CITIZENS OF THIS GREAT REPUBLIC - POLITICS AND THE WEST-VIRGINIA MINERS, 1900-1922

The West Virginia Miners engaged in remarkable inter-ethnic rebellions in the early twentieth century, against the ''feudal'' conditions in the Mountain State's coalfields. This paper challenges the view that these actions were backed by an equally radical and class-conscious language based on Americanism. It shows how due to various barriers, ranging from ethnic differences to electoral interference, political involvement on the part of the miners was sporadic and unsuccessful, and they were unable to form a common, coherent political identity. Instead they articulated a broad and ultimately ambiguous appeal to ''American'' rights and values, which focused on the exceptionalism of West Virginia, and took the interpretation of Americanism to be self-evident.