Tag: Espionage Act of 1917

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Your Liberties Will Go With ‘Gene Debs When He Goes to Prison

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD Slave is My Brother, AtR p1, May 1, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 30, 1919
“…while Debs is in prison, you are not free, no honest man is free…”

From the Appeal to Reason of March 29, 1919:

Banner Headline EVD to Go to Prison, AtR p1, Mar 29, 1919
—–

The decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the prison sentence passed upon Eugene V. Debs by a lower federal court came as a distinct shock to several millions of the American people. It is true that the hopes of these people were not pinned to the slender faith that Debs would find a just refuge in this high court of the powers that be. While the Supreme Court frequently sets aside laws with an astonishing alacrity, they are such laws as are obnoxious to privileged interests rather than to plain citizens. Setting aside the Espionage Act, especially to remove the threat of prison from Debs the spokesman of labor, was the last thing the Supreme Court could have been rationally expected to do.

The reply of the Appeal to the Supreme court is simply this: Whatever you can or cannot do, whatever you will or will not do, in the case of Debs makes little difference in the actual and final settlement of the issue. Where ignorance and prejudice are blissfully enthroned, ’tis folly to look for wisdom and tolerance. If you had it in your power and province to make Debs a free man by a mere effortless nod of the head, we know well that you would not do so. Politically you may safely defy any storm of public opinion, because you are secure in your arbitrary life jobs. But there are other branches of the government that depend upon the suffrage of the people and that must, unless madness has seized them and they are led to listen to the most stupid of counsels, place themselves responsive to the manifested will of public opinion. We believe that President Wilson and certain members of his official family are really inclined to favor action that a sufficient sentiment of the people, clearly expressed, may demand. That is to say, we believe that they are wise enough to listen to the people when the people talk loud enough and that they are not so wrapped in reactionary stupidity and prejudice that they will obdurately refuse to follow a course that demonstrates itself to be popular.

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Hellraisers Journal: Debs Bids Farewell to Cleveland Comrades at Speech at West Side Turn Hall, Appeals for Solidarity

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, re Red Roses, OH Sc p4, Mar 19, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 21, 1919
Cleveland, Ohio – Eugene Debs Presented with Red Roses at Farewell Address

From The Ohio Socialist of March 19, 1919:

Eugene V. Debs’ Speech at West Side Turn Hall, Cleveland
[Wednesday Evening, March 12, 1919]

EVD, Bstn Glb p3, Sept 13, 1918

Before a capacity audience of 3,000 which filled West Side Turn hall one hour before his scheduled appearance Debs made his farewell speech.

Debs was calm, His opening words were accorded an instantaneous silence. He said:

How true it is that there is a divinity that shapes our ends, roughhew them how we will! It may seem strange to you, but in my plans, in my dreams, I did not think of going to the penitentiary-and I-I had a thousand times rather go there and spend my remaining days there than to betray this great cause.

So far as I am concerned it does not matter much. The margin is narrow, the years between now and the sunset are few, and the only care that I have personally is that I may preserve to the last the integrity of my own soul and my loyalty to the only cause worth living for, fighting for, and dying for.

It is so perfectly fine to me to look into your faces once more, to draw upon you for the only word I have ever had, the only word that I can ever speak for myself. I love mankind, humanity. Can you understand? I am sure you can.

We are close of kith and kin, we are human and when we get into close touch with each other we come to understand that our good depends upon the good of all humanity.

Opposed to System.

I am opposed to the system under which we live. I am opposed to the government that compels you, the great body of the American people, to pay your tribute to an insignificant few who enjoy life while the great body of the people suffer, struggle, and agonize without ever having lived. Can you understand? I am sure you can.

Let me get in touch with you for a while. I am going to speak to you as a Socialist, as a revolutionist, and, if you please, as a Bolshevist.

And what is the thing that the whole world is talking about? What is it that the ruling class power of the world are denouncing, upon which they are pouring a flood of all their malicious lies-what is it? It is the rise of the workers, the peasants, the soldiers, the common man, who for the first time in history said, “I have made what there is, I produced the wealth; I want to be heard.”

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Ohio Socialist: “Debs Goes to Prison,” the Class Character of the Supreme Court Decision

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, Debs Address to the Court, Sept 14, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 12, 1919
“The machinery of capitalism has completed its work…Debs must go to prison.”

From The Ohio Socialist of March 12, 1919:

DEBS GOES TO PRISON

EVD, Bstn Glb p3, Sept 13, 1918

The machinery of capitalism has completed its work and ground out the decision that Eugene V. Debs must go to prison.

No one who has studied the class character of the governmental institutions of this country expected a different verdict than that which has just been rendered by the United States Supreme Court.

It was inconceivable that the Supreme Curt would declare the Espionage law unconstitutional.

The interpretation of the constitution follows the needs of the ruling class. Only unsophisticated persons with a ludicrously naive belief in the “democracy” of modern capitalist government could imagine such a contingency as the Supreme cCourt declaring a law in the interest of the capitalist class unconstitutional in the hour of capitalism’s greatest need.

But if there was no hope for Debs, even though, as many people believe, the Espionage law violates clearly expressed provisions of the national constitution in regard to the right of free speech and free press, it did seem that the selfish interests of the ruling class of this country might save Debs from prison.

Capitalism in this country is resting upon a slumbering volcano-the volcano of a suppressed, oppressed and exploited working class.

In Russia and Germany the volcano has burst and is flinging the debris of capitalism to the four winds.

In England, France and Italy the rumbling which forecasts a similar activity can be distinctly heard.

Even here the warning signals are not wanting. Unemployment, strikes, discontent, Seattle’s [General Strike] and Lawrence’s [Textile Strike], all suggest a growing bitterness that is the sign of a coming eruption.

Well might the ruling class hesitate before adding another grievance, a grievance that will deepen and make more bitter the hatred of the working class of the system that holds them under its iron heel.

That is what the sending of Eugene V. Debs will mean to the ruling class of this country.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “About the Second Masses Trial” by John Reed, Drawings by Art Young

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote John Reed, Rebellious People, Ten Days, 1919
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 27, 1918
New York, New York – Jack Reed & Art Young on Second Masses Trial

From The Liberator of December 1918:

-Defense Attorney Seymour Stedman by Art Young

2nd Masses Trial Oct, Stedman by Art Young, Liberator p4, Dec 1918

SEYMOUR STEDMAN, attorney for the defense, in his eloquent summing up, referred as follows to the fact that the Masses editors asked an injunction compelling the Post Office to mail the very magazine for publishing which they were later indicted:

Do men who are committing a crime go into a Federal Court and face a District Attorney and ask the privilege of continuing it? A strange set of burglars! A strange set of footpads! A strange set o smugglers! A strange set of criminals! I ask Mr. Barnes to tell you when before in his experience, men in the City of New York came in and filed an appeal, opening all their proof and all their evidence and all their testimony and said, “if the Court please, we insist on the right to continue this deep, dark, infamous conspiracy, and have it sanctified by an advocate of the United States Court.” History finds no parallel that I know of in any criminal procedure which has ever taken place.

-John Reed on Second Masses Trial

About the Second Masses Trial

by John Reed

IN the United States political offenses are dealt with more harshly than anywhere else in the world. In the amendment to the Espionage Act [the Sedition Act] it is made a crime equivalent to manslaughter to “criticize the form of government.” The sentences in Espionage cases run anywhere from ten to twenty years at hard labor, with fines of thousands of dollars.

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Hellraisers Journal: Charles Moyer at Laredo Labor Conference: Half-Truths & Untruths re IWW & Big Bill Haywood

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 20, 1918
Laredo, Texas – Charles Moyer Spews Bitter Venom at Bill Haywood

With great sadness we report and correct the half-truths and untruths spewed by Charles Moyer at Big Bill Haywood during the recent Pan American Labor Conference held at Laredo, Texas. Charles Moyer knows what it is to face the persecutions of the ruling class. He nearly lost his life in the 1913 Michigan Copper Miners strike when he was kidnapped, shot, and deported from the strike zone by company gunthugs.

From the Chicago Day Book of December 29, 1913:

M13, Moyer in Hospital, Day Book p29, Dec 29, 1913

He nevertheless returned to the strike zone after his release from the hospital, and was greeted by thousands of cheering strikers and their families. That this hero would now turn on his fellow workers brings deep disappointment and sadness.

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Hellraisers Journal: Charles Moyer Denounces I. W. W. & Big Bill Haywood at Laredo Pan American Labor Conference

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

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 19, 1918
Laredo, Texas – A. F. of L. Defeats Plan to Assist I. W. W.

From El Paso Morning Times of November 16, 1918:

DEFEAT PLAN TO ASSIST
MEMBERS OF I.W.W.
—–
Labor Leaders at Pan-American Labor Conference
Attack Resolution Offered by Mexican
Delegates That Was Intended
to Aid Imprisoned Men.
—–

GOMPERS AND MOYER DENOUNCERS OF MOVE
—–
President of Mine Workers Bitter
in His Arraignment of Haywood,
Secretary of Organization,
Who Is Serving a Sentence
for Espionage.
—–

By Associated Press.

HMP, Pettibone Moyer Haywood, AtR, Feb 16, 1907
From the Appeal to Reason of February 16, 1907

Laredo, Texas, Nov. 15.-An attempt by Mexican delegates to the pan-American labor conference to have adopted a resolution aiming at the release from prison of Industrial Workers of the World today brought forth an attack on that organization by American labor leaders, who defeated the plan.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Liberator: “Is Civil Liberty Dead?” -on the Department of Justice & the Persecution of the IWW

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 13, 1918
Legal Defense of Industrial Workers of the World Sabotaged

From The Liberator of November 1918:

Is Civil Liberty Dead? Liberator, Nov 1918

WWIR IWW Remember the Boys in Jail, OH Sc p3, Aug 21, 1918

IN the midst of our rejoicing over the second disagreement in the Masses case, comes news of continued persecution of the I. W. W. Not content with its power to arrest and hold in prison for months under outrageous bail, workingmen known to be penniless, agents of the Department of Justice, aided by Post Office officials, deliberately prevent the friends of these men from collecting the funds which are absolutely necessary to ensure them a fair hearing. This discrimination against men “presumed to be innocent” was notorious in the Chicago case. We learn from the Civil Liberties Bureau that the same methods are being employed to weaken the defense in the remaining I. W. W. cases. And we know from our own experience that letters to I. W. W. branches are returned as “unmailable” under the supreme power exercised by Mr. Burleson under the second Espionage Act. Words cannot be found to express the indignation that any real Democrat must feel at this continued reign of terror.

We print below a memorandum recently sent to the President by the National Civil Liberties Bureau.

I. Interference by Agents of the Department of Justice

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Victor Debs Addresses the Court: “The cross is bending, the midnight is passing…”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, The Cross is Bending, Sept 14, 1918
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday September 16, 1918
Cleveland, Ohio – Eugene Debs Address the Court, Part II

On September 12th, Comrade Debs was convicted under the Espionage law on charges based upon his Anti-War Speech delivered at Canton, Ohio, on June 16th. On Saturday September 14th, Debs appeared at Federal Court in Cleveland, Ohio, in order to receive the sentence of Judge Westenhaver. The motion for a new trial was denied and Debs was asked if he had anything to say before sentence was pronounced. Comrade Debs faced the Judge and spoke:

STATEMENT TO THE COURT, PART II

EVD, Debs to Terre Haute, Ipl Str p2, Sept 15, 1918

I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned—that industry, the basis of life, instead of being the private property of the few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all.

John D. Rockefeller has today an income of sixty million dollars a year, five million dollars a month, two hundred thousand dollars a day. He does not produce a penny of it. I make no attack upon Mr. Rockefeller personally. I do not in the least dislike him. If he were in need, and it were in my power to serve him, I should serve him as gladly as I would any other human being. I have no quarrel with Mr. Rockefeller personally, nor with any other capitalist. I am simply opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful, to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all of the days of their lives secure barely enough for existence.

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth.

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