acted as prosecutor of some of the alleged Molly
Maguires at their trials.
Molly history is sometimes presented as the prosecution of an
underground movement that was motivated by personal vendettas, and
sometimes as a struggle between organized labor and powerful
industrial forces.[2] Whether membership in the Molly organization
overlapped union membership to any appreciable extent remains open to
conjecture. Much remains uncertain, for the Molly Maguires left
virtually no evidence of their existence, and nearly everything that
we know about them was written by biased contemporary observers.[3]
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