alternatehistory.com

In 1902 the Anthracite Coal industry in America was shut down by a long and bitter strike. The Coal Industry Captains and the UMW were both totally recalcitrant and spiraling violence was being committed by both sides.

Meanwhile vital coal supplies were not getting delivered to the northeast in the midst of an ever-worsening winter. Fear of massive deaths grew as the strike approached critical mass. There were calls for a General Strike by all unions across the nation. There were calls to send in the army to break the strike. President Roosevelt feared a brewing revolution!

TR personally inserted himself into the negotiations and despite being bound in a wheelchair after a trolley accident brought both sides together. After sheer ugliness and stubbornness, a compromise negotiation commission was found and the crisis averted.

But WI things broke down? What if no compromise was possible? What if growing tensions between strikers, owners, National Guard, Police, scabs, and agitators found some spark that ignited a full battle-royale? What if TR (or an Alt-POTUS) bowed to pressure and sent in the army?

Would any of these lead to large-scale class conflict in the US? Would the (presumably) ugly aftermath lead to simmering tensions and in-turn lead to an actual large-scale US Marxist movement? Might a later spark (Great Depression?) spur actual (possibly Red?) revolution?
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