Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 22, 1903 Rochester, New York – Eugene Debs Speaks on Socialism and the Labor Movement
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York) of February 9, 1903:
SOME PHASES OF LABOR MOVEMENT ———-
ADDRESS OF EUGENE V. DEBS AT FITZHUGH HALL. ———-
THE WORKINGMAN’S HOPE ———- Socialistic Programme Set Forth as the Need of the People-The Tool of Production -Reflections on Trusts-Panic Prophesied. ———-
Eugene V. Debs, of Denver, Col., the prominent labor leader and Socialist, spoke at Fitzhugh Hall yesterday afternoon, under the auspices of the Labor Lyceum. His subject was “Some Phases of the Labor Movement; or, Socialism and Civilization.” Mr. Debs was given an enthusiastic reception, and for two hours he had the close attention of the audience. The seats on the floor of the hall were filled and but few were empty in the gallery.
Phillip Jackson presided at the meeting and made a few remarks, after which he introduced Mr. Debs. In his eloquent address, Mr. Debs said, in part:
The labor question broadly stated is the question of all humanity and upon its just solution depend the peace of society and the survival of civilization. The central and controlling fact of civilization is the evolution of industry.
A little over a century and a quarter ago, the American colonists were compelled to declare their political independence. The people were then engaged largely in agricultural pursuits, what they manufactured was produced in simple and primitive ways and they used with their hands the tools with which they did their work. The problem of making a living was a comparatively easy one. Each man could with the product of his own labor satisfy his own wants.
Long ago the too simple tool of those days was touched by the magic want of invention, until its mechanism has now become marvelously complex. In the great modern industrial evolution, the workingman has suffered, and because of his ignorance has allowed the tool of production to pass from his grasp. The cunning that was in the hand of labor has passed into the machine. As competition has become keen, handicraft has been succeeded more and more by the machine work, until skilled labor has become common labor; the struggle for existence became so hard that woman was forced into the labor market and become a factor in industrial conditions.
As the evolution of machinery has continually progressed, it has been found that many of these could be operated by the deft touch of children, until now 3 million of these have been forced into the labor market in competition with men and women.This has resulted from the system that makes profit the all-important consideration and life of little importance. There must be cheap labor in spite of its effects on the lives of human beings.
The state of Alabama once had a law against child labor. The time is coming, however, when competition will force manufacturers to operate their factories where the raw materials are produced. This has already been done by the New England manufacturers. They went to the lawmakers of Alabama and said: “We must have cheap labor if we are to compete in the markets of the world, and in order to do this, we must employ the children in our mills. You have a law against the employment of children in this state. We should like it to come here, but, if this is enforced, it will compel us to go elsewhere.” What was the result? Today there is no law against the employment of children in Alabama.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 26, 1902 Eugene V. Debs on Opines on Kept Preachers, Labor and Socialism
From the Milwaukee Social Democratic Herald of March 22, 1902:
Battle Cry of Superstition.
———-
The Church Protests in Vain Against the March of Civilization. ———-
By EUGENE V. DEBS.
The socialist movement encountered a great shock at Buffalo a few days ago. One Quigley, a Catholic bishop, and another Stauffer (Stuffer?) of the Protestant persuasion, jointly and severally assailed social democracy, the latter gravely declaring that it was the “unhatched egg of anarchy”-in other words, a bad egg. The bishop vaulted into the arena, made due exhibition of his asininity, and in the name of the hierarchy proclaimed excommunication as the fate of all who cast their lot with the wicked socialists.
No opposition to organized labor, declared the bishop, was intended, except in so far as it was tainted with the virus of socialism-a hint that union men would be wise to profit by.
It is not my purpose to write about religion, or to interfere with that of any man. I am trusting to the light and logic of the future to abolish creeds and dispel the darkness of superstition.
But we have those in the socialist movement who are so supersensitive that they rise in passionate protest when the church is even mentioned. They are doubtless honest and sincere, but their prejudice is such that if the orders and injunctions of such priests as Quigley and Stauffer could be and were obeyed, they would look on in silence and submission, while the church with iron boots crushed out the socialist movement and the sun of labor set in gloom to rise no more.
What has the church, as such, ever done for working men and women except to keep them in darkness, preach obedience to their masters, and promise them a future home in heaven as the reward of patience and submission in the present hell?
The fulmination of this precious combination at Buffalo reveals the true attitude of the church, which profanes the name of Jesus Christ. In all its pomp and power today it stands for all he abhorred and against all he loved; and socialists would be worse than cowards, they would be base-born traitors not to speak the truth and challenge the enemy of the socialist movement in whatever form he may appear; and when the church consents to prostitute its functions in the service of the ruling class, its robes turn into rags and every honest man should help to strip it naked and expose the whited sepulcher to the world.
For more than 25 years I have watched the church in its attitude toward labor and I know it is the enemy of the toilers and strives and strains to keep them in industrial bondage. The freedom of the working class will mean the end of the church as we know it today. It will simply be out of a job.
During the Chicago strikes the priests and preachers grew hysterically violent in demanding the shooting and hanging of the strikers in the name of the meek and merciful Jesus. All denominations melted into one and all the ministers were likewise a unit in defense of the corporations and denunciation and damnation of the strikers.
There is something almost melancholy in seeing a meek, sad-eyed, dyspepsic preacher suddenly grow fierce and bloodthirsty. It seems strange, but it is easily accounted for. The priest is simply the echo of the capitalist. if he declines the function he ceases to preach.
In every labor strike I have ever known the church and those who speak for it have lined up solidly with the corporations. This has been and must be the attitude of the church whose priests now direct its fiery fulmination against socialism at Buffalo.
Through all the centuries the church has been the handmaid of tyranny and oppression-there she stands today, red with impotent rage because socialism has stripped her of her mask and challenged her to do her worst. Can the church extinguish the socialist movement? Can a bat snuff out the sun? It is high time the working class were opening their eyes, time that they were discarding the sacred (?) symbols of superstition and proclaiming their royal right to represent themselves without the vulgar and impertinent intervention of priests who are but the emissaries of their oppressors and exploiters.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 20, 1922 Chicago, Illinois – Socialist Party Sends Out Appeal for Political Prisoners
From the Washington Evening Star of March 9, 1922:
From the Buffalo Socialist New Age of March 16, 1922:
Terre Haute, Ind., March 4, 1922.
To All Labor Unions and Organized Workers. Dear Brothers and Comrades:
I am making this appeal to you in behalf of the political prisoners.These men are held simply because of their activities in the labor movement and for no other reason. Any other pretense is simply a lie. All other countries have long since released their political prisoners. The United States government, to its lasting shame, is the one exception that keeps men caged as felons for the expression of their opinions. These men, brothers of ours, committed no overt act, no crime of any kind. The court records will prove this. The infamous Espionage Law, under which these men were convicted, has long since been repealed [Note: a section of the Espionage Law, the Sedition Act, was repealed December 13, 1920], and there is not the slightest excuse to longer hold them in prison.
The simple fact is that the treason for which these men were convicted was their loyalty to the working class. Such loyalty, especially in a time of war when the workers are turned into butchers and set to slaughtering one another for the profit and power and glory of their masters, is always treason in the eyes of such masters.
If these men with union principles and union hearts beating in their breasts, had been scabs or gunmen or strikebreakers, they would have been cracked up as 100% American patriots, given hero medals, and assigned to posts of honor carrying high salaries and eminent respectability. But instead they refused to bow to the will of the brutal and impudent profiteers and stood up loyally for their own class and gave expression to the truth that was in their hearts, as it was not only their lawful right but their moral duty to do, and for this and this alone they are marked as dangerous and held and treated as criminals to the shame of the American labor movement and the infamy of the United States government, the most plutocratic government on the face of the earth.
Senator Borah of Idaho, be it said to his credit, introduced a resolution in the United States Senate on January 25th, directing the Attorney General to submit to the Senate all available information relative to the cases of persons convicted under the notorious Espionage Act. This resolution is most timely and the organized workers of the nation must bring all possible power to bear to force its passage. The plutocrats, profiteers, and pirates of Wall Street and their degenerate henchmen in all their servile capacities, who had the monstrous Espionage Law enacted to gag the truth and strangle free speech while they were putting over their criminal war conspiracy, will bring all their power to bear to defeat the Borah resolution.
Well do these knaves in high places know that if this resolution passes the Senate and the Attorney General is forced to reveal the court records of the political prisoners it will show that they are guilty of absolutely no crime whatever save only that of saying during war time, when the nation had been lashed into fury of blind hate, what the 100% Wall Street profiteers and their lackeys in and out of office did not want to hear. The Constitution, of which they had been in the habit of prating on every occasion, was summarily suspended, truth was exiled, and manhood and self-respect put in prison stripes.
Think of these innocent union men, these working class brethren of ours, being suffered to remain buried alive in the steel vaults of American prison hells, and then talk about being “the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!” The very thought brings the deep blush of shame to the cheek of every decent American.
These men must be gotten out of prison to the last one of them. As long as one remains we are all in disgrace, and our country stands impeached before the civilized world.
There must be no discrimination among the class war prisoners, for that is what they are and nothing else.All spies and enemy agents, some of whom were convicted of the gravest charges, including the placing of fire bombs in ships and the destruction of life and property, were released years ago. Not one remains in prison. Not one of these belonged to a labor union. They were all readily forgiven as soon as the war was over.
But how different with the men who did belong to labor unions and who did not commit any crime or take any life or destroy any property, but who only stood up like men exercising their constitutional rights and telling the truth about the capitalist slaughter of the working class “to make the world safe for democracy!” It is for their benefit that the atrocious Espionage Law was enacted, and for the benefit of the Wall Street profiteers who coined the blood of the slaughtered workers into billions for themselves, that they are still festering in the hell-holes capitalism charitably provides for its victims.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 5, 1911 Terre Haute, Indiana – Eugene Debs Reacts to Confession of McNamara Brothers
From The Indianapolis News of December 4, 1911:
VIEWS OF EUGENE V. DEBS —————
Job Harriman, Socialist Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles
Socialist Leader Says the McNamaras Do Not Belong to His Party.
(Special to The Indianapolis News.)
TERRE HAUTE, Ind., December 4.-Eugene V. Debs repudiates the assertion that the McNamaras are Socialists. Said he:
“The brothers are Democrats and Catholics, and that church is fighting the Socialist Party. We Socialists took the ground that they were to be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. We have nothing to apologize for; we never condoned dynamiting, but always condemned it. We simply tried to see that the brothers got a square deal, and especially because they had been kidnapped.
If the confessions had been held until after Tuesday [election day] the men would have been hanged. The mercy extended to them is the price paid for political effect in the election that day in Los Angeles.”
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 30, 1918
Pacific Coast, Nation-Wide, and World-Wide, Labor Organized for Mooney
In advance of the commutation by the Governor of California of the death sentence of Tom Mooney, Labor was organizing on his behalf, even to the extent of considering a General Strike. The Governor’s opinion that this case does not represent a clash between Capital and Labor is not shared by the millions of working men and women around the world who have organized and are yet organizing against the frame-up of Brother Mooney.
From The Seattle Star of November 28, 1918:
—–
—–
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., NOV. 28.-Desperate but not united plans by Pacific coast labor to initiate a national protest strike, together with the federal Densmore dictaphone report exposing the methods of District Attorney Charles Fickert of San Francisco, where two sensational developments that sent the internationally known Mooney case into double quick time as it approached its crisis.
The general strike to which scores of federated bodies pledged themselves as the date for the hanging of Tom Mooney drew near, was regarded by a great portion of organized labor as the only effective means left to protest against the widely assailed prosecution methods used in the Preparedness day bomb cases.
With the execution date for Mooney set for December 13, his fate rests today with Governor Stephens of California, to whom President Wilson has three times addressed pleas to reopen the case.
Excluding presidential intervention, a pardon by Governor Stephens in Mooney’s only chance-that or provisional pardon, which would demand a retrial on one of several bomb indictments still standing against Mooney and his co-defendants.
Appeals to every court in the land had been denied before the agitation for a general strike began.
Strike Idea Grows
Just what effect John B. Densmore’s eleventh-hour espionage report upon Fickert’s secret activities in the Mooney case might have upon this contemplated protest remained speculative as labor digested its revelations.
After reading it, San Francisco labor council delegates, in violent disagreement, refused to sponsor a general strike, but instead decided to send a protest committee to the governor.
Meantime a number of big labor organizations thruout the country had already decided upon a general stoppage of industry to focus public attention upon the “persecution and unfair trial” of Thomas Mooney and the sentence of Warren Billings to life imprisonment.
To advocate peace with things as they are
is treason to humanity.
This is a class struggle and on class lines
it must be fought out to a finish.
-Ida Crouch-Hazlett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday April 27, 1907
American Labor Responds to President Theodore Roosevelt
From The Montana News of April 25, 1907:
ORGANIZED LABOR AROUSED
The statement of President Roosevelt in a letter to James S. Sherman, regarding the Harriman controversy, re-which he refers to Debs, Moyer, and Haywood as ‘undesirable citizens’ has raised a storm of protest among the labor unions and aroused to action those few that were hitherto luke-warm. The Executive Committee of the Moyer-Haywood Protest Conference of New York, representing over three hundred labor organizations, with a membership aggregating more than two hundred thousand men, addressed an open letter to the president protesting against the stand he has taken in this matter and asking him to “make such public amends as any true gentleman is bound to offer when inadvertently he has made a mistake and inflicted grievous wrongs upon men who have nothing to do with his personal quarrel.”
The Central Federated Union of New York adopted a motion calling upon Roosevelt to retract his statement that Moyer and Haywood are “undesirable citizens.”
The Boston Central Labor Union adopted a resolution condemning Roosevelt for “usurping prerogatives which neither the laws nor the constitution of the United States gave him.”
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 19, 1907
From the Appeal to Reason: Kidnaping Anniversary Edition
This week’s edition of the Appeal to Reason commemorates February 17, 1906, the one-year anniversary of the state-sponsored kidnaping of the valiant leaders of the Western Federation of Miners, under the banner:
Labor Is Forging The Thunderbolt
for the Conspiracy!
Eugene V. Debs is the special editor of the first page of this edition, and raises his voice on behalf of our imprisoned comrades:
THESE are the three comrades whose kidnaping under the most extraordinary circumstances ever recorded we are celebrating with a special edition of three million copies and with fresh consecration to the holy cause of emancipation for which they have offered up their liberty and jeopardized their lives.
Verily, “it is an ill wind that blows no good,” and “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.”
At first glance the kidnaping of our comrades by the chief magistrate of a state sworn to execute the law against kidnapers, and who, if not a perjurer is a felon, and if not a felon a perjurer would seem to be a monstrous crime without a feature to redeem it from execration. But not so. What else, or what less than this would have served to arouse the working class of the whole nation like an alarm blast from the trumpet of an avenging deity?
What else could have lashed the stagnant waters of organized labor into foaming billows, tossing high their spray of life and discontent?
In all the history of labor there is no event to equal it. A year ago the names of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were known to but a few thousands in the Western states; today they are hailed and honored by millions, who applaud their fidelity and honor their fortitude.
And thus are heroes snatched from the common multitude.
—————
—————
—————The socialist movement encountered a great shock at Buffalo a few days ago. One Quigley, a Catholic bishop, and another Stauffer (Stuffer?) of the Protestant persuasion, jointly and severally assailed social democracy, the latter gravely declaring that it was the “unhatched egg of anarchy”-in other words, a bad egg. The bishop vaulted into the arena, made due exhibition of his asininity, and in the name of the hierarchy proclaimed excommunication as the fate of all who cast their lot with the wicked socialists.
—————
