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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 17, 1911
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1911
Found in Pittsburgh Speaking at Rally on Behalf of James McNamara
From The Pittsburg Press of May 28, 1911:
BIG RALLY BY HOSTS OF LABOR
———-
Demonstration Against McNamara “Kidnaping”
Transformed Into Meeting in Favor
of the P. R. R. Strike
———-DEBS, “MOTHER” JONES AND DE LEON SPEAK
—–
One of the biggest labor demonstrations ever known in this community took place last night around the old bandstand in West Park, North Side, where from over 6,000 persons, mostly workingmen, gathered to listen to vehement addresses protesting against the arrest and “kidnaping” of Secretary James [John J.] McNamara, of the Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. Widely-known Socialist leaders, among them Eugene V. Debs, “Mother” Jones and Daniel de Leon, were the principal speakers of the occasion.
The demonstration, which was originally instituted in behalf of McNamara, was transformed by the remarks of Mr. Debs, before the meeting was half an hour old, into a rally in the interests of the striking Pennsylvania Railroad shopmen. Debs urged every man and woman present to throw the weight of his or her influence in favor of the strikers.
The meeting was preceded by a parade half a mile long from the Labor Temple on Webster avenue to the Allegheny parks. Probably 4,000 men were in line. In the van was a large squad of the city mounted police. The procession proper was led by the local Socialistic organization, members of which turned out in large numbers. The strikers from the Twenty-eighth street shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad came next in order, and a big delegation from the Ormsby shops, on the South Side, formed the rear.
LOUD CHEERS FOR DEBS.
J. W. Slayton, Socialist candidate for governor at the last election, estimated that from 2,500 to 3,0O0 strikers marched to West park and that the gathering about the band stand numbered 10,000. The estimate of the police, who were out in force, was more conservative.
The demonstration was characterized by a socialist on the platform as a “proletarian uprising against injustice.” None of the officers of the American Federation of Labor were present, and trades unionism was not officially represented.
Frederick Merrick was the first speaker. His address was brief, but emphatic. He emphasized demands of the striking Pennsylvania shopmen and declared the “kidnaping of McNamara the worst kind of injustice.”
Mr. Debs, the socialist leader, was late in arriving. He came into town from Punxsutawney. His arrival on the bandstand was greeted with a storm of applause and a selection by way of compliment from the brass band. Mr. Debs spoke for almost an hour. He was aggressive in his attack on corporate interests, and laid particular stress on the present as being a turning point in the history of local workingmen, and in their struggle for recognition and consideration.
ALL HEAR “MOTHER” JONES.
The speaker dwelt long on the shopmen’s strike and was cheered to the echo by his audience. When she concluded scores leaped to the stage to tender their congratulations.
Daniel de Leon was the third orator. In substance his remarks were very similar to those of Debs. He encouraged the striking shopmen, characterized their treatment by the railroad company in the strongest of terms, and pleaded with the big audience in the battle.
Introduced as the best speaker of the evening, “Mother” Jones, of anthracite coal region fame, who for many months has worked as a nurse among the striking Westmoreland county miners, was greeted with an outburst of cheers and hand-clapping. Her voice proved equal to the occasion, and her ringing declarations of love for the workingman and her determination to devote all her years and abilities to their interests could be heard to the farthest fringe of the great crowd. “Mother” Jones made a short, but stormy, address and held her listeners in rapt attention.
E. R. Markley was chairman of the gathering. He announced a meeting for tonight in the Labor Temple, at which, he said, “Mother” Jones, De Leon and a number of local men would speak.
A feature of the parade was the presence of a youthful organization of boy and girl Socialists, numbering about 150. The children marched all the way from the Labor Temple to the park and stood close to the bandstand throughout the evening.
[Photograph added.]
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From the Daily People of May 31, 1911
-by Comrade E. R. Markley:
PITTSBURG PROTEST
—————AGAINST CONSPIRACY OF M’NAMARA’S KIDNAPPING.
———-
Among the Biggest of Labor Demonstrations
Ever Seen in Smoky City
-Monster Parade Followed by Monster
Open Air Meeting at Allegheny Park
-Debs, De Leon and Mother Jones
Address the Crowd from the Band Stand.(Special Correspondence.)
Pittsburg, Pa., May 28.-After three weeks of the hardest kind of work, against terrible odds, we succeeded in pulling off on Saturday, May 27th, one of the greatest demonstrations ever held in the Smoky City. It was in protest against the kidnapping of John J. McNamara, for the alleged blowing up of the Los Angeles Times building. This was the cause of bringing together a mighty host of working men. All difference that divided us in the past were forgotten. The working class gathered in strength as an answer to the latest act in the bloody drama, when Labor has so long been crucified on the altar of Capitalistic greed, warning the crucifiers that the day for these judicial murders and other violations is coming to an end.
It was spontaneous outpouring of all the hosts of labor, that materialized like a mighty army at the Labor Temple, and formed in the greatest parade in the history of the Smoky City. It is estimated that there were from fifteen to twenty thousand in line. After the formation, with bands and banners leading, the monster parade marched through the principal streets of the city to Allegheny Park, where the paraders were address by some of the ablest champions of Labor in the land.
When the parade had reached the park, the meeting was called to order by the chairman, E. R. Markley, who at once introduced F. H. Merrick, as “The Fighting Editor of Justice,” who, with pointed speech showed the necessity of a more solid organization of the working class to combat the ever encroaching tyranny of our masters.
Merrick gave way to Eugene V. Debs, who received a mighty ovation. He showed the reason of the kidnapping and pointed out very plainly that in order to overcome this state of affairs Industrial Unionism is the prime necessity of the hour. He showed the object lesson of the P. R. R. men on strike, and then asked the union men still at work what they thought of themselves, helping the R. R. Co. beat the strikers. He held his audience for an hour, and was cheered to the echo.
Then the Miners’ band played the Marsaillaise, after which Daniel De Leon, Editor of the New York Daily People, was introduced. After the thundering applause subsided, De Leon went into the cause of this kidnapping of the active men in the labor movement. He showed from the time that the Pinkertons handed innocent men in Pennsylvania to the hangman, to the Haymarket affair where those men hanged were innocent, and down to the Moyer-Haywood affair and then McNamara, the whole lot of those cases were similar. The men were arrested for one thing, and tried for another thing. De Leon was heard throughout his address with marked attention, and the applause at the finish sounded the doom of fakirs and kidnappers alike.
Mother Jones then followed. The rousing reception she got told for the popularity which the venerable woman enjoys. In language and style all her own Mother Jones gave fakirs and kidnappers a roasting such as one might expect from one who has put in her life among the toilers of the coal fields. She certainly did give them some of her experience, and at the close of her address she was cheered again and again. We were to have Mother Jones at Labor Temple Theatre the next day, but she was called to the Erwin coal field, where there is a strike on for the last fourteen months [Irwin Coal Field of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania].
On Sunday evening we went to The Labor Temple. At 8:15 p. m. we called the meeting to order, Markley in the chair. After the chairman made a few remarks as to the kidnapping and the labor movement generally, and showed the necessity of laboring men informing themselves on the only subject that can bring them into closet union he introduced Daniel De Leon, who proceeded to deliver one telling point after another. He showed up trial by newspapers and laid it down plainly that this thing will go on until labor wakes up and does for itself what no other power but itself can do. The meeting closed at 10 p. m.
It was good to see the old heads all at the same meeting for the purpose. The hearty greeting, received by Debs, De Leon, and Mother Jones, was the signal for the revolutionists in all the camps, to don their armor in one army for one purpose, Emancipation. Space forbids that all that took place be put in our article, but time will come when we will give it in more details.
E. R. Markley.
—————
Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3
The Pittsburg Press
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
-May 28, 1911
https://www.newspapers.com/image/142964097/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/142964115/
Daily People
Published by Socialist Labor Party
(New York, New York)
-May 31, 1911, page 1
https://www.genealogybank.com/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1910-06-18/ed-1/seq-5/
See also:
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1911
Dreamer Finds Mother Jones in Heaven Wearing Biggest Crown of All
Tag: McNamara Brothers
https://weneverforget.org/tag/mcnamara-brothers/
Time line re kidnapping of McNamara Brothers
https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-los-angeles-times-bombing
See Haywood on McNamara Case from ISR of June 1911:
“Get Ready” by William D. Haywood
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v11n12-jun-1911-ISR-gog-Corn-OCR.pdf
The People (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, 1891-2008)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_(1891)
Note: Fighting Editor Fred Merrick, of the Pittsburgh Socialist Justice, had his own legal problems at this time, see:
May 14, 1911, New York Times-F. H. Merrick, Socialist Editor of Justice, Held on Charge of Libel
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79733392/may-14-1911-new-york-times-f-h/
June 13, 1911, Pittsburgh Daily Post-Fred Merrick, Socialist Editor of Justice, Found Guilty
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79735373/june-13-1911-pittsburgh-daily/
Charleston (WV) Labor Argus of July 20th and Sept 28th, 1911
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=West+Virginia&date1=1911&date2=1911&proxtext=merrick+editor&x=15&y=14&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic&sort=date
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Hold the Fort – Monsieur Jack