Tag: Immigrant Workers

Hellraisers Journal: 47 Miners, Entombed at Argonaut Mine, Found Dead; Ernest Miller Was Hero of Butte Mine Fire of 1917

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, ed, Ab Chp 6, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 24, 1922
Jackson, California – 47 Miners Found Dead at Argonaut Mine

From The Anaconda Standard of September 19, 1922:

re Aug 28 Argonaut MnDs, Jackson CA, 1, 47 Found Dead, Anaconda Stn p1, Sept 19, 1922re Aug 28 Argonaut MnDs, Jackson CA, 2, 47 Found Dead, Anaconda Stn p1, Sept 19, 1922

 By the Associated Press.

re Aug 28 Argonaut MnDs, Jackson CA, Hero of Butte MnDs Among Dead, Anaconda Stn p1, Sept 19, 1922

JACKSON, Cal., Sept. 18.-All 47 of the miners entombed in the Argonaut mine Aug. 27 are dead, it was announced officially shortly before 9 o’clock tonight. A note found on one of the bodies indicated that all the men had died within five hours of the beginning of the fire, Aug. 27, officials said.

All the miners were found behind the second of two bulkheads they had built in a crosscut 4,350 feet down in the Argonaut mine. Byron Pickard, chief of the federal bureau of mines for this district, was the first man to go behind the bulkhead and discovered the bodies.

Pickard, on an earlier exploration behind this bulkhead, had counted 42 bodies and expressed the belief that there were others there.

The same note bore a scrawled figure “4,”  apparently indicating the same man had attempted to leave word for  those who might come as to the condition of the mine at that hour.

Mine officials declared that the condition of the crosscut behind the bulkhead was such that life could not have been sustained there by the entombed men for more than five hours.

The bodies were found piled one on top of another and decomposition had progressed so far that identification would be impossible, Pickard reported.

Relatives Mourn in Silence.

Jackson as a whole took the tragic news calmly and courageously. The general topic of conversation except in the immediate family circles of the dead, was arrangements for the funeral, which it was said would be held as a joint affair.

Those of the bodies that were not piled atop of one another were huddled together in little groups. Since death came approximately 22 days ago and the temperature in the crosscut where the men took refuge averages about 100 degrees, it will be necessary to wrap each body in canvas prior to its removal to the surface.

Officials thought it, likely some, but not all, of the bodies could be removed before morning.

The sad scenes customarily associated with removal of the dead from mine disasters were lacking here tonight. There was no crowd of weeping widows and sorrowing relatives at the mine mouth. Among those gathered at the entrance to the great gold workings, newspaper men and miners and comrades of those entombed predominated. For days the relatives have remained at home under persuasions of mine officials and Red Cross workers and tonight it was the Red Cross or sympathetic friends acting under its guidance that broke the sad news to them.

The time elapsing since the men were entombed had given opportunity, to all to prepare for the worst and when that came it was accepted without demonstration.

Most of the miners were of Austrian or Italian birth. Eighteen of them were married and these leave 25 orphans. The second communication from the dead was discovered near the body of William Fezzel. Scratched on a timber were these words, “3 a. m. Gas very bad. Fezzel.”

The hour indicated was only three hours after fire broke out in the Argonaut.

———-

re Aug 28 Argonaut MnDs, Jackson CA, Miners Fot Calmly and Coolly, Anaconda Stn p1, Sept 19, 1922

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: 47 Miners, Entombed at Argonaut Mine, Found Dead; Ernest Miller Was Hero of Butte Mine Fire of 1917” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Grants Interview to Reporter after Her Release from Jail at Parkersburg, West Virginia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Love Each Other, UMWC Ipl IN, Jan 25, 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday June 24, 1902
Parkersburg, West Virginia – Mother Jones Interviewed at Van Winkle Hotel 

From the Parkersburg Daily Morning News of June 23, 1902:

IF MINERS, THEY Will GAIN
IS VIEW OF “MOTHER” JONES
———-
The Noted Labor Organizer
Talks to Reporter and
Advances Her Theories on
Strike Matters

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

While in conversation Sunday [June 22nd] with a News reporter, “Mother” Jones, quoted as follows from “Ignatius Donnelly’s Caesar’s Column.”

The world, today, clamors for deeds not creeds; for bread, not dogma; for charity, not ceremony; for love, not intellect.

Society divides itself into two hostile camps; no white flags pass from one to the other. They wait only for the drumbeat to summon them to armed conflict.

The masses grow more intelligent as they grow more wretched; and more capable of cooperation as they become more desperate. The labor organizations of today would have been impossible fifty years ago. And what is to arrest the flow of effect from cause? What is to prevent the coming of the night if the earth continues to revolve on its axis? The fool may cry out: “There is no night!” But the feet of the hours march unrelentingly toward the darkness.

Believing, as I do, that I read the future aright, it would be criminal in me to remain silent. I plead for the higher and nobler thoughts in the souls of men; for wider love and ampler charity in their hearts; for a renewal of the bond of brotherhood between the classes; for a reign of justice on earth that shall obliterate the cruel hates and passions which now divide the world.

Mrs. Jones, after having furnished bond for her appearance at United States court Tuesday moved her quarters from a room in the county jail building to the Van Winkle hotel, where, she will remain until the trial of the agitators take place. She does not seem to be troubled in the least about the outcome of the proceedings as she says she does not believe that either she or the men who were arrested showed any contempt by their actions after the injunction issued a short time ago by Judge Jackson was served.

Mother Jones is an attentive student of human nature. While a woman, she has those observant qualities that give her an opinion on any subject. She has made a life-study of the lives and ways of working men, especially of the miners.

She stated that the agitators, among whom she is considered a member of high standing, have never countenanced the brutality connected with some labor troubles in the past. It is her opinion that fighting does not gain for them the desired end, and that it won’t be long until all troubles of the kind will be settled without compelling the men to overstep the boundaries of prudence.

[Mother Jones stated:]

It should not be necessary at this civilized age for men to battle and cause the loss of life. The time is near when wars will not be the means of settling differences of either nations or men.

It is a fact generally conceded that there are now two classes, each of which could work to the advantage of itself and to the other, but instead they cause agitations that grow and cause disturbances that are widely felt. To make those conditions different it is necessary for the working class to be educated to the realization of its standing, and not until that time comes will there be a a proper feeling between the employers and the employees.

In former years miners were considered a bad class. They came from different countries, and were of the kind that believed in settling all differences by force. Fighting was fun to them. They were not to be blamed for that, for they were educated to that point by those socially and officially their betters. Take for instance the troubles in Ireland years ago. The inhabitants of one county would fight those of the other until there was continual trouble. The same spirit was brought to this country, and, while the hardy miners could stand such hardship and rough treatment at the hands of their employers, they could not stand by and see themselves getting beaten for their wages.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Grants Interview to Reporter after Her Release from Jail at Parkersburg, West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: Haywood Describes Joyful Return to Lawrence of Strikers’ Children, Welcomed with Monster Parade

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Lawrence Children Home, Ptt Prs p2, Mar 31, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 2, 1912
Big Bill Haywood Tells the Story of the Joyful Return of Lawrence Children

From the International Socialist Review of May 1912:

When the Kiddies Came Home

WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD

Monster Parade Welcomes Lawrence Children Home, Bst Mrn Glb p1, Mar 31, 1912
Monster Parade Welcomes Lawrence Children Home

After two months’ vacation in their temporary homes in New York, Philadelphia, Barre, Vt., and Manchester, N. H., the children of the Lawrence strikers, who had been involved for ten weeks in an industrial war with the master class of the woollen and cotton industries, returned to receive the greatest reception ever held at Lawrence. Most of the children were too young to appreciate what the wonderful demonstration of solidarity meant or the reason of their departure and their return under such changed circumstances. There were among their number, however, some who were strikers themselves and knew their home leaving was to lessen the burden of their parents. The strikers understood it was not a matter of sentiment, but that this rigorous action was adopted as a war measure.

It was for the purpose of calling the attention of the world to the conditions existing at Lawrence, to the conditions of the thousands of children in the textile industry of the New England states that were slowly starving to death because their parents were unable to make a living wage, likewise for the purpose of relieving the Strike Committee of the burden incident to caring for so many little ones and to remove their emaciated and wan faces from the vision of their parents who were on strike.

Although this measure had never been adopted before in America, its significance was soon realized and the spirit of class consciousness became aroused in the working class everywhere. The children found excellent homes and the letters they wrote back to their parents were a comfort and an inspiration. At the same time it enabled those who cared for the children to take an active part in the struggle that was on at Lawrence. Ordinarily they would have contributed their quota to the strike fund, but in caring for the little ones of the striking textile workers, they not only gave many times what their contributions would have amounted to, but they took a big part in the real battle.

The strikers of Lawrence hold a feeling of deepest appreciation for those who have cared for their children. They know that their little ones were treated better than they could have been at home. From all reports, they were received as little guests, and when the time came for them to leave: their “Strike Parents” there was many a tug at their little heartstrings. They had learned to love their new homes. They left Lawrence physically destitute, often ill-clad and without underclothes and wearing garments made of shoddy.

These were the children of parents who weave the cotton, linen and woollen fabric that helps to clothe the world.

They went to other cities to be clothed and returned to their homes well dressed, with roses in their cheeks and laden with toys and other gifts.

Their arrival was made the occasion of a great demonstration in celebration of the millworkers’ notable industrial victory. More than 40,000 people thronged the streets, over half of them taking part in the monster parade.

While the mass of workers were waiting for the arrival of the train, the Syrians, headed by their drum corps, marched around the county jail playing their inspiring Oriental music and carrying to the cells of Ettor and Giovannitti the glad tidings of the coming children.

Long before the special train with the children arrived from Boston, the region in the vicinity was black with people, while along the side streets leading into Broadway, the different divisions of the Industrial Workers of the World were drawn up in line according to nationality, there being fourteen divisions in all. The Italians and Syrians were accorded the place of honor. The heads of their divisions were made prominent by the beautiful floral decorations, the Italians carrying a massive piece on a litter held up by four men. It was these two nationalities that furnished the martyrs for the strike, Anna Lapizzio, the Italian woman who was killed in a fusilade of bullets fired by policemen, and John Rami, the sixteen-year-old Syrian boy who was stabbed in the back with a bayonet in the hands of a militiaman. His lung was pierced and he died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The floral pieces were in remembrance of the dead.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Haywood Describes Joyful Return to Lawrence of Strikers’ Children, Welcomed with Monster Parade” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: One Big Union Wins Great Victory at Lawrence, Massachusetts, Part IV

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Lawrence Strike Committee, Drunk Cup to Dregs, Bst Dly Glb Eve p5, Jan 17, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 6, 1912
Lawrence Textile Strikers Win Great Victory with I. W. W., Part IV of IV

From the International Socialist Review of April 1912:

ONE BIG UNION WINS

By LESLIE H. MARCY and FREDERICK SUMNER BOYD

Lawrence Committee of Ten, ISR p628, Apr 1912

In the eighth week of the strike the bosses made an offer of five per cent wage increase. The A. F. of L. scabs accepted it and went back. The I.W. W. strikers turned it down flat. The offer was made on a Thursday, and it was hoped that thousands of strikers would break ranks and stampede to the mills on the following Monday. When the mills opened they had actually fewer scabs, and looked out on a picket line numbering upwards of twenty thousand.

At the end of the following week the bosses discovered they meant an average increase of seven, and later seven and a half per cent, and that they would amend the premium system, paying fortnightly instead of by the month as had been the practice, resulting in the loss to a large part of the workers of the entire premium. Again on the following Monday the mills had still fewer scabs, and the picket line was stronger than ever.

When the Committee of Ten left for Boston on March 11th, for the fourth and final round with the bosses, every one realized that the crisis had been reached. Led by the indomitable Riley the Committee forced the mill owners to yield point by point until the final surrender was signed by the American Woolen Company.

The Committee reported at ten o’clock at Franco-Belgian Hall the next day. The headquarters were packed and hundreds stood on the outside. Words are weak when it comes to describing the scenes which took place when the full significance of the report became known. For the workers, united in battle for the first time in the history of Lawrence, had won. The mill owners had surrendered—completely surrendered.

A great silence fell upon the gathering when Haywood arose and announced that he would make the report for the sub-committee in the temporary absence of Chairman Riley. He began by stating that tomorrow each individual striker would have a voice in deciding whether the offers made should be accepted. He said:

Report of Committee.

The committee of 10 reported in brief that the workers will receive a 5 per cent increase for the higher paid departments and 25 per cent for the lower paid departments. There will be time and a quarter overtime and the premium system has been modified so that its worst features are eliminated.

Your strike committee has indorsed this report and has selected a committee to see all the other mill owners who will be asked to meet the wage schedule offered by the American Woolen Company. In the event that the other mills do not accede to the demands, the strike on those mills will be enforced.

You have won a victory for over 250,000 other textile workers, which means an aggregate of many millions of dollars each year for the working class in New England. Now if you hope to hold what you have gained you must maintain and uphold the Industrial Workers of the World, which means yourselves.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: One Big Union Wins Great Victory at Lawrence, Massachusetts, Part IV” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: One Big Union Wins Great Victory at Lawrence, Massachusetts, Part III

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 5, 1912
Lawrence Textile Strikers Win Great Victory with I. W. W., Part III of IV

From the International Socialist Review of April 1912:

ONE BIG UNION WINS

By LESLIE H. MARCY and FREDERICK SUMNER BOYD

DRWG Sturges Lawrence Endless Chain Picket Line, ISR p622, Apr 1912

5,000 to 20,000 Strikers Formed the Endless Chain Picket Line
Every Morning from 5 to 7:30 A. M., Rain or Shine.-Boston Globe

Brute force was not, however, the only weapon used by the bosses to try to crush the workers. They had allied with them the A. F. of L., the Catholic church and the Civic Federation a very holy trinity!

Two days after the strike was called John Golden, a member of the Militia of Christ, wired Mayor Scanlon, who had called for militia, asking whether he could be of any assistance to the authorities in suppressing the “rabble,” which he described as anarchistic. Golden and the Lawrence Central Labor Union, affiliated with the A. F. of L., joined in praising the authorities for importing soldiers, and declared that their presence was necessary for “the preservation of order.”

Neither by word nor deed did Golden or the C. L. U. condemn the authorities or their tools for the barbarities and atrocities committed. Vice President Ramsden of the C. L. U., whose two daughters were scabbing in the Arlington mill, when interviewed by the writer was loud in his praises of the militia and the authorities, referred to the I. W. W. as an anarchistic organization that fomented violence and lawlessness, and declared it should be suppressed. He asserted that there was no strike and no organization-only a rabble. When he was asked about the dynamite plot engineered by the bosses through their tool John J. Breen, he naturally refused to comment.

Golden publicly declared that the program of the I. W. W. had acted very much to the advantage of the Textile Workers Union, as it was bringing the latter in closer touch with the mill owners, who understood that it would be more to their interests to deal with the organization, he, Golden, represented rather than with the revolutionary and uncompromising I. W. W.

After having wired, proffering his assistance to the chief of police, Golden got busy in other directions. The mule spinners, numbering according to their own officials, some 180 men, were the only body organized in Lawrence that was affiliated with the A. F. of L. Golden’s union did not have a single member in the whole city. Nevertheless he, in conjunction with Joe R. Menzie, president of the C. L. U., issued circulars to all C. L. U. bodies asking for funds to aid the strike and expressly asking them not to send assistance to the I. W. W.

Then the C. L. U. opened a separate fund. So, too, did Father Melasino, and a man by the name of Shepherd appeared on the scene with some sort of free lunch counter, also appealing for funds.

These various appeals for financial assistance, all made in the name of the strikers of Lawrence, and all calculated to injure the I. W. W. succeeded in diverting large sums of money, the C. L. U. benefiting largely at the expense of the I. W. W. Several times committees from the I. W. W. went to the C. L. U. with evidence that money had been misdirected, but restitution was invariably refused.

Here it may be said that in the seventh week of the strike the C. L. U. strike relief station was practically suspended, applicants being told that the strike was off and that they should return to the mills.

Golden’s next move was to endeavor to organize rival labor unions based on the many crafts in the mills. For several days strenuous attempts were made to divide the workers in the old, old way. Meetings were called by Golden and Menzie, a great deal of money was spent on so-called organizing which had been contributed to the relief funds, and every effort was made to break the solidarity of the workers and get them to return piecemeal.

These efforts failed, the only result being that when the bosses made an offer of five per cent increase over the cut rates—equivalent to an increase of one and one-eighth per cent—a handfull of double-dyed scabs whom Golden had secured to do his work went into the mills.

Golden has shown himself in this fight in his true light, and all the world knows him for a traitor to the working class, and his craft unions are a thing of the past. What Golden did was merely in accord with the policy and doings of the official A. F. of L., and many of the rank and file of the Federation have already woke up to the game of their alleged leaders.

The Ironmolders’ Union that was affiliated with the Lawrence C. L. U. denounced in a resolution the doings of Golden and his gang and withdrew their affiliation. A motion denouncing Golden and his tactics was lost in the Boston Central Labor Union by a vote of 18 to 16. The Central Federated Union of New York City, one of the slimiest haunts of the professional labor crooks in America, even passed a resolution virtually telling Golden to keep his hands off. The Philadelphia Textile Workers’ Union, which had received the Golden appeal, reprinted the I. W. W. appeal for funds and sent several thousand dollars to the I. W. W. war chest.

The latest development in Philadelphia is that 2,000 textile workers have requested I. W. W. organizers to go there and organize a local. All over the country local A. F. of L. unions have denounced Golden and his official friends, and the rank and file of the A. F. of L. has gone on record solidly in favor of their class and against their officials.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: One Big Union Wins Great Victory at Lawrence, Massachusetts, Part III” →

Hellraisers Journal: Harper’s Weekly: “The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse-Men, Women, Children v Bayonets

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 17, 1912
“The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse

From Harper’s Weekly of March 16, 1912:

Lawrence Trouble by MHV, Harpers Wkly p10, Mar 16, 1912

A few weeks ago a company of about forty children of the Lawrence strikers, bound for Philadelphia, were forcibly prevented from leaving Lawrence by the order of City Marshal John J. Sullivan. He was led to this act by the belief that some of those children were leaving town without the consent of their parents. Before this, several groups of children, to the total of nearly three hundred, had been sent out of town to the strike sympathizers in various cities, and public opinion against the departure of the children had been aroused. As Congressman Ames said: “The people here feel that the sending away of these children has hurt the fair name of Lawrence since it is a rich town and capable of caring for all its needy children without the help of outsiders.”

Lawrence Trouble w Bayonets by MHV, Harpers Wkly p10, Mar 16, 1912

The forcible detention of these children had an extraordinary response throughout the country. It was one of those things that cannot be done in America without stirring up public opinion from north to south and east to west. There had been earlier aggressive moves on the part of the authorities: Joseph J. Ettor, one of the first to take charge of the strike on behalf of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Arturo Giovannitti, his chief lieutenant, were arrested and committed to jail without bail, as accessories to the murder of a woman [Anna LoPizzo], shot by a deflected bullet during a clash between the strikers and the police. Both men were two miles away during the conflict. Their imprisonment caused comment in the press, as did other episodes of the strike- for instance, the railroading of twenty-three men to prison for one year each, during a single morning’s police-court session, on the charge of inciting to riot; but in the minds of the country at large these things have been simply incidents. The abridgment of the right of people to move from one place to another freely was at once a matter of national importance. It had for its immediate sequel the sending of that touching little band of thirteen children of various nationalities to Washington to state their grievances and to testify as to what occurred at the railway station on that Saturday morning.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Harper’s Weekly: “The Trouble at Lawrence” by Mary Heaton Vorse-Men, Women, Children v Bayonets” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part III

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 6, 1912
“The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part III

From the International Socialist Review of March 1912

” The Battle for Bread at Lawrence”
-by Mary Marcy, Part III
———-

[Wonderful Solidarity]

 

Lawrence Family of Striker, ISR p543, March 1912

The wonderful solidarity displayed by the strikers has surprised everybody. There are more languages spoken in the confines of Lawrence than in any other district of its size in the world. But in spite of these barriers, the strike was an almost spontaneous one and seventeen races, differing widely in speech and custom, rose in a concerted protest. Lacking anything like a substantial organization at the outset, they have clung together in furthering a common cause without dissension. Too much credit cannot be given Comrades Joseph Ettor and Wm. D. Haywood in the splendid work of organization and education they have carried on in Lawrence.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part III” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 5, 1912
“The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of March 1912
-Haywood Arrives in Lawrence, Massachusetts:

Lawrence Strikers v Bayonets, ISR Cv, March 1912

[By Mary E. Marcy]
—–

Haywood Arrives.

Lawrence BBH Arives, ISR p537, March 1912

January 24 Haywood reached Lawrence to help carry on the strike. We quote from the Evening Tribune, Lawrence:

William D. Haywood arrived in Lawrence at 11.50 o’clock from New York City Wednesday morning and over 10,000 strikers turned out together with three bands and two drum corps, to greet him at the North station with a tremendous ovation.

Long before the time when he was scheduled to arrive the strikers assembled at the depot in eager anticipation of the coming of the famous labor organizer. Even at 9 o’clock there was a large crowd awaiting his arrival. Before 10 o’clock the number of strikers at the station had been greatly increased. The sidewalks on Essex street were filled to their greatest capacities. Common street was crowded all morning also with strikers wending their way to the Boston & Maine station. About 10:30 o’clock the Franco-Belgian band arrived, having marched from the Franco-Belgian hall on Mason street. This band was followed by about 200 of the Franco-Belgian element of the strikers. The band stopped in front of the postoffice and played several selections.

The number of strikers was being continually augmented and the crowd seemed to be growing restless. About 11 o’clock a parade of about a thousand strikers came up Essex street. In this parade were the Umberto and the Bellini bands and St. Joseph’s drum corps.When this contingent arrived there was great cheering. The bands played almost continuously and there was a great deal of noise. Every time that the cab train came in sight the crowd would commence cheering and the bands would play with renewed vigor.

Shortly after 11:30 o’clock a large parade came up Common street and joined forces with the strikers already at the station. At the head of this parade there was a sign painted on cardboard in large black letters,

“All in One.”

There were many American flags carried by the strikers.

Finally the time for the arrival of Mr. Haywood came and when the train came in sight there was a great demonstration. When the train was approaching the crowd kept pushing up near the tracks and it looked as if someone would be run over.

When the strikers caught sight of Haywood they went almost insane with delight and cheered incessantly while the bands and drum corps boomed out stirring selections. The scene was certainly a wild one. As Mr. Haywood came out of the car he took off his hat and waved it to the crowd. The strikers surrounded Haywood and then the parade started down Common street. Haywood was near the head of the parade and was surrounded by thousands of howling and cheering strikers.The parade was over 10,000 strong. The bands played and excitement of the highest pitch prevailed.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part I

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 4, 1912
“The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of March 1912:

Lawrence Battle for Bread by ME Marcy, ISR p533, March 1912

THE strike of the 25,000 textile workers at Lawrence, Mass, came so suddenly that the Woolen Trust was overwhelmed. It started January 12, pay day at the mills. Without warning the mill owners docked the pay envelopes of their employes for two hours in time and wages as a result of the new 54-hour law which went into effect January first.

The drop averaged only 20 cents a worker and the American Woolen Company fondly imagined that their wage slaves had been sufficiently starved and cowed into docility to endure the cut, just as they had suffered a speeding up of the machines so that the output per worker in 54 hours was greater than it had been on the 56-hour basis.

But trouble started with the opening of the docked pay envelopes, and before the day was spent, Lawrence had a wholly unexpected problem on its hands. The disturbance spread quickly and within an hour 5,000 striking men and women were marching through the streets of the mill district, urging other mill workers to join them.

Their number was augmented at every step and soon

Ten thousand singing. cheering men and women, boys and girls, in ragged, irregular lines, marching and counter-marching through snow and slush of a raw January afternoon—a procession of the nations of the world never equaled in the “greatest show on earth”—surged through the streets of Lawrence…..You listened to the quavering notes of the Marseillaise from a trudging group of French women and you heard the strain caught up by hundreds of other marchers and melting away into the whistled chorus of ragtime from a bunch of doffer boys. Strange songs and strange shouts from strange un-at-home-looking men and women, 10,000 of them; striking because their pay envelope had been cut “four loaves of bread.”

—-The Survey.

Lawrence Women Active, ISR p534, March 1912

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Children of Lawrence Strikers Receive Enthusiastic Welcome from Socialists of New York City

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote NY Lawrence Strike Com Welcome Children, NY Call p1, Feb 10, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 12, 1912
New York, New York – Children of Lawrence Strikers Welcomed by Socialists

From The New York Call of February 10, 1912:

NY Lawrence Strike Com Welcome Children, NY Call p1, Feb 10, 1912

From The New York Times of February 11, 1912:

150 STRIKE WAIFS FIND HOMES HERE
—————
Great Throng Waits in Cold to Give Warm
Welcome to Children from Lawrence, Mass.
———-

BANNERS OF RED WAVE
———-
And Crowd Sings the Marseillaise

–Children Answer with Strikers’ Cry
–Homes Offered to Many More.
———-

The Grand Central Station was the scene of a great demonstration last night when 150 boys and girls, ranging in age from 2 to 12 years, arrive here from Lawrence, Mass. They are the children of the striking textile workers, and they come here to be cared for by working people of New York, who have promised to feed and house them until peace has been restored in Lawrence and the great mills there are again in operation.

More than 700 persons applied for one or more of the children. Among them, it is said, were Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, Miss Inez Milholland and Rev. Dr. Percy Stickney Grant. The children, however, were all given into the care of the families of laboring men or members of the Socialist Party.

To greet the children a crowd of 5,000 men, women, and children packed the Grand Central Station concourse, singing the “Marseillaise” in many tongues. They waved red flags, some with black borders, and all bearing Socialistic mottoes. It was noticed that not one in that crowd waved aloft the Stars and Stripes.

The men that waved the big red flags said they were not anarchist but Socialist flags, but, whatever they were, they were red everywhere except the lettering and the black borders. The black borders, it was said, were marks of mourning for those of the strikers who have lost their lives in Lawrence. Besides the flags, there were banners, also red, on which were displayed in big type what the crowd called “mottoes.” One painted in gold letters on a long, red streamer, read:

Ye exploiters, kneel down before the of your victims.

Another banner announced that the “libertarians of New York affirm their solidarity to the strikers of Lawrence.” Still another banner bore the same message, except that instead of “libertarians,” it read “the Liberians of New York,” &c. There was also another flaming piece of bunting on which was painted the information that certain Harvard students favored “a free country.”

Long Wait For the Children

 The train on which the children were expected to arrive was due at 3:30 P.M., but it was an hour late, and it came in without any of the Lawrence Children. When it did roll in a brass band was playing in the concourse, and the crowd was lined up against ropes that were stretched for the purpose of preventing a too hearty welcome being given to the children.

The crowd did not understand why the children were not on the 3:30 train, and so great did the excitement become that the police had an inquiry made all along the New Haven line to Boston. It was learned that the children missed their train in Boston, and it was announced from the bulletin board that they would arrive on the train that was due at 5:42 P.M., but which would not get in until 6:50 P.M.

It was about 4 o’clock when the unwelcome information was bulletined and the crowd, which had stood for two hours in the bitter cold waiting for the train, dispersed to gather again about 6 o’clock in still greater force. At 6:30 P.M. the Grand Central concourse was packed to capacity, and the reserves of the East Fifty-First Street Station formed lines behind which the crowd was forced to stand until after the children had come out of the station.

At 6:50 the searchlight of the electric engine that pulled the train from Highbridge was sighted coming into the train shed. Then the excitement started in earnest. Slowly the hum of the “Marseillaise” started, gradually gathering in volume. It ended when the train came to a stop and then ensued a series of frantic shouts and yells in a dozen languages. In all the medley there was not heard a single English word except the sharp commands of the police and the station men who were assisting.

Announce Themselves as Strikers

 Orders had been issued that the children were not to leave the train until the other passengers had left it and were safely out of the shed. When the children were escorted from the cars they were in charge of fourteen men and women from Lawrence, one of whom was a trained nurse. The children were formed in columns of twos, and at a signal from a young man who was one of those in charge they announced their arrival with a yell.

This is the way the yell goes, and the children shouted it all the way out of the station:

Who we are, who are we, who are we!
Yes we are, yes we are, yes we are.
Strikers, strikers, strikers.

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