And, if in Glorious battle,
Your life should offered be,
Your body will be sent home sure-
But strictly C. O. D.
-W. H. Piper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 17, 1898
St. Louis, Missouri – Body of Corporal Walker Sent Home C. O. D.
From the Appeal to Reason of June 11, 1898:
Poem by W. H. Piper
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Poem for Militiaman Walker, Sent Home for Burial C. O. D.”
To speak for labor; to plead the cause
of the men and women and children who toil;
to serve the working class,
has always been to me a high privilege;
a duty of love.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: clicking on the five tweets below will lead to threads with excerpts from the famous speech by Eugene Debs, 45 in all-some long, some short. Based on charges steming from this speech, Comrade Debs was later prosecuted and sent to Atlanta Federal Prison. Follow Hellraisers Journal for the rest of the story.
Comrades, friends and fellow-workers, for this very cordial greeting, this very hearty reception, I thank you all with the fullest appreciation of your interest in and your devotion to the cause for which I am to speak to you this afternoon.
Eugene Victor Debs, Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918
-Excerpts from speech follow; for full speech see:https://t.co/6XPmSuRjm0 pic.twitter.com/7hjMfNJFq8— WE NEVER FORGET (@LaborMartyrs) June 16, 2018
Highest Duty
To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.
Free Speech or Lack Thereof
It is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.
Eugene Victor Debs, Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918
PART II-Excerpts from speech follow; for full speech see:https://t.co/6XPmSuRjm0 pic.twitter.com/PAoo6AYyJo— WE NEVER FORGET (@LaborMartyrs) June 16, 2018
The Blood of Childhood
The history of this country is being written in the blood of the childhood the industrial lords have murdered.
Unpalatable Truth
And the truth, oh, the truth has always been unpalatable and intolerable to the class who live out of the sweat and misery of the working class.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday June 15, 1918
Ludlow, Colorado – Italian and Slovakian Miners Remember the Martyrs
From the United Mine Workers Journal of June 13, 1918:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 14, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – The Sab-Cat Enters the Courtroom
From The Ohio Socialist of June 11, 1918:
A Second Runnymede
—–By HARRISON GEORGE
It is no new thing-this struggle for human rights. Every morning we Chicago prisoners are taken in irons from the Cook County jail, the tomb of the old “Eight-Hour Movement,” and dumped into a gloomy court room of the Federal Building. How often have court rooms served as undertaking parlors for the aspirations of rebellious workers?
Here in the sepulchral atmosphere of the Law are gathered the class conscious social forces of this age in cut and thrust contest of Capital versus Labor.
Fathoming the shadows of the big room, our eyes discern an inscription within an arch among the mural decorations-“No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseized of his freehold or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or otherwise damaged, but by lawful judgment of his peers. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice.” Did Simon De Montfort and his followers, who forced he tyrant John to accept this Magna Charta at Runnymede, dream that six centuries later in a land whose boasted jurisprudence is based upon their great conquest, these words would lend a sanctity to such hypocritical persecution? We think of Ludlow and Lawrence, Paint Creek and Everett, of Bisbee and Butte-and we wonder why that inscription should not be painted out.
Throughout the month of April we I. W. W. men sat in the dock listening to the endless stream of questions and replies between lawyers and prospective jurors. Nebeker, the Copper Trust attorney, seeking always to constrain the issues and select employers; Vandeveer, for the I. W. W., groping in a basket of bad eggs for those the least bad, seeking to obtain men who have the social mind. “Industrial democracy”-“the class war”-“the right of revolution,” are phrases that flow like sparks from an anvil as Vandeveer, or Cleary, hammer home their questions and forged the tremendous issues. For here is a second Runnymede, and here the I. W. W. must enforce upon a tyrant master class the recognition of a new Magna Charta- the Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Monday June 13, 1898
Chicago, Illinois – Debs Rejects Utopian Colonization Scheme
The Social Democracy of America was founded just one year ago in the same city where now that party is torn asunder as the result of a bitter disagreement between those who prefer to purchase themselves a refuge from the oppression of Capitalism and those who are willing to remain in thick of the fight against the forces of Capitalism.The latter group of Socialists includes Eugene Debs who has always and ever stood shoulder to shoulder with working class men, women and children,-injunctions, gunthugs, and prison bars be damned.
From The Chicago Chronicle of June 12, 1898:
Debs Goes Out:
Social Democracy is Split into Two FactionsEugene V. Debs left the Social Democracy of America, which he founded and of which he was President, at 2:30 o’clock yesterday morning [June 11th] and the men who seceded under his leadership formed the Social Democratic Party of America. In one year’s experience he had determined that the colonization scheme which he had fathered was chimerical and that political action should be the purpose of the organization. When the convention in Ulhich’s Hall, after a night of bitter debate, upheld colonization by a vote of 52 to 36, Debs and his followers walked out and in the Revere House organized a new society and adopted a new platform.
While the old Social Democracy will embark at once on the establishment of its first cooperative community in the mining industry at Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, the Social Democratic Party will confine its work to propagating the principles of socialism by the use of the ballot. The division extends to the old leaders. Of the men who were imprisoned in Woodstock Jail in consequence of the great railroad strike of 1894 E.V. Debs and Sylvester Keliher are in the seceding faction, while W.E. Burns, James Hogan, Roy Goodwin, and J.F. Lloyd adhere to the old party. In both organizations the officers are new, but the former leaders are the ruling spirits.
And there’s Gene Debs—a man ’at stands
And jest holds out in his two hands
As warm a heart as ever beat
Betwixt here and the Jedgment Seat!
-James Whitcomb Riley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 12, 1918
Canton, Ohio – “Monster Picnic” to Follow State Socialist Convention
Eugene Debs will be the featured speaker on Sunday, June 16th, at Nimisilla Park where the Socialist Party of Ohio will celebrate the end of their state convention which will begin June 14th at Tigers Hall in Canton. “A good time all day” is promised.
From the Ohio Socialist of June 11, 1918:
“Monster State Picnic”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 11, 1918
Fort Wayne, Indiana – Claude G. Bowers Describes Debs on Speaker’s Platform
Following a speech given May 20th by Eugene Debs at Moose Hall in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Claude G. Bowers devoted space in his column, “Kabbages and Kings,” to give a moving description of Debs as he appeared on the speaker’s platform:
Last week a tall, lean, long-legged man with a lean, thin, sharp face and piercing eyes, stood on the platform at the Moose hall in this city and talked for more than an hour on “Socialism and Democracy.” It was evident that the greater part of the audience was in sympathy with his ideas and more than ordinarily in love with the man. He was a socialist,-perhaps the most famous America has produced….
There was no bitterness against men. Very little mere bitterness against principles and systems. The most biting things were the flash of wit and humor. These cut like a knife but the audience laughed. The speaker was Eugene V. Debs. As an orator he is among the finest….
[Note: the entire column can be found below.]
[Inset is from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette of May 19th.]
—–
I’ll vote for Debs, for the Hope I have
That shall flood the world with its light!
-Harry Tichenor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 10, 1908
From the Appeal to Reason – A Poem for Eugene Debs
Note: The poets name is Henry Tichenor.
—————
National Socialist Ticket
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 9, 1908
Chicago, Illinois – Socialist Party of America Stands with Labor
In this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review, Charles H. Kerr gives a day-by-day account of the national convention of the Socialist Party of America, held in Chicago from May 10th until May 17th. The convention took a strong stand with organized labor, as a whole, while, sadly, side-stepping the issue of Industrial Unionism.
The article by Comrade Kerr was eighteen pages long, from which we offer excerpts below.
From the International Socialist Review of June 1908:
Sunday Session, May 10th:
The Convention opened at 12:30 pm at Brand’s Hall, Chicago. A complete list is given of Delegates representing forty-five states.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 8, 1898
Terre Haute, Indiana – Debs Speaks in Favor of Socialism
From the Huntington Weekly Herald of June 3, 1898:
Debs Talks at Terre Haute.
Terre Haute, Ind., June 2-Eugene Debs Spoke on “The Coming Nation” at the Opera House here [on Tuesday May 31st] to a large audience. The address was for the benefit of the Central Labor union, which has been organized on a stronger basis than ever before in the city. The receipts were large and the fund for the union’s new headquarters will be considerably increased. Debs’ address was an argument in favor of socialism.
———-
[Photograph added.]
From the Terre Haute Gazette of June 1, 1898:
Debs’ Lecture on the “Coming Nation”
—–For the first time in the record of the ages the inalienable rights of man—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—have been usurped.
On July 4th, 1776, our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence by which the ruler descended form his sceptered throne, the gem of liberty was planted in eternal truth, the workingman stood erect in his heaven-decreed prerogative, freed from his bonds.
It was decreed by the infinite that man should stand forth the coronated sovereign of the world. The song of liberty is the song of the stars. There is no more appropriate theme and to wave the banner of freedom. No matter how nature may be decked with beauty, no matter if she sends forth a succession of glorious melodies, if liberty is ostracized and expelled, the world wheels round the sun a gilded prison, a blot to the Siberian sphere of the heavens.
Strike down liberty, no matter by what subtle art, and the world becomes paralyzed by an indescribable power. Strike down the fetters of the plain, and it becomes a new world through the almighty genius of liberty. Its works redeem the poor man from animal suspense and make of him a new being. In our courts the product of our political liberty is being realized to a gratifying extent. I believe in a few years woman will be franchised and we will elect the officers of our country by direct vote. The political democracy will be complete.
