Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: “Free Speech Fight is On” -IWW Hall Raided, FWs Arrested

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote re IWW Spk FSF n Solidarity, IW p1, Nov 3, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 5, 1909
Spokane, Washington – “Free Speech Fight Is On”

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of November 3, 1909:

IWW Spk FSF, Come to Spk, IW p1, Nov 3, 1909—–

[From page 1:]

IWW Spk FSF, Defend Rights o Wkrs, IW p1, Nov 3, 1909—–

FREE SPEECH FIGHT IS ON IN SPOKANE
—–

With the end of the trial of James P. Thompson held in the Municipal court of Spokane Tuesday morning, November 2, the fight for free speech or the right to speak on the streets has started in earnest by the members of the union here in the city and many others that have arrived from all over the northwest.

Meetings were started in different parts of the city at about 1 o’clock in the afternoon and kept up till 5 o’clock in the evening; as one speaker was pulled off the box by the police another would take the stand for the purpose of being arrested. All told there were about 100 men arrested on Monday, including James Wilson, James P. Thompson, C. L. Filigno, A. C. Cousins, who were arrested on a warrant charged with criminal conspiracy. Also Mrs. Fernette was taken for street speaking, and Mrs. Arquette and Miss Huxtable were arrested in the raid made on the hall at 3 o’clock Monday afternoon.

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Spokane Free Speech Fight: Jail Crowded with IWWs, Socialists and Miners of WFM

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote, FSF Com Only Begun the Fight, Spk Prs p2, Nov 3, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 4, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Determined to Carry on Free Speech Fight

From The Spokane Press of November 3, 1909:

Spk FSF, Jail Crowded w IWWs, ed, Spk Prs p1, Nov 3, 1909

[…..]

Spk FSF, IWW Notices, Spk Prs p1, Nov 3, 1909That 75 socialists are mingled with the scores of revolutionists arrested here yesterday and this morning for speaking on the streets in violation of the city’s ordinance, is an assertion made to The Press this morning by leading members of the Industrial Workers of the World.

[…..]

In Court

Profound interest settles about the trials of the revolutionists in the police court this afternoon. Judge Mann’s decision of these cases means mush. Should he decide the men guilty and uphold the city ordinance, which is almost identical to the one that he declared invalid yesterday morning, the fight will continue with renewed vigor and determination; while, should his decision be a dismissal of the cases, the street meetings will be continued under the regulation of the police.

In a statement made yesterday in the police court, Attorney Fred H. Moore, for the Industrial Workers of the World, said that that order was willing that the street meetings should be regulated by the police after a reasonable manner, but that the city could not prohibit them.

War against Spokane’s street speaking prohibition has begun today with renewed vigor and with more determination than ever by the Industrial Workers of the World. The revolutionists’ fight was cheeked for a few hours last night because of the arrest of their executive committee, which, from the seclusion of headquarters, was directing the fight outside.

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the Missoula Free Speech Fight of the Industrial Workers of the World

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Western IWW Aggressive Spirit, IW p3, Aug 12, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 3, 1909
Missoula, Montana – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the Victory for Free Speech

From the International Socialist Review of November 1909:

EGF, ISR p466, Nov 1909

FREE SPEECH FIGHT. Missoula, Mont., Oct. 3.—Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, organizer of the Industrial Workers of the World, was arrested here tonight for persistently attempting to hold an advertised open-air meeting in the business section.

The plan of action outlined by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was to select leaders of small squads and distribute them about town, giving each a chance to gather a crowd before the police might become cognizant of the movements of the I. W. W.

At the police station Mrs. Flynn said the I. W. W. could not be suppressed and that the work would be carried on as outlined if 10 men are jailed every day.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse: A Woman’s View of Conditions Among the Steel Strikers of Pittsburgh, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote MHV Immigrants Fight for Freedom, Quarry Jr p2, Nov 1, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 2, 1919
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Steel Strikers’ Fight for Freedom Goes On

From The Quarry Workers Journal of November 1919:

CONDITIONS AMONG COAL STRIKERS
AS SEEN BY A WOMAN
—–
By Mary Heaton Vorse,
Author of “The Prestons.” Etc.
—–

[Part II.]

MHV, Author of Prestons, ed, NYS p37, Dec 1, 1918

Life is hard enough under ordinary conditions for the steel workers’ wives. They live in joyless towns, their men never had a chance to get really rested; there is always a new baby, and most of them remain forever strangers for they never have time or opportunity to learn English.

Lately the senators have talked about Americanization of the foreign workers. They will have to humanize the steel industry first. They will have to teach such men as Judge Gary the elementary things concerning Americanism.

In times of strike, terror and suspense are added to the lives of the women. Fear of want is their constant companion. How do they stick it out? How can they have such endurance and fortitude? In every town the men are constantly being arrested. The shadow of the constabulary is forever over the strikers.

The bosses make house to house canvasses and play upon the fears and credulity of the women, and yet you find them-like the mother of the laughing children-ready to wait two or three weeks more so that someone needier than herself would have first chance at commissary stores. Holding on in the face of sneering threats, holding on with want just around the corner, holding on with hunger waiting in ambush. Holding on in spite of the appealing hands of children plucking forever at their skirts, reminding them that it is they in the last analysis who are going to suffer.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse: A Woman’s View of Conditions Among the Steel Strikers of Pittsburgh, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote MHV, Women of Steel Strike ed, Quarry Jr p2, Nov 1, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 1, 1919
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – The Steel Strikers: Courageous Men, Enduring Women

From The Quarry Workers Journal of November 1919:

CONDITIONS AMONG [STEEL] STRIKERS
AS SEEN BY A WOMAN
—–
By Mary Heaton Vorse,
Author of “The Prestons.” Etc.
—–

[Part I.]

MHV, Author of Prestons, ed, NYS p37, Dec 1, 1918

This week the commissary stores are being opened in all the steel towns. For six weeks the strikers had nothing. They have been living on their savings; some who have had no savings, have existed from hand to mouth, picking up a chance bit of work here and there and being helped out by their friends.

The first strike relief which will have been given will be the groceries given out twice a week from the commissary stores. Not everyone can have these groceries. They are for those who are starving or on the edge of want, for it would be unthinkable at this stage of organized labor that any one should be forced to scab by hunger.

You do not need much imagination to understand what endurance it has taken on the part of the rank and file to stay out on strike for six weeks without strike benefit or relief. It is going to take even more endurance from now on, when the narrow line will have to be drawn between those actually in want and those nearly in want.

Yesterday I saw how that was being done. When a striker applies for re lief, one of the strike committee goes around to talk the matter over with the family. I went out in Pittsburgh with a Polish fellow-worker who was going out to make such visits of investigation.

We had some difficulty in finding the house where the strikers live. We went down back alleys, past refuse dumps that seemed as venerable as the dilapidated meeting house on the corner. Like everything else in this neighborhood, it was falling to pieces. The paint had scaled from its pillars, but it spoke of a former day before all the mild red brick of the houses had been defiled with the grime soot, and when the well to do, comfortable families lived a family in a house, instead of a family in a room.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1919, Part III: Found Wherever a Good Fight For Freedom Is Going On

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Home Good Fight Going On, Ptt Prs p17, Sept 24, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 31, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part III
Her Home? “Wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on.”

From The Pittsburgh Post of September 24, 1919:

Mother Jones, crpd, Chg Tb p120, Oct 26, 1919

‘Mother’ Jones Heard
in Labor Trial
—–

“Mother” Jones, aged organizer for the United Mine Workers, appearing yesterday as a witness before Judge Richard H. Kennedy, gave her address as “wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on.”

She testified in the hearing of a large number of appeals from fines imposed by Mayor James S. Crawford in connection with a meeting held in Duquesne last September 7.

After leaving the stand “Mother” Jones declared that had been her first experience as a witness in “a regular court trial.” She was one of the organizers arrested, but was not fined. That was the first time, she said, that she had been placed behind bars, although she had been arrested more than once.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Pittsburgh Press of September 24, 1919:

“MOTHER” JONES FREED FOR LABOR ACTIVITY.
—–

“Mother” Jones was freed today following her arrest in the steel mill districts Sept. 7. She came before Judge Kennedy and was permitted to go without a fine.

“What is your age?” queried the court.

“Ninety on the first day of next May.”

“Where is your home?”

“Wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on,” replied the old lady, vigorously.

“You may go.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1919, Part III: Found Wherever a Good Fight For Freedom Is Going On” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1919, Part II: Found in Cleveland Addressing Mine Workers’ Convention

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 30, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part II
Cleveland, Ohio – Mother Speaks at Convention of United Mine Workers 

From the New York Tribune of September 17, 1919:

Mine Workers Urged To Aid Steel Strike
—–
Appeals Made to Convention by Fitzpatrick
and “Mother” Jones, Who Oppose Delay

Mother Jones Crpd Women in Industry, Eve Ns Hburg PA p2, Jan 6, 1919

CLEVELAND, Sept. 16.-John Fitzpatrick, chairman of the national committee for organizing the iron and steel workers, and “Mother” Jones, the aged mine worker representative, appealed to-day to the convention of the United Mine Workers of America to support the steel workers in the projected steel strike. “Mother” Jones argued openly against any postponement, telling the miners to pay no attention to contrary reports, because the strike would come off as arranged next Monday. Rescinding of the strike call, she declared, would wreck the confidence of the steel workers in their organization.

Fitzpatrick refrained from mentioning the question of possible postponement, except indirectly, in his speech, but in conversations with delegates he declared himself firmly opposed to postponement of the walkout beyond Monday as weakening the chances of success.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1919, Part I: Arrested for Organizing Steel Workers at Duquesne, Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Kaiser n Steel Barons, Clairton PA Aug 10, Ptt KS Wkrs Chc p5, Sept 5, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal –Wednesday October 29, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part I
Duquesne, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Arrested for Organizing Steel Workers

From the New York Sun of September 8, 1919:

RAID ENDS MEETING OF STEEL WORKERS
—–
Mother Jones and Other Organizers
Seized in Duquesne.
—–

Special Dispatch to THE SUN.

PITTSBURG, Sept. 7.-Duquesne was the scene of much excitement on the part of the police and union organizers this afternoon when Police Chief Thomas Flynn and a squad of patrolmen appeared at an open air meeting at Linden and River avenues, where more than 1,000 steel workers had assembled, and arrested four labor organizers, including “Mother” Jones, the veteran organizer, and forty steel workers. The organizers were charged with holding a public meeting without a permit and the workmen were charged with illegal congregating. After staying in the Duquesne police station four hours they were released on forfeits for a hearing to-morrow.

Mother Jones n WZF Couple of Reds, Chg Tb p120, Oct 26, 1919
Mother Jones with William Z. Foster

The organizers arrested besides “Mother” Jones were William Z. Foster, secretary of the national committee for organizing iron and steel workers; J. L. Beaghen, president of the Pittsburg Bricklayers Union, and an American Federation of Labor organizer, and J. M. Patterson, vice-president of the Brotherhood of Railway Car Men.

The organizers said the meeting was being held on a vacant lot, the owner of which had given permission.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Edward Boyce and Samuel Gompers Denounce Militarism and Treatment of Coeur D’Alene Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 28, 1899
Cincinnati, Ohio – Presidents Samuel Gompers and Edward Boyce Speak

From The Indianapolis Journal of October 27, 1899:

MILITARISM DENOUNCED
—–

PROTEST AGAINST THE TREATMENT OF
COEUR D’ALENE MINERS.
—–
Mass Meeting at Which Samuel Gompers Spoke,
and Strong Resolution Were Adopted.
—–

Edward Boyce, Prz WFM, SL Hld p5, May 6, 1899

CINCINNATI, Oct. 26.-An enormous meeting was held to-night at Music Hall, the officers of which were of the Central Labor Council of Cincinnati and the speakers were Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and Edward Boyce, of Butt Mont., president of the Western Federation of Miners. Fully 6,O00 men remained during the two long speeches. The announced purpose of the meeting was to protest against the treatment of prisoners held in the Couer d’Alene region in the “bull pen.”

Before the speaking began the resolutions were read. The first resolution was a demand of the President of the United States to enforce the Constitution, especially in the sixth section, which, they claim, has been violated. The second resolution demanded of the President the withdrawal of the United States troops from Shoshone county. The next resolution demanded a court-martial of General Merriam and his subordinate officers. The last resolution was that all the federal, the military and civil officers responsible for the alleged illegal acts committed by them should be held to the strictest accountability.

President Gompers said the present afforded a great opportunity for laboring people. He said this enormous attendance and the passage of these resolutions would have a far-reaching effect and would do much to relieve the oppressed in Idaho and to bring the oppressors to Justice. President Gompers said that he was in the mountain region near the scene of the uprising in Shoshone county but a few days before it occurred. He said that by conversation with men who knew about the situation he learned the condition of affairs at Wardner, Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines. He vehemently denied that labor organizations had anything whatever to do with that uprising. The labor unions had been locked out by the operators, who went outside and brought in inferior and dangerous nonunion men and set them to work in the mines. These ignorant miners, unused to the ways of the union, demanded union prices and were denied.

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Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World: Mary Heaton Vorse Reports from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 27, 1919
Report from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike by Mary Heaton Vorse

From the Duluth Labor World of October 25, 1919:

GSS Unshaken by MHV, Lbr Wld p1, Oct 25, 1919

[Part II.]

STATE TROOPERS TOOLS OF STEEL
—–
Cossacks Break Into Homes,
Interfere With Church Worship
and Assault Women.

[By MARY HEATON VORSE.]

We must remember that in the steel towns people have been arrested wholesale because they have committed the crime of striking. There are charges such as obstructing traffic, unlawful assembly, etc., which make it impossible to run a striker in without his having committed any real offense.

Suppression and oppression have been the father and mother of this strike and terror its godfather. But, when the company used terror, they forgot the old saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

There hasn’t been a home searched or an illegal arrest made that hasn’t helped the strike. There hasn’t been a club that has come down on a defenseless mill worker that hasn’t sent men hurrying to get out their union cards.

Take the case of Clairton for instance—this was the town where the union had got no foothold—the watchful authorities had kept the “agitators” out. (“Agitator” is the company’s name for all members of the A. F. of L. who try to get their fellow workers to join a union.)

There were no halls in Clairton that could be rented. All permits were denied and street meetings were broken up. That is to say, the fundamental rights of Americans were sweepingly denied. There is no right of free speech and free assembly in the steel towns. When the people in Farrell want to go to a meeting they have to go over the Ohio state line into America—and the other evening 4,000 of them walked over to hear Foster speak.

There are plenty of steel towns not in America and Clairton is one of them.

After a time the organizer hired a vacant lot from one of the mill workers. But a man in Clairton can’t ask a few friends to a lawn party on his own property—the Cossacks rode down the strikers and broke up the meeting. The mill workers didn’t know that it was un-American to strike and they had put up an American flag—this the Cossacks tore down and the flag was trampled under the horses’ hoofs. This started trouble, for there were some ex-service men there as there are in all workingmen’s crowds. The affidavits sent to the senate abound in statements like:

The state troopers rushed on the lot and the people started to run away but when said state troopers rushed to the platform and tore down our flag, the men became incensed and some ex-soldiers, seeing our flag being insulted and defiled, rushed at said troopers in defense of our flag and started the excitement and almost caused a riot and loyal citizens were greatly incensed. There was no provocation for said interference and riding over women and children.

(Signed) Mihon Terzich.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World: Mary Heaton Vorse Reports from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike, Part II” →