Whilst strolling around the net I came across the above.

The Santa María School massacre was a massacre of striking workers, mostly saltpeter (nitrate) miners, along with wives and children, committed by the Chilean army in Iquique, Chile on December 21, 1907. The number of victims is undetermined but is reliably estimated at over 2,000. It occurred during the peak of the nitrate mining era, which coincided with the Parliamentary Period in Chilean political history (1891-1925). With the massacre and an ensuing reign of terror, not only was the strike broken, but the workers' movement was thrown into limbo for over a decade.[citation needed] For decades afterward there was official suppression of knowledge of the incident, but in 2007 the government conducted a highly publicized commemoration of its centenary, including an official national day of mourning and the reinterment of the victims' remains.
This was definately from Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_de_Iquique_Massacre 

As Big Loada said thank heavens we live in better times. Although of course that's open to debate.

I'm currently trying to sort out the story of the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania. I'm leaving reality, I might be some time. 🙂

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Makes the attitude of the bosses in the great North Wales quarry strike (1900-03) look almost reasonable in comparison...

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Doesn't it just and let's not forget the forced labour camps in Russia.
Kolyma was one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest network of labor camps. Conservative estimates calculate that 3 million people died in Kolyma. About 25-35 percent of the prisoners in Kolyma died each year.

Winter temperatures drop to -90 degrees f. Waters are ice 9 months of the year and soil is frozen throughout. Insects, such as gadflies, appear in summer. Certain types are especially big and can sting through animal hide.

In addition to the environmental rigors of life in a place like Kolyma, the conditions of those living in the camps made harder an already difficult life. Mining was the sole operation in the Kolyma camps. Gold was discovered in 1910 and mining in the area began in 1927, however, laborers were free and the operation was worked on a very small scale. In the early 1930's mining began using forced labor and continued until well into the 1950's. Kolyma was a region comprised of about 120 full scale camps, 80 of which were dedicated to mining. One of the most tragic points about Kolyma was that "almost without exception" the prisoners held, many of whom ended up dead, were "entirely innocent."
http://s98.middlebury.edu/RU152A/STUDENTS/Shalamov/gulags.html 

Not the easiest page in the world to read.

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