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The '''Molly Maguires''' was a secret [[Catholic Irish]] network of mine workers in [[Pennsylvania]] around 1870 that used violence and murder to control the mines.  

The '''Molly Maguires''' was a secret [[Catholic Irish]] network of mine workers in [[Pennsylvania]] around 1870 that used violence and murder to control the mines.  

An informer planted in the group exposed their deeds, and 18 were executed for murder.  The Mollys disappeared, but remain heroes among violent leftists and even some Irish.  

An informer planted in the group exposed their deeds, and 18 were executed for murder in 1877.  The Mollys disappeared, but remain heroes among violent leftists and even some Irish.  

==Historiography==

==Historiography==

The most recent scholarly study is Kevin Kenny, ''Making Sense of the Molly Maguires'' (1998). Kenny believes the Mollies were guilty, but that the trials were unfair because of poor defensive lawyers. He claims the killings reflected premodern Irish traditions of "justice" against ethnic foes (especially the Welsh) and argues the Mollies arose only after the union collapsed. Other leftist historians condemn the persecution of the Mollies as an attack on labor unions.  

The most recent scholarly study is Kevin Kenny, ''Making Sense of the Molly Maguires'' (1998). Kenny believes the Mollies were guilty, but that the trials were unfair because of poor defensive lawyers. He claims the killings reflected premodern Irish traditions of "justice" against ethnic foes (especially the Welsh) and argues the Mollies arose only after the union collapsed. Other leftist historians condemn the persecution of the Mollies as an attack on labor unions.