Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 10, 1910 Fresno, California – I. W. W. Free Speech Fight Has Been Postponed
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of November 9, 1910:
FRESNO FIGHT POSTPONED —————
Industrial Worker October 19, 1910
Fellow Workers: The fight for free speech has been postponed. On the 2d. of November the boys all came out of jail. Their excuse was that there were not enough men. It is true, the men were coming in awful slow, but they were coming. Public sentiment was changing in our favor, and if the men had stuck we would have won out.This fight is important and we must win or the I. W. W. will feel the painful consequences all over the west. Until we erase this blot from our crimson banner we must hang our heads in shame. If they can suppress our street meetings, they can also suppress our hall meetings and will hound us at every step.
We are not going to try to coax or persuade anyone to take part in this fight. If this fight is won it will be won by Industrial Unionists. The Industrial Unionist is the man who practices a large part of what he preaches. He does not walk around with a chip on his shoulder, telling the timid and modest members what he knows and what he would do in each and every case and what a splendid fighter he is. No, he is sadly lacking in these eminent virtues. Somehow he can never spare the time for it. Some few have a faint suspicion that he is too busy practicing or trying to practice Industrial Unionism. About half the men who went to jail here are pretty fair Industrial Unionists.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 9, 1910 Fresno, California – City Claims Victory Over Industrial Workers of the World
From The Fresno Morning Republican of November 3, 1910:
Fresno has won its battle to govern the right of free speech.
The city ordinance which prohibits speech-making on the public streets without a permit from the chief of police holds good and the Industrial Workers of the World are the ones who discovered that the law is iron-clad.
A month’s fight against the city authorities ended at 10 o’clock yesterday morning, when fifty-three members of the I.W.W. left the local jail and marched to police court, where they entered individual pleas of guilty and were released from custody with a suspended sentence of ninety days hanging over each man. Three I.W.W.’s “double-crossed” their fellow workers and pleaded not guilty, after promising to go into court and abide by the decision of the majority. This trio was returned to jail.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 8, 1910 Fresno, California – 500 Fellow Workers Needed for Free Speech Fight
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of November 2, 1910:
FREE SPEECH NEWS FROM THE FRONT ——-
FRESNO THE BACKBONE OF CALIFORNIA.
The Sierras east of Fresno are covered with great forests of pine, sugar pine and Oregon pine. The Hume-Bennett Lumber company is at Hume, a mile from Kings river, employing over 700 men; Fresno Lumber company at Pine Ridge, working a thousand men; Sugar Pine farther, to the north, working about 700. This territory also abounds in minerals, especially gold and copper, and is as yet only scratched. Fresno county is the stronghold of King capital in California. He wears his crown with haughty mein and brooks no oppositions. Fresno is the back bone of California. To break this back bone will take at least 500 men. If we break it, all California falls to the crimson standard, for we will then systematically proceed to organize. We have men here who are the goods and will make it their special business to see that this is done. There are a vast number of Armenians, Greeks, Italians and Mexicans here, also colonies of Germans and Russians. In fact all nationalities are here represented. We omit the Japanese because they are already fairly well organized. All these different nationalities have their eyes now focused on the I. W. W. If we win they are bound to regard us with admiration, and it will be easy to organize them. If we lose-perish the thought-we can’t afford to lose. We are fighting for breath. Send men, gather recruits, and send funds. This is a battle royal and must be supported. Yours for Industrial Freedom.
JUNGLES PRESS COM.
Address W. [U.] L. Leister, P. O. Box 209, Fresno, Cal. On arrival inquire at 1128 I St. Not J St.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 6, 1910 Ohio Labor Investigation – Report on Sweatshops from 1893
From The Progressive Woman of November 1910:
THE SWEATING SYSTEM
MARY L. GEFFS Special Investigator for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of Ohio, 1893
Origin of Title.
It is not definitely known what gave the system its title, but it is safe to hazard a guess that it was the sheer aptness of the word ”sweating” to describe the condition. For many of the shops and tenements where the work is carried on are veritable bake ovens. They are often found in attic rooms where the summer sun beats down unmercifully upon the roof but a few feet above the toilers’ head, where the heat of charcoal stoves and the steam and heat of irons needed in pressing, together with a total lack of proper ventilation render anything less than sweating impossible. It may, therefore, be to the over-doing of the command said to have been given to the First Pair, “in the sweat of they face shalt thou eat bread,” that this title is due, but it might with equal fitness express the orthodox idea of the abode of the lost, for, in all the range of woman employing industries, not only are there few so hot, but fewer still so hard, so unremunerative, so slavish, nor whose baneful effects are so wide-spread and far-reaching as that known by the title of “The Sweating System.”
What it is and How It Operates.
This system is that by which garments are cut in the big factories and given out to be made in the shops or homes of the workers. The work is paid for by the piece or by weekly wages based on the piece, and prices are reckoned according to the iron law of wages. That is, as near as possible to the life limit; the lowest point at which the workers can live and continue to produce. They are so low that long hours must be put in every day in order that the workers may eke out a bare existence.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 5, 1920 Statement from Convict 9653 E. V. Debs, Socialist Candidate for President
From The Atlanta Constitution of November 4, 1920:
Country Leaped From Frying Pan To Fire, Says Debs ———-
In Written Statement, Defeated Candidate Declares Wall Street Is Still in Saddle. ———-
(Wednesday morning Eugene V. Debs, socialist candidate for president, furnished The Constitution the following written statement in regard to the election results.)
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BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
There was never any doubt about the results of yesterday’s election. The fate of the democratic party was sealed at the Versailles peace conference. One thing was made clear by the election returns. President Wilson, Attorney General Palmer and Postmaster General Burleson now know what the American people think of their despotic administration.
But, unfortunately, the people have not profited by past experience. They need look for no improvement in conditions as the result of the election. Wall street is still in the saddle under Harding as it was under Wilson.
Politically speaking, the American people have the cheerful habit of jumping from the frying pan into the fire and back again. They seem to enjoy the diversion.
Lincoln said “If you want that thing that is the thing you want.”
Harding prays God to help him. The American people will be doing the same thing before they are through with his administration.
For President Harding will take his orders from Wall street, and his administration can be relied upon to see to it that the people get all they voted for-and then some.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 3, 1920 Industrial Workers of the World – Some November Anniversaries
From The One Big Union Monthly of November 1920:
Some I. W. W. Anniversaries
The month of November is particularly rich in memories for the I. W. W.
The events of the day are crowding upon us so fast that we cannot devote much time or space in our publications to the memories of the past, but not for a moment should the workers of this country be allowed to forget the outrages committed upon us in years gone by.
For the time being we shall content ourselves with a very brief review of some of the most horrid anniversaries of the I. W. W., which should be “celebrated” this month, not forgetting such anniversaries as that of Frank Little, whose anniversary falls in a different month.
On November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was legally murdered in the prison of Salt Lake City, Utah. His ashes are scattered by loving friends, who believe in his innocence, over the flower beds of this and other countries, and his memory lives in the songs which the I. W. W. members sing on every occasion.
Besides being a writer of songs which made the workers of all countries listen, Joe Hill, the miner, was also an amateur cartoonist. We reproduce here with a couple of his cartoons.
On November 5th, 1916, The Everett Massacre took place. We shall not try to describe this terrible tragedy of the class struggle. We refer every body to the account of it, issued in a book of 302 pages by the I. W. W. This book, “The I. W. W. Massacre,” is written by Walker C. Smith and sold by the I. W. W. Should be read by every red- blooded worker. Five were killed and scores wounded.
The Everett Massacre was one of the foulest deeds ever committed by the dirty hirelings of the capitalist class. It can be compared only to the indescribable horrors of Armistice day in Centralia, Wash., on November 11, 1919. The gruesome death of our Fellow Worker Wesley Everest on that day is enough to stagger the world. We cannot go into details. Read the book “The Centralia Conspiracy,” by Ralph Chaplin. It describes in word and illustration those terrible days.
Fellow Worker Bert Bland, who with a number of others is now serving a sentence equal to life imprisonment in Montesano as a result of the Centralia conspiracy, writes a touching tribute to the memory of the martyr Wesley Everest, which is published herewith.
Wesley Everest’s last greeting was: “Tell all the boys I did my best.” Joe Hill’s last message was: “Don’t mourn. Organize!” Frank Little’s last message is known only to his murderers, but we have no doubt it was like Joe Hill’s.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 2, 1910 Chicago, Illinois – Eugene Debs Speaks on Working Class Politics
From the International Socialist Review of November 1910:
THE campaign of the Socialist party of Cook county, Illinois, was formally opened on September 18th, Eugene V. Debs being the principal speaker. A vast concourse of people were assembled at Riverview Park where the meeting took place. Below will be found some extracts from the speech of Debs, in which he emphasized the necessity of industrial unity as the only means of effective political action. Said Debs:
We live in the capitalist system, so-called because it is dominated by the capitalist class. In this system the capitalists are the rulers and the workers the subjects. The capitalists are in a decided minority and yet they rule because of the ignorance of the working class.
So long as the workers are divided, economically and politically, they will remain in subjection, exploited of what they produce, and treated with contempt by the parasites who live out of their labor.
The economic unity of the workers must first be effected before there can be any progress toward emancipation. The interests of the millions of wage workers are identical, regardless of nationality, creed, or sex, and if they will only open their eyes to this simple, self-evident fact, the greatest obstacle will have been overcome and the day of victory will draw near.
The primary need of the workers is industrial unity and by this I mean their organization in the industries in which they are employed as a whole instead of being separated into more or less impotent unions according to their crafts.Industrial unionism is the only effective means of economic organization and the quicker the workers realize this and unite within one compact body for the good of all, the sooner will they cease to be the victims of ward-heeling labor politicians and accomplish something of actual benefit to themselves and those dependent upon them. In Chicago where the labor grafters, posing as union leaders, have so long been permitted to thrive in their iniquity, there is especially urgent need of industrial unionism, and when this is fairly under way it will express itself politically in a class conscious vote of and for the working class.
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