Tag: Industrial Workers of the World

Hellraisers Journal: From Spokane’s Industrial Worker: “Employment Sharks Must Go!” -Part II, Industrial Control

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote JH Walsh, re Employment Sharks, IUB p1, Feb 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 27, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Industrial Control Will Defeat Employment Sharks

From Spokane’s Industrial Worker of March 25, 1909:

IWW re Emply Sharks, Spk IW p3, Mar 25, 1919

[Part II.]

How to Fix Things

The importance of a systematic fight can hardly be overestimated. The employment agencies are IN OUR WAY. It is not worth while to try to reform them, even if it were possible. They MUST BE DONE AWAY! There are a number of very good reasons for this, and there is every certainty of success of the I. W. W. in doing it. So well known to the workingmen is it that the Union is fighting this thing that it would a dull day for the Secretary if from a dozen to fifty men did not come into the hall who had been robbed and who want the Union to recover the money for them. The instinct of the workers teaches them where their interest is. A systematic boycott of these dives, the continue advertising they get from the Union and other means, such as picketing, etc., etc., are having a great and good effect. The opposition of the agents themselves shows us that we are on the right track. But the fight must be urged, kept up, increased! Down with the employment shark! Up with the Union! During the few weeks that the Union has been unable to hold street meetings some may imagine that we have got slack in this fight. It is only the lull before the storm. The I. W. W. men know well enough who started the riot on the streets of Spokane and then tried to throw the blame on the Union! We have forgotten none of these things. They are simply drawing interest for the near time to come.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Spokane’s Industrial Worker: “Employment Sharks Must Go!” -Part I, The System of Graft

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote JH Walsh, re Employment Sharks, IUB p1, Feb 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 26, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Declares: “Employment Sharks Must Go!”

From Spokane’s Industrial Worker of March 25, 1909:

IWW re Emply Sharks, Spk IW p3, Mar 25, 1919

[Part I.]

This heading ought to interest every worker who sees it. If there is one thing more than another that brings the I. W. W. to the notice of the WORKINGMEN in the Northwest it is the fight that the INDUSTRIAL UNION is carrying on against the licensed robbers known as the employment sharks. These places are run in connection with other grafts like them. Some of these “employment” offices are in the corners of saloons and others in connection with religious outfits. The Beacon Bible Class of the Central Christian Church is running an employment offices, so is that resort for “weak men,” the Young Men’s Christian Association. The last joint, the Y. M. C,. A., has a higher price list, even than the Peerless. The sucker has to pay the Y. M. C. A. one-third of the first week’s pay for the job. This one hired goes to the “Lawd.” Lord in English.

Law Is No Law, without Force.

No longer ago than last year the employment thieves in Spokane grew fat and rich and never a man to try to fix things. The I. W. W. was the first Union to begin a regular fight against this abuse. The employers of the state of Washington have made a law against getting money by fraud: that is, by false pretense. Some men who are not yet acquainted with the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney were foolish enough to think that this law against fraud could be made to apply to an employment shark. They have learned different, however! The Prosecutor told them that the cases of fraud committed by the employment sharks were so common that it would bankrupt the county to try them all! As for a civil suit for damages it was the exception rather than the rule for a worker to win out. All this, though, was in the days when the Union was small and little known. Continual agitation and hard work built up the I. W. W. from a low dozen to hundreds of members-a social power, for the first time in Spokane. As a result, the Judges began to grant decisions in favor of the working men: few at first, then more often.

Organized Power Better Than Law.

Today the I. W. W. in Spokane numbers thousands of members. It is generally enough to send a few men from the Union Hall to reason with the employment shark in a case where he has robbed a victim. The employment shark pays back the amount stolen. He has had a change of heart.

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Hellraisers Journal: Charles Grant on Free Speech & Law and Order from the First Edition of Spokane’s Industrial Worker

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote Charles Grant, Spk IWWs Sing in Jail, IW p3, Mar 18, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 19, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Free Speech and Law Order

From the Industrial Worker of March 18, 1909:

Industrial Worker Spokane, Vol I No I, Mar 18, 1909
—–

LAW AND ORDER IN SPOKANE

By Charles Grant

[Since the I. W. W. began holding outdoor meetings in Spokane…..]

…The capitalistic papers, Spokesman-Review-morning dollar sign-and its concubine, the Chronicle, were quick to take up the cry against the I. W. W. The Spokane Press brought up the rear. Rev. Dr. Bull wrote several [withering?] articles against the union, saying he considered these the most dangerous men in Spokane.

The City Council.

The city council was influenced by Dr. Bull to draw upon an ordinance [which] prohibited free speech and peaceful assemblage upon the streets of Spokane, but this applied only to the revolutionists and Industrial Workers of the World.

The Fourth of March.

The I. W. W. still persisted in the fight and forced the council to a general application of the law in all organizations, Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, etc., and on the 4th of March an ordinance was put into effect, and on that date J. H. Walsh violated the ordinance and was arrested, put in jail and fined $10 and costs. The Salvation Army and Volunteers also violated the ordinance and were arrested, but not put in jail. Their fines were also $10 and costs. All the cases were appealed to the superior court, but the members of the I. W. W., as individuals, continued to speak upon the streets, were arrested and placed in jail. The conditions there equalled the black hole of Calcutta. Mexican dungeons were not to be compared as regards brutality and utter hate for humanity.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fight Against Employment Sharks is on in Spokane, “The I. W. W. Storm Center for the West”

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
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Quote JH Walsh, re Employment Sharks, IUB p1, Feb 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 28, 1909
Spokane, Washington – I. W. W. Takes on Employment Sharks

From The Industrial Union Bulletin of February 20, 1909:

“STORM CENTER OF THE WEST”

IWW Gen Adm Emblem, IUB, Mar 14, 1908

The I. W. W. storm center for the West just now appears to be Spokane, Washington. The very great activity of the fellow workers of that city is noticeable at General Headquarters in frequent orders and remittances for due stamps, membership books, buttons and other supplies, as well as Bulletins and other literature. Their fight against the employment bureau sharks continues unabated, and with growing sentiment against those institutions.

Fellow worker James Wilson, secretary of the Central Committee of the Spokane locals, writes on Dec. 19: “Over 100 members have joined here this last week,” and again on Dec. 23, he says: “I can tell you in all sobriety that we are convinced that the success of the I. W. W. in this part of the country will be amazing from now on, and I flatter myself that I am not visionary.”

J. J. Stark writes Dec. 23 in behalf of Local 222: “We are going to move into a larger hall about the first of the year, where the rent will be $125 per month, while formerly we only paid $30. However I think that the increasing membership will warrant the move. Walsh is still with us and is doing great work. He has just received a telegram from Whitehead to come on the first train to Seattle, and will leave at once. It appears that there is something doing among the loggers, and they need his services for a time.”

———-

[Photograph and paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Debs on Deported Radicals: They are human beings, his brothers, & is ready to share their lot.

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re Deportations, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Feb 21, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 27, 1919
Terre Haute, Indiana – Eugene V. Debs on Deportations of Working Men

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of February 21, 1919:

Debs Brands Plot to Deport
Radicals “Crime of Crimes”
—–

Recalls Lincoln’s Birthday. Says Rail Splitter Was
Murdered by the Ruling Class, that Same Power That
Today Is Shipping Men Overseas Like Cattle Because
They Are Protesting Against Wage Slavery.
—–

By EUGENE V. DEBS.

EVD, Bstn Glb p3, Sept 13, 1918

Terre Haute, Ind., Feb. 12.-This is Lincoln’s birthday. It is a day rich with memory and dark with tragedy. Lincoln was and is the sweetest product of American soil. Like the Nazarene, he loved the poor, sympathized with the lowly, and was hated, vilified and finally murdered by the ruling class of his time.

The birthday of the immortal rail splitter is being celebrated in part by deportation from the land he loved of the men of honest toil, who, like himself, hated the money power and believed in government of and by and for the people. This is one of the beautiful ironies of capitalism. Its vaunted love of freedom is but the velvet cloak which conceals its iron-fisted despotism.

These men are charged by the ruling class and its prostitute press with being enemies of the government. Precisely the same charge that is being brought against these men today under capitalist despotism was brought against Abraham Lincoln by the slave power of his day. Lincoln was murdered by same power that is now tearing our brothers from their families and friends and shipping them over the wide seas like cattle for the crime of protesting against wage slavery and aspiring to walk the earth free men.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Red Special, Part II: 54 “Agitators” Reach New York on Deportation Train; Held Incommunicado

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote HOConnor, IWW Red Special Deportation Train, Stt Rev p154———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 25, 1919
Ellis Island – FWs, Deported on “Red Special,” Held Incommunicado

From The Survey of February 22, 1919:

The Deportations
[Part II]

IWW Deportees Recht Lowe for Defense, NY Tb p18, Feb 20, 1919

Who are the fifty-three men and one woman who reached New York city last week? It is difficult to tell, since they have been held incommunicado at Ellis Island since their ar rival on February 11 to noon of February 17, when this issue of the Survey went to press. All requests of friends, attorneys and representatives of the press to see them have been denied. A list giving their names, date of conviction and the reasons for deportation of each was, however, supplied to the press by Byron H. Uhl, acting commissioner of immigration at New York in the absence of Frederic C. Howe, who is in Europe.

According to this list, eleven have been found to be “members of or affiliated with an organization that advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property.” Eighteen were found actually “advocating or teaching the unlawful destruction of property.” Some of these are declared, also, to have been guilty of other offenses, such as advocating “the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of all forms of law.” Three are declared to be anarchists or to have taught anarchy. The remainder are charged with various offenses, most of them with being “likely to become public charges.” Several are said to be “morally unfit,” a few served prison terms before coming to this country, and one or two committed “crimes involving moral turpitude” within five years after entering.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Red Special, Part I: “A Train Under Heavy Guard..Passed Swiftly Across the Continent from Seattle”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote HOConnor, IWW Red Special Deportation Train, Stt Rev p154———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 24, 1919
From Seattle to Ellis Island – The Red Special Deportation Train

From The Survey of February 22, 1919:

The Deportations
[Part I]

IWW, HdLn re Red Special Deportation Train, Chg Tb p1, Feb 10, 1919—–

FOR several days last week the eyes of newspaper readers were fixed upon a train under heavy guard that passed swiftly across the continent from Seattle. Persons who peered in at the windows (apparently no one was allowed to go aboard) remarked that most of the occupants looked foreign. Few were seen to smile. Apparently there was a commissariat on board, for “no food was taken aboard at Buffalo.” Reaching Hoboken, N. J., its occupants were hurried on board ferries and soon found themselves in the detention quarters of the United States Immigration Station, on Ellis Island, in New York harbor awaiting sailing to various corners of the earth.

The passengers on this curious journey have all been ordered to be deported from the United States. They constitute the vanguard of what is described as an “army of undesirable aliens” soon to leave our shores. For weeks the newspapers have been picturing the “great combing-out process” in which the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice are declared to be cooperating.

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Hellraisers Journal: Chinese IWW Hall Raided in New York City; FWs Organized by Gurley Flynn and Carlo Tresca

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote JH Walsh re Exclusion or IO, IUB p3, Apr 11, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 23, 1919
New York, New York – Chinese Fellow Workers Arrested and Deported

From the South Bend (Indiana) News of February 21, 1919:

RAID ON CHINESE I. W. W. MAY CAUSE DEPORTATIONS

IWW, Raid on Chinese FWs, EGF, Tresca, South Bend IN Ns p10, Feb 21, 1919

[Detail]

IWW, EGF, Tresca Organize Chinese FWs, South Bend IN Ns p10, Feb 21, 1919
I. W. W. Organizers: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Harry Kelly, Jack Isaacson,
Carlo Tresca, and Frank Levy
—–

Thousands of Chinese in the United States may be deported as a result of the recent discovery in New York of an active Chinese branch of the I. W. W. Just as Chinese there prepared to sow discontent among their fellow countrymen by misrepresentation, intimidation and other means the police stepped in and obtained sufficient evidence to cause the deportation of four Chinese. In the round up of the Chinese I. W. W. fifteen prisoners were taken and eleven remained to be tried by the federal authorities. The Accompanying pictures shows some of the most prominent agitators.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Ohio Socialist: “Side Lights on The Seattle Strike” by An Observer

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 20, 1919
Notes on the Seattle General Strike from an Observer

From The Ohio Socialist of February 19, 1919:

Side Lights on Seattle Strike
By An Observer

Seattle General Strike, Solidarity by I Swenson, SUR p1, Feb 11, 1919

The five-day general strike of 70,000 Seattle workmen and working women brought about by the refusal of General Mgr. Piez of the Emergency Fleet Corporation to allow ship yard workers to negotiate directly with their employers and threatening to cut off the supply of steel to the local yards if they negotiated directly with the workers, was the most complete walkout that has ever occurred in America. At the same time it was the most peaceful.

The week’s mail has brought us some strike bulletins issued by the strike committee of the workers, and a personal letter from which we quote below. The whole tone of the bulletin is against any interference of the processes of the law or violence of any kind. It repeatedly advises the workers to “keep cool” and to visit the public libraries. The A. F. of L. takes entire responsibility for the strike though of course the I. W. W. and the Socialist Party were active participants.

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Hellraisers Journal: “A Rebel in Jail” – Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner No. 13104, Writes to Upton Sinclair from Leavenworth

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin, No Yellow Streak, AtR p4, Feb 15, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 18, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin Pens a Sonnet

From The New Appeal of February 15, 1919:

A Rebel in Jail

Ralph Chaplin, Leavenworth 13104, Sept 1918
Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner #13104

—–

[Note by Upton Sinclair]

Recently I was addressing the ladies of one of the large clubs in Los Angeles, and they were much amused when I told them that whenever I was in jail I found myself irresistibly impelled to write poetry. Moreover, that was my one chance to get poetry published; newspapers were ready to give it space, because it had been written in jail! You will note from the following letter that others also make verses in captivity. You see, there is nothing else you can do; and you have an irresistible impulse to tell the people outside what is happening to you!

Wherever you live in America you will read in your daily paper about those desperate criminals called I. W. W.s, who want to destroy society, but whom a wise government has put behind bars where they cannot do harm.

From this letter you may see exactly what desperadoes they are. They write sonnets, and beg you to send them good literature to read!

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “A Rebel in Jail” – Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner No. 13104, Writes to Upton Sinclair from Leavenworth” →