The narratives of the “American dream” made the United States a wonderland for a promising future in the imaginations of European immigrants around the turn of the 20th century. Thousands of Finns, Swedes, Slavs, young or old, male or female alike, kissed goodbyes to their loved ones and departed for the “land of opportunities” on the other side of the Atlantic. Most of them knew that they would never see their loved ones again during the rest of their life. But soon they would discover that their dream was a lunacy. The “American” dream was merely American, and often for the rich. The immigrants were just means for the dream, rather than the end of it.
At the heart of Megan Marsnik’s historical novel, Under Ground, is Katka, one of these immigrants. Through her eyes, Megan retells the poignant stories of 1916 Mesabi Miners’ Strike in the Minnesota Iron Range. Under Megan’s pen, the past comes to life. When I read this engaging novel, I could feel the fatigue of those immigrant mine workers vicariously. I saw them go underground before sunrise and leave after sunset. They could barely see the sunshine every single day. And I could also tell the concomitant disappointment and discontent of those workers when they were only paid one dollar a day under the notorious contract system which counted the quantity of processable iron ore they dug out rather than the total amount of time and effort they spent in the precarious working environment.
Their grievances were sure to grow. And the flames of anger finally gathered in momentum to precipitate the grand strike across the Iron Range in 1916 under the organization of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In collaboration with the state and local government, the Oliver Mining Company, a branch of U.S. Steel, had already transformed the towns around the mines into company towns where this big private enterprise had almost totalitarian controls over town people and mine workers’ lives. To put down the strikes in whatever dirty means it could find, the Oliver Mining Company bribed the local sheriffs, hired company gunmens and thugs to verbally or physically threaten the striking workers’ and their families’ lives. The governor of Minnesota, John A.A. Burnquist even openly colluded with U.S. Steel to end the strike, portraying the immigrant workers as “unpatriotic” and “unamerican” due to their “failure” to support the American troops in Europe for WWI through their hard works in the iron mines. But the demand of the workers was just to gain fair wages and working conditions.
This strike resulted in casualties from both sides. While the company went unpunished, the leaders of the strike were taken to be tried for murder in the first degree. Despite the huge financial losses the mining company had suffered from the strike, Oliver Mining Company did not give in even when the women also joined the solidarity to support their husbands and loved ones. Without any means of production, the striking workers who ran out of any financial support could not resist the pain of hunger after months on strike. Some of them chose to go back to work. This 1916 strike was a failure in that it did not result in a formal negotiation between the company heads and workers. But its positive repercussion was quite powerful. The Oliver Mining Company quietly raised the wages for the immigrant workers in fear of another strike. Big enterprises elsewhere in the United States, hearing the news of Mesabi Iron Range Strike, also voluntarily raised wages and improved working conditions for their work forces to preempt a potential strike similar to the Mesabi strike in the future.
Under Ground is a great novel for its telling of the working class’s often erased history in the early 20th century. The painstaking details of every aspect of 1916 the Mesabi Iron Range Strike as depicted in this novel revealed Megan’s meticulous efforts of historical research further fostered by her compelling story-telling techniques. And it must be noted that this work is not only relevant to the past, but also insightful for today’s concurrent immigration issues and political topics such as labor rights. Furthermore,, Megan reminds us of women’s indispensable roles during the labor movement because women are so frequently forgotten in our historical writings, especially for those memories which are conveniently believed to be merely remembered and contributed by men.
I am looking forward to Megan Marsnik’s presentation of Under Ground at the East Side Freedom Library on Thursday evening, October 3, at 7pm. The Library, together with the Ramsey County Historical Society, will welcome her, her story, and all of us who care to listen. ESFL also holds a great collection of books which add more dimensions to the histories of immigrants to Minnesota and their experiences in the labor movement.
Zhantao Luo
Zhantao Luo, a native of China, is a recent graduate of Macalester College and an intern at the East Side Freedom Library.