Tag: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks on Behalf of Everett Prisoners; Defense Wins Change of Venue

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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It is no wonder the Statue of Liberty
has her back to the United States.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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

Hellraisers Journal, Monday February 12, 1917
Everett, Washington – Prisoners Championed by Miss Flynn

Jail at Everett, WCS

While the Everett Class-War Prisoners remain locked behind the bars of the Snohomish County Jail under conditions described as “barbarous,” they nevertheless can take comfort in knowing that they have, as their champion, Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the “Rebel Girl” of Joe Hill’s famous song, fighting on their behalf.

From the Portland Morning Oregonian of February 5, 1917:

I. W. W. COLLECT FUND
—–

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN TALKS IN
EVERETT PRISONERS’ BEHALF.
—–
“No Wonder Statue of Liberty Has Back
Turned to United States,”
Speaker Declares
—–

EGF, Ad mtg on 4th, Morning Oregonian, Feb 3, 1917, p11

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, speaking in behalf of the defense of the I. W. W.’s to be tried as participants in the Everett affair of November 5, addressed a capacity audience at the Eleventh-street playhouse yesterday afternoon.

While there were many interruptions of applause during the speaker’s address, the meeting was orderly. A collection, taken up by the girl ushers amounted to $175. Miss Flynn announced that it was not enough, and she called for another passing of the basket to make up the sum of $200. This will be added to the sum needed to defend the men who are charged with murder and complicity in the demonstration on the steamer Verona in Everett, Wash.

Miss Flynn attacked the “lumber trust and other forces of oppression.” She declared that the I. W. W.’s of Everett had been beaten with rubber hose and tortured. She said that the trouble started when the men were told to get off a certain street corner in the heart of the town, on the main street of Everett. “Why, if you got two blocks off the main street of Everett you’d be in the woods,” declared Miss Flynn.

What she termed as the lack of freedom of speech made Miss Flynn say: “It is no wonder the Statue of Liberty has her back to the United States.” She said that while the Salvation army wants “pie in the sky when you die,” the Industrial Workers want “pie here and now.”

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Hellraisers Journal: From Everett Defense: Date Set for Trial; Gurley Flynn Speaks before State Federations of Labor

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote, Charles Ashleigh, EDNL9, Jan 27, 1917

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

Hellraisers Journal, Monday January 29, 1917
From Seattle, Washington: Everett Defense News Letter No. 9

Everett Massacre, Def News Letter 9, Jan 27, 1917

Everett, Wash, Jan. 27th.

The date of the first trial has been set! The first man to be tried is Fellow Worker Thomas H. Tracy and his case comes up on March 5th. This was decided yesterday in Everett when the 74 boys pleaded “Not Guilty!” The presiding judge was J. T. Ronald, of King County, who has been appointed by Governor Lister to hear the case, as prejudice was charged by our attorneys against the Two Superior Court judges of Snohomish county.

APPLICATION MADE FOR CHANGE OF VENUE.

Our attorneys gave notice of an application for a change of venue. They will now prepare affidavits proving that there is too much prejudice in Snohomish county to warrant the boys a fair and impartial trial. The affidavits will be submitted on Feb. 2nd and the motion for change of venus will be decided upon by judge on Feb. 9th.

OUR MEN IN GOOD SPIRITS.

The 74 boys made a fine showing in the court-room on Friday. They marched in heavily guarded by a swarm of deputies, but were entirely unabashed. They answered to their names and rose, one after the other, giving, in ringing tones, their plea-it sounded more like a statement than a plea-of “Not Guilty!” There was much favorable comment in the court on the clear-cut and self-possessed appearance of the prisoners.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for Everett Defense: “Now is the time to defend yourselves in the persons of those 74.”

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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The heritage we leave to
the next generation
will be in the conditions
that we make now.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 23, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Miss Flynn Speaks at Dreamland Park

From The Seattle Star of January 22, 1917:

MORE THAN 5000 HEAR
ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN
—–

EGF, Everett Northwest Worker, Jan 18, 1917

Before a record-breaking crowd at the Dreamland rink, Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, noted woman labor speaker, and H. Scott Bennett, former labor member of the Australian parliament, spoke under the auspices of the Everett Defense league, in behalf of the 74 I. W. W. held for murder.

Charles Ashleight [Ashleigh] presided.

Forceful, vigorous, speaking with intense feeling, Miss Flynn fired volley after volley against the capitalistic system, which, according to her, permitted the murder of five I. W. W. at Everett.

Bennett also carried tremendous force in his remarks as he reviewed the labor struggle.

Resolutions asking a federal investigation of the affair at Everett were passed, and a collection netted $331.52 for the defense fund. More than 5,000 attended the meeting.

A dance in the evening netted $200.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in Seattle to Aid Everett Prisoners’ Defense; Speaks at Dreamland Today

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 21, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Arrives

EGF, Everett Northwest Worker, Jan 18, 1917

The best woman labor speaker in America is in Seattle. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, “the Joan of Arc of the Labor Movement,” will devote the next few weeks of her time to the defense of the 74 men in jail in Everett charged with murder.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has been an agitator since her fifteenth year. She has been brought up in the atmosphere of the working class movement and it has entered right into her soul. Her vivid and appealing oratory can sway thousands of workers because it proceeds out of an intense sincerity.

She has been in nearly every great fight the Industrial Workers of the World have engaged in for the last seven years. In Spokane, Wash., during the Free Speech Fight in 1909, she was arrested. Since then her arrests have been many; Philadelphia, Paterson, New York, Missoula and other towns have known her in the clutches of the law for her upholding of the rights of Free Speech and labor organization.

The great strike of 20,000 iron ore miners in the Mesaba Range in Minnesota was the last scene of Miss Flynn’s activities. There she was a power in the building up of the miners’ solidarity. She is known from coast to coast and every place that she visits there is a revival of enthusiasm among the workers for the cause of labor.

Miss Flynn will be the principal speaker at a great demonstration to be held at the Dreamland Rink on Sunday, Jan. 21st, at 2 p. m. This meeting is called in the interests of the Defense of the 74 men in jail in Everett for their active advocacy of free speech for labor.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Coming to Seattle to Assists 74 Fellow Workers Jailed in Everett

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Prison bars do not frighten when
one has truth and right
deep in the heart.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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

Hellraisers Journal, Monday January 15, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Miss Flynn, of Mesabi Fame, Coming Soon

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has barely had time to visit her family and her little son in New York City since the long struggle up on the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota came to a close, when now comes the call from the fellow workers of Washington state for assistance to save the 74 imprisoned free speech fighters locked behind the bars of the Snohomish County Jail on charges of first degree murder. She is preparing to answer that call, and her arrival in the the city of Seattle, where the Everett Prisoners Defense Committee is headquartered, is expected soon. This story and further news regarding the Everett situation can be found below.

From The Seattle Star of January 12, 1917:

ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN
WILL SPEAK HERE
FOR I. W. W.

Everett Massacre, EGF Coming, Stt Star, Jan 12, 1917

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the well known I. W. W. leader, and reputed the best woman labor speaker in America, is coming to Seattle to assist in the campaign for the defense of the 74 men in jail in Everett. Miss Flynn has just concluded a long campaign in Minnesota in connection with the strike of the iron ore miners on the Mesaba Range.

One of the usual subriquets applied to Miss Flynn by her admirers is that of “the Joan of Arc of the Labor Movement.” She has been a speaker in the working class movement since her 15th year and has since become prominent thru her activities in the Lawrence strike, the Paterson, N. J., strike and other great labor upheavals.

Miss Flynn is billed to speak at a meeting at Dreamland on Sunday, the 21st.

A dance in the evening will be given to raise funds for the defense of the accused.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Harrison George Claims Victory on the Mesabi

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday January 6, 1917
From the Mesabi Range, Minnesota, Comes News of Plea Agreement

The International Socialist Review of January 1917:

MN16 Gunthugs on the Mesabi, ISR Jan 1917

Victory on the Mesaba Range

By HARRISON GEORGE
We were all ready to go to press when the following telegram came in. We feel sure all REVIEW readers will be interested in the brief sketches that follow:
Virginia, Minn., Dec. 15, 1916.
Tresca, Scarlett, Schmidt, Mrs. Masonovitch, Orlandich, [F]reed, Phil Masonovitch, Nikich, Cernogorovich year sentence each. All cases against Gilday, Greeni, others dismissed. Full statement will follow. Funds needed here meet honor bound obligations. All committees rush balance funds on hand here. All together for freedom Everett and all class war prisoners.
Ettor, Gilday, Flynn.

CARLO TRESCA, who was born in Sulmona, Italy, in 1879. Entering the labor movement at an early age, he became editor of a Socialist paper in his native town when he was only twenty years old. By 1904 he had shown his worth by being many times sent to prison on political charges. In 1903 he was elected secretary of the largest labor organization of Italy, the Syndicate of Firemen and Railroad Engineers. In 1904, however, he was given choice of eighteen months penal servitude or ten years exile for political offenses, and, choosing exile, he landed in America in August, 1904. As organizer and editor he continued his fight for labor, now being editor of an Italian paper in New York, LL’Avenire [L’Avvenire]. Jailed for months on different occasions, he was attacked by an assassin, who is said to have been an emissary of the Italian consul in Pittsburgh and his throat badly slashed. In the last six years Tresca has taken part in all big strikes of the I. W. W., which involved Italian workers. Lawrence, Little Falls and Paterson are only a few of the many strikes where thousands cheered when Tresca stood before them. Now he is on trial for murder. The witness against him has said that when a certain remark was made by another speaker, Tresca smiled and said, “Good, good!” For a smile and one short word, twice uttered, Tresca has been charged with murder!

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for The Masses: “The Minnesota Trials”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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It is a privilege and a duty even by sacrifice
to advance our priceless cause.
-John R Lawson

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 5, 1917
From The Masses: FW Flynn on Behalf of Minnesota Defendants

EGF, MN Iron Miners Strike, Ev IN, Aug 17, 1916

The following article was obviously written for The Masses by Fellow Worker Flynn, I. W. W. organizer, before the plea agreement was reached in the cases of the strikers and organizers charged with first degree murder in connection with the strike of iron miners up on the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota. The article is nevertheless valuable for the information given regarding the defenses campaign along with a short history regarding “criminal conspiracy” as related to labor struggles, past and present. Tomorrow’s Hellraisers will present an article from this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review, written by Harrison George, which claims the plea agreement as a victory for the strikers and for the cause of labor in general.

From The Masses of January 1917:

The Minnesota Trials

Masonovich-P. & M. & Boarders, ISR, Sept 1916

Many of our friends fail to appreciate the magnitude of the Minnesota strike, involving 15,000 miners and the United States Steel Corporation, and are beguiling themselves into belief that the murder cases pending are not serious.

Mrs. Masonovitch [Masonovich], the woman prisoner, wife of one of the strikers, is a particularly pathetic and appealing figure, a young and beautiful Montenegrin woman, mother of five children, one a nursing baby. She speaks little English, does not understand the proceedings, looks frightened and bewildered and clings frantically to her children. If the parents should be convicted these little ones would be practically orphans. The older ones, twelve and eight, bright, nice boys, tell very clearly what happened on July 3, the night of the tragedy, how the deputies came to arrest their father, how one struck their mother and threw her to the floor, how the fight then started in which Mr. Myron was killed, and how Nick Dillon, the notorious gunman, shot and killed Thos. Ladvalla [Tomi Ladvalla-WE NEVER FORGET], a bystander. If the episode was not connected with a strike, it would be comparatively easy to clear these poor people.

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Flynn, 16, Plans Rejuvenation of World. Not an “out-and-out woman suffrage socialist.”

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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It is glorious to be arrested
in a good cause.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, age 16

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 4, 1907
From Her Flat in the Bronx: An Interview with Miss Flynn

From New York Evening World of August 24, 1906:

EGF Girl Socialist w Hat, NYW, Aug 24, 1906

LIFE’S BIG THINGS ALONE INTEREST
GIRL SOCIALIST
—–

Miss Elizabeth Flynn at Sixteen
Plans Rejuvenation of World.
—–
STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL.
—–
Is Leading Spirit of Unity Club
and Laughs at Her Arrest.
—–
NO WOMAN SUFFRAGIST.
—–
Says She Fully Realizes the Size of
the Task, but Will Devote
Life to It
—–

The youngest girl socialist in America is undoubtedly Miss Elizabeth Flynn, who was arrested for preaching socialism in the streets and discharged yesterday, and who to-night will address an open-air meeting on Main street, Orange. Although she is only sixteen years of age, Miss Flynn has become the leader of a club of Socialists, the title of which is Unity and the purpose of which is to bring about a lull in the fighting that has so far marked the progress of the socialist party.

Miss Flynn, who lives at No. 795 East One Hundred and Thirty-fourth street, talked freely to-day with an Evening World reporter,. She announced her plan to devote her life to the socialistic cause, saying that she believes it is much better for a woman to give her time to the conversion of mankind to a great economic improvement than to be a mother of children.

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Hellraisers Journal: An Interview with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on First Speech: “Women Under Socialism.”

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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The barter and sale that goes on to-day
in the name of love
is highly obnoxious to me.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, age 15

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

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday January 3, 1907
From the New York Sun: Interview with Miss Elizabeth Flynn

From The Sun of April 8, 1906:

A GIRL STIRS UP SOCIALISTS.
—–

COMRADE ELIZABETH FLYNN
A LEADER AT 15.
—–

“The Daughter of the Reds.” They Call Her, and Maybe They’ll Elect Her President Yet-Not Yet Out of School, She Captures Meetings With Her Oratory Has Radical Theories and Doesn’t Care for Love, Clothes or Matinees.

EGF, Girl Socialist at 15, NYS Apr 8, 1906

Within the last few weeks there has appeared at various social reform meetings a young girl-she is said to be only 15-with the high, broad forehead and the dream filled, far gazing eyes of the idealist; a skin of almost infantile pinkness and whiteness and a mass of flyaway black hair, tied loosely in schoolgirl fashion at the back of her neck who has electrified the audiences by joining in the debate with a certainty of manner, an eloquence of expression and a lucidity of thought that have surprised experienced speakers and even professional radicals.

Her speeches have been the more impressive because she is good to look upon. Added to the charm of her youth and her unusual gifts in line and color harmonies her face is bright and expressive. Her deep blue eyes are of unusual size and purity of color. The delicate, sensitive mouth has a queer little quivering twist of the upper lip. The nostrils of the clear cut, high bridged nose are thin and vibrant. The chin is small, pointed, delicately modelled.

She has always been simply dressed in the regulation schoolgirl shirtwaist and short skirt. Her attire shows a certain inattention to details that betrays a lack of interest in the whole subject of clothes. She is the average height of girls of 15, slender and girlishly immature.

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Elizabeth Flynn-“The Daughter of the Reds!”-Socialist Schoolgirl Orator Creates Sensation in 1906

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Prison bars do not frighten when
one has truth and right
deep in the heart.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday January 2, 1907
New York, New York – Miss Elizabeth Flynn, “Daughter of the Reds”

The story of the amazing schoolgirl orator, arrested last August for street speaking beneath the Red Flag, was published in newspapers across the nation in the days folowing her arrest and for months thereafter. The following article was published in several newspapers from New Jersey to Kansas and even down south in Louisiana.

From Pennsylvania’s Cameron County Press of October 25, 1906:

EGF, Socialist Schoolgirl, Article Cameron Co Press PA, Oct 25, 1916

From the New York Evening World of August 23, 1906:

EGF, In court for street speaking, NY Eve Wld, Aug 23, 1906

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Miss Elizabeth Flynn-“The Daughter of the Reds!”-Socialist Schoolgirl Orator Creates Sensation in 1906″ →