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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 7, 1903
Divine Rights Baer Explains His God-Given Right to Rule the Working Class
From the Appeal to Reason of January 3, 1903:
Tag: Capitalist Class
Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Spirit: “Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part II: Found in West Virginia for UMWA
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 5, 1902
“Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part II: Found in West Virginia
From The Socialist Spirit of August 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES
BY WILLIAM MAILLY
[Part II of III]
[Standing with Strikers]
During this time she was also working on the skirmish line of the trade union movement, going here and there, assisting where she could in winning battles on the economic field. She was in Chicago during the famous strike of 1894, and no great struggle but has known her since. It was her work in the bituminous miners’ strike of 1897 that first attracted universal public attention, although labor agitators almost everywhere knew her. At that time she braved a cordon of deputies in West Virginia in order to get the miners there to quit work, and in the Pittsburg district her pathway was lined with thugs employed to intimidate her, an effort which was, of course, a failure. From that time her name has been anathema to the coal operators of America.
Her exploits during these latter years would fill a good-sized book. Travelling overland through Nebraska and other western states in a waggon, speaking and distributing literature on socialism; securing employment in southern cotton mills to investigate conditions first hand; conducting a successful strike of packers in the stock yards of Omaha; another of four thousand silk mill girls in Scranton, Pa., extending over four months; a seven months’ miners’ strike at Arnot, Pa., another victory and one which marked a new era in the mining industry of that region-these and others constitute a record unequaled by anyone. For the past two years her time has almost wholly been taken up in organizing the miners of West Virginia, whose indifference to organization and subjection to the mine-owners has made that State a source of injury to the whole miners’ union.
[Organizing in West Virginia]
It is here where “Mother” has encountered more dangers than in all her experience, for the state has been heretofore entirely under control of the capitalists, and the entrance of agitators has been opposed in every shape and manner. It was for this very reason that “Mother” went there. She has been able to do what no man or any number of men could accomplish, even had they wanted to. The present strike of 20,000 men, after years of abject slavery, is the direct result of her work. Injunction after injunction has been issued against her, but she has gone right on. As I write this the news comes that, after awaiting sentence for several days, following upon being found guilty of contempt of court for violating one of these injunctions, the same judge has dismissed her with a reprimand. In this he showed more wisdom than such as he are usually credited with, but the effectiveness of the reprimand is doubted.
It remained for President John Mitchell to recognize the value of this woman’s great ability and provide the opportunity to put it to full account. Through him she has been a national organizer of the United Mine Workers for the past three years, and her work has more than justified his action. It is conceded and acknowledged by all that she has done more than anyone else to solidify the miners into a strong national organization. She has infected the whole mining industry with her enthusiasm and by her socialist teaching she has turned the thoughts of thousands of workers towards the greater mission in store for them. In view of this it is easy to understand why every one of the thousand delegates to the national convention just adjourned, wept when they bade farewell to her upon her departure to West Virginia to receive sentence from a capitalist court.
Courageous almost to the point of recklessness, she knows no danger when occasion requires it. Her defiance of a court’s injunction is not mere bravado nor shallow “playing to the galleries.” She realizes the probable cost of such action, but she believes it is necessary—some one must do these things, else there will be no progress. Underneath her apparent indifference to injunctions, Pinkerton Thugs and prison cells lies the motive born of a definite purpose. If needs be she would yield her freedom gladly if by so doing she believed the workers would the more quickly gain theirs. Nevertheless, there is nothing incendiary about her; she trusts in the efficacy of the ballot, and has no sympathy with those who teach otherwise.
Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Spirit: “Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part I: Working Class Joan of Arc
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 4, 1902
“Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part I: Working Class Joan of Arc
From The Socialist Spirit of August 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES
BY WILLIAM MAILLY
[Part I of III]
“Mother” Jones has been compared to Joan of Arc, but she is more than that.
The French maid derived her inspiration from the mystical creations of a brain inflamed by religious ecstasy. She was the slave of her own imagination. She fought for the “divine right of kings,” dying a victorious sacrifice to a cause which, dominant in her day, will soon cease to disfigure the world. Her rightful place as the fanatical representative of medieval mummery has already been assigned her.
But “Mother” Jones absorbs inspiration from living men and women; their hopes and fears, their scant joys and abundant sorrows, are hers also to laugh with and to weep over. She deals with things that are, to fashion the better things that will be. And her cause is the one that will release mankind from material subserviency and mental obliquity, to finally rejuvenate and glorify the world.
In this only are they alike: John of Arc was peculiarly the product of the material conditions of her time, just as “Mother” Jones is of the conditions existing to-day. Each would have been impossible at any other period. As Joan of Arc typified the superstition and mental darkness of the people who hailed and followed her as one gifted with supernatural power, so “Mother” Jones is the embodiment of the new spiritual concept and clearer mentality characteristic of the awakening working class of our day. She is the incarnation of the spirit of revolt against modern industrial conditions—the spirit which finds fullest expression in the world-wide Socialist movement.
For “Mother” Jones is, above and beyond all, one of the working class. She is flesh of their flesh, blood of their blood. She comes of them, has lived their lives, and, if necessary, would die to make their lives happier and better. She loves the workers with a passionate love stronger than the love of life itself. Her advent marks the stage of their progress towards emancipation.
It is the recognition, unconscious perhaps, of this affinity with them that constitutes the real source of her strength with the working people. Instinctively they feel she is one of them. When she speaks they listen to one of their own kind. Thus she becomes a veritable magnet that draws them together, ofttimes in spite of themselves.
For “Mother” Jones is no orator, in the technical sense of the term. Her rhetoric might be more rounded, her phrases more polished, and even her voice gentler than years of indiscriminate speaking, in and out of doors, have left it. But if they were, she would probably be less successful in her work. Her apparent weaknesses are really aids, rather than hindrances. Her language is plain, her illustrations crude but vivid, and she has a facile wit. And her voice is the more effectual because it is not sweet nor silvery, but rather harsh at times. Nevertheless, I have known that voice to arouse working men to frenzy and again soften them into tears. It is the soul that speaks.
So the working people understand and trust her. Only the demagogue or shyster among them fear her keen eye and ready tongue. She has the faculty of ferreting out such as these, and sooner or later they feel it. She is seldom deceived in her judgment of men or women. Absolutely sincere herself, she quickly detects insincerity in others. She is as impatient of hypocrisy as she is free from it. Her face tells its own story.
Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene Debs Recalls Labor’s Battles in the “War for Freedom”
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 12, 1902
Eugene Victor Debs Recalls Bloody Scenes of Battle in Class War
From the Social Democratic Herald of January 11, 1902:
The War for Freedom.
By Eugene V. Debs.
The country we inhabit is generally supposed to have been in a state of peace since the close of the Civil War, excepting the brief period required to push the Spaniards off the western continent. And yet during this reign of so-called peace more than a score of bloody battles have been fought on American soil, in every one of which the working class were beaten to the earth, notwithstanding they outnumber their conquerors and despoilers at least ten to one, and notwithstanding in each case they asked but a modest concession that represented but a tithe of what they were justly entitled to.
To recall the bloody scenes in the Tennessee mountains, the horrors of Idaho, the tragedies of Virden, Pana, Buffalo, Chicago, Homestead, Lattimer, Leadville, and many others, is quite enough to chill the heart of a man who has such an organ, and yet above the cloud and smoke of battle there shines forever the bow of promise, and however fierce the struggle and gloomy the outlook, it is never obscured to the brave, self-reliant soul who knows that victory at last must crown the cause of labor.
Thousands have fallen before the fire of the enemy and thousands more are doubtless doomed to share the same fate, but
“Freedom’s battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, Is ever won.”The struggle in this and other lands by the children of toil is a struggle between classes which in some form or other has been waged since primitive man first captured and enslaved his weaker fellow-being. Through the long, dark night of history the man who toiled has been in fetters, and though today they are invisible, yet they bind him as securely in wage slavery as if they were forged of steel.
How the millions toil and produce! How they suffer and are despised! Is the earth forever to be a dungeon to them? Are their offspring always to be food for misery? These are questions that confront the workingmen of our day and a few of them at least understand the nature of the struggle, are conscious of their class interests, and are striving with all their energy to close up the ranks and conquer their freedom by the solidarity of labor.
In this war for freedom the organized men in the Western states have borne a conspicuous and honorable part. They have, in fact, maintained better conditions on the whole than generally prevail, and this they have done under fire that would have reduced less courageous and determined men. But, notwithstanding their organized resistance, they must perceive that in common with all others who work for wages they are losing ground before the march of capitalism.
It requires no specially sensitive nature to feel the tightening of the coils, nor prophetic vision to see the doom of labor if the government is suffered to continue in control of the capitalist class. In every crisis the shotted guns of the government are aimed at the working class. They point in but one direction. In no other way could the capitalists maintain their class supremacy. Court injunctions paralyze but one class. In fact, the government of the ruling class today has but one vital function, and that is to keep the exploited class in subjection.
Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, on Way to Chicago IWW Convention, Interviewed by Pittsburg Press
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 28, 1908
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Talks of Socialism
On their way to Chicago to attend the Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Jones and her husband, J. A. Jones, stopped off at Pittsburg where Gurley Flynn was interviewed for the Pittsburg Press regarding her views on Socialism and Suffrage.
From The Pittsburg Press of September 27, 1908:
The force of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn’s personality impresses one the first five minutes one talks to her. This girl Socialist leader is not wildly enthusiastic nor does she “rant” as would be expected of a young, prominent, Socialistic leader, but there is a quiet, compelling strength about her words and herself that claims and holds the attention immediately.
Hellraisers Journal: Debs Speaks at Kansas State Federation of Labor Convention on Labor Unity and Victory
To serve the working class is to me
always a duty of love.
-Eugene Victor Debs
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 16, 1908
Eugene Debs Speaks to Delegates at Labor Gathering
Eugene Debs, Socialist Party candidate for President, was invited to speak at the State F. of L. convention. He arrived at the convention from Girard where he had been resting after touring through the eastern states.
Pittsburg, Kansas, August 12, 1908
Kansas State Federation of Labor Convention:
Introduction by Chairman Cable
Gentlemen of the Convention: I assure you it is a great privilege on my part to present to you at this time a gentleman who needs no introduction at my hands; a gentleman who is known to you and who is known to the workingmen throughout the length and breadth of this country as a true and tried trade unionist and the candidate of the Socialist party for President of the United States. I, therefore, take great pleasure in presenting to you Brother Eugene V. Debs.
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[Debs Speaks]
Mr. Chairman, Delegates and Fellow Workers: It is with pleasure, I assure you, that I embrace this opportunity to exchange greetings with you in the councils of labor. I have prepared no formal address, nor is any necessary at this time. You have met here as the representatives of organized labor and if I can do anything to assist you in the work you have been delegated to do I shall render that assistance with great pleasure.
To serve the working class is to me always a duty of love. Thirty-three years ago I first became a member of a trade union. I can remember quite well under what difficulties meetings were held and with what contempt organized labor was treated at that time. There has been a decided change. The small and insignificant trade union has expanded to the proportions of a great national organization. The few hundreds now number millions and organized labor has become a recognized factor in the economics and politics of the nation.
There has been a great evolution during that time and while the power of the organized workers has increased there has been an industrial development which makes that power more necessary than ever before in all the history of the working class movement.
This is an age of organization. The small employer of a quarter of a century ago has practically disappeared. The workingman of today is confronted by the great corporation which has its ironclad rules and regulations, and if they don’t suit he can quit.
In the presence of this great power, workingmen are compelled to organize or be ground to atoms. They have organized. They have the numbers. They have had some bitter experience. They have suffered beyond the power of language to describe, but they have not yet developed their latent power to a degree that they can cope successfully with the great power that exploits and oppresses them. Upon this question of organization, my brothers, you and I may differ widely, but as we are reasonable men, we can discuss these differences candidly until we find common ground upon which we can stand side by side in the true spirit of solidarity–and work together for the emancipation of our class.
Hellraisers Journal: Plutocrat’s Prayer, “O Lord, control my appetite if you must, but don’t take my pie away!”
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 5, 1917
From The Masses: The Private Ownership Pie by Art Young
Details 1 & 2:
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Detail 3:
Hellraisers Journal: “The Deadly Parallel” Compares IWW’s Declaration on War in Europe with AFL’s Pledge of Service
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 2, 1917
From the International Socialist Review: “The Deadly Parallel”
“The Deadly Parallel” was first published in Solidarity, organ of the Industrial Workers of the World, on March 24, 1917, and is republished in this month’s edition of the Review:
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Mrs. Palmer, Remembers Lattimer: “In this fight I wept at the grave of nineteen workers…”
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday January 26, 1907
From Chicago, Illinois – Mother Jones Writes to Mrs. Palmer
The following letter, from Mother Jones to Mrs. Potter Palmer, Chicago socialite, was published in the January 24th edition of the Miners Magazine, official organ of the Western Federation of Miners.
43 Welton Place, Chicago, Ill.,
January 12, 1907Mrs. Potter Palmer,
100 Lake Shore Drive,
Chicago, Ill.
Dear Madam:
By the announcement of the daily press I learn that you are to entertain a number of persons who are to be present as representatives of two recognized classes of American citizens-the working class and the capitalist class, and that the purpose of this gathering is to choose a common ground on which the conflicting interests of these two classes may be harmonized and the present strife between the organized forces of these two classes may be brought to a peaceful and satisfactory end.
I credit you with perfect sincerity in this matter, but being fully aware that your environment and whole life has prevented you from seeing and understanding the true relationship of these two classes in this republic and the nature of the conflict which you think can be ended by such means as you are so prominently associated with, and with a desire that you may see and understand it in all its grim reality, I respectfully submit these few personal experiences for your kind consideration.
I am a workman’s daughter, by occupation a dress-maker and school teacher, and during this last twenty-five years an active worker in the organized labor movement. During the past seventy years of my life I have been subject to the authority of the capitalist class and for the last thirty-five years I have been conscious of this fact. With the years’ personal experience-the roughest kind best of all teachers-I have learned that there is an irrepressible conflict that will never end between the working-class and the capitalist-class, until these two classes disappear and the worker alone remains the producer and owner of the capital produced.
In this fight I wept at the grave of nineteen workers shot on the highways of Latterman [Lattimer], Pennsylvania in 1897. In the same place I marched with 5,000 women eighteen miles in the night seeking bread for their children, and halted with the bayonets of the Coal and Iron police who had orders to shoot to kill.
Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs on “The Socialist Party and the Trade Unions,” Part III
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.
There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found
among millions of working people and the few, who
make up the employing class, have
all the good things of life
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Sunday August 5, 1906
From The Worker: Debs on Leaving the A. F. of L.
Over the past few days we have been offering the response made by Eugene V. Debs to questions posed by the New York Worker regarding the debate on the relation of the Socialist Party of America to the trades unions. Today’s installment is part three of four parts.
The Worker introduces what it calls a symposium:
The question of the relation of the Socialist Party to the trade unions having again attracted attention within our ranks, The Worker has inaugurated a symposium to which representative comrades are being invited to contribute, setting forth various points view.