Tag: Chicago IL

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Sends Message to Comrades of Newly Formed Social Democratic Party of America

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Modern Wage Slave, Terre Haute May 31, 1898, Debs-IA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday July 18, 1898
Eugene V. Debs: “The Social Democratic Party of America lives.”

From the Chicago Social Democratic Herald of July 16, 1898:

The Future

To the Social Democratic Party.

Comrades:—

EVD, New Time Magazine, Feb 1898

That I have not earlier sent greeting to my comrades is due to prolonged indisposition. The incessant work and travel of more than 20 years have temporarily placed me hors de combat [out of the fight]. But only temporarily. With returning health and strength my work will be continued. It is not a little disquieting to have to “let go,” even for a little while, when there is such urgent need for action.

The separation at the late convention was inevitable. It had to come. The contemplation of division was painful, as only those can fully realize who were party to it. But painful as it was, the operation had to be performed. And it was a success, for the Social Democratic Party of America lives. All the members are full fledged socialists. They are in accord with the program of international socialism. There is not only in the number opposed to independent political action, not one that asks or expects anything from any old capitalist party, by whatever name it may be called.

There is harmony. There is oneness of purpose, there is true-hearted fidelity to principle, there is unrelaxing energy, and these qualities in alliance presage success.

So I contemplate the course of events with serenity.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Sends Message to Comrades of Newly Formed Social Democratic Party of America” →

Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Party Gears Up for Campaign; Red Special to Visit Kansas City with Debs Aboard

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD Nature's Bounty, Girard, May 16, 1908

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 17, 1908
Kansas City, Kansas – “Red Special” Expected in August

THE “RED SPECIAL.”
Socialist Train With Debs on Board
Will Visit Kansas.
—–

Deb and Hanford, SPA Ticket, MT News p2, July 16, 1908

—–

Milwaukee, Wis., July 15.-Kansas will, in August, get a look at the “Red Special,” which the national Soicalist party will send out for a sixty-day tour, just before election, with candidate Debs aboard. When at Topeka, excursion will be run by the local committee to give all the Kansans a chance to hear him. Already over 200 speeches have been arranged for, and the number placed that wish to hear him is said to be nearly three times as large. The train will leave Chicago in August, visit the west first, then wind up the campaign in the east.

———-

[Photograph added.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Party Gears Up for Campaign; Red Special to Visit Kansas City with Debs Aboard” →

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: “What Has Ben Fletcher Ever Shown to Have Done?” Queries Vanderveer

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Matilda Robbins ed, Ben Fletcher, p132 PC—————

Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 12, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June

WWIR, IWW Leaders Fletcher, NYTb p28, Apr 14, 1918
New York Tribune, April 14, 1918

As the federal trial of the I. W. W. leaders continues in Chicago, we find through the reporting of Harrison George that evidence against Fellow Workers Fletcher and Ashleigh is non- existent. This fact was noted by Attorney Vanderveer in his request for dismissal of charges against them:

“What has Ben Fletcher ever shown to have done,” said he, “except that he got married and wrote in for his week’s wages?”

“Overruled,” said Landis.

“Whatever Charles Ashleigh might have done last year not one word of evidence is brought to show it and your honor knows as little about it as of the Angel Gabriel,” said Vanderveer.

“Overruled,” said Landis.

Judge Landis on the
Non-Submissive State of Mind

Another question fought over was Vanderveer’s motion to expunge from the record certain so-called “disloyal” acts and utterances under claim that they were acts of individuals not in furtherance of any possible conspiracy. “These acts,” said Landis, in overruling the motion, “although not criminal in themselves, nor apparently carried out by any plan, may tend to show a state of mind and therefore are admissible as evidence to be considered by the jury.” In comment Vanderveer said, “If this theory holds, nobody is safe and I, for one, want to take to the woods.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: “What Has Ben Fletcher Ever Shown to Have Done?” Queries Vanderveer” →

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Harrowing Story of Lumber Worker Tar and Feathered with Boss’s Approval

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Vanderveer re The Pyramid, Chg IWW Trial June 25, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday July 11, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Trial, Third Week of June

From The Ohio Socialist of July 9, 1918:

THE I. W. W. TRIAL
[Part I]

By Harrison George

George Vanderveer, larger, Chaplin Centralia

The third week of June opened with the promise of a speedy passing as the prosecution had announced a purpose to close their case by Wednesday, the 19th.

With the closing of the prosecution’s side in view, the interest became heightened as all looked for “surprises” and expected some tremendous broadsides at the finish. It was a real disappointment when nothing of the kind occurred, when no climax came and everything merely fizzled out, like a bad firecracker.

Comparatively few witnesses appeared, the most important ones taking the stand Monday, the 17th. To illustrate what was left of them after Vanderveer’s grilling, let us pick at random from the record, let us examine the testimony of Elton Watkins, special agent of the Department of Justice, stationed at Portland, Oregon, and sent from there last July to the lumber strike district at Astoria, Oregon.

On direct examination Watkins told of his Sherlockian methods with some pride. He didn’t go to Astoria to settle the strike, to ascertain the cause or to confer with both sides. He did talk with the bosses, he did ask the postmaster who the I. W. W. secretary was, and he did spy upon the strikers’ meetings through a crack in a partition to hear what A. E. Soper, then secretary, now a defendant, said in speeches.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Harrowing Story of Lumber Worker Tar and Feathered with Boss’s Approval” →

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial Testimony: Deportations from Bisbee and Murder of Frank Little at Butte

Janet RayeFrank Little
Share

Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday July 8, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Trial of I. W. W. Leaders Continues

Fellow Workers Embree and Rogers for the defense:

Court was adjourned for the Fourth of July, and those defendants still confined in Cook County Jail were kept locked in their cells for that entire sweltering summer day. On the 5th of July, Defendant A. S. Embree resumed the testimony begun July 3rd regarding the Arizona deportations. Harrison George, also one of the defendants, picks up the story:

The law of Arizona was but the plaything of the Copper Trust, he said, in giving a long and explicit account of how he and 1,185 other men were deported from Bisbee by gunmen under direction of Sheriff Harry Wheeler and company officials. Embree was examined by Attorney W. B. Cleary, himself a deportee, and his story of that memorable 12th of July, 1917, when all law was set aside in the interest of industrial autocracy, was backed by many photographs of the deportees and their deporters. On the morning of that day five men with rifles came out of the office of Postmaster Bailey, and more guns came from the Y. M. C. A., Embree stated.

Bisbee Deportation, White Arm Band Gunthug, libcom
—–

Of those deported, 40 percent. were members of the I.W.W., 25 percent. were members of the A. F. of L. and 35 per cent. were unorganized workers or business and professional men. Fred Brown, state organizer of the A. F. of L., was deported. Several grocery men were deported; also the proprietors of two restaurants with all their employees. Registered men, 400 of them, were sent away and forbidden to return, even for draft examination; many holders of Liberty Bonds, one a cash purchaser of $15,000 of these bonds-everyone who would not bow to gunman rule and Copper Trust law-400 married men with families dragged from homes and sent into the desert-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial Testimony: Deportations from Bisbee and Murder of Frank Little at Butte” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Social Democratic Party of America” -Letter from Chicago Delegates

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote SDP, Class-Conscious & Revolutionary, AtR p4, July 2, 1898
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday July 7, 1898
On the Formation of the Social Democratic Party of America

From the Appeal to Reason of July 2, 1898:

The Social Democratic Party of America.
———-

CHICAGO, June 16, 1898.

To Members of the Social Democracy of America:

1890s? Theodore Debs, IndStateEdu, Debs

COMRADES: There has been a division of the delegates who met in annual convention in this city in the name of the Social Democracy, beginning June 7th and ending June 11th, and the result has been the formation of a new party, known as the Social Democratic Party of America.

To report the truth respecting the withdrawal of the undersigned delegates from the convention, and the causes which led thereto, and to the formation of a new party, is the purpose of this address, and we bespeak for it the calm and serious consideration its importance demands.

Soon after the convention was called to order it became apparent that the delegates were divided into two factions, and as the deliberations proceeded the breach which separated them grew wider and all hope of bringing them into harmonious alliance vanished.

The prime factor in the disruption of the Social Democracy was the appearance in the convention of a number of delegates representing Chicago branches which were reported to have been organized within two or three days of the time the convention met, and these delegates were sufficient in number to control the convention. As a matter of fact they were chosen for that purpose and for that purpose alone, and it can be proved that the branches they were alleged to represent had not, and have not now, any existence.

That there was an undercurrent to defeat independent political action, especially in some sections in which certain delegates were personally interested, was too plainly evident to admit of doubt. The intense activity of certain other persons who are known to be violently opposed to political action emphasized the conviction that “colonization” was made the pretext for defeating the independent political program of the organization.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Social Democratic Party of America” -Letter from Chicago Delegates” →

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Defense Calls Red Doran; Courtroom Treated to “Chalk Talk” on Economics

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Doran, IWW Trial Chg, June 28, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday July 2, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Chalk Talk” by Red Doran at I. W. W. Trial

On Friday, June 28th, Attorney Otto Christensen called forth John T. “Red” Doran as a witness for the defense. In place of the usual witness chair was found a large easel and a cloth blackboard upon which Fellow Worker Red Doran launched into an illustrated address describing the current economic system and explaining how it is based upon robbery, degradation and exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.

From El Paso Morning Times of June 30, 1918:

Chg IWW Trial, Red Doran, ISR Jan 1918


Red Doran, Lecturer
for I.W.W. Society,
Given Trial in Court
—–

By Associated Press.

Chicago, June 29.-Red Doran, who was permitted to lecture in court [June 28th] as part of the evidence in the I. W. W. defense and spoke of alleged unsanitary conditions in northwestern lumber camps, had only spasmodic experiences as a worker in these camps, it appeared on cross examination today. He admitted that he never had worked in a lumber camp or mill, except in the blacksmith.

Charles Ashleigh, the third defendant to take the witness stand, said he became interested in the labor movement in England. In 1903 when he came to the United states he became interested in the I. W. W. in New York he said he did some work for Miss Anne Morgan.

He testified that the I. W. W., aims at industrial rather than governmental reform. In the United States, he said, there is an advanced political democracy and an industrial autocracy.

“So long as this condition exists, industry is little more than a sentiment,” he said.

Charles R. Griffith [Griffin], another defendant, related numerous experiences with his employers during 18 years spent in the woods as a lumberjack. He defended the I. W. W. propaganda and told of conditions which he said had been responsible for many strikes in the northwest lumber camps.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago IWW Trial: Defense Calls Red Doran; Courtroom Treated to “Chalk Talk” on Economics” →

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Trial: FW Big Jim Thompson Weeps as He Recalls Wheatland Hop-Pickers Strike of 1913

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Chicago IWW Trial, H George, p71-2, JP Thompson, June 25-26, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday June 29, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Big Jim Thompson for the Defense

James P. Thompson, known to his Fellow Workers as Big Jim Thompson, was the first witness called by the defense in the Chicago I. W. W. Trial. He was on the stand for two days and spoke of his many years as an I. W. W. organizer.

FW Thompson wept as he recalled the Wheatland hop-pickers strike of 1913 and the massacre of the improvised workers there, shot down by sheriff’s deputies for the crime of attempting to organize.

Hop Pickers, Durst Ranch, Wheatland, California, 1913
Hop Pickers, Durst Ranch, Wheatland, California, 1913

Through his tears, Thompson predicted:

Some day, when Labor’s age-long fight for life and freedom is ended, then will there be a monument raised over the graves of the Wheatland martyrs-and it will show the little water-carrier boy and his tin pail lying there on the ground mingling his blood with the water that he carried, and over him, in a posture of defense, the brave Porto-Rican with the gun he had torn from the cowardly hands of the murderers who had fired upon a crowd of women and children.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Trial: FW Big Jim Thompson Weeps as He Recalls Wheatland Hop-Pickers Strike of 1913” →

Hellraisers Journal: Judge Landis Deals Hard Blow to IWW at Chicago Trial; George Vanderveer Opens for the Defense

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Vanderveer re The Pyramid, Chg IWW Trial June 25, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 26, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – Landis Rules Against I. W. W.; Defense Opens

From The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.) of June 25, 1918:

HARD BLOW IS DEALT I. W. W.
—–
Judge Landis Declines to Admit Report
of Industrial Relations Committee.
—–

(By Associated Press)

George Vanderveer, larger, Chaplin Centralia

Chicago, June 24.-Federal Judge Landis dealt a hard blow to the defense in the I. W. W. trial today, counsel admitted, when he barred from evidence the eleven volume report of the federal industrial relations commission of which Frank P. Walsh was chairman.

On the commission’s report the I. W. W. based its entire course of dealing with the industrial situation, according to George F. Vanderveer, chief of counsel for the defense.

The attorney, in making his opening statement of the case of the defendants, who are charged with seditious conspiracy, denied that the I. W. W. organization had attempted to destroy the existing industrial system.

It was to lay the foundation of his case that the lawyer sought to submit in evidence the “I. W. W. Bible,” as published in 1915 [1916]. He declared the Walsh report was the “guiding light” of the I. W. W. members in all that they did.

Judge Landis refused to allow the defense to go into a general inquiry of industrial conditions.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Judge Landis Deals Hard Blow to IWW at Chicago Trial; George Vanderveer Opens for the Defense” →