The boss will be leery, the “stiffs” will be cheery
When we hit John Farmer hard
They’ll all be affrighted, when we stand united
And carry that Red, Red Card.
-Richard Brazier
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday October 18, 1916
From the Harvest Fields to the Lumber Camps: A. W. O. #400
The October 1916 edition of the International Socialist Review reports:
The Militant Harvest WorkersHUNDREDS of swarthy faced, hard muscled harvest workers are now turning their backs upon a hard summer’s work and are bound for the lumber camps and mills in the northwest, where they will be heard from during the coming winter.
The Agricultural Workers Organization, better known among the farmers as Local 400 I. W. W., is closing its second year’s work 20,000 strong. The members are going to carry their organization with them into the lumber camps and on construction work. Thus insuring not only the continued growth of the organization, but new unions in other industries. In spite of the fact that crops were small in North and South Dakota, the boys were able to enforce job control on half of the machines, making $3.50 per day for ten hours’ work.
In Montana the harvest is now on in full blast and the farmers insist upon paying their help by the hour, as well as docking the boys every time they take a drink of water.
The officers of the law have been particularly busy in their efforts to break up the organization. Hundreds of members have been arrested at one time or another during the season, on all sorts of flimsy pretexts. At the present time Charles Bonner is being held at Valley City, N. D. When a lawyer for the Organization wrote to the State’s Attorney, he was advised that there was no state charge against Bonner, and referred to the magistrate, who is holding Bonner under $1,000 bail, which shows how the majesty of the law is tangled up in its own machinations. Of course, the big idea on the part of the Commercial Clubs, Citizens’ Alliances and others of like ilk, is to try and break the organization by piling up as much legal expense as possible. All sorts of false reports are spread thru the little country papers, the following is a fair sample:
I. W. W. SEIZE TRAIN AS SPECIAL
—–
Refuse to Let Nonmembers RideGreat Falls, Mont, Sept. 13.—Twenty-five professed members of the Industrial Workers of the World, a portion of a crowd of more than 100 that boarded a Great Northern freight train yesterday at Havre, were arrested on the train’s arrival here last night at the request of Great Northern Railroad officials. The arrests were made by Sheriff Kommers and his deputies, aided by the entire police force of Great Falls.
According to Conductor Marcott, the men insisted on running the train as an “I. W. W. special” and refused to let any one ride who was not a member of the organization.
At Fort Benton the sheriff was appealed to, but made no arrests because the capacity of the county jail was too small.
The Annual Convention will be held in Chicago, beginning November 20th, when plans will be made for the coming year.
———-
From today’s edition of The Idaho Daily Statesman:
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS TO ORGANIZE LUMBERJACKS
——
Will Continue Activities on Mesaba Range
and in Minnesota Woods.
—–
DULUTH, Minn.-That the Industrial Workers of the World are not through with their Mesaba range program is vouched for by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of New York, who arrived here Tuesday to address a gathering of Swedish Socialists Tuesday night. Miss Flynn will go to the range Wednesday.
[Said Miss Flynn:]
Our work in this part of Minnesota has really just started. We are not only going to continue work among the miners, but will devote much time to the organization of the men who work in the woods. I believe this a rich field-the lumberjacks have no organization. It will be our aim to get them good wages and have them living under sanitary conditions-something they have not had in the past.
Miss Flynn stated that many I. W. W. missionaries would be kept working in the north continually, and that many speakers would be brought here to talk to the workers. She reiterated that Miss Helen Keller and Frank P. Walsh would be here shortly
—–
[Photograph of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn added.]
SOURCES
The International Socialist Review, Volume 17
-ed by Algie Martin Simons, Charles H. Kerr
Charles H. Kerr & Company,
July 1916-June 1917
https://books.google.com/books?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ
ISR Oct 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA195
The Militant Harvest Workers
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA229
The Idaho Daily Statesman
(Boise, Idaho)
-Oct 18, 1916, page 2
http://www.genealogybank.com/
IMAGES
Harvest Workers, Farmer John, ISR Oct 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA229
EGF, New Ulm Rv, MN, July 19, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/80083305/
See also:
Harvest Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World
and Agricultural Laborers in the American West, 1905-1930
-by Greg Hall
Oregon State University Press, 2001
https://books.google.com/books?id=5YoFAQAAIAAJ
WHEN YOU WEAR THAT BUTTON
(Tune: “When You Wore a Tulip”)
By Richard Brazier
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=vTlRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA37
I met him in Dakota when the harvesting was o’er
A “Wob” he was, I saw by the button that he wore.
He was talking to a bunch of slaves in the jungles near the tracks;
He said “You guys whose homes are on your backs;
Why don’t you stick together with the “Wobblies” in one band
And fight to change conditions for the workers in this land.
CHORUS
When you wear that button, the “Wobblies” red button
And carry their red, red card,
No need to hike, boys, along these old pikes, boys
Every “Wobbly” will be your pard.
The boss will be leery, the “stiffs” will be cheery
When we hit John Farmer hard
They’ll all be affrighted, when we stand united
And carry that Red, Red Card.
The “stiffs” all seemed delighted, when they heard him talk that way.
They said, “We need more pay, and a shorter working day.”
The “Wobbly” said “You’ll get these things without the slightest doubt
If you’ll organize to knock the bosses out.
If you’ll join the One Big Union, and wear their badge of liberty
You’ll strike that blow all slaves must strike if they would, be free.