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 t hese actions were backed by an equally radical and class-conscious lan guage based on Americanism. It shows how due to various barriers, rang ing from ethnic differences to electoral interference, political invol vement on the part of the miners was sporadic and unsuccessful, and th ey 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 Virg inia, and took the interpretation of Americanism to be self-evident.