Germinal Summary

Germinal is the story about the miners' strike against the mining company during the period of industrialization. As the technologies developed, people needed more workers so the number of them highly increased. With the large amount people, some labor issues were emerged. Inhuman working and living conditions, lack of proper welfare system, low income, high intensity of the labor and the long work hours exhausted the workers. The workers had to unite into the labor union because they couldn't solve those big problems individually. At that time, the miners not only worked under the ground, but they also lived below the leaders or Bourgeois. In this book, the conflict over pay systems between the workers and the leaders led the strike began.

Miners suspected it was a trick to reduce their pay and went on strike. Miners knew that this will make their life even worse. Lantier Etienne, who has came to this town few months ago, was the mover of this strike. He wanted to help the miners live like a human being and become the owners themselves. However, as the strike went on, the miners began to starve and ill. Then, people went wild. They killed their co-workers who still worked at the pit calling them as traitors and cowards. According to the Geminal, “They were brutes, no doubt, but brutes who could not read, and who were dying of hunger.” They also killed the Maigrat who owns the only shop in this town and afflicted the miners with money and foods. Also, when the company decided to hire some Belgium workers, the situation got even worse. Mad miners attacked the mine and the army couldn't help but to fire into the crowds to guard the place. It was their job. Many of them were killed. Everyone was appalled. When the yellow posters stuck up on the walls announcing that the mines will reopen, most miners went back to work to get some bread for their