Tag: Harrison George

Hellraisers Journal: From the Cook County Jail: New Lyrics to an Old Song by Class War Prisoner Harrison George

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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We laugh and sing, we have no fear
Our hearts are always light,
We know that every Wobblie true
Will carry on the fight.
-Harrison George

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

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday November 18, 1917
From Cook County Jail, Illinois – “For the O. B. U.”

REMEMBER

By HARRISON GEORGE.
Cook County Jail, Oct. 18, 1917
(Tune: “Hold the Fort”)

We speak to you from jail today
Two hundred union men,
We’re here because the bosses’ laws
Bring slavery again.

Chorus

In Chicago’s darkened dungeons
For the O. B. U.
Remember you’re outside for us
While we’re in here for you.

We’re here from mine and mill and rail
We’re here from off the sea,
From coast to coast we make the boast
Of Solidarity.

We laugh and sing, we have no fear
Our hearts are always light,
We know that every Wobblie true
Will carry on the fight.

We make a pledge-no tyrant might
Can make us bend a knee,
Come on you worker, organize
And fight for Liberty.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Cook County Jail: New Lyrics to an Old Song by Class War Prisoner Harrison George” →

Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca & Arturo Giovannitti Arrested in New York City

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

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

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 30, 1917
New York, New York – Feds Seize Flynn, Tresca, & Giovanitti

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca, and Arturo Giovanitti, heros of the Lawrence and Paterson Strikes of 1912 and 1913 were arrested late in the day yesterday and their homes ransacked by federal agents.

EGF Tresca Paterson, Giovannitti Lawrence, re arrest Sept 29, 1917

—–

From today’s Pittsburgh Gazette Times:

Elizabeth G. Flynn Taken For
Activities With I. W. W.
—–

Two Associates Also Taken in New York-
Two Pittsburghers in Custody.
—–

NEW YORK, Sept. 29.-Three of the most prominent I. W. W. leaders in the United States were arrested here tonight by agents of the government. They are Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, militant I. W. W. agitator; Carl [Carlo] Tresca, her associate, and Arturo Giovanetti [Giovannitti].

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Hellraisers Journal: Rebellion in Lumber Camps of Northern Minnesota: Harrison George Reports

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The camps are deserted, the strikers firm,
the bosses wild and the cat sits on
every log that straggles thru
to the mills of Minnesota.
-Harrison George

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday February 1, 1917
Northern Minnesota – Lumber Workers Fight for Dignity

IWW Metal Mine Workers IU No. 490, Hibbing MN, June 19, 1916, Crpd

The Duluth News Tribune could not contain its glee when the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike was defeated last December and the I. W. W. organizers bid the workers of the Range good-bye. So imagine then the surprise when less than two weeks later the Industrial Workers of the World again appeared on the Range, this time to organize under the leadership of “Timber Beast” Jack Beaton and Fellow Worker Charles Jacobson, Secretary of the Virginia L. U. A meeting was held in the Finnish Socialist Hall of Virginia, demands issued, and soon a strike was on at the two sawmills and in the lumber camps of the Virginia & Rainy Lumber Company.

From the International Socialist Review of February 1917:

Lumber Workers, Camp Grub Pile, ISR, Feb 1917

WHILE the Lumber Workers’ Union, the bull-pen of the Industrial Workers of the World, was in convention at Portland, Ore., during the last week of December, the rumblings of revolt began half way across the continent among workers of that industry in Minnesota.

North and westward of the Mesaba Iron Range lies millions of acres of swamp lands. In the primeval state, these swamps were covered with magnificent forests where roamed the Indian and the fur-bearing fox, bear and beaver. In this section John Jacob Astor’s fur business in the early times laid the base of the present Astor-crat fortune. A very simple process—the Indians skinned the animals and Astor skinned the Indians.

Later huge land grants the railroads secured by bribery and worse practices, opened the forests to the pillage of the Lumber Trust. Where the government yet retained title to timber lands, the lumber trust in open defiance simply entered and stole the finest of timber and used the political axe on all annoying officials.

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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.

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

Hellraisers Journal: Biwabik Times Advocates Everett-Style Murder for the Miners of Mesabi Should They Dare to Strike Again

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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday December 5, 1916
Minnesota Mesabi Iron Range – Bullets for Striking Miners?

The Duluth Labor World recently addressed the grave concern displayed by the Biwabik Times for the poor picked-upon Steel Trust. The Times believes that the Lumber Trust of Washington set a good example on the care and treatment of labor agitators when their deputized company gunthugs committed mass murder on Everett’s Bloody Sunday.

From The Labor World of December 2, 1916:

BIWABIK TIMES ADVOCATES MURDER!

MN Miners Strike, Get Out IWW, Cartoon

The Biwabik Times in its issue of Nov. 24 openly
advocates murder!

Think of it! That staunch defender of the poor unprotected steel trust!

It, advocates and even urges the citizens of Biwabik to take human life!

The Times is really worried over the plight of the poor unprotected steel trust. It isn’t fair to call another strike. So naturally the Times has its first convulsion when it learns that a strike of miners will be called on April 1, 1917.

Here is their recommendation:

“To the Times there is apparently but one way to stop this outrage, and that is to just as did the citizens of Everett, Washington.”

The Everett tragedy, contrary to the statements made by the Biwabik Times, is a sad commentary upon the characters and names of the Everett business men who promoted it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Biwabik Times Advocates Everett-Style Murder for the Miners of Mesabi Should They Dare to Strike Again” →

Hellraisers Journal: How the Steel Trust Gained Control of the Mesabi Iron Range Without Spending a Single Dollar

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday November 29, 1916
Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range – Under the Rule of the Steel Trust

MN Iron Range Strike, Tresca Scarlett Schmidt Button, 1916

Harrison George, in an article for the November 25th edition of the Duluth Labor World, describes how the Steel Trust came to rule the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota. This is same Steel Trust which steadfastly refused to bargain with its employees and now seeks to frame-up organizers for the Industrial Workers of the World who have stood with the iron miners and their families in their struggle for justice.

Harrison George says of this plot:

This is the firm that backs with its grimy millions, the persecution of brave men; the firm who desires the conviction on a framed-up murder charge of Carlo Tresca, Sam Scarlett and Joe Schmidt-organisers,-who brought their loyalty to labor into the miner’s strike and who are guilty of no other crime.

From The Labor World of November 25, 1916:

STEEL TRUST GRABS RANGE
WITHOUT COST
—–

By HARRISON GEORGE.

Special Investigator for The Labor World.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: How the Steel Trust Gained Control of the Mesabi Iron Range Without Spending a Single Dollar” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Duluth Labor World: Harrison George Reports on Wages of Mesabi Miners

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, Thursday November 16, 1916
Mesabi Iron Range – Low Wages, Company Gunthugs, & Frame-Ups

IWW Red Button

Writing for the Duluth Labor World of November 11th, Harrison George describes the conditions under which the Mesabi Iron Miners earn their wretched living, the very conditions which led to the bitter strike of this past summer. George also points out how, in Minnesota as in Colorado, deputized company gunthugs can murder with impunity, and indeed the blame for the acts of these drunken brutes falls not upon the perpetrators, but upon the miners who went out on strike and upon the I. W. W. organizers who came to their aid.

GOT $12.70 WEEK, RANGE MINER
SAYS IN AFFIDAVIT
—–

BY HARRISON GEORGE,
Special Investigator for The Labor World.

IWW Metal Mine Workers IU No. 490, Hibbing MN, June 19, 1916, Crpd

At the invitation of Mr. Downing, the superintendent, the writer recently visited the workings of the Bennett mine on the Mesaba Iron Range of Minnesota.

It was the plain intention of Mr. Downing to absolve himself and his firm, a so-called independent concern, from the general blame and disgrace attached to all Mesaba Range operators as a result of the industrial tyranny brought to light by the recent miners strike.

Giving this concern all due credit for the modern sanitary and safety devices used and the humane spirit Mr. Downing seems to have, together with the rates of wage paid; it was self-evident that this mine was what others in the district could be and were not; that the wage rate was only a reasonable compensation which others would not give and that altogether; the miners recent strike was for demands companies could easily grant and still make a good profit from its toilers.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Duluth Labor World: Harrison George Reports on Wages of Mesabi Miners” →