This article examines three coal miners' strikes in Zonguldak, Turkey (1923, 1965, and 1990-91), to explore how large-scale episodes of labor unrest emerge, escalate, and dissolve under shifting labor regimes. Drawing on a refined reading of John Kelly's mobilization theory - enriched by insights from Charles Tilly, Richard Hyman and Rick Fantasia - the article analyzes how leadership, injustice framing, organizational structure, political opportunity, and counter-mobilization interact in historically contingent ways. Each strike reflected its moment: the 1923 mobilization coincided with the early Republic's state-building ambitions; the 1965 strike exposed the contradictions of bureaucratic unionism; and the 1990-91 uprising marked both the peak and collapse of labor resistance under neoliberal restructuring. Despite their scale and intensity, none of the three strikes succeeded in institutionalizing a durable repertoire of contention. The article argues that in contexts like Zonguldak - marked by regime oscillation, institutional discontinuity, and structurally fragmented union traditions - the formation of repeatable, routinized repertoires remains a persistently elusive goal. The article contributes to labor history and social movement theory by offering a more dynamic and relational reading of mobilization processes, while also rethinking why even the most dramatic collective actions may fail to yield enduring organizational legacies.