Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 2, 1900
St. Louis, Missouri – Strikers Slaughtered by Posse Comitatus
From the International Socialist Review of July 1900:
The Chicago and St. Louis Strikes
[Part II of II.]
St. Louis Republican of June 11, 1900
The St. Louis street car strike, like the one just described, started with various subjects of dispute and soon narrowed down to a question of the recognition of the right of the men to act together. From the beginning this strike was marked with acts of violence. However much this may be deplored the fact remains that so long as capital exists it is impossible for any large strike to continue for any length of time without the accompaniment of violence. This is especially true when lines of transportation are concerned.
When non-union men are so conspicuously engaged in treason to their class as they must be when they run street cars or railroad trains in time of strike it would require a stage of human development far above that of capitalism to produce the sort of human beings that will stand idly by and see their means of living taken away and not resort to violence. But before commenting further on the subject of violence during strikes a few observations are necessary. In the first place it is well to remember that the press is in the control of the present ruling capitalist class and always exaggerates any violence that may take place and in a great many instances, notably during the great railroad strike of 1894, manufactures out of whole cloth long and elaborate stories of acts of violence that never occurred at all. This in itself is sufficient proof of which class it is that deserves violence, “The wish is father to the thought.”
It must also be remembered that in every great city capitalism has created a class of desperate despairing human beings who, while an essential product of our present civilization are forced to prey upon it to live. These denizens of the slums, the “lumpen proletariat,” the criminal classes, are the natural allies of the capitalist class and in every contest between the employing and the employed class, whether on the economic, political or military field, they are of the greatest assistance to the capitalists. These were the ones who at St. Louis committed the outrages, so far as such outrages actually existed, upon helpless women and defenseless men.
In its attempts to put down these outrages the uselessness and injustice of the capitalist state even to perform its function as a “preserver of law and order,” a “Politzei Staat [Police State],” was brought into full prominence. Not only were they unable to reach and punish the actual perpetrators but when they finally did attempt to punish any one for these outrages, their vengeance fell upon three little girls, twelve and fourteen years of age, who were sentenced to imprisonment for two years. These were almost the only persons reached and punished by the regularly constituted machinery of the law during, what, if we are to believe some of the capitalist press of this country was practically a two weeks reign of terror.
It might be said in this connection that the children so punished had a long “bill of wrongs” against the society that made them the inmates of a penal institution. Two of them were half-orphans and the father of one of these had been rendered a helpless cripple with but one leg by an accident such as our modern industrialism compels millions of laborers to risk every day of their lives. None of them had received any opportunities of education worthy of the name and all were working at the disgusting, degrading, murderous occupation of tobacco stripping at wages of one, two and three dollars a week respectively.
There were other peculiar and interesting features developed during the progress of the contest. The mayor belonged to one political party while the state government was controlled by the other, and it so happened that St. Louis is in the ridiculous situation that is so common in Europe but rare here, in that its police are under state control.
Thus it was possible to “play politics” and pretend to cater to the laborers while leaving capitalist interests intact. The state authorities declared on the side of the laborers and refused to use the police as “efficiently” as the employers wished, while the governor refused to call out the state troops.
So it became necessary for some other action to be taken, and a “posse comitatus” was formed under the direction of the sheriff. Warrants were issued for 2,500 “good citizens” to take up arms for the preservation of peace. They were given repeating shot guns and sent out to patrol the city. The result was easy to see. On the tenth of June a small boy threw a stone at a passing car. Immediately afterward a revolver shot was heard. Who fired it or at what no one now pretends to know. At any rate he hit no one. But this shot was taken as a signal for the deputies to empty their murderous weapons into a street full of people. Three strikers and one bystander were killed and seven other persons wounded. By any standard of judgment save that of capitalist expediency this was murder.
From then on the history of the strike is short. The men were gradually crushed to one side and the cars are being operated by non-union labor. In the meantime the boycott has been tried as it was in Cleveland, Brooklyn, and other cities wherever there have been street car strikes. In this respect the St. Louis strike has duplicated the experience of those cities. There has been the same fierce denunciation and persecution of those who dared to violate the boycott, the same attempt to extend its influence secondarily by boycotting all those who had any connection with those who rode on the street cars, the same attempt at competition with other vehicles and in all probability the future will see the same gradual fizzle in the end.
It is a slow and painful way to learn but it seems that it is only through repeated experiences of this sort that the laborers can be brought to realize that on the economic ground they are fighting according to rules laid down by their opponents and on ground of their enemy’s choosing.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 1, 1900
Chicago, Illinois – Great Lock-Out of Building Trades Continues
From the International Socialist Review, Volume I, Issue 1
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