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Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike
From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:
(By United Press.)
LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.
Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.
The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.
The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.
Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.
Chant the Internationale.
The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.
The Lawrence strike seemed a forlorn hope when the workers walked from the mills, leaderless and spent two days aimlessly walking the streets. Then came Joseph Ettor, an organizer of the Industrial Workers of the World, who quickly organized the strike. When Ettor was arrested and held without bail on a charge of “murder” William D. Haywood took charge of the strike and has since directed it.
This was followed by action in the House, and also by the opening of an investigation by Dr. Charles P. Neill, of the Department of Labor, while Federal District Attorney French, of Boston, began a probe of the depot outrage at the direction of Attorney General Wickersham.
Strikers Gained New Courage.
These activities caused an almost immediate suspension of the police tactics in Lawrence, and the strikers took fresh hope. The strikers original demands where a 15 per cent wage increase, double pay for overtime, abolishment of the premium system and no blacklist of persons who had been active in the strike.
It is understood that within a few days, Ettor and his associate, Giovannitti, will be admitted to bail. The strikers have insisted for two weeks that the release of these men was one of their demands, and it has been admitted that following the settlement of the strike a way would be found to get the two strike leaders out of jail.
The tide of public opinion shifted to the strikers following the police assault upon women and children at the depot, two weeks ago. On the following Monday, Senator Miles Poindexter, Republican, from Washington, made an emotional appeal in the Senate, declaring that he had made a personal investigation of conditions at Lawrence, and charging that the police and officials had denied citizens their common rights.
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
The New York Call
(New York, New York)
-Mar 14, 1912
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-new-york-call/1912/120314-newyorkcall-v05n074.pdf
See also:
Tag: Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912
https://weneverforget.org/tag/lawrence-textile-strike-of-1912/
Tag: Lawrence Textile Strike Committee of 1912
https://weneverforget.org/tag/lawrence-textile-strike-committee-of-1912/
Tag: Lawrence Textile Strike Children’s Exodus 1912
https://weneverforget.org/tag/lawrence-textile-strike-childrens-exodus-1912/
United Labor Bulletin
“Official Organ of the State Federation of Labor
and Denver Trades and Labor Assembly”
(Denver, Colorado)
-Feb 29, 1912
Note: part of speech by Sen Poindexter included in article.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1912-02-29/ed-1/seq-1/
CLUBBING OF CHILDREN AROUSES CONGRESS
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Department of Justice, Senate and House of Representatives
Takes Up Investigation.
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Report on Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912
-by Charles Patrick Neill, Labor Commissioner
Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Labor
Washington, DC, 1912
https://archive.org/details/cu31924054583020/page/n3/mode/2up
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The Internationale -Sing in Solidarity Virtual Choir
Lyrics by Eugene Pottier, Translated by Charles H. Kerr
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Workers_(15th_edition)/The_Internationale