Hellraisers Journal: Rowan, Flynn, Ettor, and Gruni Speak in Virginia to Striking Mesabi Iron Miners

Monday July 31, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – 1500 Striking Miners Hear I. W. W. Speakers

From The Duluth News Tribune of July 29, 1916:

I. W. W. SPEAKER PROMISES PEACE
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Assures Large Audience There Will Be
No Dynamite or Guns Used.
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VIRGINIA, July 28.-“No dynamite will be used, no guns are to be fired, there is nothing to be afraid of in this strike,” declared E. Rowan, speaking to hundreds of strikers and citizens of Virginia from the balcony of the Socialist opera house tonight, in his initial address as an I. W. W. leader.

The 500 strikers who marched from Virginia to Eveleth returned 800 strong tonight, increased by the forces from Aurora, Biwabik, Gilbert, Elba and Eveleth.

The meeting tonight was attended by probably 1,500 people, necessitating the working of two speakers at a time.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joseph Ettor, Joseph Grunl [Gruni] and [Ed] Rowan were the principal speakers. Musical selections were rendered between the talks.

Hopes To Free Everyone.

The steel trust has not only the miners, but every man and woman on the range by the throat. They are the violent ones. No I. W. W. organizer has yet been violent nor has he advocated violence. The I. W. W. hopes to free not only the miners, but also the clerks in stores, in mills and others from industrial slavery. They keep you at starvation wages and then lay you off in the winter and hard times. When they cannot make a big profit on you, they turn you out to enter the bread and soup lines. Many miners who have not struck say: “I want to work and save to go into business for myself.” How many of you miners even own your own homes?”
It is a well known fact that the miner has to slip his captain a $5 bill to keep his job in the mine. Is that not slavery? Of course some captains are honest, but what percentage?

It is better to strike for a job and get a good one than to buy a poor one and keep paying for it all the time.

The stockholders, the capitalists, live in luxury, spend the hotter summers on the seashore, the winters in florida. You sweat and fall from the heat in summer and freeze in the winter.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn stirred her audience in the hall to repeated outbursts of applause.

Don’t be Afraid of Jail.

[She said:]

Don’t be afraid of jail…Continue to show the steel trust that you can stick out on the strike indefinitely as you have in the past. Tresca, Scarlet [Scarlett] and other fellows in jail are comfortable. They are comfortable, stationed in a nice cool brick building with a lake breeze that makes them more comfortable than any person on the range.

I never saw a better, more orderly or more enthusiastic strike. We are not here to start any trouble. All the trouble will be caused by the gunmen.

None of the strikers are suffering because of the strike. We have food for everyone. Why, even some of the lean, hungry-looking gunmen I saw on the road today will be welcome to come and partake of the hospitality of the I. W. W.s and we will give them a meal that will last them for three days.

Feed All Comers.

In the basement of the Socialist hall, the strikers are maintaining their mess quarters. A dozen immense cream cans of coffee were in the room and sandwiches were piled by the hundreds, where anyone who wished to eat were provided. Cold and warm roast meats were also served and everyone was invited to be the guests of the I. W. W….

SOURCE
The Duluth News Tribune
(Duluth, Minnesota)
-July 29, 1916, page 14
http://www.genealogybank.com/

The Industrial Workers of the World, 1905-1917
-by Philip Sheldon Foner
International Publishers, 1965
https://books.google.com/books?id=e-KlAAAAMAAJ

Joe Ettor (1885-1948)
http://alchetron.com/Joseph-James-Ettor-1269637-W

There Is Power In A Union – Billy Bragg