Many a local legend surround the discovery of copper-bearing ore in Bor. One of them is about Paun Meždinović, a young man from a place nearby Bor, who found the first greenish copper ore lump. The industrialization period that followed turned the development of this area into an unexpected direction and, during his lifetime, Paun remained known as the boy who discovered copper-bearing ore.
However, the hasty development of the Bor Mine did not result in the growth of the workers’ standard since the working conditions were very harsh, the wages were quite low, the workers didn’t have the necessary machinery, whereas the sulphuric fumes released in the ore-smelting process had a devastating effect on agriculture in the area surrounding Bor. In 1908, all this brought about the first strike, organised by the Social Democratic Party of the time. The strike was quickly quelled and the request to determine the scope of the damage caused by mining fumes to agriculture, directed at the Kingdom of Serbia Ministry of Economy was completely dismissed.
The spread of socialist ideas throughout the Bor Mine following the First World War was met with harsh resistance of the authorities and the situation was further aggravated when the Yugoslav Communist Party was banned. The 1920 decree banning the Communist Party also banned general strike calls, which was detrimental to any form of trade unions in the mine. The period between 1929 and 1933 was particularly harsh as the global economic crisis further influenced labour cost decreases and high unemployment rates impacting the Bore mine as well. Union control of this mining basin was also minimised, resulting in a huge environmental pollution extent. At that time, the local population was faced with the harmful consequences of industrialization since the smoke coming from mining chimneys brought about nothing but trouble. Acid rains destroyed the land and crops, while the air and water contained sulfur and other metals released in the production process. The mine owners refused to pay the damages caused by the pollution.
However, despite the bans and increased supervision, the local inhabitants (around 400 of them) gathered outside the Bor police station on 7 May 1935. Having been ignored by the local authorities, they proceeded to demonstrate their discontent in the very mine by interrupting the workflow. They demanded that the French Society of the Bor Mines make efforts to ensure purification of the smoke coming from the smelter so as not to affect the land, air and water. Since their demand was further ignored, they gathered again in five days. This time, there were around 4.000 protesters. They also claimed damages for crop failure as well as employment benefits since they were no longer able to continue working in agriculture.
This marked the first environmental protest in Ex-Yugoslavia and, probably, Europe as well. It was organised by the miners and agriculturalists together, bearing in mind the implications of such an undertaking. Unfortunately, during the protest, shots were fired at the protesters, resulting in a miner’s death, while another one was seriously wounded and a dozen others were also injured. Around 500 gunshots were fired. Following these unfortunate events, the French Society made a commitment to install smoke-purification facilities and build a sulphuric acid factory.
Not only did this turn of events in the Bor Mine result in the development of trade union efforts but it also set forth socialist propaganda striving to raise political and environmental protection awareness amongst the workers. In 1934 and 1935, Đorđe Andrejević Kun (1904-1964), a socially-committed artist, visited the Bor Mine illegally multiple times, portraying the daily lives of the miners. As fate would have it, some of his graphics captured the tragic events of the environmental protest of May 1935. In 1936, he published his graphics, titled Krvavo zlato (blood-stained gold), illegally. Not only was this a revolutionary way of fighting for one’s causes, extending the scope of the influence of art, it also became a call for the future by marking a mine as a possible place of confrontation, both of the class and environmental nature.
