DK HJ Apr 1905 – WE NEVER FORGET

Saturday April 1, 1905
From the International Socialist Review: Bohn and Simons Debate the Manifesto

Hellraisers Journal: Are Cracks Appearing in Truce between S. P. of A. and Socialist Labor Party?

“““““““““““““““““““““““““““`At the January Conference of Industrial Unionists, in order that the cause of Industrial Unionism should be advanced, a truce was called between the Socialist Labor Party and the Socialist Party of America. Both organizations played their part in Conference, and relations between representatives of the two socialist parties were civil. However, in this month’s issue of the International Socialist Review, we now find a debate on the meaning of the Manifesto between Frank Bohn, organizer for the S. L. P.’s Socialist Trades and Labor Alliance, and A. M. Simons who is the editor of the Review, as well as a member of the S. P. of A. It remains to be seen whether or not the once bitter rivals will be able to co-exist within the same organization.

From the International Socialist Review of April 1905:

Concerning the Chicago Manifesto.
[by Frank Bohn]

Frank Bohn
“““““

THE Manifesto, beside being a call for a Convention, is a general statement of workingclass conditions, of the principles which should underlie industrial organization, and of the ideal by which such an organization should be animated. That men who have been accustomed to viewing the American Labor Movement from different points should place different interpretations upon the text of the Document, is but natural. Organized Labor is undoubtedly in a critical state of evolution. Various elements, hitherto kept apart by fundamental tactical differences, are now given opportunity to work, if possible, in unison.Perfect accord may be unattainable. But the Manifesto does state certain facts. These facts leave to the June Convention not a formulation of principles, but a definite working out of a plan of organization based upon the principles set forth in the Manifesto. If harmony is to characterize the deliberations of the Convention, the nature of these fundamentals should be settled at once by mutual discussion on the part of those favorably disposed to the new movement. In the following remarks I am forced to take a position quite at variance with that outlined in the leading editorial of the February number of this Review. But I believe that I am expressing the opinion of quite a majority of those present at the Chicago Conference.

First, as to the “Timeliness” of the proposed movement. Regarding this feature the editorial in question contains the following statement:

The one question then is, is the present the proper time for such a change to come? If it is not, then this organization will be a thing born out of due time, a cause of disorder, confusion and injury.

This question of “Timeliness” requires a double answer:(1) The members of the Chicago Conference quite unanimously held that a Socialist political movement, unsupported by an industrial, classconscious union, is doomed to a hopeless chasing of rainbows. Hence, whenever and wherever the time is ripe for a Socialist movement, it cannot be unripe for industrial unionism.

(2) On the economic field, apart from the Socialist political movement, all that the Editor can mean by putting the question of “Timeliness,” is whether economic conditions are ripe for a bona fide Working Class organization instead of a bogus, craft-divided, Capitalist-owned machine. Certain features of the European Working Class movement may suggest an answer to this phase of the question.

The Socialists of Germany, over thirty years ago, “smashed” the “pure and simple” organization promoted by Schulze-Delitsch, because those organizations were founded upon crookedness and ignorance. Was not this classic bit of “Union-wrecking” timely? But the industry of Germany a generation ago was conducted almost solely by petty capitalist concerns; and the German Working Class had at that time no experience in organization.

Russia is still in an extremely backward industrial condition. Yet when her officials came to the United States with the purpose of studying the perfect methods here developed by the “Labor Leaders” for keeping the workers in subjection and ignorance; and when those officials returned to Russia and proceeded to make use of the newly-learned methods in preference to those developed by their own Autocracy, shall we question the “Timeliness” of our Russian comrades’ opposition to “pure and simpledom?”

George Estes, Secretary
Conference of Industrial Unionists
“““““

In connection with these observations, those interested should not fail to read George Estes’ article in the February number of The Voice of Labor entitled, “The Wolf Has Shown His Teeth.” In it the writer shows to what brutal, horrible lengths the A. F. of L. bosses and grafters are going in their frenzied efforts to destroy the A. L. U. (and, we might add, all industrial unions). No wonder the article contains the most drastic indictment of the A. F. of L. ever penned. “Of course,” says Estes, “such utterly disreputable methods as these are so degraded in character that a Zulu, an inhabitant of the Fiji Islands or even a cannibal of the South Sea, would scorn to employ them. The wolf has shown his teeth.” [Surely there are enough American Capitalist Cannibals feasting on the life blood of little children, that we need not make any comparisons to peoples of other continents!]If in Estes’ mind there is any doubt as to whether this is the proper occasion to attack the A. F. of L., it does not appear at first reading of this article.

A generation after the publication of the Communist Manifesto the A. F. of L. was launched by fakirs and ignoramuses and dedicated to the proposition that slavery should endure forever. When, in the early 90’s, a class-conscious Socialist movement had developed it found itself face to face with its most deadly enemy, the Capitalist A. F. of L. To carry the warfare into the camp of this sneaking opponent, and at the same time to train the workers for self-government under Socialism, the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was organized in 1895.

The teeth of the wolf were then sharper than those which are now sinking into the flesh of the A. L. U. in the West. But no one who then under stood the movement questioned the “Timeliness” of attacking the beast with every weapon in the armory of the class-conscious forces. The so-called “Good-Times” of 1897-1902, made the struggle intensely bitter. By juggling figures the A. F. of L. attempted to prove that it was “raising the wages of the working- class.” All but the staunchest opponents chose the “easier road to Socialism.” Or, to use Hagerty’s newly-coined expression, the “pure and simple political Socialist” movement was launched. And so matters hung for some time. But now the stench of rotting “pure and simpledom” is driving its cleaner adherents to Socialism and industrial unionism.

For a Socialist to attack the leaders of the A. F. of L. and then partially excuse the system of which they are the natural fruitage, is exactly as reasonable as for him to attack the leaders of the Republican and Democratic Parties and then hastily make amends to the organizations themselves. Are Gompers and Mitchell “worse” than the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union, one of the “constituent organizations” which was organized by the great capitalists for the purpose of beating down at once the small capitalists and the workers? It really does seem peculiar to so often hear it scientifically explained that Dick Croker and J. Edward O’Sullivan Addicks are but the natural product of capitalist politics, and then listen to the same person say, probably in all sincerity, that if the “clique” which rules the A. F. of L., were only dynamited, all would be lovely in the labor unions.

The A. F. of L, considered from the point of view of the workers’ interests, is a patchwork of hypocrisy and lies. Such it always has been. And such it will be until destroyed, root and branch, by an outraged rank and file. That the workers put no faith in the fallacy that a few “leaders” are responsible is shown by the desertion of hundreds of thousands who refuse longer to have anything to do with the old thing. (See Manifesto, from Alpha to Omega).

Nor is the transformation from such a negation of all rectitude as is the A. F. of L., to the principles of organization laid down by the Manifesto so easy as at first blush it may appear. As to “boring from within,” the editorial in question declares not only that this method should be pursued, but also that “the place for a man is within the union of his craft.” How different from this has been the position of those who, all along, have favored industrial unionism.

If “the place for a man is within the union of his craft,” we wonder what would happen to the United Brotherhood of Railway Employes, the United Brotherhood of Builders, or any others who wish, through working class organizations, to save themselves from the tar-barrel of craftism. The Manifesto expressly provides that workers who may rebel against the “unions of their craft” may be seated in the June Convention as individuals. For, undoubtedly, many who cannot be represented by delegates, will prefer fighting the wolf from the outside to being swallowed up with the questionable purpose of directing the brute’s movements from the in side.

Furthermore, we are told that “the trade union that connects itself with the new organization need not in any way alter internal organization and management.” The editorial had previously pointed out that the A. F. of L. “official clique,” through “highly paid organizers,” made it a business “to organize trade-unionists into rings and factions for the purpose of maintaining the rule of the leaders.” Now the Manifesto declares that, in the new organization, “All power should rest in the collective membership.” Does this not suggest some little alteration as to “internal management?”

Then as to reorganization—the change from craftism to the class-conscious industrial principle so boldly proclaimed by the Manifesto—does this not mean a right-about-face as to the whole nature and purpose of organization? We think it does. The class-conscious spirit is not had for the asking. Its possession on the part of the workers of this country within the next ten years means that all the means of education we can bring to bear must be added to the primal force of present economic conditions.

Finally, no false impression should be created by that sentence of the Manifesto, which, perhaps more than any other, was deemed essential to the success of the new movement:

It should be established as the economic organization of the Working Class, without affiliation with any political party.

As regards this crucial matter, the Conference provided against possible misinterpretation of the sentence quoted, in other and equally significant articles:

(1) Craft divisions foster political ignorance among the workers, thus dividing their class at the ballot-box, as well as in the shop, mine and factory.(2) It (the present economic organization) is blind to the possibility of establishing an industrial democracy, wherein there shall be no wage-slavery, but where the workers shall own the tools which they operate and the products of which they alone enjoy.

Every industrial unionist who thoroughly understands the deeper mission of his organization, will reach class-conscious political action. An industrial union cannot increase the average wage. In some cases it may be less likely than the craft unions (labor-trusts), to prevent the decrease of wages. Its mighty mission results from the fact that it prepares the way to the Socialist Republic, the final goal of any honest Working Class movement. And this way cannot be traveled without the possession of political power.Many industrial unionists may oppose Socialism through mere ignorance. But most political “Socialists” who fight industrial unionism are about as deeply imbued with Socialism as was Judas Iscariot with Christianity. Socialist to the core must the new economic organization be, or the storm of the class-struggle will beat up another wreck on the rocks of “time-serving diplomacy.” And when the June Convention has painted the skull and crossbones on the door of “pure and simpledom,” that last Working Class compromise with Capitalism, there will probably issue a political organization strong in numbers, but stronger in principle, because [it will be] raised by the revolutionary spirit high above “mere vote-getting subterfuge.”
Frank Bohn,
Organizer Socialist Trades and Labor Alliance.

[Paragraph breaks and photographs added.]

A. M. Simons Responds to Bohn:

A Reply.

THERE are some things in the preceding article by Comrade Bohn which require immediate notice. Others will be covered in a later article which I have in preparation for the press on the general subject of industrial unionism, and still others are covered by the editorial in this number. In the first place it should be thoroughly understood that neither Comrade Bohn nor myself speak for anybody but ourselves, at least so far as the industrial union conference or the Socialist Party is concerned. I do not know to how great a degree he directly represents De Leon and the S. L. P. and S. T. and L. A. As is pointed out editorially the statement that “the Socialists of Germany over thirty years ago smashed the pure and simple organization promoted by Schulze-Delitzsch” is absolutely untrue.These unions were never smashed but are still going on and growing in strength, although very much slower than the Socialist unions. He makes a sweeping statement concerning the A. F. of L.: “A generation after the publication of the Communist Manifesto the A. F. of L. was launched by fakirs and ignoramuses and dedicated to the proposition that slavery should endure forever. When, in the early 90’s a class-conscious Socialist movement had developed it found itself face to face with its most deadly enemy, the Capitalist A. F. of L.” Such talk as this is pure bosh and utterly unworthy of a man who has shown himself capable of the scholarly work that Comrade Bohn has done in some of his writings.

The fact of the thing is that nowhere is Socialism growing faster than within the unions connected with the A. F. of L. If this were not true then the industrial union would have stood little chance of success. To compare the leaders of the A. F. of L. to the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties is also mere vituperative gymnastics. A man who goes into a pure and simple union goes in because economic conditions have forced him to do so. He goes in because he thinks he is fighting his boss and in a great majority of cases he is doing so, the existence of labor fakirs notwithstanding. The capitalist political party organization is formed to carry out certain purposes of the capitalist class in a wholly different field.

Some misunderstanding was possible with regard to my statement that there need be little change in the internal management of unions affiliated with the new organization. Yet even here there is no such transformation as Comrade Bohn talks about. Very many of the pure and simple unions provide for the initiative referendum and certainly are more nearly controlled by their membership than the S. T. and L. A. Again, if it is true that the new union is to be less powerful on the economic field than the pure and simple unions but is simply to constitute a new Socialist political party jabbering a lot of jargon about general strikes and installing its officers as rulers of the cooperative commonwealth, then it is doomed to a short and sickening life.
A. M. Simons.

[Paragraph breaks and photograph added.]

—————SOURCE

International Socialist Review of April 1905

The International Socialist Review, Volume 5
-Algie Martin Simons, Charles H. Kerr
Charles H. Kerr & Company, July 1904 – June 1905
https://books.google.com/…
ISR of April 1905
http://books.google.com/…
Concerning the Chicago Manifesto.” by Frank Bohn
http://books.google.com/…
“A Reply” from A. M. Simons
http://books.google.com/…See also:
Debate between Daniel DeLeon and Job Harriman
on “pure and simple” trade unionism.
pdf!http://debs.indstate.edu/…

IMAGES
SLP Button
https://www.marxists.org/…
SPA Button
http://www.marxists.org/…
Frank Bohn
http://en.wikipedia.org/…
George Estes
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/…
AM Simons
http://en.wikipedia.org/…““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
Sliver Threads Among the Gol

The Old Toiler’s Message

“Darling I am growing old,”
So the toiler told his wife.
“Father Time the days have tolled
Of my usefulness in life.
Just tonight my master told me
He can’t use me any more.
Oh, my darling, do not scold me,
When the wolf comes to our door.”

CHORUS:
To the scrap heap we are going
When we’re overworked and old
When our weary heads are showing
Silver threads among the gold.

“Darling, I am growing old,”
He once more his wife did tell
“All my labor pow’r I’ve sold
I have nothing more to sell.
Though I’m dying from starvation
I shall shout with all my might
To the coming generation,
I shall shout with all my might.”
-Joe Hill

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Saturday April 8, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Teamsters Strike in Solidarity with United Garment Workers

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago “Teamsters on Strike; Great Battle Begins.” Unions Stand in Solidarity

International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Charter with AFL

The Teamsters of Chicago have made good their threat to go out on strike in support of the United Garment Workers who have been on strike since last November.From yesterday’s Freeport Journal-Standard
of Illinois:

MORE TEAMSTERS ON STRIKE.
———-
Probable That Number Will Be Increased to 20,000.CHICAGO, April 7.-(Special.)-Two hundred teamsters employed by the mail order firm Montgomery, Ward & Co. struck today in sympathy with the garment workers who have been on strike four months. Many labor leaders believe today’s strike is the beginning of a great contest that may involve twenty thousand drivers.

From yesterday’s Chicago Inter Ocean:

TEAMSTERS ON STRIKE;
GREAT BATTLE BEGINS
———-

Union Drivers Employed by Montgomery Ward & Co.
Stop Work and Both Sides Prepare for
Bitter Struggle for Supremacy.
———-

EXPRESS WAGONS MAY STOP TODAY
———-

Federal Injunction May Be Sought to Prevent
Interference With Delivery of Goods,
While Railroad Companies Show Disposition
to Join Employers in Testing
Strength of Union Haulers.
———-

Promptly at 6 o’clock last night teamsters hauling for the firm of Montgomery Ward & Co. were ordered to cease work by officers of their respective unions. The gage of battle thrown down by the unions was picked up by the firm, and what presages to be one of the most serious conflicts between employers and employes in Chicago was begun.That the leaders of organized labor in Chicago realize the seriousness of the situation was evidenced by a special call sent out last night for a meeting of the officers of all unions in Chicago to be held Sunday afternoon at Bricklayers’ hall, Monroe and Peoria streets.

While the labor leaders were taking this step the employers were not idle. Some of them believe that the time has arrived when a test of strength must be made with the organized teamsters of the city, and the present occasion may furnish that test.

Lays in Coal Supply.Knowing that its coal supply would be shut off, Montgomery Ward & Co. put about 200 tons of coal into its cellars yesterday. The bins were filled to overflowing, and every available space utilized to store away coal. The supply will last for about two weeks by which time other arrangements may be made either to get gas or electric power.

As the railway express companies will be more seriously involved in the conflict than any other employers of teamsters, they took steps yesterday to meet the issue. A meeting of the general agents of the six big express companies and the general managers of the railroads was held in the afternoon in the rooms of the Union League club, and it was decided that they should all act as a unit.

Should any union express driver refuse to deliver goods to the Montgomery Ward company this morning, it will be taken by the express companies to mean a violation of their agreement with the teamsters and every union man will be discharged. The express companies say that in such an event they will make no more contracts with the teamsters.

The express drivers, however, have changed their plan of campaign to some extent, and they will make an effort to deliver goods to the firm this morning as usual. If there are pickets around the house, however, or police in large numbers, the drivers will refuse to deliver their loads on the ground that their lives are in danger. Under any circumstances they will not work under police protection. In this way the teamsters are to leave it to the employers to spread the strike.

Railroads Ready for Fight.That it will spread to other lines of teaming, and perhaps to the railroads, is now the general belief, and the railroad managers are ready to take up the fight. At the meeting in the Union League club rooms yesterday the railroad managers agreed to discharge the first freight handler who would discriminate against any kind of freight received.

The railway express companies take the ground that they are public carriers and cannot afford to refuse to deliver freight without being subject to damages. They are said to have a number of men on hand ready to man their wagons this morning, should it become necessary and they do not propose to shut down their business for an hour if they can help it.

A federal injunction is also hinted at among the agents of the express companies, and it is quite probable that this will be resorted to before the strike is three days old.

President Rickert and Sec Larger of United Garment Workers
“““““

The union leaders aim to confine the strike to Montgomery Ward & Co. for the present, but they admit that it will be almost impossible to do so. Should the express companies carry out their present plan and lock out all their teamsters, that in itself would be enough to spread the fight to all branches of teaming in the city. Most of the goods now being received in South Water street are sent here by express. They are hauled from the freighthouses by members of the Commission Wagon Drivers’ union, and that organization would be compelled to take up the fight against the express companies if the railway express drivers are locked out andNonunion men employed in their places.

Expect Spread of Trouble.Most of the teaming done for Montgomery Ward & Co. is done under contract. The Chicago Team Owners’ association has taken a more lenient view of the strike than the express companies, and it will not insist on the truck drivers delivering goods to the proscribed firm. But the teaming industry is so extensive in its ramifications that it is almost impossible to have a strike in one branch without affecting all, and both the employers and the union leaders expect to see the trouble spread.

An effort to avert the strike was made yesterday morning when the committee, representing the teamsters and the Chicago Federation of Labor, waited on Robert J. Thorne of Montgomery Ward & Co. Mr. Thorne told the committee that he was willing to discuss the question of a sympathetic strike of the teamsters, but that the strike of the garment workers was a closed incident.

Mr. Thorne gave the committee his side of the original strike of the garment workers, which was a direct contradiction of the statements made by the officers of the United Garment Workers. President Dold of the Chicago Federation of Labor asked Mr. Thorne if he was willing to allow any impartial committee to take the two conflicting statements and make a decision on the evidence presented. Mr. Thorne declined to discuss the question of arbitrating the strike of the garment workers in any way, as he said that offer had been made before the strike was called and had been ignored by the union leaders. He declared he did not see the good in taking the subject up at this late date, as his clothing shop had been filled for the past three months. He was willing, he said, and even anxious, to meet the officers of the United Garment Workers in the presence of the teamsters’ committee, as he had a few things to tell those officers that he would like other union men to hear.

Strike Is Ordered.The union committee concluded that as it was in possession of conflicting statements from both sides to the controversy, and as the firm had refused to arbitrate the question of which of the statements was true, there was nothing left but to give the strikers the benefit of the doubt and call the strike.

In a statement issued by Mr. Thorne after the conference he gave the firm’s side of the controversy as follows:

On the 15th day of September the leader of the union, whose name is affixed to the contract, called and demanded that we either stop buying from a New York concern or cease sending work to a local house which was upon their black list. This, not being provided for in the contract, was, of course, refused, whereupon the leader declared that he would call the men out.We at once met this by demanding arbitration, called for by the terms of the contract, and the union men ceased work that night. Now here comes the remarkable facts: The men were absolutely deserted by their leaders, for not one of them ever took the trouble to call at our establishment in an attempt to effect a settlement. Just think of the large number of men, many of them married, happily at work at good wages, well satisfied, being suddenly called from their positions by this labor leader, not only in the middle of winter but during the dull season of business, when hundreds of garment workers were idle, and them being betrayed by this leader in this manner.

The leaders of the United Garment Workers tell a different story of the cause of the trouble from that told by Mr. Thorne. They had a union shop agreement with the firm, and they assert that in violation of that contract the firm hired some nonunion men and kept them at work after numerous complaints had been made.

Claims Agreement Was Violated.

The clothing shop of Montgomery Ward & Co. is but a small item in the general trade of the firm. It employs only about twenty cutters, and sends the garments out to be made up. The union shop contract was made only with the cutters, but it carries with it the understanding that all garments must be made in union shops. The union leaders say that this provision of the contract was being constantly violated by the company, which sent some of its work to nonunion shops to be made up, and that after several attempts had been made to remedy this the strike was called.At the time their strike was called the firm was independent of any association of clothing manufacturers, but joined the Wholesale Tailors’ association later, and is at present connected with that body. So many elements have entered into the strike now that the original issue has been lost sight of.

The trouble really had its inception at a convention of clothiers held last July in Philadelphia. At that convention resolutions were adopted declaring for the open shop throughout the country in the clothing trade and against the use of the union label. The first trouble over this issue occurred in the East, and for a time it was believed that it would not reach Chicago. However, in November the Chicago manufacturers adopted practically the policy of the clothiers’ exchange and declared for the open shop and no agreements with the union.

Trouble Began in November.At first the manufacturers began by sending out their work to nonunion shops, and then they posted notices declaring for the open shop. The workers took up the fight and went out Nov. 19 on strike. About 6,000 persons were involved at the time, a majority of whom were women. The manufacturers claim that many of the strikers returned to work in the first few weeks of the trouble, and that they soon had their shops filled. The union men, on the other hand, contend that few of the strikers deserted, and that the cutters are standing as solidly together today as they were the first week the strike was called.

It is pretty generally conceded, however, that at the present time the shops are fairly well filled with employes, and that, alone, the garment workers could not hope to win their battle. For that reason they have enlisted the sympathy of the teamsters, and it is that phase of the situation that makes it appear so serious to the employers.

In giving his seasons last night for refusing to arbitrate the garment workers’ strike Mr. Thorne said:

I have refused to arbitrate the matter for the following reasons:1. Arbitration is intended to settle live disputes, and not dead ones.

2. Before the strike occurred we suggested arbitration, according to the written promises made in the contract. This was refused by the union.

3. A position with Montgomery Ward & Co. is permanent. We have no moral right to let out nineteen or twenty men, or even a single man, woman, or boy, to make room for a person placed to work by a union. The establishment of this principle would, in my opinion, be worse than a general teamsters’ strike.

4. Any organization that waits nearly three months before arranging for a settlement has been negligent so as to deserve no consideration whatsoever.

5. They are contract breakers.

Ready to Meet Committee.Attorney Martin J. Isaacs, acting for the Wholesale Tailors’ association, said last night that he was ready to meet with any committee of labor men, including the officers of the United Garment Workers, to discuss the situation. Hitherto he has refused to meet the representatives of the strikers.

Mr. Isaacs says he is ready to place the whole situation before a committee and include reporters in the conference or any citizens interested in the controversy. He said that there was a difference, however, between discussing an issue and arbitrating it, and he takes the position that there is nothing to arbitrate, as the strike of garment workers was over months ago so far as the employers are concerned. He also said that the manufacturers were willing to take back as many of the strikers as they had places for at any time, but that under no circumstances would they again make any written agreement with the union.

The written agreement is really at the bottom of the entire issue, according to the labor men, as they say if they give up the principle of collective bargaining they might as well not have any organization at all. They declare they will not return to work as individuals if they have to keep up the fight all summer.

The officers of other unions in the city regard the strike as a direct attack upon organized labor generally, and say if the manufacturers are successful in disrupting the garment workers’ organization some other union will be attacked later. For that reason they say they will center their strength on one or two firms, and if they are successful the others will give up the fight.

[Photographs and emphasis added.]

—————SOURCES

Freeport Journal-Standard
(Freeport, Illinois)
-Apr 7, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Apr 7, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

IMAGES
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Charter with AFL
http://teamster.org/…
Women leading Chicago Garment Workers Strike, Inter Ocean, Nov 20, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/…
President Rickert and Sec Larger of United Garment Workers, Inter Ocean, Dec 11, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/…
Chicago Garment Workers Strike of 1904-05, Inter Ocean, Nov 29, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/…

See also:
United Garment Workers Strike of 1904-05
http://www.dailykos.com/…

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Solidarity Forever – Tom Morello, The Nightwatchman

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong
-Ralph Chaplin

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Monday April 10, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Teamster Strike Grows Bitter as Conference Fails “Utterly”

Hellraisers Journal: Patrol Wagons Guard Trucks as Teamsters Strike Grows More Bitter and Talks Fail

From yesterday’s Chicago Daily Tribune:

BOTH SIDES HURL GAGE OF BATTLE.
———-

Conference of Strike Leaders and Employers
at Wellington Hotel Only
Widens the Breach.
———-
TALK IS OF CONTRACTS.
———-
Teamsters Deny Breaking Them and
Refuse to Listen to Any Argument
to the Contrary.
———–

The gage of battle was thrown down last night in the teamsters’ strike. In a conference between the strike leaders and the leading employers of Chicago efforts to reach an understanding of the difficulty failed utterly. Both sides retired from a remarkable meeting in the Wellington hotel more determined than ever to try an ultimate test of strength in the labor difficulty, in which Montgomery Ward & Co. are primarily involved, but which threatens the entire city…..John V. Farwell Jr. headed the committee of employers which met with the union leaders…Fred W. Job, secretary of the Chicago Employers’ association, who was instrumental in calling the conference, Victor W. Sincere and J. H. O’Connell were also in attendance.

The union side was represented by President Charles Dold of the Chicago Federation of Labor and eleven leaders of the teamsters’ unions, including International President C. P. Shea, James B. Barry of the express drivers, John Smyth of the coal teamsters, Joseph Young of the baggage drivers, Jerry McCarthy and Hugh McGee of the truck drivers, T. J. Ryan of the department store drivers, P. W. Rietz, Albert Young of the coal teamsters; M. F. Kelly of the market drivers, and “Steve” Sumner of the milk wagon drivers.

Violation of Contract.The employers took the position that contracts had been violated by teamsters refusing to deliver goods to Montgomery Ward & Co. The question, “What is a contract with a teamsters’ union worth?” was the pivotal topic of discussion.

“We have violated no contracts.” declared President Shea for the teamsters.

“We interpret it differently,” the employers explained.

The employers made no proposition to arbitrate the dispute. In return the union leaders absolutely refused to consider any other matter in the conference.

Embitters the Situation.When the meeting adjourned the general opinion prevailed that the strike situation had been imbittered…

Gives Labor’s View of Case.President T. A. Rickert of the United Garment Workers of America gave out a statment representing the position of union labor in regard to the sympathetic strike of the teamsters. He Said:

The teamsters have no grievances in this trouble to be sure, but organized labor has seen fit to create a fund out of which benefits will be paid to the striking teamsters. This is not the garment workers’ fight essentially. It is a struggle of organized labor in Chicago. Never before in the history of the city have all crafts stood so firmly as a unit. The question concerning them all is whether or not 12,000 or 18,000 union garment workers in Chicago will return to the old sweatshop conditions in effect five years ago….

—————

SOURCE
Chicago Daily Tribune
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Apr 9, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…
(Also source for image.)
http://www.newspapers.com/…

See also:
Chicago Teamsters Strike of 1905
http://www.dailykos.com/…

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Road I Must Travel – Tom Morello, The Nightwatchman

Well, I climbed the seven summits and I swam the seven seas
But the road I must travel, it’s end I cannot see
Well, I fought in the jungles and I fought in the streets
But the road I must travel, it’s end I cannot see.
-Tom Morello

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Tuesday April 11, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Josephine Conger Spends a Day in Chicago’s Juvenile Court

Hellraisers Journal: Josephine Conger of Appeal to Reason Spends a Day in Chicago’s Juvenile Court

In the pages of this week’s Appeal to Reason, Josephine Conger offers us heartbreaking vignettes from a day spent in the juvenile court of Chicago. We hear of children given up to orphanages by mothers and fathers who can no longer care for them. One mother makes $7 a week for the support of herself and three children. Another mother “in delicate condition” is forced to part with her six children after being deserted by their father. And so it goes, as one desperate family after another passes through the court of Judge Mack.That was the morning court, where families are parted. In the afternoon, we find the youngest criminals of society dealt with by the same judge. Young girls who have been used by older men for immoral purposes are sent off to reform school. Young boys are warned that they are headed for the gallows should they fail to change their ways.

Josephine Conger seems doubtful that, under the capitalist system, it is possible to enact reforms which are adequate to address the present crisis:

The juvenile court in Chicago is one of the largest in the world. And when one sits all day and hears the cases that are brought before it, there comes a question as to the efficacy of the compulsory educational law, or even the child-labor law, under the present system. Can they, to any appreciable degree, stem the tide of physical, moral and mental insanity that is the inevitable product of capitalism? Thousands of children of Chicago go to school without a mouthful to eat in the morning. Can forced attendance at school make good citizens of them, under such conditions? Still others go hungry and ragged because they are not allowed to earn the nickels and dimes with which to feed and clothe themselves. Thus, under capitalism, almost any reform is, at the last analysis a farce. Even with their laws and their court, thousand of children under lawful age are working, and vast numbers never attend school.

From the Appeal to Reason of April 8, 1905:

Among the Dregs

BY JOSEPHINE CONGER

The Juvenile Court.
———-

Chicago’s Juvenile Court in Session
“““““

“I pray you, what other thing do you, than make thieves and then punish them?”
-Sir Thomas More.
“The city child becomes a criminal because it is the only thing
a boy with spirit can do in a city slum.”
———-

Judge Lindsey in Juvenile Court
“““““

Since the inauguration of juvenile courts in our larger cities as good deal of curiosity has been manifested regarding their purpose, and their methods of dealing with the child delinquent. The reader of the average city daily is probably acquainted with the fact that Judge Lindsey, of the juvenile court of Denver, “the kid’s judge,” as he has been called, has become a figure of national interest because he has “tackled the problem of the small boy.” The significance of this is that the child is one of the great problems of the state. Perhaps THE GREAT problem.And society in its usual feeble way is trying to get at this problem. It has organized a special court where the young criminal may be brought before a judge whose personality is more or less imposing, here to be lectured gently, or harshly, or as a last resort to be sent to a house of correction. Co-operating with the juvenile court in the hope of producing better citizens are the child-labor law, the compulsory educational law, and the fining and imprisonment of parents who criminally neglect the education of their children. These measures are said to have produced a marked increase in the attendance at school where the laws are enforced.

The juvenile court in Chicago is one of the largest in the world. And when one sits all day and hears the cases that are brought before it, there comes a question as to the efficacy of the compulsory educational law, or even the child-labor law, under the present system. Can they, to any appreciable degree, stem the tide of physical, moral and mental insanity that is the inevitable product of capitalism? Thousands of children of Chicago go to school without a mouthful to eat in the morning. Can forced attendance at school make good citizens of them, under such conditions? Still others go hungry and ragged because they are not allowed to earn the nickels and dimes with which to feed and clothe themselves. Thus, under capitalism, almost any reform is, at the last analysis a farce. Even with their laws and their court, thousand of children under lawful age are working, and vast numbers never attend school.

The juvenile court of Chicago is divided into two departments: the first, to which the morning session is given, is for finding homes for children whose parents are unfit, through poverty or otherwise, to care for them. The second is for delinquent children. After observing the proceedings of the first department, it is not difficult to understand why the second should exist-for the first gives an insight into the every-day environment of the unfortunate child, shows to what straits he is reduced, and what small chance he has for developing into a normal, law abiding citizen.

Following are illustrations of cases I witnessed upon various visits to the court room. Judge Mack usually “settles” fifty or sixty of these in a day.

Finding Homes for Unfortunate Children

Judge Julian Mack
“““““

Mother appeals to judge for home for three children. Is working at $7 per week, and cannot support them. Father skipped bond bail and deserted family. Children sent to Jewish Home for Friendless.Mother accused of inability to care for child three years old. Husband declares she is an inebriate and otherwise unfit. Child finally given to mother because of damaging testimony against husband.

Girl 11 years old, working in family. Violation of child-labor law. Child commanded to give time to school and play.

Mother in delicate condition desired home for six children. Family deserted by husband and evicted from their home. Children sent to orphanage.

Home wanted for infant on plea that mother was not proper person to raise it. Testimony developed fact that woman claiming to be the mother had been in penitentiary and in jail, and that she was not mother of the child. One Anna Johnson, working girl, was the mother. Father was husband of defendant. Case held over.

Young widower, workingman, wanted home for two children. Able bodied, respectable, willing to pay for board. Children sent to orphans’ home.

Father desired daughter 10 years old to be placed in orphans’ home, alleging that mother was unfit guardian for her, since she was living with another man. Proceedings proved that father and mother had lived together under common law marriage, because father had insisted upon it. Separation had followed without ceremony, and was succeeded by “common law” marriage with man in question. Child put in girl’s school.

Delinquent Children.Boy ten years old, stealing coal from school house. Mother thought he was picking it up form railroads. Reproved by judge.

Three boys playing truant, remaining away from school for weeks at a time. Old offenders. Sent to Glenwood reform school.

Two leaders of gang of bad boys. Old offenders, sent to Glenwood.

Boy stealing a pair of skates and other things from school house. Reproved and put on good behavior.

Girl sixteen years old, ran away from home and sang in low concert hall. Sent to Geneva, school for incorrigible girls.

Boy eleven years old, gambling for money, sent to Glenwood.

Five children, disturbing the peace and molesting Polish woman. Reproved and put on good behavior.

Girl twelve years old, immoral conduct. Confessions led to arrest of guilty partner, who proved to be a man of mature years. Man charged with violating age-of-consent laws. Girl put in house of correction.

Boy charged with stealing horse and buggy. Out on probation.

Five girls, thirteen, twelve and eleven years respectively, held on charge of immoral conduct. Proceedings proved that girls were beguiled into a den on West Lake street, forced to drink beer, smoke cigarettes and engaged in criminal excesses. “In fourteen years’ experience on Chicago’s West Side,” said an officer, “I have seen much of the abuse of children, but nothing to equal this den. It is the worst in America.” Girls sent to reform schools. Keeper of house arrested.

Fourteen-year-old girl had led sporting life for one year. Sent to House of Good Shepherd.

Boy charged with smoking cigarettes and other misdemeanors. Let go on parole.

Working girl, fifteen years old, immorality. Sent to Geneva.

The details of the majority of these cases were secured by slipping behind the judge’s box, where a policeman gently informed me, late in the afternoon, that I was violating the rules of the court. I apologized-and went back another day, when something was before the court that I wished particularly to get. It was necessary to do this, for, while the proceedings are open to the public, and the court room is always well filled with spectators, the questioning is often carried on in so low a tone that it is impossible to know what it is about unless one is near the judge and the prisoner.

Frequently Judge Mack would say to a delinquent boy: “Do you want to be another Neidemeyer? Well, you are beginning just as Neidemeyer did. And if you don’t stop, you will end just as he did, on the gallows.” The judge has a broad, kindly face, and usually the boys cry and promised to do better.

But Judge Mack knows, and we know, that the chances are against every boy and girl that he sends out of his court room. And the chances are against the millions who are struggling in poverty all over our country. Innocent children, victims of corporate greed.

And they fling him, hour by hour,
Limbs of men to give him power…
And for dainties to devour,
Children’s souls…
Hearts of women cheaply bought:
And he takes them, and he breaks them,
But he gives them scanty thought.

[Paragraph break and photographs added.]

—————

SOURCE
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Apr 8, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

IMAGES
Josephine Conger
http://blog.livedoor.jp/…
Chicago Juvenile Court in Session, 1905
(see page 44)
https://books.google.com/…
Judge Lindsey’s Juvenile Court in Denver, Colorado
http://kids.britannica.com/…
Judge Julian Mack of Chicago’s Juvenile Court
http://en.wikipedia.org/…

See also:

Lindsey + Hellraisers Journal
(DK search not working this morning.)
https://www.google.com/…

Poems
byWilliam Vaughn Moody
Houghton, Mifflin, 1902
https://books.google.com/…
“The Brute”
https://books.google.com/…

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Turn Around – Harry Belafonte

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Thursday April 13, 1905
From The Indianapolis News: A Letter to the Editor Defends Unionism and Socialism

Hellraisers Journal: “All Honor to Moyer and Haywood, Gompers to the Contrary Not Withstanding.”

Unionism and Socialism by Eugene V Debs, Cover, 1904

“Unionism and Socialism”
A book by Eugene Debs, released last year.
“““““

We at Hellraisers find it interesting that this Indiana newspaper should have titled their attack upon the Western Federation of Miners: “Unionism and Socialism.” As I’m sure our readers are aware, this is the title given to the book which was released last year by Eugene Debs. Be that has it may, a response has been made to that attack in a letter to the editor which The News found fit to publish in its April 7th edition:

Western Miners and Socialism.To the Editor of The News:
Sir-In The News of March 29, under the caption of “Unionism and Socialism,” The News, in commenting on an article written by Mr. Gompers for the American Federationist, in which he condemned President Moyer and Secretary Haywood, of the Western Federation of Miners, it was said that he should be commended for protecting union men in their contributions and for making a stand against socialism. The News ought to know that the Colorado strike was because of the refusal of the mine owners to shorten the hours or advance the scale.

To have been fair The News should have given the miners’ side of the controversy as well as that of the operators…Moyer and Haywood may be socialists and may favor the socialization of the union, but if they do there is nothing antagonistic to unionism in that, because it is well known that the socialists are friendly to all unions… The fight made by the Western Federation of Miners for civil rights was a fight for the fireside of every laboring man in our land. The battle was temporarily lost, but not for aye-it will come again. All honor to Moyer and Haywood, Gompers to the contrary notwithstanding.
A TRUTH-SEEKER. Spencer, Ind., March 30.

(The News has frequently given the details of the Colorado trouble which this correspondent repeats at length, and has expressed sympathy with the miners’ side of the contention. In the article referred to, it expressed no opinion of Messrs. Moyer and Haywood, but told simply what Mr. Gompers said of them. The News’s only expression for itself in the editorial alluded to was that workingmen should oppose socialism, and this it heartily believes.-Editor The News.)

———-[Paragraph break, emphasis and photograph added.]

REPORT FROM THE CRIPPLE CREEK STRIKE ZONE

From Mrs. Langdon of Victor, Colorado, a town within the Cripple Creek Strike Zone, comes news that the Cripple Creek Strike is not over. The Western Federation of Miners has found it necessary to send out a statement declaring the strike still on in order to counter the lies being propagated by the Mine Owners’ Association and the Citizens’ Alliance.We are also pleased to find from this report that Mrs. Langdon has been made an honorary member of the W. F. of M. On having been presented with the emblem of the union, she states:

I value this token of appreciation more than the crown of an empress, nor would the proffer of such tempt me to part with it.

From Mrs. Emma F. Langdon of Victor, Colorado:

THE STRIKE STILL ON.[As regards the Cripple Creek Strike,] I would have been pleased to record the strike at an end, and victory crowning the efforts of the Western Federation of Miners. The strike in the Cripple Creek district still continues. The miners, however, although on strike since August 10, 1903, are not discouraged. As an indication of their determination to continue the strike until victory has been achieved I reproduce the following:

STRIKE IS STILL ON. Headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners.
Denver, Colorado, April 11, 1905.

To all Members of Organized Labor and Those who Desire to Maintain Their Honor:

Charles Moyer
“““““

Big Bill Haywood
“““““

The Mine Owners’ Association of the Cripple Creek District, with its lawless ally, the Citizens’ Alliance, has been sending out fabricated reports to the effect that the strike has been declared off by the Western Federation of Miners. This brazen lie has been hatched and circulated by the same mob that bull-penned and deported miners, that even murdered in cold blood men who refused to yield their allegiance to the principles of the organization of which they were members.The Mine Owners’ Association and the Citizens’ Alliance have discovered that while thugs, gunfighters, rape fiends, outlaws and convicts from the penitentiaries may be of valuable assistance to mine operators, in upholding a reign of terror, yet these debauched and depraved degenerates are practically useless in the production of dividends.

The members of the Mine Owners’ Association and Citizens’ Alliance have had an experience for which they have paid an awful price. The dividends of which they have boasted have been on paper and not in the vaults of the banks. In their desperation they are attempting to deceive through the circulation of a lie, hoping that the old miners will return to the Cripple Creek district and once more become inmates of the mines.

The Western Federation of Miners has not declared the strike off, and never will as long as the mine operators are unfair to organized labor—as long as they continue shipping their ores to the scab mills of Colorado City, and as long as the card or blacklisting system is used to discriminate against members of the Western Federation of Miners.

Hundreds of men have been driven from their homes in the Cripple Creek district, and are still exiles from their wives and children. Many of these men bear the scars that were inflicted by the brutal orders of a Mine Owners’ Association and a Citizens’ Alliance. These men and their wives and children who have borne the insults and outrages of a hired soldiery, would scorn a compromise or a surrender to that ”law and order” combination that reveled in a carnival of brutality, to subjugate and enslave the best blood and brawn in the Cripple Creek district.

Men of honor, of spirit, and of independence, will shun the mines of the Cripple Creek district as they would a pestilence. Men who have any conception of the principles of Unionism will not be used as tools of a Mine Owners’ Association to assassinate justice.

Stay away from the Cripple Creek district, and the time will come when the miner in Colorado’s greatest gold camps can enjoy some of the liberty that is guaranteed to him by the law and the constitution of the state.

Any one who goes to the Cripple Creek district and accepts employment in the mines, will be recognized as a scab by the metal miners throughout the United States and British Columbia.

Whenever the strike is declared off, or a settlement is effected, an official notice will be issued from the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners.

CHAS. H. MOYER,
President W. F. M.
W. D. HAYWOOD,
Sec’y-Treas. W. F. M.

The emblem of the Western Federation of Miners is three stars which represent education, organization and independence. At the twelfth annual convention held in Denver, I was made an honorary member and presented with the emblem of the order. I value this token of appreciation more than the crown of an empress, nor would the proffer of such tempt me to part with it. I see in the emblem of the three stars all that is sublime. I have seen demonstrated under it the fortitude of the faithful followers of the single star—the Star of Bethlehem—the insignia of Christianity—the birthright of Christ—whose faithful followers, martyred followers, created and maintained the sweet sentiment of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Man.”When I look upon the three stars of the Western Federation of Miners, with their innumerable rays spreading Education, Organization and Independence, I feel the inspiration that from far above, He, whose mission the single star announced, looks down upon the sublime constellation of three with approval for its representation and sturdy maintenance of His divine given law, “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Man.”

I feel that far above another constellation of stars and stripes, representing human liberty, this land of pioneers, a constellation that has been debauched by tyranny such as the Nero attempted in extinguishing the sentiment of the single star, will again be placed in its true position—representing a brave, happy, pure and justified people by the tribulations of the sturdy followers of the three stars, as was the supremacy of the single star established and the faith of Christianity made permanent by the tribulations of the martyrs of Nero’s despotism. By the emblem of the W. F. M., the three stars, I predict an ultimate victory….

[The leaders of the Western Federation of Miners] are the men whom the Mine Owners’ Association, the Citizens’ Alliance and other enemies of progressive unionism, charge with being anarchists. [These unionist stand] for sturdy manhood and intelligence. Certain it is that for unselfish devotion to the cause and steadfast purpose of uplifting toiling humanity they have never been surpassed.

[These union leaders represent] the inspiration of truth, honesty and justice. We need more such men—more such determination to battle for human liberty.

Someone has said:

God give us men; a time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom lust of lucre does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking ;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty, and in private thinking;
For, while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,

Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps.

Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps.

[Paragraph break and photographs added.]

—————

SOURCES

The Indianapolis News
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Apr 7, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

The Cripple Creek Strike
A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado, 1903-4-5
-by Emma F Langdon
“Being a Complete and Concise
History of the Efforts of
Organized Capital
to Crush Unionism”
The Great Western Publishing Co.
Denver,Colorado, 1905.
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/…

IMAGES
Unionism and Socialism by Eugene V Debs, Cover, 1904
http://books.google.com/…
Emma F Langdon
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/…
Charles Moyer
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/…
Big Bill Haywood
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/…
Emblem of the Western Federation of Miners
http://www.nps.gov/…

See also:
Garnered Sheaves:
The Complete Poetical Works of J. G. Holland
Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1873
https://books.google.com/…
“God give us men.”
https://books.google.com/…

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We’re Coming Colorado-John McCutcheon

We are fighting for our rights, boys,
We are fighting for our homes,
Shouting the battle cry of union;
Men have died to win the struggle;
They’ve died to set us free,
Shouting the battle cry of union.

The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the gunthugs, and up with the law;
For we’re coming, Colorado, we’re coming all the way,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.
-Frank Hayes

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Saturday April 15, 1905
From the International Socialist Review: I. Ladoff on the Revolutionary Russia

Hellraisers Journal: Isador Ladoff on the Revolutionary Movement in Russia “Perish Parasitism!

Saturday April 15, 1905
From the International Socialist Review: I. Ladoff on the Revolutionary Russia

In the pages of this month’s Review, Professor Ladoff offers his views on the Revolutionary Movements in Russia. Remembering the terrible massacre in St. Petersburg this past January, Ladoff begins his article:

The eyes of the civilized world are turned toward Russia.In Russia we witness at present the throbbing of the pulse of history. Russia occupies now the position of France at the inception of the Great Revolution.

For centuries the best sons and daughters of Russia had to look upon freedom and civilization as unattainable dreams.

The iron grip of despotism deadened the soul of the people. Supported by millions of slaves, soiled by the blood of subjugated nations the government of the Czars attained hegemony among nations.

The government of the Czars used its tremendous influence in the interests of Darkness and Strife, Reaction and Militarism.

Ladoff goes on to describe the three main opposition parties of the Russian people: the Social-Democrats, the Socialist Revolutionists, and the party of the middle-class liberals. As can be expected from the author of The Passing of Capitalism: And the Mission of Socialism,

his support lies with the Social-Democrats. Of that party, he states:

The Russian Social-Democratic party possesses the full confidence of the working class and dictates its policy.The Russian Social-Democratic Party stands on the broad principles of International Socialism.

It believes, that the emancipation of the broad masses of the Russian people has to be effected by its advanced guard, the working class.

Ladoff concludes with praise for the struggle of the Russian people:

The Russian people is now determined to get rid of the double yoke of political and economic oppression.The Russian struggle is the world’s struggle.

The Chinese walls that used to divide countries and nations have crumbled into dust and ashes.

There is at present only one nation—the human race. There is at present only one world-struggle, the struggle of the vast majority of the human race, of the toiling masses against a small minority of political and social-economic parasites.

Perish Russian autocracy! Long live the Russian Revolution!

Perish Parasitism! Long live the proletariat of all nations!

From the International Socialist Review of April 1905:

The Revolutionary Movement in Russia.

The eyes of the civilized world are turned toward Russia.In Russia we witness at present the throbbing of the pulse of history. Russia occupies now the position of France at the inception of the Great Revolution.

For centuries the best sons and daughters of Russia had to look upon freedom and civilization as unattainable dreams.

The iron grip of despotism deadened the soul of the people. Supported by millions of slaves, soiled by the blood of subjugated nations the government of the Czars attained hegemony among nations.

The government of the Czars used its tremendous influence in the interests of Darkness and Strife, Reaction and Militarism.

The press was muzzled by a strict and stupid censorship.

Science was chained by barbaric police regulations.

The ancient liberties of Poland, the Baltic provinces and Finland were trampled down with ruthless barbarity and bestial cruelty.

The non-Slavonic, non-orthodox-Greek elements of the population were persecuted with unparalleled severity.

The cries of agony and despair of the victims of the massacre of Kishineff are still fresh in our memory.

The atrocities and crimes perpetrated by the Russian government reached their climax in the now historical massacre on the 9th (22d) of January, 1905 on the streets of St. Petersburg. The long suffering Russian people finally lost their stoic patience and revolted, provoked by the stupid and cruel action of the Czar and his minions.

A peaceful deputation of working men decided to present their grievances directly to their “little father.”

They assured the Czar of their peaceful intentions and prepared four hundred able bodied men to protect his personal safety.

The “little father” heroically retired behind the thick walls of his palace and has sent his Hessians and Janissars to assassinate his “little children” on the streets of the capital. The cowards, who run at the very sight of Japanese soldiers, reddened the snow of St. Petersburg with blood of defenseless citizens, women and children.

The civilized world shuddered when it heard of this unprecedented crime.

The blood of the martyrs of the 22d of January sealed the doom of Russian absolutism.

The plain Russian people in its touching naivete believed in the personal benevolence of the Czar.

The massacre of the 22d of January rudely crushed this belief.

The excommunication of the leader of the peaceful deputation, of Father Gapon, by the Holy Synod, convinced the people that the State church of Russia is but a handmaid of despotism. Events moved rapidly since then.

The vacillating, headless policy of the Czar, made him and his government contemptible and ridiculous.

The conduct of the revolutionary masses gained the admiration of the world.

Who is responsible for the internal and external policy of the Czar?

Who represents the power behind the throne ?

Who represents the opposition forces in Russia?

Where does this opposition come from?

These are the questions that naturally force themselves upon us.

The popular conception is that the Czar of Russia is the sole ruler of the Empire, that his personal will is law. A moment of reflection will convince us that this popular conception is an absurdity.

Indeed, no single man, even if he be a giant, can possibly rule one hundred and seventy millions of people, living under various climatic, economic and cultural conditions, scattered over a vast area of land and belonging to different ethnic groups.

And Nicholas the Second is a physical, mental and moral dwarf.

The actual power behind the throne, the real ruler of Russia, is not the Czar, but the “Chinovniks,” the class of officials, the bureaucracy.

When Peter I, to use Johannes Scherrs’ apt expression, “knouted Russia into Europe” he needed assistants in his tremendous undertaking.

He picked out a few young men of the nobility and has had to send them to Europe to learn how to run the affairs of the State.

After their return, these young men were entrusted with the execution of the plans of the Czar.

According to the tendency of each and every ruling class the bureaucrats increased in numbers and acquired more and more power and influence in the State.

The dense ignorance of the masses, the indifference of the classes and the incapacity of the Czars were rather favorable to the numerical growth of the ruling class and increase of its power.

Despotism and bureaucracy always supplement each other. This way an irresponsible and corrupt ruling class was formed behind the shaky throne of the Czars and the worm-eaten altar of the State-Church.

This class at the same time dictated and executed the internal policy of the empire in the interests of this class.

It was in the interests of that class to inaugurate a policy of adventurous expansion and force a disastrous war in the Far East.

It was in the interests of this class to keep the people in the darkness of ignorance and superstition.

It was in the interests of this class to forcibly Russianise Poland, the Baltic provinces and Finland.

It was in the interests of this class to persecute Poles, Germans, Finns and Jews.

New territories and provinces open new fields of pernicious activity for the ever increasing numbers of hungry and greedy officials.

The same applies to “Russianised” provinces.

A war with Japan was necessary to the bureaucracy of Russia in order to divert the attention of the people from internal affairs. Beside this a war always offers too many chances for building railroads and bridges on paper, furnishing supplies on paper, constructing fleets on paper and other exploits of similar patriotic nature.

The bureaucrats are not afraid of the peasant with medieval ideas.

But the growing middle and working classes consisting of Germans, Poles, Finns and Jews appear to the ruling class as a constant, menace, a memento mori. Hence their persecution by the government.

Let us now analyze the revolutionary elements in Russia.

The disastrous Crimean War convinced the Russian government, that it is necessary to modernize Russia, i. e. build railroads, start factories, etc.

However, in order to build railroads, start and run factories, free labor was a condition sine qua non.

As long as serfdom existed there was no room for the growth and development of a city proletariat.

Serfdom was therefore abolished almost at the same time and for similar reasons as slavery was abolished in the United States of America.

The abolition of Serfdom in Russia was as far reaching in its results in Russia as the abolition of Slavery in the United States.

The quality and quantity of the allotments of land to the liberated serfs were of just such a nature as to be too little to live upon and too much to die of starvation.

A nucleus of a city-proletariat was formed. Railroads could be built, factories operated.

Another far reaching result of the emancipation of the peasant was the creation of a class of intellectual proletarians.

In Western Europe and the United States of America the capitalists and merchants employ the intellectual proletarians in their factories and offices as clerks, business managers, salesmen, draftsmen, captains of industry, etc., etc.

This explains the fact, that the intellectual proletariat of Western Europe and America is rather conservative if not reactionary in his tendencies. He is as yet not conscious of his class-interests as the upper crust of the proletarian masses.

In Russia there were no industrial enterprises worth speaking of, no commerce of any importance.

The Russian intellectual proletariat was not provided even with the crumbs falling from the overladen table of the capitalists, as were their more fortunate brothers in the West.

The Russian intellectual proletariat had nothing to lose in the old regime but its chains and a world to gain in a Free Russia.

Hence the intellectual Russian proletariat was revolutionary by its very nature from its inception.

The antiquated state institutions of Russia were beyond any reform, hence the radical tendencies of the intellectuals prevailed. The ideas and ideals of the Russian intellectual proletariat were those of contemporary Utopian Socialism of Western Europe. The intellectuals felt their own weakness as a class and decided to win the broad masses, of the people, i. e. peasants.

The intellectuals started a “movement into the people,” in order to preach the gospel of brotherly love and cooperation.

It was a strictly non-political, but rather educational movement similar to, although not identical with, the university settlement movement in the United States.

Young men and women of the higher ability went “into the people” to lead a simple, laborious life full of privations, dangers and disappointments in order to do missionary work among the peasants.

The movement “into the people” was one of the most arduous and generous ever recorded on the pages of history.

But, alas, it was the most hopeless, the most barren of results.

The patriarchal village commune, serfdom and czardom closed the mind of the peasant to the ideals of Utopian socialism developed in industrial countries with more or less free political institutions. Serfdom created an abyss between the peasants and other classes in Russia. In their touching simplicity of mind, they looked upon each and every non-peasant as upon an enemy.

The generous crusade of the early propagandists of the new gospel was met with suspicion on the part of the peasants, who turned a deaf ear to the noble missionaries.

There are many cases on record when peasants turned over these noble missionaries to the police.

The movement “into the people” would probably run its own course and end in bitter disenchantment for the propagandists if left to its own fate.

However, the stupid and cowardly government was scared out of its wits by the educational activity of high minded Utopian enthusiasts. The Russian government felt alarmed and started an era of cruel persecution. The peaceful propagandists were treated more severely than common criminals. The propagandists were imprisoned for life, banished to Siberia, executed on the gallows.

The “white” terror of the White Czar called forth the “red” terror of the revolutionists.

Secret societies with terroristic proclivities sprang up like mushrooms all over the country and an uneven, heroic struggle between intellectual proletarians and the government of the Czar, a struggle between David and Goliath was started.

The most typical secret terroristic society was represented by the so-called “Party of the Peoples Will,” ruled by the famous “Executive Committee.”

The “Executive Committee” was more dreaded by the Czars, than the day of judgment. Since the appearance of white and red terrorism—the Russian government deserved the title of a “Despotism tempered by assassination.”

The activity of the “Executive Committee” culminated in the execution of Alexander II.

With this unfortunate prince, red terrorism expired.

Terrorism was discredited. It removed personalities, but left the conditions producing them unchanged. It produced reaction.

The reign of Alexander III, this poor imitator of Nicholas I, and Nicholas II, the degenerate scion of the dynasty of Romanoff’s, was reactionary in the extreme.

Meanwhile the disintegration of the village-commune and proletarianisation of the people were progressing rapidly. Industries developed and the working class counts at present about five million of men and women.

Russia was modernized economically.

The process of political modernization must follow as day must follow night.

Although comparatively small in numbers, the city-proletariat formed the dynamic element of the Russian population. A party that would be shrewd enough to see it and gain the control of the working-class must by the very nature of things possess the key to the political situation in Russia.

The party is the party of the working class, the Social-Democratic party.

The Russian Social-Democratic party possesses the full confidence of the working class and dictates its policy.

The Russian Social-Democratic Party stands on the broad principles of International Socialism.

It believes, that the emancipation of the broad masses of the Russian people has to be effected by its advanced guard, the working class.

It believes that the mission of intellectuals must be limited to guidance and direction of the revolutionized but not sufficiently class conscious masses of the people.

It knows that the soil of Freedom was always fertilized by the blood of martyrs and tyrants and believes therefore in the terrorism of the masses.

Social-Democrats know that the Nemesis of history will produce a Brutus to every Caesar.

Social-Democrats know that if Von Plehve or Sergius would possess each of them thousands of lives, their execution would not expiate even a particle of their crimes.

At the same time Social-Democrats do not believe that the execution of single members of the Russian Government by single intellectuals ought to be raised to the dignity of a system adopted by a political party as such. Such terroristic acts are probably unavoidable but entail a deplorable waste of energy.

Young as the Russian Social-Democratic party is, (it started about 1896) it attained marvelous success.

The propaganda among the working class worked like magic.

There are two other parties to be considered as opposition forces.

One of them is the so-called Socialist-Revolutionist party. That party claims to represent the interests of all the toiling masses of the Russian people. But actually they ignore the working class and concentrate their attention upon the peasants.

The Revolutionists believe that the archaic village commune, the “mir,” can and has to be preserved in order to allow Russia to avoid the evils of Capitalism and proletarianisation of the masses.

The Revolutionists do not believe in the most essential part of economic determinism—in the law of development of social economic institutions.

The “Revolutionists” want to stop the evolutionary march of the sun of the proletariat at the Gibeon of common tenure of land, to arrest the movement of the moon of capitalism in the Avalon valley of dwarfed manufacture.

The “Revolutionists” are nationalists and Utopians in their theories and Jacobins in their tactics.

The interests of the Russian proletariat in general and of its liberation demand its organization into an independent political force.

However, the “Socialist Revolutionists” are—theoretically and by their tactics—opposing the endeavors of the Social Democrats to cement the working class into one political party.

The “Revolutionists” bend all their energies toward keeping the workingmen in an amorphous mass, that may be used as a tool only by the liberal middle class.

The “Revolutionists” represent therefore but a branch of the middle-class-democratic faction in Russia.

The middle-class tendencies of the “Revolutionists” are the more pernicious, because they are masked by the banner of Socialism.

The “Revolutionists” believe in manufacturing history by assassinations.

The third party is the party of the liberals.

This outspokenly middle-class party is composed of professionalists of all kinds, manufacturers, merchants and a motley crowd of intellectuals of rather indefinite occupation.

The liberals, too, would like to enjoy political freedom.

They would certainly condescend to graciously accept a liberal constitution presented to them on a silver tray.

But they want the “common people” (the “dear” common people) to win it for them by the sacrifice of life and limb.

The liberals represent an opposition party, but by no means a revolutionary force.

It is rather an anti-revolutionist and anti-proletarian movement.

The Social-Democrats are supported by the working class.

The “Revolutionists” back up their demands from the autocracy by terroristic acts.

The liberals talk and fill the waste-basket of the government with humble petitions.

Divergent as these three parties may be in their theoretical conceptions and tactics they are united on one vital point, namely, in their negative attitude toward the autocracy of the Czar.

The struggle against the autocracy of the Czar is a struggle against wild barbarity and eternal strife, it is a struggle for civilization and peace.

A wave of reaction would encircle the globe in case the Russian government would succeed in drowning the revolutionary movement in the blood of the people.

The victory of the revolutionary elements in Russia will be the victory of all liberty-loving men and women of the world.

The Russian people are now struggling for the liberties we enjoy here in the United States, the liberties the fathers of the Republic conquered a hundred years ago.

The Russian revolution has probably passed its most dramatic, spectacular stage.

Russia now entered into an era of chronic revolution.

The revolutionization of all the classes and masses of Russia is spreading and deepening, the revolutionary flames are working their way toward the shaky throne of the Czar and worm eaten altar of the State Church and cannot be extinguished till Absolutism and Parasitism will be no more.

The time has passed when the people of Russia could be pacified by political charity in the shape of an advisory board composed of representatives of various classes without power or-authority to legislate or control the budget of the State, as proposed by the Czar under the stress of a disastrous war.

The Russian people is now determined to get rid of the double yoke of political and economic oppression.

The Russian struggle is the world’s struggle.

The Chinese walls that used to divide countries and nations have crumbled into dust and ashes.

There is at present only one nation—the human race. There is at present only one world-struggle, the struggle of the vast majority of the human race, of the toiling masses against a small minority of political and social-economic parasites.

Perish Russian autocracy! Long live the Russian Revolution!

Perish Parasitism! Long live the proletariat of all nations!
I. Ladoff.
New York. March, 1905.

—————-

SOURCE
The International Socialist Review, Volume 5
ed by Algie Martin Simons, Charles H. Kerr
Charles H. Kerr & Company, July 1904 – June 1905
https://books.google.com/…
ISR April 1905
https://books.google.com/…
“The Revolutionary Movement in Russia” by Isador Ladoff
https://books.google.com/…

IMAGES
Ladoff X2
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/…

See also:
The Passing of Capitalism: And the Mission of Socialism
-by Isador Ladoff
Debs publishing company, 1901
https://archive.org/…

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Internationale-from “Reds”

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Sunday April 16, 1905
Houghton, Michigan – Mother Jones Arrives to Assist Strikers and WFM Organizers

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Arrives in Michigan Copper Country, Will Assist W. F. of M.

Sunday April 16, 1905
Houghton, Michigan – Mother Jones Arrives to Assist Strikers and WFM Organizers

Mother Jones has arrived in Michigan’s Copper Country where the Western Federation of Miners has been attempting to organize the copper miners. She is much needed in that effort where the miners face discharge and blacklisting whenever they attempt to organize.The streetcar workers of that area are also in need of Mother’s assistance. They have been on strike since February 25th, and Mother will, no doubt, encourage them to stand strong in their strike. The strike is against the Houghton County Traction Company, and is being led by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees.

Newspapers around the nation are reporting on the arrival of our most famous “labor agitator.” We offer two examples below.

From The New York Times of April 15, 1905:

MOTHER JONES IN MICHIGAN.
———-
Street Railway and Copper Mine
Strikers Call Her to State.HOUGHTON, Mich., April 14.-Mrs. Mary Jones, known as “Mother” Jones, a labor agitator, arrived in the copper country to-day, drawn by the street railway and mine strikes. Because of her efforts as an organizer of miners in the Colorado labor troubles she was deported. She will speak in the copper-country towns.

———-

From The Minneapolis Journal of April 15, 1905:

OPERATORS WILL NOT TEMPORIZE
———–

COPPER MINES WILL BE CLOSED
ABSOLUTELY IF MEN STRIKE.
———-
No Concessions Will Be Considered and Owners
Will Prepare for an Indefinite Siege-
Federation Organizers Believed to Be Quietly
Agitating a General Strike.
———–

Special to The Journal.

Houghton, Mich., April 15,-In expectation of a general strike on May 1, the mine operators of Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties have decided in case of a walkout to make no concessions whatever, and close down absolutely for an indefinite period.The conservative element among the Calumet & Hecla employees are laboring hard to prevent a strike. In case of a general strike the old men may not get their jobs back when a settlement is reached.

“Mother” Jones is here and Charles Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, has been a visitor. The federation organizers say they are not agitating a strike, but the evidence is to the contrary.

Sixteen thousand men would be affected directly, and as many more indirectly by a general strike.

———-[Photograph added.]

—————

SOURCES

The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-Apr 15, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

The Minneapolis Journal
(Minneapolis, Minnesota)
-Apr 15, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

IMAGES
Mother Jones
http://www.biography.com/…
Charles Moyer
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/…

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More on WFM & SPA* Organizing in Upper Michigan, 1903-05

From:
Rebels on the Range
-by Arthur W Thurner
MI, 1984
http://www.calumetcopper.com/…

When the WFM made its first move into the Lake Superior region, it had about 30,000 members. The U.S. metal-mining industry then employed about 120,000 workers. In September, 1903, Joy Pollard union organizer, arrived in the Copper Country where strike breakers were being recruited. Craft union members and A. T. Schmelzer of Lake Linden, brother of WFM Executive Board member from Silverton, Colorado, introduced him to local copper workers who advised him to organize Calumet men first. As he visited iron mines in Michigan and Wisconsin subsequently he heard the same message: “Get Calumet or the Copper boys and we will all follow.”Pollard visited twenty-eight communities and locations in the Copper Country and, on January 31, 1904, organized the first WFM local in the district at Laurium. It was called Amygdaloid Miners’ Union No. 217. M. E. Condon was its first president. Other locals formed during his stay were Smeltermen’s Union No. 218 at Lake Linden. Quincy Miners’ Union No. 76 at Hancock, Champion Miners’ Union No. 221 at Painesdale, and Conglomerate No. 226 at Allouez. District Union No. 10 headquartered at Lake Linden.

On May 17, 1904, Martin Nortvedt, Loughlin J. Kelly, and Patrick Shea reported from Laurium that their local did not have funds to send a delegate to the WFM convention and that “any delegate would lose his position and be blacklisted in Houghton County, and as union is in infancy they would have no redress.” Socialist orientation of the local leaders was evident in the letters which stated: “Classes will disappear…the working class must become the dominant class…March to the polls.”

Socialist activity in the Michigan copper district, best described as nascent when Pollard arrived, began to stir in 1904. The Laurium Socialist Club was formed in early 1904 and at mid-year Finnish members decided to create a Finnish branch of it. James Carey, prominent Massachusetts socialist lectured at Calumet in April on the future of socialism, and socialists competed in a Houghton County election that month. Candidates included men of German, Scandinavian, French, Irish, and Italian descent..Tyomies, the newspaper of socialist persuasion established by Finns in July, 1903, in Worcester, Massachusetts, moved in 1904 to Hancock which became a center of Finnish socialist activity.

When Pollard returned to the Copper Country in the spring of 1905, the Allouez local was extinct and the others barely alive. He and Matt Wasley, an organizer from Negaunee, Michigan, worked with little success to resuscitate them. They had some help from Mary Harris Jones, the coal miners’ Mother Jones, who had come north to aid members of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees who had been on strike at Houghton County Traction Company since February 25.

*Socialist Party of America““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
The Spirit of Mother Jones – Andy Irvine

Mother Jones, the Miners’ Angel must be treated with respect
She’s an old fashioned lady, and you never would suspect
That this gown and this bonnet would fill a rich man full of dread
“She’s the most dangerous woman in America,” they said.
-Andy Irvine

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Friday April 21, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Actions of Coal Team Owners Likely to Spread Teamsters’ Strike

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Teamsters Sympathetic Strike May Soon Spread Across the City

Friday April 21, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Actions of Coal Team Owners Likely to Spread Teamsters’ Strike

Scab Trucks Escorted by Police
“““““

The city of Chicago may soon find the strike of the Teamsters spread across the city due to the actions of the Coal Team Owners who insist that they will deliver coal to Montgomery Wards & Co. come what may. Thus far, the teamsters’ sympathetic strike has been confined to Montgomery Wards where the garment workers are on strike against the attempts of that company to end their union contract and impose an open shop.Yesterday’s Chicago Inter Ocean reports:

Important developments are expected in the teamsters’ strike today. The trouble has reached a point where a number of teaming contractors will be forced to choose between joining hands with the Chicago Employers’ association or standing with their union teamsters. Since the trouble began most of the teaming contractors have been on the fence and have refused to make deliveries to Montgomery Ward & Co.The A. M. Forbes Teaming company yesterday delivered seven loads to Montgomery Ward & Co. with nonunion drivers under police protection. The Edwin F. Daniels Coal company delivered a load of coal, the first received at the big house since the strike was called, almost two weeks ago.

These acts have thoroughly aroused the union teamsters employed by both concerns, and despite the efforts of the leaders to confine the strike to the Ward company, the danger of its spreading is said to be more imminent this morning than it has been at any time.

From the Chicago Inter Ocean of April 20, 1905:

SPREAD OF STRIKE MAY START TODAY
———-

Coal Team Owners Use Nonunion Teamsters and
Leaders Demand That They
Support Strike or Join Employes.
———-
CRISIS CANNOT BE LONGER DELAYED BY COMPANIES
———-
Grand Jury Will Begin Hearing Evidence Against Rioters
and Indictments Are Expected in Cases
Now Pending in Justice Courts.
———-

Important developments are expected in the teamsters’ strike today. The trouble has reached a point where a number of teaming contractors will be forced to choose between joining hands with the Chicago Employers’ association or standing with their union teamsters. Since the trouble began most of the teaming contractors have been on the fence and have refused to make deliveries to Montgomery Ward & Co.

The A. M. Forbes Teaming company yesterday delivered seven loads to Montgomery Ward & Co. with nonunion drivers under police protection. The Edwin F. Daniels Coal company delivered a load of coal, the first received at the big house since the strike was called, almost two weeks ago.

These acts have thoroughly aroused the union teamsters employed by both concerns, and despite the efforts of the leaders to confine the strike to the Ward company, the danger of its spreading is said to be more imminent this morning than it has been at any time.

Will Deliver Coal Today.Fred Westphal, who does the hauling for the Daniels Coal company, is prepared to make deliveries to the Ward company today. He has a large number of nonunion teamsters in readiness should his union men quit. It was said last night that ten of the largest employers in the Coal Team Owners’ association had determined to cast their lot with the Chicago Employers’ association and form a new organization of their own. If the report is true it will mean trouble with the coal teamsters, but the officers of the Coal Teamsters’ union are inclined to doubt the report.

The grand jury will take up the strike today, when it will be asked by State’s Attorney Healy to vote indictments in three specific cases of violence where policemen have been attacked and beaten while protecting the Ward wagons. This was decided last night at a conference between State’s Attorney Healy and Assistant Chief of Police Schuettler.

Three witnesses accompanied Schuettler to the office of the state’s attorney. He refused to reveal their names or the names of the three men against whom indictments are sought. “I am not at liberty to give any names,” said State’s Attorney Healy, “but I will ask the grand jury to vote true bills in three specific cases tomorrow.”

Although Schuettler’s visit to the Criminal court building was ostensibly in the interest of policemen who have been assaulted during the strike, it is said the grand jury will be asked to indict men who have been guilty of assaulting nonunion teamsters.

There were fewer cases of violence reported yesterday, and the reason was said to be due to a rumor which was circulated in the afternoon that a settlement was in sight. Around the labor headquarters it was rumored that Robert J. Thorne of Montgomery Ward & Co. had asked for a conference with the strike leaders. The rumor was entirely unfounded, but it caused the pickets to abate their violence.

Arbitration Again Proposed.

Striking Chicago Garment Worker
““`

The peace committee of the Coal Team Owners’ association has arranged to see Mr. Thorne this morning and propose that the entire matter, including the garment workers’ strike, be submitted to an arbitration board of seven persons. No results are expected from this proposition, as a number of similar proposals have been reflected by the employers in the past.Mr. Thorne last night said the strike has shown the firm that there are other ways of filling orders than having the merchandise pass through the Michigan avenue building.

Thirty-seven loads of merchandise were delivered at the Ward house yesterday by the caravans of the Chicago Employers’ association, while the four teams of the new teaming company picked up loads from nine firms during the day. It was discovered yesterday that the stables of the new teaming company formed by the employers are located at 1817 Dearborn street. The employers say that the number of teams will be increased, and they will begin hauling coal unless the coal dealers make deliveries to the Ward company. The wagons used by the Employers’ Teaming company had the names painted over with fresh paint, as they did not want the pickets to learn whom they belonged to or from whom they were purchased.

Car Crew Is Arrested.John Shievers, motorman, and Sidney Lowenthal conductor of a Canalport avenue car, were arrested yesterday afternoon at Fifth avenue and Madison street for attempting to run into a caravan of the Ward company’s wagons. Lieutenant O’Connor of the Desplaines street station was in charge of the police, and he ordered the motorman to stop his car until the caravan passed. The motorman turned on the current and tried to cut off the patrol wagon which was following the caravan. When the police tried to arrest him he attacked them with the controller.

Walter Smith, a negro nonunion driver for the Lord & Bushnell Lumber company, was severely beaten on a Metropolitan Elevated railroad train at Center avenue by five pickets. The pickets followed him onto the train and attacked him with brass knuckles.

Walter Harris, a private detective employed by Montgomery Ward & Co., was attacked and beaten by pickets at Washington street and Wabash avenue at noon yesterday. His revolver was taken away from him and he was placed on a street car, with a warning to keep away from the Ward building.

Early yesterday morning three nonunion drivers were attacked near the headquarters maintained by the company, at 20 Lake street. Several shots were fired and the first crowd of pickets fled. After the nonunion men had emptied their revolvers another crowd of pickets came out of a doorway and attacked them. They were severely beaten before the police arrived on the scene.

———-[Photograph added.]

—————

SOURCE
The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Apr 20, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…

IMAGES
Patrol Wagons Guard Trucks,
Chicago Daily Tribune, Apr 9, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/…
Striking Garment Worker of Chicago
from The Inter Ocean of Nov 29, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/…

See also:
Annual Report
Illinois. State Board of Arbitration, 1906
https://books.google.com/…
“Special Order Clothing Workers’ Strike-Chicago.”
(Chicago Garment Workers Strike of 1904-05)
https://books.google.com/…
“Teamsters’ Sympathetic Strike,-Chicago”
(Chicago Teamsters Strike of 1905)
https://books.google.com/…

“Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Addresses Chicago’s Garment Strikers,
Will Fight to the End” by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/…

Chicago Teamsters Strike of 1905
http://www.dailykos.com/…

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Workers of the World Awaken

If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.
-Joe Hill (words and music)
https://www.youtube.com/…
http://www.folkarchive.de/…

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Thursday April 27, 1905
From The Independent: Rose Schneiderman Tells the Story of a Cap Maker’s Life

Hellraisers Journal: Rose Schneiderman, “So we must stand together to resist.” Life of a Cap Maker

The girls and women by their meetings and discussions come to understand and
sympathize with each other, and more and more easily they act together…
So we must stand together to resist, for we will get
what we can take just that and no more.
-Rose Schneiderman““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
Thursday April 27, 1905
From The Independent: Rose Schneiderman Tells the Story of a Cap Maker’s Life

Rose Schneiderman
“““““

In today’s edition of The Independent, Rose Schneiderman, the young leader of the New York Cloth Hat and Cap Makers Union, tells the story of her life in New York City where, at a young age, upon the death of her father, she was forced to quit school and assist with the care of her younger sister and brothers. As a young working woman, she became determined to organize her workplace, and did so in short order.Miss Schneiderman, although only twenty-three years old, is already a member of National Board of her union, the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers Union of North America. She has also recently joined the Women’s Trade Union League of New York.

The article, “A Cap Maker’s Story,” was written soon after the New York City Cap Makers returned to work having successfully settled their strike against the open shop drive of their employers.

Miss Schneiderman states that working women are beginning to understand the importance of organizing and standing together to fight for better conditions:

The girls and women by their meetings and discussions come to understand and sympathize with each other, and more and more easily they act together.It is the only way in which they can hope to hold what they now have or better present conditions.

Certainly there is no hope from the mercy of the bosses.

Each boss does the best he can for himself with no thought of the other bosses, and that compels each to gouge and squeeze his hands to the last penny in order to make a profit.

So we must stand together to resist, for we will get what we can take just that and no more.

From The Independent of April 27, 1905:

A Cap Maker’s Story

BY ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN

[Miss Schneiderman led the women capmakers in their recent successful strike for the union shop. She is a small, quiet, serious, good looking young woman of twenty years, already a member of the National Board, and fast rising in the labor world.— EDITOR.]

Rose Schneiderman at her sewing machine.
“““““

My name is Rose Schneiderman, and I was born in some small city of Russian Poland. I don’t know the name of the city, and have no memory of that part of my childhood. When I was about five years of age my parents brought me to this country and we settled in New York.So my earliest recollections are of living in a crowded street among the East Side Jews, for we also are Jews.

My father got work as a tailor, and we lived in two rooms on Eldridge Street, and did very well, though not so well as in Russia, because mother and father both earned money, and here father alone earned the money, while mother attended to the house. There were then two other children besides me, a boy of three and one of five.

I went to school until I was nine years old, enjoying it thoroughly and making great progress, but then my father died of brain fever and mother was left with three children and another one coming. So I had to stay at home to help her and she went out to look for work.

A month later the baby was born, and mother got work in a fur house, earning about $6 a week and afterward $8 a week, for she was clever and steady.

I was the house worker, preparing the meals and looking after the other children – the baby, a little girl of six years, and a boy of nine. I managed very well, tho the meals were not very elaborate. I could cook simple things like porridge, coffee and eggs, and mother used to prepare the meat before she went away in the morning, so that all I had to do was to put it in the pan at night.

The children were not more troublesome than others, but this was a hard part of my life with few bright spots in it. I was a serious child, and cared little for children’s play, and I knew nothing about the country, so it was not so bad for me as it might have been for another. Yet it was bad, tho I did get some pleasure from reading, of which I was very fond: and now and then, as a change from the home, I took a walk in the crowded street.

Mother was absent from half past seven o’clock in the morning till half past six o’clock in the evening.

I was finally released by my little sister being taken by an aunt, and the two boys going to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, which is a splendid institution, and turns out good men. One of these brothers is now a student in the City College, and the other is a page in the Stock Exchange.

When the other children were sent away mother was able to send me back to school and I stayed in this school (Houston Street Grammar) till I had reached the Sixth Grammar Grade.

Then I had to leave in order to help support the family. I got a place in Hearn’s as cash girl, and after working there three weeks changed to Ridley’s, where I remained for two and a half years. I finally left because the pay was so very poor and there did not seem to be any chance of advancement, and a friend told me that I could do better making caps.

So I got a place in the factory of Hein & Fox. The hours were from 8 a m. to 6 p. m., and we made all sorts of linings or, rather, we stitched in the linings golf caps, yachting caps, etc. It was piece work, and we received from 3 1/2 cents to 10 cents a dozen, according to the different grades. By working hard we could make an average of about $5 a week. We would have made more but had to provide our own machines, which cost us $45, we paying for them on the installment plan. We paid $5 down and $1 a month after that.

I learned the business in about two months, and then made as much as the others, and was consequently doing quite well when the factory burned down, destroying all our machines 150 of them. This was very hard on the girls who had paid for their machines. It was not so bad for me, as I had only paid a little of what I owed.

The bosses got $500,000 insurance, so I heard, but they never gave the girls a cent to help them bear their losses. I think they might have given them $10, anyway,

Soon work went on again in four lofts, and a little later I became assistant sample maker. This is a position which, tho coveted by many, pays better in glory than in cash It was still piece work, and tho the pay per dozen was better the work demanded was of a higher quality, and one could not rush through samples as through the other caps. So I still could average only about $5 per week.

After I had been working as a cap maker for three years it began to dawn on me that we girls needed an organization. The men had organized already, and had gained some advantages, but the bosses had lost nothing, as they took it out of us.

We were helpless; no one girl dare stand up for anything alone. Matters kept getting worse. The bosses kept making reductions in our pay, half a cent a dozen at a time. It did not sound important, but at the end of the week we found a difference.

We didn’t complain to the bosses; we didn’t say anything except to each other. There was no use. The bosses would not pay any attention unless we were like the men and could make them attend.

One girl would say that she didn’t think she could make caps for the new price, but another would say that she thought she could make up for the reduction by working a little harder, and then the first would tell herself, “If she can do it, why can’t I?” They didn’t think how they were wasting their strength.

A new girl from another shop got in among us. She was Miss Bessie Brout, and she talked organization as a remedy for our ills. She was radical and progressive, and she stimulated thoughts which were already in our minds before she came.

Finally Miss Brout and I and another girl went to the National Board of United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers when it was in session, and asked them to organize the girls.

They asked us:

“How many of you are there willing to be organized?”

“In the first place about twelve,” we said. We argued that the union label would force the bosses to organize their girls, and if there was a girls’ union in existence the bosses could not use the union label unless their girls belonged to the union.

We were told to come to the next meeting of the National Board, which we did, and then received a favorable answer, and were asked to bring all the girls who were willing to be organized to the next meeting, and at the next meeting, accordingly, we were there twelve strong and were organized.

When Fox found out what had happened he discharged Miss Brout, and probably would have discharged me but that I was a sample maker and not so easy to replace. In a few weeks we had all the girls in the organization, because the men told the girls that they must enter the union or they would not be allowed to work in the shop.

Then came a big strike. Price lists for the coming season were given in to the bosses, to which they did not agree. After some wrangling a strike was declared in five of the biggest factories. There are 30 factories in the city. About 100 girls went out. The result was a victory, which netted us- I mean the girls- $2 increase in our wages on the average.

All the time our union was progressing very nicely. There were lectures to make us understand what trades unionism is and our real position in the labor movement I read upon the subject and grew more and more interested, and after a time I became a member of the National Board, and had duties and responsibilities that kept me busy after my day’s work was done.

But all was not lovely by any means, for the bosses were not at all pleased with their beating and had determined to fight us again. They agreed among themselves that after the 26th of December, 1904, they would run their shops on the “open” system. This agreement was reached last fall, and soon notices, reading as follows, were hung in the various shops:

NOTICE
After the 26th of December, 1904, this shop will be run on the open shop system, the bosses having the right to engage and discharge employees as they see fit, whether the latter are union or nonunion.

Of course. we knew that this meant an attack on the union. The bosses intended gradually to get rid of us, employing in our place child labor and raw immigrant girls who would work for next to nothing.On December 22nd the above notice appeared, and the National Board, which had known about it all along, went into session prepared for action.

Our people were very restive, saying that they could not sit under that notice, and that if the National Board did not call them out soon they would go out of themselves.

At last word was sent out, and at 2.30 o’clock all the workers stopped, and, laying down their scissors and other tools, marched out, some of them singing the “Marseillaise.”

We were out for thirteen weeks, and the girls established their reputation. They were on picket duty from seven o’clock in the morning till six o’clock in the evening, and gained over many of the nonunion workers by appeals to them to quit working against us.

Our theory was that if properly approached and talked to few would be found who would resist our offer to take them into our organization. No right thinking person desires to injure another. We did not believe in violence and never employed it.

During this strike period we girls each received $3 a week; single men $3 a week, and married men $5 a week This was paid us by the National Board.

We were greatly helped by the other unions, because the open shop issue was a tremendous one, and this was the second fight which the bosses had conducted for it.

Their first was with the tailors, whom they beat. If they now could beat us the outlook for unionism would be bad.

Some were aided and we stuck out, and won a glorious victory all along the line. That was only last week The shops are open now for all union hands and for them only.

While the strike lasted I tried to get work in a factory that was not affected, but found that the boss was against me.

Last spring I had gone as a member of a committee to appeal to this boss on behalf of a girl who had been four years in his employ and was only getting $7 a week. She wanted $1 raise and all legal holidays. Previously she had had to work on holidays. After argument we secured for her the $1 raise and half a day on every legal holiday.

When the strike broke out, looking for work, I went to this boss, and he stared at me, and said: “What do you want?”

“You asked for a girl.”

“You-you-I don’t want you,” said he. “Can’t I have my choice?”

“Certainly,” said I, “I could never work where I am not wanted”

I suppose he expected me to revenge myself by keeping other girls away, but I sent him others till he filled the place. He resented my having served on the committee, and so he did not want me, but I felt honored by the manner in which I was treated. It showed that I had done my duty.

The bosses try to represent this open shop issue as tho they were fighting a battle for the public, but really it is nothing of the sort. The open shop is a weapon to break the unions and set men once more cutting each other’s throats by individual competition.

Why, there was a time in the cap trade when men worked fourteen hours a day, and then took the heads of their machines home in bags and setting them up on stands, put mattresses underneath to deaden the sound and worked away till far into the morning. We don’t want such slavery as that to come back.

The shops are open now for all union people, and all nonunion people can join the union. In order to take in newcome foreigners we have for them cut the initiation fees down to one-half what we Americans have to pay, and we trust them till they get work and their wages.

In order to give the newcomers a chance we have stopped night work, which doesn’t suit the bosses, because it causes them to pay more rent when they can’t use their buildings night and day. It costs them the price of another loft instead of costing the workers their health and lives as in the old days.

Our trade is well organized, we have won two victories and are not going backward.

But there is much to be done in other directions. The shop girls certainly need organization, and I think that they ought to be easy to organize, as their duties are simple and regular and they have a regular scale of wages.

Many saleswomen on Grand and Division streets, and, in fact, all over the East Side, work from 8 a. m. till 9 p. m. week days, and one-half a day on Sundays for $5 and $6 a week; so they certainly need organization.

The waitresses also could easily be organized, and perhaps the domestic servants. I don’t know about stenographers. I have not come in contact with them.

Women have proved in the late strike that they can be faithful to an organization and to each other. The men give us the credit of winning the strike.

Certainly our organization constantly grows stronger, and the Woman’s Trade Union League makes progress.

The girls and women by their meetings and discussions come to understand and sympathize with each other, and more and more easily they act together.It is the only way in which they can hope to hold what they now have or better present conditions.

Certainly there is no hope from the mercy of the bosses.

Each boss does the best he can for himself with no thought of the other bosses, and that compels each to gouge and squeeze his hands to the last penny in order to make a profit.

So we must stand together to resist, for we will get what we can take just that and no more.
New York, March 20, 1905

[Photographs added.]

From The Blacksmiths Journal of March 1905:

The good news of the successful conclusion of Cap Makers strike was received through the following communication forwarded by Samuel Gompers on March 25, 1905-

New York, N. Y., March 20, 1905.
Samuel Gompers, President American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C:Cloth Hat and Cap Makers’ strike settled with glory.
MAX ZUCKERMAN,
International Secretary.

Therefore, it will be unnecessary to forward any further contributions to Mr. Zuckerman in aid of the Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, but you are urgently requested to do all that you possibly can to contribute generously and promptly in aid of the Chicago Garment Workers’ strike. All financial contributions should be forwarded to B. A. Larger, Secretary of the United Garment Workers of America, Rooms 116-117 Bible House, New York, N. Y. Counting upon the earnest co-operation of all to maintain the unity and solidarity of our movement, and hoping for still greater success in the future than has attended our movement in the past, am
Fraternally yours,
SAMUEL GOMPERS,
President American Federation of Labor.
FRANK MORRISON, Secretary.

~~~~~~~~~~

SOURCES

The Independent, Volume 58
S. W. Benedict, 1905
https://books.google.com/…
The Independent
(New York, New York)
-Apr 27, 1905
https://books.google.com/…
“A Cap Maker’s Story” by Rose Schneiderman
https://books.google.com/…

All For One
-by Rose Schneiderman
with Lucy Goldthwaite
NY, 1967

The Blacksmiths Journal, Volume 6
The Brotherhood, 1905
https://books.google.com/…
The Blacksmiths Journal
(Chicago, Illinois)
-March 1905
https://books.google.com/…
Telegram from Zuckerman
https://books.google.com/…

IMAGES
Rose Schneiderman, 1905
http://access.cjh.org/…
Rose Schneiderman at her sewing machine.
http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/…
Women’s Trade Union League of New York, ab/ 1904
http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/…

See also:

“Hellraisers Journal: Brave Cap Makers on Strike in New York City
Deserve Support Says Gompers” by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/…

Google search: “Cloth Hat and Cap Makers strike settled with glory.”
https://www.google.com/…

1902: United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers’ Union of North American receives charter from the American Federation of Labor.
https://books.google.com/…

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Bread and Roses-Kate Vikstrom

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for — but we fight for roses, too!
-James Oppenheim

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Saturday April 29, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Federal Injunction Issued Against Striking Chicago Teamsters

Hellraisers Journal: Fight Is On- “Federal Injunction Is Issued to Check Striking Chicago Teamsters”

Saturday April 29, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Federal Injunction Issued Against Striking Chicago Teamsters

Since last Hellraisers reported on the Chicago Teamsters’ Strike, that strike has been declared off, then declared on again, and has now spread across the city. Yesterday, according to the Rock Island Argus of Illinois, a federal injunction was issued against the teamsters:

Chicago, April 28.-Federal Judge Kohisaat today granted an injunction to the Employers’ association restraining all persons from interfering with the movements of the association’s wagons upon the streets or in the alleyways or obstructing business of members of the association. The in junction is returnable May 10. It is specifically directed against the teamsters’ joint council of Chicago…The injunction was issued on the grounds that the Employers Teaming company, is a corporation organized in West Virginia and being a corporation of a foreign state has a right to protection under the federal government. As soon as the injunction was filed in court 750 copies of the order were given to United States Marshal Ames. Six deputy marshals were called into Ames’ office and given instructions to serve the papers at once.

Today, below the fold, Hellraisers

features reporting on the Chicago Teamsters Strike from the Argus covering the past several days of the escalating strike situation in the city of Chicago.

From the Rock Island Argus of April 25, 1905:

TEAMSTERS CALL OFF CHICAGO STRIKE;
DISAGREE WITH GARMENT WORKERS

Striking Garment Worker of Chicago
“““““

Chicago, April 25.-The teamsters last night called of their strike against Montgomery Ward & Co. The refusal of the garment workers in aid of whom the teamsters struck to be parties to a fight against only one firm when they had grievances against a number, led to the disruption of the committee managing the strike and the collapse of the struggle. According to a statement of the teamsters’ strike committee, the teamsters refused to spread the strike to other houses than Montgomery Ward & Co., and the garment workers were not satisfied unless the strike was extended to the larger clothing houses.

Want Old PositionsThe differences cold not be harmonized and the teamsters decided to withdraw from the fight. A committee was appointed which will wait on the employers to obtain the old positions for the strikers.

From the Rock Island Argus of April 26, 1905:

CHICAGO EMPLOYERS DECIDE TO KEEP UP
WAR AGAINST TEAMSTERS
———-

Refuse to Accept Peace Offered Them—
Strike Rehabilitated by the Men—
May Tie Up Large Business Interests.

Cornelius Shea, President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
“““““

Chicago, April 26.-The Chicago Employers’ association yesterday absolutely refused the concessions offered by the teamsters’ strike committee toward ending the strike against Montgomery Ward & Co. Meeting in secret conference during the evening, the representatives of 28 of the strongest business houses of the city, all members of the association, agreed that the fight against “dictatorial unionism” should proceed, whatever might be the consequences.

Will Discriminate Against.The policy of “no Discrimination” was abandoned by unanimous consent. Henceforth, it was agreed, the employers are to be arrayed against their union teaming employes in a decisive issue. It was declared that hereafter labor not allied to the present unions would be given the preference by the Employers’ Teaming association.

Teamsters to Revive Strike.At the same hour in which the meeting of the employers was held a session of the Teamsters’ Joint council was in progress at 83 Madison street. President Shea delivered an impassionate speech and as a result the union’s representatives voted to continue or “rehabilitate” the teamsters’ strike against Ward & Co. This action was taken just before midnight.

Though the action of the teamsters was not known to the employers when the latter reached their decision, it was conceded among them that their own radical stand might result today in a deadlock of teaming in the city.

———-[Photograph added.]

From the Rock Island Argus of April 27, 1905:

STRIKE SPREADS
———-

Other Wholesale Firms of Chicago
Affected by Labor War.
———-
NEW METHODS EMPLOYED
———-
Police Sergeant Fatally Hurt in Fight
by Being Run Over by Bus.
———-

Chicago, April 27.-The teamsters’ strike spread today to the wholesale and retail houses of Marshall Field & Co., Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. and the wholesale house of John V. Farwell company. Strike pickets, with orders to prevent, if possible, the handling of goods by non-union men, were placed about stables, stores and warehouses of the firms named.

Drivers Refuse to Haul.Drivers for the railway express companies refused today to haul or deliver goods to the firms against which teamsters had struck. One hundred and ninety drivers of the Forbes Cartage company struck today. This strike had the effect of interfering partly or wholly with teaming of 60 other firms for whom the Forbes company is furnishing wagons.

In a mix-up between union and non-union teams Police Sergeant Richard Cummings was run over and fatally injured by a bus. John Ceresam, a union driver, was arrested.

Express Drivers Quit.Four hundred and twenty drivers for the United States and American Express companies and 30 stevedores quit work during the day rather than handle goods for establishments under the labor leaders’ ban. There were numerous attacks on nonunion drivers and several clashes between police and strikers and their sympathizers but only one was seriously hurt.

———-[Photograph added.]

From the Rock Island Argus of April 28, 1905:

FEDERAL INJUNCTION IS ISSUED TO CHECK
STRIKING CHICAGO TEAMSTERS
———-

Use of United States Troops is Hinted at by Marshal.
———-
EMPLOYERS ARE BUSY
———-
Move Goods in Spite of Strikers—
Negroes From South Brought in.
———-

Patrol Wagons Guard Trucks
“““““

Chicago, April 28.-Federal Judge Kohisaat today granted an injunction to the Employers’ association restraining all persons from interfering with the movements of the association’s wagons upon the streets or in the alleyways or obstructing business of members of the association. The in junction is returnable May 10. It is specifically directed against the teamsters’ joint council of Chicago.

Is Outside Corporation.The injunction was issued on the grounds that the Employers Teaming company, is a corporation organized in West Virginia and being a corporation of a foreign state has a right to protection under the federal government. As soon as the injunction was filed in court 750 copies of the order were given to United States Marshal Ames. Six deputy marshals were called into Ames’ office and given instructions to serve the papers at once.

Intimates Use of Troops.Marshal Ames said, “Any violation of the injunction will come under the jurisdiction of the federal court. It necessary large numbers of special deputy marshals will be sworn in if the disturbances and violations continue and if the marshal is unable to cope with the situation, the federal government will be appealed to and it will use whatever means it deems necessary to quell the insurrection.”

Trouble Starts Early.Chicago, April 28.-Scenes of violence in connection with the teamsters strike began promptly today, the first victim being a nonunion colored teamster, who was kicked and beaten into insensibility by strike sympathizers.

Special details of police were sent to the Employers Teaming company in Eighteenth street near State street where nonunion teamsters are employed. It was feared the most serious disturbance would occur in the vicinity of these stables.

Employers Aggressive.The employers were aggressive in operating with nonunion teamsters. Under escort of a large force of policemen wagons were sent out from Marshall Field & Co.’s stables, notwithstanding the streets in the vicinity were crowded with teams of strike sympathizers. Nonunion teamsters were jeered and hooted by the mob while a number of teamsters wearing union buttons attempted to form blockades. Prompt action by the police forced a passage through for the nonunion conveyances.

Fifty negroes from the south who are to take the place of strikers arrived in a box car on the Burlington railroad today.

Department Store Hit.Sixty drivers for Hillman’s department store joined the strike ranks today. Striking unions declared a boycott on the Great Northern and Heyworth buildings. Union officials said today 500 tons of coal had been stored in the sub-cellar of the Heyworth building and was being used as supply for Montgomery Ward & Co.

Most Dangerous Disturbance.Chicago, April 28.-Chicago is facing the most dangerous labor disturbance since the Debs strike of 11 years ago, if not the most serious in its history. The business of the city, already partly paralyzed, may soon be completely enveloped, so far as it is dependent upon teaming, by the greatest teamsters’ strike on record. By next Monday morning, perhaps, before that time, all of the 25,000 union drivers who handle so important a part of the city’s traffic may be involved.

The employers expect to apply to the United States courts for a blanket injunction. The state court order protecting the business of Montgomery Ward & Co. lacks the force that is needed.

Beyond Control of Union Leaders.Union leaders declared last night that the conflict had got beyond their control, even if they should desire to limit it. The leading merchants and business men, too, realized their impotency to check its spread. They simply assembled all the resources in their power and prepared to meet the attack and cope with it.

Lurking behind the teamsters’ contest is the shadow of a greater war-one in which organized capital and organized labor may clash in Chicago for supremacy. Only the conservatism of some of the labor leaders, it is believed, may avert the lining up of the combined forces of the workmen against their employers, in all branches of industry, in such a contest.

———-[Photograph added.]

———-

SOURCE
Rock Island Argus
(Rock Island, Illinois)
-Apr 25, 1905
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/…
-Apr 26, 1905
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/…
-Apr 27, 1905
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/…
-Apr 28, 1905
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/…

IMAGES
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Charter with AFL
http://teamster.org/…
Striking Garment Worker of Chicago
http://www.newspapers.com/…
Cornelius Shea, 1903
http://teamster.org/…
Police Sergeant Cummings
http://www.newspapers.com/…
Scene from Chicago Teamsters Strike
http://www.newspapers.com/…

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Workers of the World Awaken

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Saturday April 1, 1905 From the International Socialist Review: Bohn and Simons Debate the Manifesto

Hellraisers Journal: Are Cracks Appearing in Truce between S. P. of A. and Socialist Labor Party?

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Saturday April 8, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – Teamsters Strike in Solidarity with United Garment Workers

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago “Teamsters on Strike; Great Battle Begins.” Unions Stand in Solidarity

TEAMSTERS ON STRIKE; GREAT BATTLE BEGINS ———-

EXPRESS WAGONS MAY STOP TODAY ———-

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Monday April 10, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – Teamster Strike Grows Bitter as Conference Fails “Utterly”

Hellraisers Journal: Patrol Wagons Guard Trucks as Teamsters Strike Grows More Bitter and Talks Fail

BOTH SIDES HURL GAGE OF BATTLE. ———-

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Tuesday April 11, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – Josephine Conger Spends a Day in Chicago’s Juvenile Court

Hellraisers Journal: Josephine Conger of Appeal to Reason Spends a Day in Chicago’s Juvenile Court

Among the Dregs

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Thursday April 13, 1905 From The Indianapolis News: A Letter to the Editor Defends Unionism and Socialism

Hellraisers Journal: “All Honor to Moyer and Haywood, Gompers to the Contrary Not Withstanding.”

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Saturday April 15, 1905 From the International Socialist Review: I. Ladoff on the Revolutionary Russia

Hellraisers Journal: Isador Ladoff on the Revolutionary Movement in Russia “Perish Parasitism!

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Sunday April 16, 1905 Houghton, Michigan – Mother Jones Arrives to Assist Strikers and WFM Organizers

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Arrives in Michigan Copper Country, Will Assist W. F. of M.

OPERATORS WILL NOT TEMPORIZE ———–

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Friday April 21, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – Actions of Coal Team Owners Likely to Spread Teamsters’ Strike

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Teamsters Sympathetic Strike May Soon Spread Across the City

SPREAD OF STRIKE MAY START TODAY ———-

““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

Thursday April 27, 1905 From The Independent: Rose Schneiderman Tells the Story of a Cap Maker’s Life

Hellraisers Journal: Rose Schneiderman, “So we must stand together to resist.” Life of a Cap Maker

A Cap Maker’s Story

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Saturday April 29, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – Federal Injunction Issued Against Striking Chicago Teamsters

Hellraisers Journal: Fight Is On- “Federal Injunction Is Issued to Check Striking Chicago Teamsters”

CHICAGO EMPLOYERS DECIDE TO KEEP UP WAR AGAINST TEAMSTERS ———-

STRIKE SPREADS ———-

FEDERAL INJUNCTION IS ISSUED TO CHECK STRIKING CHICAGO TEAMSTERS ———-

““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

Saturday April 1, 1905
From the International Socialist Review: Bohn and Simons Debate the Manifesto

Saturday April 8, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Teamsters Strike in Solidarity with United Garment Workers

TEAMSTERS ON STRIKE;
GREAT BATTLE BEGINS
———-

EXPRESS WAGONS MAY STOP TODAY
———-

Monday April 10, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Teamster Strike Grows Bitter as Conference Fails “Utterly”

BOTH SIDES HURL GAGE OF BATTLE.
———-

Tuesday April 11, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Josephine Conger Spends a Day in Chicago’s Juvenile Court

Thursday April 13, 1905
From The Indianapolis News: A Letter to the Editor Defends Unionism and Socialism

Saturday April 15, 1905
From the International Socialist Review: I. Ladoff on the Revolutionary Russia

Sunday April 16, 1905
Houghton, Michigan – Mother Jones Arrives to Assist Strikers and WFM Organizers

OPERATORS WILL NOT TEMPORIZE
———–

Friday April 21, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Actions of Coal Team Owners Likely to Spread Teamsters’ Strike

SPREAD OF STRIKE MAY START TODAY
———-

Thursday April 27, 1905
From The Independent: Rose Schneiderman Tells the Story of a Cap Maker’s Life

Saturday April 29, 1905
Chicago, Illinois – Federal Injunction Issued Against Striking Chicago Teamsters

CHICAGO EMPLOYERS DECIDE TO KEEP UP
WAR AGAINST TEAMSTERS
———-

STRIKE SPREADS
———-

FEDERAL INJUNCTION IS ISSUED TO CHECK
STRIKING CHICAGO TEAMSTERS
———-