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Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 28, 1921
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1921, Part II:
-Found Speaking in Mexico City at Pan-American Labor Congress
Translated from Mexico City’s El Universal of January 10, 1921:
Mother Jones Arrives in Mexico City
Upon arriving at Buena Vista station in Mexico City [on the morning of January 9th], Mother Jones was met by 2,000 workers among whom were a large feminine contingent from the factories: El Recuerdo, El Buen Tono, Tabacelera, Cigarrera, La Estrella, Departmentos Fabules, and from the Trade Union of Waitresses, etc., all of whom carried, as did the male element, the banners of their respective groups…..
Mother Jones was the object of singular interest. With ninety years on her shoulders, she is one of the most indefatigable fighters for working-class organization in the United States.
Amidst a veritable shower of flowers, Mother Jones was brought in an auto from the platform of the station to the Glorieta Cuauhtémoc, where another contingent of trade union workers were awaiting her. They applauded her and threw fragrant sprays of roses. In the Glorieta, a demonstration was organized to honor Mother Jones, and was followed by a parade to the Hotel St. Francis where several Mexican workers spoke, and the guest of honor answered. She did so in virile and intrepid language, saying , in short, that when she first visited Mexico [in 1911], she never believed the workers’ movement in this country would have reached its present numbers and effectiveness; that she had been struggling in the field of ideas and action for years and years, a a struggle which would end only with her death; that she had dedicated her existence to seeking the economic, moral, and cultural development of the working class. She ended with a tribute to the Mexican workers affirming that only on the day when a single language and a single nation would exist on earth, would human happiness have been achieved.
Mother Jones is an elderly lady whose appearance is as modest as it its admirable, a woman with a very friendly behavior.
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[Photograph added.]
Translated from Mexico City’s Excélsior of January 10, 1921:
Interview with “Madre Juanita”
Our information would not be complete if we had not also interviewed the elderly Mrs. Jones, who is accompanying the American delegates to the Pan-American Federation of Labor Congress, and whom the English-speaking workers affectionately call “Mother Jones,” which the Spanish-speaking workers have translated into “Madre Juanita.” The respectable Mrs. Jones, or “Madre Juanita,” is a singular and highly interesting woman. In spite of her advanced age, she is absolutely in command of all her intellectual faculties, and gave examples of her astonishing memory. She is of extremely cultured and facile conceptions, and above all, gives proof of knowing the history of the world perfectly, and of being familiar with all the workers’ movements which are developing in one or another part of the hemisphere.
When the first words had been exchanged with her, one is convinced that the name the workers had given her could not have been more appropriate. And we do not believe that there is a woman so identified with the sentiment of the classes who suffer, and who loves and helps them so lovingly and disinterestedly as she does. She wore an elegant dress of black velvet, with a jacket of the same color, with very beautiful lace also black, adorning her wrists and neck, with a few small purple decorations peeping out. Her completely white hair and her good-humored face, immediately inspired sympathy.
“Madre Juanita” had not come as a delegate, but had been invited as an honored guest by high functionaries of the government, and we know very specially that Señor General Villarreal , who greeted her affectionately at the station, made her his distinguished guest,. And in addition, a group of ladies from Agrupación Central Femenil (Central Feminine Grouping) was charged with the responsibility of attending her.
Although the pleasant elderly lady had dedicated all her life especially to the plight of the miners, nevertheless, her activities and all her efforts have been placed in the service of the working class in general and of the unfortunates who were thrown into jail unjustly. She has traveled from one end of the United States to the other, solely to obtain the liberty of some poor worker who has unfortunately been incarcerated, and we know that she herself has experienced the cruelty of the prison cell on repeated occasions, solely because she has been considered an enemy of the present social system in existence throughout the world.
In reality, the moment in which we were chatting with her in the “hall” of the Hotel St. Francis, gave us the idea that she is a woman of advanced and radical ideas. She believes in the destruction of the jails as an opprobrium of civilizations. She believes that very soon politicians and statesmen will be shamed and eliminated. She believes that good customs and the duties of each individual should be cultivated by means of civic education and that the “garrote del gendarme” (club of armed French police) or the threat of authority will not be necessary, that they no longer need to exist.
“Madre Juanita” gave us an extensive account of her activities as a worker, and the theories which she developed in the course of her work among the underdogs, to raise them in their moral level and to make them understand by means of special education, that they should love one another, as in a Biblical precept. And that in this world all should be loved, and there should be no hatred.
She told us that more than ten years ago, that is when she had hardly begun propagandist work in the south of the United States for the Mexican Revolution, she had occasion to help several Mexicans to obtain their freedom after having been imprisoned because of their propaganda work. Among the above Mexicans were the present Secretary of Agriculture and Development, General Antonio I. Villarreal, who sometime ago, made a special visit to her in New York and to show his gratitude, gave her a gift of a gold watch which she still has. She also was able to help other Mexicans who had occupied high posts in the government which had followed in Mexico, including Señor Ricardo Flores Magón, although she was not able to get him out of jail because he was re-imprisoned. She informed us that Señor Ricardo Flores Magón had to complete his year his eleven years of sentence in a Los Angeles jail. [Note: Comrade Magón is currently locked behind the bars of Leavenworth Prison, serving a sentence of 21 years, and in extremely poor health.]
This is the second time that she has come to Mexico: the first time, she said, was when the government was that of De la Barra, whom she knew personally, as well as Señor Madero. She worked hard to obtain the friendship between that government and that of the United States, and always has eagerly pressed to get better relations between both peoples.
She told us also that she has been the personal friend of the last president [Woodrow Wilson], and the highest functionaries in Washington esteemed her, listening to her always when she goes to advocate a just cause before them. She has even succeeded in selling these same functionaries the books on Bolshevism which have been translated into English, the sale of which has been dedicated to rescuing men from jail who have unfortunately been prisoners. The funds were used to obtain and pay for the lawyers who defend them.
When we asked her what she thought of Bolshevism, she said that all social movements in the world were good, and that everything depended on the forms in which they were used by each person. She established the theory that since every individual had a different vision or point view, it was natural that some should see Bolshevism as an anarchistic and destructive movement, and others should see it as the highest manifestation of the suffering classes.
She declared herself an enemy of “Prohibition,” considering this law destructive of the liberty and will of men. “It is not with laws that we must banish vice, but with books and education. Then we shall see men hate drink instinctively.” On this particular issue she explained to us that in her opinion, the worker who expends his energy in the factory or the mine, not being an intellectual, looks for liquor as one way of “occupying” his mind, as a means of recreation. And that the day in which we succeed in accustoming the worker to “occupy” his mind with healthy readings or more elevated ideas on the true conception of life, it will no longer be necessary for him to resort to liquor.
At times the lady was enthusiastic and her sentences, spoken with warmth and force, appeared to us as though she was addressing a large audience. It was difficult to follow all her ideas, although to be truthful, we must say that all her concepts were perfectly put together. So that we had the impression that we were dealing with a woman of rare talents, and, as we said in the beginning , with all her facilities, despite her advanced age.
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From The New York Times of January 10, 1921:
MOTHER JONES IN MEXICO CITY
Special Cable to the NEW YORK TIMES.
MEXICO CITY. Jan. 9.-“Mother” Jones arrive here this morning with the Gompers party to attend the [Pan-American] labor convention. In a statement given to the local press she said that labor conditions in the United States were rapidly getting into bad shape. The number of men out of work was increasing. She thought that conditions were getting worse instead of better.
“Mother” Jones said she considered Soviet rule in Russia good, but expected better things to grow out of that movement. She remarked that she thought Soviet rule possible in the United States in the future.
She railed at politicians as universally bad, but added that if workingmen were elected there would also be found some bad ones, but they could change them. According to her, all the labor unions are against the dry law. Personally she favored saloons only as meeting places of workingmen who were unable to maintain clubs. She said that she would take a trip to the scene of the coal strike in the State of Coahuila, as she was specially interested in miners.
The Mexican labor unions, it is held, played a trick on Gompers when they sent Morones, known as a radical, and Haberman, who represents the Russian Soviet, to the border to meet the labor party. It is understood that Morones received permission to cross the border for one day, but admittance to Haberman was refused. This action of the border guards was considered singular as Haberman was in New York for a short time, returning to Mexico City.
Haberman’s career started in Yucatan, where he was with General Alvarado. Later he caused a split in the Reds of Mexico City. Haberman worked for a few months in a drug store here, leaving to adopt an extreme radical attitude, being appointed a teacher of Russian in a government school. He is known as an extreme Red, constantly preaching the Soviet doctrine.
Local Reds are preparing a meeting for Monday to overcome the influence of the visit of Gompers.
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From the Washington Evening Star of January 13, 1921:
LABOR CONGRESS HEARS TALK
BY ‘MOTHER’ JONES
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Thirty More Questions Likely to Be
Brought Up in Mexico City.By the Associated Press.
MEXICO CITY, January 13.-Delegates to the Congress of the Pan-American Federation of Labor, in session here, listened today to an address by “Mother” Jones, the radical labor leader, who arrived here last week from the United States. She has been a regular attendant at sessions of the congress, although not a delegate, and yesterday was granted special permission to appear this morning before the federation.
The resolutions committee was busily engaged yesterday receiving motions to be brought before the congress, and when the committee adjourned, John P. Frey, its chairman, announced that a score of resolutions dealing with pan-American activity had been received and that the recommendations contained in the report of the executive committee would provide thirty more questions to be brought before the congress for final disposition.
The congress proper enjoyed a virtual holiday yesterday, the day’s session lasting only thirty minutes.
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Mexico City, Pan-American Federation of Labor Congress
-Thursday January 13, 1921-Fourth Day, about 10 A. M.:
Delegate Tobin (presiding):
At this time it gives me great pleasure to present to this Congress one of the noblest characters that we have in the great masses of the workers in the United States. This woman for half a century has struggled amongst the working classes to make the world brighter and better for those who are suffering. She has devoted her life to the cause of the workers, making sacrifices that are almost impossible to explain. She is well-known in every section of our country and in every district in which she visits she brings with her a ray of light and hope. I feel it a very proud privilege and a distinct honor to introduce to you Mother Jones, of the United Mine Workers of the United States.
Address of Mother Jones
[Excerpts from speech.]
Mr. Chairman and fellow workers: The speaker said he was presenting Mother Jones, of the Mine Workers. It is true I have given most of my time to the miners’ organization, but I don’t belong to any individual organization or creed; I belong to the workers wherever they are in slavery, regardless of what their trade or craft may be. I want to say this is something I did not expect was coming to my life while here below—the privilege of speaking and attending a congress where all the elements representing the opportunities of the Western Hemisphere are here to discuss in this meeting the breaking of the chains and bringing in the light that would never darken the world again…..
Some people call us Bolsheviks, some call us I. W. W.’s, some call us Reds. Well, what of it! If we are Red, then Jefferson was Red, and a whole lot of those people that have turned the world upside down were Red. Do you know that? What is the distinction? What is socialism? What is Bolshevism ? What is I. W. W.? Why, my friends, it is the soul of the unrest that is back of all these movements. Who can satisfy a hungry stomach with a small bite of food? You have got to have the food before the stomach gets satisfied. You can’t satisfy the people today with what they had two or four years ago. They are thinking. Professors wonder what is the matter. Newspapers wonder what is the matter. The churches wonder what is the matter. They are all coming to save us, every one coming along. They have got a dose of medicine for us. Don’t you understand what is the matter today?
The man up in the tower, watching the clouds rumbling all over, knows that before there is a crash of thunder there are clouds everywhere, and so it is today, my friends. There is unrest everywhere, and it is not only in the United States, but all over the Western Continent—it has reached everywhere. The reason is because the world’s workers have produced the enormous wealth of the world, and others have taken it; therefore, when the war was over, soldiers began to ask what was this war for, and why did we give up our wives and join the army. There is discontent everywhere, no matter where you, go.
The truth is reaching the hearts of the workers the world over, and we are in that age; we are in that day; as the shepherds were back in Jerusalem, when they were guiding the sheep along to care for them and see that they were fed. We are doing the same, we are developing the brain and heart of the workers and we are feeding them, my friends, on a logical line; we are not feeding them with stars rotating up in the sky, but with logic of today, and you have got to realize one thing—that we are never going back to the conditions we have left behind…..
Let me say this to you: There is no army of churches, no foreign home missions; there are no welfare workers; Y. M. C. A.’s; no Salvation Armies, that have done the Christian teaching for the betterment of the nations and of humanity that the trade union movement has done. It has had the enemies of capitalism on every side, but it has moved on regardless. It has faced the jails, it has been subjected to calumny and slander, but it has moved onward and upward and forward……
We are moving, my friends, and are going to keep that battle on and we can say to you miners of Mexico and the miners of the United States: “Unite!” I speak so much about the miners, because mining is the basic industry and the miners are the federated army in the labor movement of America. I have learned them, and for that reason I remain with them. Again I am going to tell you, no good is coming from uplift. It is not coming from the top, it is coming from here coming from below…..
I stand here pleading with you as one of you to stand together on the solid ground for industrial freedom for yourself. You are here for a purpose. You are here to make your home better. And in the days to come when you have departed the loved ones left behind will come over your grave and with the birds above they will sing that beautiful song: “He did well; he did his work for us; because of what he did we are here to kiss the ground he is in.”…..
We are going on; we are going on for a better world; we are going to carry the message to Central and South America. We are going to carry the message that will conquer the common foe of humanity. We are going to take over the industry. We are going to take the money from the robbers that have robbed ; yes, we are going to do business. I am trying to speak clearly. We have got the greatest, finest organization, but the robbers are trying to get the wealth, and we want to help you stand together. Some men have been thinking that my days are counted. I have more fight in me than ten years ago. You, South Americans, particularly, stand together now solidly. I am coming down to South America some day. Keep your heads level and build your organizations. Stand together, let nothing divide you, and make every part of this hemisphere a fit place for men and women and children to live in.
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Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones PAFL Congress, p72, Jan 13, 1921
Pages 72-76: Jan 13th, Address of Mother Jones
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003670712&view=2up&seq=74&q1=mother%20jones
Mother Jones Speaks
Collected Writings and Speeches
-ed by Philip S. Foner
Monad Press, 1983
Note: Articles from Excelsior and El Universal
were translated by Roslyn Held Foner.
(search: “madre juanita” excelsior january 1921)
https://books.google.com/books?id=T_m5AAAAIAAJ
The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-Jan 10, 1921
https://www.newspapers.com/image/20341633/
The Evening Star
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-Jan 13, 1921
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1921-01-13/ed-1/seq-10/
Report of the Proceedings of the Third Congress of the
Pan-American Federation of Labor, Held in Mexico City, Mexico,
January 10th to 18th, inclusive, 1921
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003670712&view=2up&seq=1
Pages 72-76: Jan 13th, Address of Mother Jones
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003670712&view=2up&seq=74&q1=mother%20jones
IMAGE
Mother Jones, NYC Dly Ns p12, May 7, 1920
https://www.newspapers.com/image/391486555/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 27, 1921
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1921, Part I:
–Found Traveling from West Virginia to Mexico City with Fred Mooney
-for full speech and for more information on
persons and events named above, see the following :
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 13, 1921
Mexico City – Mother Jones Greeted by Shower of Flowers
Hellraisers Journal – Friday January 14, 1921
Mexico City – Mother Jones Speaks at Pan-American Labor Congress
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Mother Jones – No More Deaths For Dollars