Hellraisers Journals: Arturo Giovannitti Addresses Mass Meeting of Silk Strikers at Turn Hall, Paterson, New Jersey

Quote Giovannitti, The Walker, Rest My Brother —————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 6, 1913
Paterson, New Jersey – Giovannitti Speaks to Silk Strikers at Turn Hall

From the Passaic Daily News of March 5, 1913:

The first move toward a settlement of the silk strike in Paterson came last night, when, at a meeting of delegates from dyers and broad silk weavers, demands were formulated for presentation to manufacturers today. These demands, in brief, are:

Abolition of the four-loom system and and eight-hour day at the same price now paid per week for the dyers…..

Arturo Giovannitti, I. W. W. leader, who was recently tried and acquitted in Lawrence, Mass., on a charge of murder in connection with the strike riots in that city, arrived in Paterson this morning shortly after 11 o’clock. He went at once to Turn Hall where he addressed nearly 5,000 strikers, speaking first in Italian and then repeating his speech in English.

Giovannitti urged the strikers to stand by their action in walking out, saying that they were bound to receive their rights and that their demands would be granted. He was received as a hero of the “cause,” with much applause. He was introduced by Carlo Tresca, the I. W. W. leader who was arrested last week with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Patrick Quinlan. He did not advocate violence.

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

From The Paterson Evening News of March 5, 1913:

Giovannitti Receives Great Reception.
[Speech at Turn Hall, Morning of March 5, 1913]

[As Miss Flynn was speaking] Arturo Giovannitti, of Lawrence fame, together with Tresca, entered the hall, and the great crowd went wild with enthusiasm. Miss Flynn had stopped talking while the demonstration continued. Giovannitti bowed in acknowledgment to the great crowd of strikers, and was then introduced by Tresca, who said:

Fellow workers, I am very glad to have the privilege of introducing Arturo Giovannitti. You remember the active part he took in the strike at Lawrence, Mass., after which he was confined to jail with Joseph Ettor on a charge of murder and then acquitted. He comes here today because he is interested in your cause, and I hope that you will listen carefully to his remarks.

Giovannitti then talked for more than a half hour in his native tongue, after which he made the following address in English:

I can see by the large crowd that has gathered here this morning that you need no advice, and the best proof of this is that you are still alive and doing things in an orderly manner to better your conditions.

I came here at the request of my fellow workers in New York city, who said that I should be ashamed of myself to remain there while my friends, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Carlo Tresca, were thrown in jail. My main purpose in coming here was to find out for myself if Paterson had been Russianized by the police. I was informed that every outside speaker that came to this city would be thrown into jail, and I wanted to see if I was to meet the same fate as Miss Flynn, Tresca and Quinlan.

It is not half so bad as the people on the outside think; you get free meals and a place to sleep, but there is no necessity to tell you this, you are behaving yourselves in an orderly manner and you are going to continue to do so, which means that you are going to win this strike.

Remember one thing, workers, you must drag out the silk trust and make them get on their knees and beg for mercy, which you are surely going to succeed in. The conditions here are far more miserable than they were in Lawrence when the textile workers were on strike there. The cost of living is higher, and today you are just barely existing. Just stick together until the end and get out all of the workers in various industries and unionize them.

Before I draw to a close, I propose that a vote of thanks be tendered to Chief Bimson, who has helped you greatly in making this strike more general than before, and prove to him and his police department that you are going to win without any necessity of police interference.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]