David Courtney Coates (1868–1933) was a Pueblo, Colorado businessman,[1] a radical, the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, secretary of Colorado's State Federation of Labor, and a friend to Big Bill Haywood.
Coates was born in Brandon, England.
In 1901, Lieutenant Governor Coates volunteered, and was dispatched by Colorado Governor James Orman, to be part of a commission sent to Telluride to investigate an uprising of miners from the Western Federation of Miners during a strike. A shooting war was triggered when one of the strikers, believed to have been unarmed, had been shot through the throat by a deputized mine guard. In spite of intense pressure from others, Coates helped to persuade the governor not to send the Colorado National Guard. The commission was able to effect a settlement between the miners and the company, negotiating between union leader Vincent St. John and the Smuggler-Union Mine Company's general manager, Arthur L. Collins.[2]
David Coates was present at the founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World.[3] Coates was offered the presidency of that organization, but declined to accept it.[4] The IWW later abolished the office of the presidency.
In his autobiography, Bill Haywood credited Coates with suggesting a slogan for the IWW: an injury to one is an injury to all.[5] The slogan has since been used by a number of labor organizations.
After leaving office, Coates was a member of the Socialist Party of America. He left the party over its pacifist policies and headed the short-lived National Party during World War I.