Category: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part III

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, My Aim in Life, Spk Rv p7, July 8, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 27, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part III

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 15, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
—–

(Concluded From Last Week)

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and Lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909.

EGF, Spokane IW p3, July 22, 1909

We had another strike, or contemplated strike, last spring in the coal mining district, the United Mine Workers of America-I was going to say one of the backbones of the America Federation of Labor, because it is like a jelly fish, it has lots of backbone! That organization had a convention in Scranton and they decided not to strike, though they were very anxious to get better conditions in the mines. A good mine contract expired in April. What kind of a time is that to strike? Who cares anything about coal in April The time for a coal mine to strike is very much the same time as the time for a hotel workers strike.

The strikers in Butte told me that they were dissatisfied with their wages, and they wanted more and they were going to wait until prosperity came back and then they were going to strike. Can’t you see them waiting? And I said, “The time for you to strike is next week when there will be a convention of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the town will be filled with members and all the hotels will be on their good behaviour and the town of Butte trying to make a great show of their wealth and generosity; then would be the time to strike.” And can’t you see the hotel managers and the restaurant owners coming to time if the girls struck then? The time to strike is when you are most needed and when it hurts the boss most. (Applause.)

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Gurley Flynn, Dressed as Miner, Visits Mine with P. W. Flynn, President of Butte Miners’ Union

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, My Aim in Life, Spk Rv p7, July 8, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 26, 1909
Butte, Montana – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Visits Mine with P. W. Flynn

The following is a photograph of Miss Flynn and P. W. Flynn (on her left), President of the Butte Miners’ Union, Local No. 1 of the Western Federation of Miners. The photograph was taken June 16th during a visit to one of Butte’s many mining operations. Sadly, the others in the photograph remain unidentified to this date.

EGF, Butte Mine w PW Flynn, June 16, 1909, Rebel Girl p98

Miss Flynn describes the visit:

President Flynn and a committee…escorted me down into a mine. We donned miners’ caps and overalls to make the trip. The mine was so deep that the earth was actually hot. They also took me through a smelter, where a friendly worker ran an iron bar an inch or two into the molten copper and then cooled and hardened it [and gave it to her as a souvenir].

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Interview with Spokane Review: “Girl, 19, Fights in Cause of Labor”

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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———

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 25, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Devoted to Downtrodden

From the Spokane Spokesman-Review of July 8, 1909:

GIRL, 19, FIGHTS IN CAUSE OF LABOR
—–
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Industrial Agitator,
Devotes Life to Downtrodden.
—–

STARTED WHEN ONLY 15
—–
Young Woman Believes in Evolution and
Socialism and Rejects Christianity.
—–

EGF, Restored, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

I will devote my life to the cause of the downtrodden wage-earner.

My father was a victim of the master class and my brothers and sisters and myself have felt the pinch of poverty as the result of industrial tyranny and I am in the fight to a finish.

My sole aim in life is to do what lies in my power to right the wrongs and lighten the burdens of the laboring class.

In these words Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, not yet 19 years old, explained how she came to take to the lecture platform in the interests of the Industrial Workers of the World, an organization which conceives all capitalists to be its deadly enemies.

Only Slip of a Girl.

She is only a slip of a girl, tall, pale and slender, but she has strong convictions and a will to stick to a purpose.

Taking the lecture platform before she was 16 years old, at the completion of her high school course in New York city, she has followed her work persistently for more than three years and is regarded as one of the most effective apostles of the organization.

She has appeared in nearly every city in the country.

She sat for nearly an hour last night telling of her work and its purpose.

There was no bitterness in her words as she spoke of industrial conditions as she sees them, in fact, she smiled several times and her eyes sparkled with a kindly light.

There was no denunciation, no venom, only regret that things are not better than they are.

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part II

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF re Useless Capitalist Class, Ptt Prs p47, Sept 27, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 11, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part II

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 8, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
———-

EGF, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909 [Part II].

The Slave Market.

Go look down the street to these employment agencies and what do you see? You see, “Men wanted-a dollar and a half, two dollars, two dollars and seventy-five cents per day.” And a lot of these men work for two dollars and a half, because they must; and if you want two dollars and a half, there will be probably the together fellow that will cut you down to two dollars, and the man gets the job, takes a wage upon which he can barely exist and hold body and soul together, and he does not know after his job tonight where his supper is to be had a week from tonight! And that working man and men is the type that forms the average worker in this country, these “Jobless” are the man that is so anxious for a job at two and half dollars or a dollar and seventy-five cents a day.

And what comes of the rest of the labor’s production; where goes the millions upon millions that labor produces? Surely the dollar and seventy-five cents, the dollar and a half, or even three dollars a day does not represent the sum total of the product of labor; for if it did, the worker would not be getting his wage. The employer does not take us for love; he does not like us and he does not give us a job because we are going to be brothers in heaven. That does not interest him a bit. The only thing he worries about is, can he make a profit on our labor and if he cannot, surely we won’t get the job. And so it stands to reason, no matter how high or how low our wages, there is something over and above, that goes to the master for himself and the bargain that we make is simply divvying up with the men that employ us and saying to them we will work in your factory and I will give you the bulk of the product, work the first two hours for myself, produce my wage, ad then pay you for being a good boss and giving it to me; and then the rest of the day put in producing enough to pay for the raw material, the wear and tear on the machinery and reward you for allowing me to produce it for you; and of course the capitalists say to such a bargain as that “Absolutely delighted,” and accept. (Applause.)

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part I

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF re Useless Capitalist Class, Ptt Prs p47, Sept 27, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 10, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part I

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 8, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
———-

EGF, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909.

This meeting as you well know, is held under the [auspices?] of the Industrial Workers of the World. The organization is a new form of labor organization, one that stands for the industrial working class and that class alone. We are not interested in the welfare or the ideas of any other class in society; and we who are the members of the tolling class have in these sufficient of our own interests that need looking after, that we have no time to bother with other classes.

The working class of this country look out upon a situation where there are natural resources present to supply the entire world with plenty; they look out upon an industrial situation which has invented machinery capable of getting these natural resources with but little labor expenditure into finished commodities of necessities or luxuries. Yet in spite of that and in spite of the productiveness made possibly by men who labor and the natural abundance of the earth itself, in spite of that, we have people starving in this country and five million idle; over a million child laborers in the United States; seventy thousand children in New York City and fifty thousand in Chicago that go to school without a breakfast in the morning we have a condition in which the majority of the people are a propertyless class, are a class that own no land, that control none of that productive machinery, that control absolutely nothing in this land of the free and home of the brave but their own labor power, their own abilities to work. Just the same as the mule can pull a big load, so a worker can handle his labor power, muscular energy; and is the only thing he has; and if some trust could have been organized to separate us from that, to divide us from ourselves. I suppose even that would have been done long ago.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Northwest Tour of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn-From Chicago, to Butte, to Spokane

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Life and Liberty, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 4, 1909
The Northwest Tour of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for June 1909

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of June 3, 1909:

FROM ELIZABETH G. FLYNN.

My husband, J. A. Jones, has written to me from Cobalt [Ontario] saying he owes $2.50 to the Industrial Worker, but that he is “broke” and asking me to forward the amount to you. Enclosed please find money order for same.

The Industrial Worker is a splendid paper, the only revolutionary sheet in this country, and deserves unqualified success. The May Day issue was fine, went like hot cakes here in Chicago, was well liked by all who read it. I am expecting to be out in the Northwest in about a month’s time if the plans for my trip go through all right, when I will have the pleasure of meeting you and all the fellow workers of that part of the country who are the hope of the Industrial Unionists every where, at present.

[Emphasis added.]

From The Spokane Press of October 7, 1908
-Gurley Flynn and Jack Jones Arrive in Chicago:

EGFand JA Jones Beat Freights to Chg IWWC, Spk Prs p2, Oct 7, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks on Industrial Unionism at IWW Headquarters in Spokane

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Life and Liberty, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 3, 1909
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks at I. W. W. HQ in Spokane

From the Spokane Daily Chronicle of July 1, 1909:

WOMAN SPEAKER IS YOUNG GIRL

EGF to Speak at IWW HQ, Spk IW p4, July 1, 1909

The hall of the Industrial Workers of the World was packed on Tuesday night to hear Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of New York. Miss Flynn spoke on “Industrial Unionism.”

The history of this speaker, who is known among the industrial unionists throughout the United States, is full of interest. She is but a girl of 19 years, and yet those who have heard her speak insist that her addresses show she has thought deeply upon the subject considered by her. One of her favorite subjects is “Industrial Unionism and woman’s Suffrage.”

A child of poor parents in New York, she was left destitute at the age of 13. At this early age, it is said, she began to think on the subjects on which she now makes her talks.

Miss Flynn left this city yesterday for Seattle. She will make several addresses in this city and in about a week return to the east.

———-

[Emphasis added. Advertisement added from Spokane Industrial Worker of July 1, 1909.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks on Life and Liberty at Butte Miners’ Day Celebration

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Life and Liberty, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 18, 1909
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Butte Miners’ Day Celebration

From The Butte Inter Mountain of June 14, 1909:

EGF, Miners Un BD, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909
EGF Speaks, Miners Un BD, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909

The Butte Miners’ union has never had a more auspicious birthday than was today, its thirty-first. Thirty thousand people thronged the streets along the line of march and cheered the 2,000 miners and the 1,500 other union members who turned out in tribute to the parent union body of them all, so far as this city is concerned.

Flag day, too, secured its recognition, both from those who joined in the parade and those who watched it. The American flag was borne at the head of every union body. Nearly every individual member wore a tiny flag fast to the lapel of his coat, and it was to be noticed that the official badges of many of the organizations have in them the national colors, and particularly is this true of the Miners,’ union badge.

The parade was one of the longest that has ever taken place here, requiring an hour and five minutes to pass a given point. It started from the corner of Main and Copper streets at 10 o’clock, 30 minutes later than had been intended, but that is a remarkably small delay and speaks well for the able manner in which the bodies which swung into line were handled.

The line was led by a squad of 20 policemen, commanded by Sergeant Brinton. Following them cam President Flynn of the Miners’ union, grand marshal of the day, and his two aides, Robert Crane and John Harrington, all mounted. Immediately behind them marched the Boston & Montana band, once again under the leadership of Sam Treloar.

Next in line were 40 men, members of the Laundry Workers’ union, and behind them 26 carriages, all filled with women members of the Laundry Workers and members of the Woman’s Protective union.

The Clerks’ union turned out 500 strong and brought up the rear of the first division of the parade, which was in charge of John Connelly and Angus McLeod.

The second division in charge of Michael O’Brien and Eli Koskeli, was head by Butte City band, which was followed by the Mill & Smeltermen’s union , of whom there were 80 in line. Engineers’ union No. 83 came next, and nearly as strong in numbers. The Workingmen’s union, the Bartenders’ union and the Bricklayers’ union were also in this division, and the county and city officials in five carriages brought up the rear.

Then came the third division of the parade, the Miners’ union exclusively, headed by the Montana State band, and in charge of Joseph Shannon, Joseph Little, James R. Robinson and Tim Driscoll.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the orator of the day, occupied a carriage immediately following the band.

The miners marched four abreast and each one of his left breast wore the official badge of the union. There were just 1,000 men in the first section of the division. The second section was headed by a fife and drum corps, and first in line behind that came a four-horse carryall for old and disabled miners, who are always given a place of honor in the parade.

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Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Found Speaking to Metal Miners in Butte, Montana

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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EGF Quote, I fell in love with my country, RG 96———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 17, 1909
Butte, Montana – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks to Miners

From The Anaconda Standard of June 16, 1909:

AD, EGF in Butte MT, Acda Stnd p9, June 16, 1909


Miss Flynn Addresses Butte
Miners’ Meeting
—–

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the Joan of Arc of industrial unionism, spoke last evening at the meeting of the Butte Miner’s union, addressing the miners for about two hours. The hall was well filled and the young woman was listened to with close attention. Her talk was much along the same lines as her address on Monday at the opera house. She will speak this evening at a meeting of the stationary engineers. On Thursday evening she will address a public meeting at the Auditorium and on Friday evening she will address a meeting of the Butte workingmen’s union. On Saturday morning she will go to Helena to address some meetings there.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Industrial Worker: Vincent St. John Announces Western Tour of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote V St John, Solidarity Organization, IW p4, May 6, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday May 15, 1909
Western Tour of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from May to July

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of May 6, 1909:

LECTURE TOUR OF MISS E. G. FLYNN
—–

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
—–
General Administration,
310 Bush Temple, Chicago.
—–
Labor Produces All Wealth-
Labor Is Entitled to All It Produces-
An Injury to One Is an Injury to All
—–

EGF, Socialist Joan of Arc, Ctz Honesdale PA p6, May 14, 1909

Fellow Worker: The crying need of the hour with the working class is a form of organization that will create and maintain solidarity. To gain this means constructive work of great proportion. It needs correct education as well as correct form of organization. It means laying the foundation for the rule of the working class. It means the building of an organization that will enable its membership to successfully cope with the employing class in its everyday struggle. It means building an organization that will supplant the capitalist system and secure for the workers the full product of their labor.

Can this work be accomplished?
Can this organization be built?
It can and will!
It must be built!

Industrial Unionism on revolutionary lines will furnish the organization needed.

Agitation, education and organization on industrial lines is first required.

The Industrial Workers of the World is arranging a tour of the West for

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

Miss Flynn is one of the cleverest and best posted industrial unionists before the country today. Her exposition of the aims and objects of Industrial Unionism can be understood by all.

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