Tag: International Socialist Review

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Phillips Russell on the Shopmen’s Strike against the Harriman Lines

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Joe Hill, General Strike, Workers Awaken, LRSB Oct 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 3, 1911
“Switched off the Main Line” by Phillips Russell

From the International Socialist Review of November 1911:

Title re Harriman RR Shopmen Strike by P Russell, ISR p268, Nov 1911

ON the last of September, the long delayed strike of the System Federation among the shopmen of the Harriman lines took place, extending from the middle west to the Gulf in the south and taking in all that territory westward to the Pacific ocean.

The System Federation comprises the shopmen of ten different organizations. the principal ones being the International Association of Machinists, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Brotherhood of Blacksmiths and Helpers, International Association of Sheet Metal Workers, the steamfitters, clerks, painters, engine hostlers and members of the Federal Labor Union. The first five mentioned are the leading organizations involved. The international presidents of these unions, having had many conferences with Vice-President Kruttschnitt of the Harriman lines, finally called the strike on three lines, these lines being the Illinois Central, the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific lines.

The union officials claimed that 25,000 men came out. The railroad heads asserted there were only a few thousand at most.

In this strike there are just two questions with which the men in the ranks need concern themselves, and these are-hours and wages. The matter of recognition early in the fight was made the most of, but of all the issues involved, this was the most insignificant. However, the Federation heads insisted on making recognition the leading demand and pushing the first two fundamentals into the background.

Of all the questions at issue, that pertaining to the hours of labor is supreme. Men on strike can afford to make the matter of wages a secondary issue. It is the hours that count, for it cannot be too often repeated that shorter hours in variably mean higher wages.

Several thousand unorganized workers followed the union men out, and having been given the impression that the revolt was for an eight hour day and better conditions, they were eager for the fight.

But on learning that the question of hours and conditions was not going to figure in the struggle, and on hearing the incessant chant of the Federation heads that they asked only recognition for the Federation, the unorganized men soon lost interest and began to drift back into the shops.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Phillips Russell on the Shopmen’s Strike against the Harriman Lines” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1901, Part III: Found Writing for the International Socialist Review

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 14, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1901, Part III
Found Writing on Behalf of Working Class Men, Women, and Children

From the International Socialist Review of September 1901:

A Picture of American Freedom
in West Virginia
———-

[By Mother Jones]

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

SOME months ago a little group of miners from the State of Illinois decided to face the storm and go to the assistance of their fellow-workmen in the old slave state of West Virginia. They hoped that they might somehow lend a hand to break at least one link in the horrible corporation chains with which the miners of that state are bound. Wherever the condition of these poor slaves of the caves is worst there is where I always seek to be, and so I accompanied the boys to West Virginia.

They billed a meeting for me at Mt. Carbon, where the Tianawha Coal and Coke Company have their works. The moment I alighted from the train the corporation dogs set up a howl. They wired for the “squire” to come at once. He soon arrived with a constable and said : “Tell that woman she cannot speak here to night; if she tries it I will jail her.” If you come from Illinois you are a foreigner in West Virginia and are entitled to no protection or rights under the law—that is if you are interested in the welfare of your oppressed fellow beings. If you come in the interest of a band of English parasites you are a genuine American citizen and the whole state is at your disposal. So the squire notified me that if I attempted to speak there would be trouble. I replied that I was not hunting for trouble, but that if it came in that way I would not run away from it. I told him that the soil of Virginia had been stained with the blood of the men who marched with Washington and Lafayette to found a government where the right of free speech should always exist.

“I am going to speak here to-night,” I continued. “When I violate the law, and not until then will you have any right to interfere.” At this point he and the constable started out for the county seat with the remark that he would find out what the law was on that point. For all I have been able to hear they are still hunting for the law, for I have never heard from them since. The company having called off their dogs of war I held my meeting to a large crowd of miners.

But after all the company came out ahead. They notified the hotel not to take any of us in or give us anything to eat. There upon a miner and his wife gave me shelter for the night. The next morning they were notified to leave their miserable little shack which belonged to the company. He was at once discharged and with his wife and babe went back to Illinois, where, as a result of a long and bitter struggle the miners have succeeded in regaining a little liberty.

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1901, Part III: Found Writing for the International Socialist Review” →

Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “Pyramid of Capitalism” -“We Work for All; We Feed All”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH Corporation Soul, Oakland Tb p11, Mar 30, 1909

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 3, 1911
“The Pyramid of Capitalism” -Workers of the World Feed the World

From the International Socialist Review of October 1911:

Pyramid of Capitalism, ISR Cv, Oct 1911

—–

Pyramid of Capitalism, text re, ISR p253 Oct 1911

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “Pyramid of Capitalism” -“We Work for All; We Feed All”” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “A Picture of American Freedom in West Virginia” -by Mother Jones

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Stormy Paths, UMWC Ipl IN, Jan 25, 1901—————–

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 7, 1901
Mother Jones Paints a Picture of American Freedom in West Virginia

From the International Socialist Review of September 1901:

A Picture of American Freedom
in West Virginia
———-

[By Mother Jones]

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

SOME months ago a little group of miners from the State of Illinois decided to face the storm and go to the assistance of their fellow-workmen in the old slave state of West Virginia. They hoped that they might somehow lend a hand to break at least one link in the horrible corporation chains with which the miners of that state are bound. Wherever the condition of these poor slaves of the caves is worst there is where I always seek to be, and so I accompanied the boys to West Virginia.

They billed a meeting for me at Mt. Carbon, where the Tianawha Coal and Coke Company have their works. The moment I alighted from the train the corporation dogs set up a howl. They wired for the “squire” to come at once. He soon arrived with a constable and said : “Tell that woman she cannot speak here to night; if she tries it I will jail her.” If you come from Illinois you are a foreigner in West Virginia and are entitled to no protection or rights under the law—that is if you are interested in the welfare of your oppressed fellow beings. If you come in the interest of a band of English parasites you are a genuine American citizen and the whole state is at your disposal. So the squire notified me that if I attempted to speak there would be trouble. I replied that I was not hunting for trouble, but that if it came in that way I would not run away from it. I told him that the soil of Virginia had been stained with the blood of the men who marched with Washington and Lafayette to found a government where the right of free speech should always exist.

“I am going to speak here to-night,” I continued. “When I violate the law, and not until then will you have any right to interfere.” At this point he and the constable started out for the county seat with the remark that he would find out what the law was on that point. For all I have been able to hear they are still hunting for the law, for I have never heard from them since. The company having called off their dogs of war I held my meeting to a large crowd of miners.

But after all the company came out ahead. They notified the hotel not to take any of us in or give us anything to eat. There upon a miner and his wife gave me shelter for the night. The next morning they were notified to leave their miserable little shack which belonged to the company. He was at once discharged and with his wife and babe went back to Illinois, where, as a result of a long and bitter struggle the miners have succeeded in regaining a little liberty.

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “A Picture of American Freedom in West Virginia” -by Mother Jones” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Rebel of Hallettsville, Texas, Argues for Term Limits for Officers of Socialist Party

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Socialists n IU, Chg Sept 18, ISR p258, Nov 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 8, 1911
The Rebel of Hallettsville, Texas, Fights Against Referendum B

From the International Socialist Review of August 1911:

Tom Hickey, ed, Texas Socialist, 1911
Tom Hickey

Defeat Referendum B.—-The Rebel, a bright little Socialist weekly just started by Comrade T. A. Hickey, at Hallettsville, Texas, contains an able editorial argument against “Referendum B,” which we would gladly reprint in full but for the pressure on our space. He calls attention to a remarkable thing that has happened in the Socialist party this year. A little Texas local initiated a national referendum that carried triumphantly. It provides that all national party officers shall be elected annually and shall not serve more than two terms. The party officials and their friends fought it bitterly but failed to defeat it. Now, although no election has yet been held under its provisions, they have started a new referendum [National Referendum B, 1911] to reverse it. On this action The Rebel comments:

It is a piece of unparalleled impudence on the part of these officials who started this latest referendum. They should realize that the motion when it carried should have been given a fair trial. Why plunge the party into turmoil now? We are on the eve of the most important campaign in the party’s history. Shall we go into it with new officers and unbroken ranks and a spirit of growing solidarity, or shall we be torn with dissension by those who have refused to bow to the party’s will? Vote NO on Referendum B. Get out a full vote and let our grand party take advanced ground on the way to a Social Democracy.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1901, Part I: Victorious Scranton Silk Mill Strikers, “Gave Their Masters a Good Hammering”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, St L Lbr, Apr 13, 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 9, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1901, Part I
Found Describing Victory of Scranton Silk Mill Strikers 

From the International Socialist Review of June 1901:

World of Labor Max Hayes, ISR p813, June 1901

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

The silk weavers’ strike at Scranton, Pa., which was directed by Mother Jones, and which has been pending for many months, was won by the workers, while the strike at Paterson, N. J., was lost, owing largely to the fact that the courts issued an injunction against the women and children, and the police assaulted them for attempting to persuade scabs to refuse to work. “Mother,” besides organizing for the unions, is now putting in some spare time in forming unions of domestic servants.

—————

Editorial, ISR p822, June 1901

We have just received the following letter from “Mother Jones,” which we must again offer in place of the promised article. We feel sure that our readers will appreciate the reason for the delay:

Dear Comrades:

I owe you an apology for not writing to you before. You know I had a strike of 4,000 children on my hands for three months and could not spare a moment. If that strike was lost it meant untold oppression for these little helpless things. They came out victorious and gave their masters a good hammering. I could not write a thing for June, but will for July.

I have had a very hard winter’s work, but have done just as much for socialism as if I were writing articles. One very cheering feature is that the cause is growing everywhere. I have been landing plenty of literature In the hands of the boys.

[Drawing of Mother Jones added.]

Flower doodle graphic, ISR p824, June 1901

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1901, Part I: Victorious Scranton Silk Mill Strikers, “Gave Their Masters a Good Hammering”” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “One Boss Less, The Minersville Strike” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part II

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF Organize Women, IW p4, June 1, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 2, 1911
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Describes Strike of Young Girls at Minersville

From the International Socialist Review of July 1911:

EGF re Minersville Girls Strike Part II, ISR p8, July 1911—–EGF re Minersville Girls Strike EVD Speaks, ISR p11, July 1911

Coombs became desperate. He threatened to move his factory to Brooklyn, where he claims a site has already been purchased, but the girls realize that he is bound to this region by economic ties which cannot easily be severed. He rents houses and owns a splendid residence in Minersville, and controls factories for Phillips in Tremont, Valley View, Mahoney City, Trackville and other places. Here he is a pillar of society, hobnobs with judges, and has his own automobile. Whereas, his importance would sink into insignificance in a great industrial center.

We are making efforts not only to tie up all of his other plants, but every factory and mill in this region, where wages are inadequate and women are shamelessly exploited. Our attempts in Tremont illustrate our difficulties and Mr. Coombs’ methods. While we were addressing the girls from one factory Mr. Coombs rushed past in his machine and into his factory, where he detained the girls for about five minutes. His intimation that if they listened to the agitators they need not report for work further had effect, for when he dismissed them, they marched convict-like, arm in arm, past the meeting, and could not be induced to listen.

These girls had their wages raised to nine cents to head off a strike. Thus, they are profiting by the struggle of the girls in Minersville, while virtually scabbing on them. Far from being discouraged, however, we feel that Coombs has shown his fear, and we intend to arouse these girls to a realization of the situation.

This strike, the first of its kind in the anthracite region, has been invaluable, as it has served to set ablaze the smouldering rebellion of other women workers. It was followed by a strike in the silk mill of Shamokin, and a partial strike in the silk mill of Pottsville.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “One Boss Less, The Minersville Strike” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “One Boss Less, The Minersville Strike” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part I

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF Organize Women, IW p4, June 1, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 1, 1911
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on Strike by Young Girls at Minersville, Pennsylvania

From the International Socialist Review of July 1911:

EGF re Minersville Girls Strike, Part I, ISR p8, July 1911

[Part I of II.]

THE particular employer engaged in this conflict is typical. Over twelve years ago he came to Minersville and opened a factory. Since that time a chain of factories have been installed throughout the anthracite regions and the farming belt that lies South of Pottsville, absorbing all the unused labor of women and girls, who previously engaged in domestic tasks at home, until, through marriage, they established homes of their own.

Dependent for a living upon brothers, fathers and husbands, the factory gate seemed the door of opportunity to them. Life had been a stepping from their father’s threshold to their husband’s, a sheltered, healthy, but often monotonous and uneventful existence. Many of the younger generation were educated in the public schools and felt the lure of the big cities; others were not satisfied with the domestic life, and so the factory spelled a varied experience, a wider life and independence. They welcomed it eagerly and were engulfed in its hungry maw.

When Coombs came to Minersville he was poor and unknown. He was financed by a man named Phillips, a Jewish oculist and rabbi, who likewise commenced his career poor. But running expenses of shirt and underwear factories are less in Pennsylvania towns than in New York or Philadelphia, and girls are cheaper. In the large cities girls are supposed to secure at least a living wage, as most of them are dependent solely upon their earnings. Often they do not, and lives of shame and horror are the result. But the majority attempt to secure it, and a pretence is made by the employers to pay it. Not so here. Wages are simply fit for spending money and do not nearly equal living expenses. The girls still live at home. They have lost the illusion of being self-supporting, and make no pretense of being. They are as dependent on their families as ever they were. and the outrageous condition prevails of miners and farmers raising and caring for daughters to turn them over to the factory owners as instruments of production, practically free of charge.

They lend their children to Coombs and Phillips, and receive them back physical wrecks, hollow-eyed, flat-chested, nervous from overwork. Young girls are taken from schools at a tender age and crushed in the industrial prisons that disfigure the hills and valleys. The vitality of future generations is sapped through the grinding toil these future mothers must endure. From every point of view—financially, physically and morally—these factories have been a blight and a curse to every region they invade.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “One Boss Less, The Minersville Strike” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Mother Jones and the Silk Mill Strike at Scranton, Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, St L Lbr, Apr 13, 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 15, 1901
Mother Jones Leads Silk Mill Strikers to Victory at Scranton

From the International Socialist Review of June 1901:

World of Labor Max Hayes, ISR p813, June 1901

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

The silk weavers’ strike at Scranton, Pa., which was directed by Mother Jones, and which has been pending for many months, was won by the workers, while the strike at Paterson, N. J., was lost, owing largely to the fact that the courts issued an injunction against the women and children, and the police assaulted them for attempting to persuade scabs to refuse to work. “Mother,” besides organizing for the unions, is now putting in some spare time in forming unions of domestic servants.

—————

Editorial, ISR p822, June 1901

We have just received the following letter from “Mother Jones,” which we must again offer in place of the promised article. We feel sure that our readers will appreciate the reason for the delay:

Dear Comrades:

I owe you an apology for not writing to you before. You know I had a strike of 4,000 children on my hands for three months and could not spare a moment. If that strike was lost it meant untold oppression for these little helpless things. They came out victorious and gave their masters a good hammering. I could not write a thing for June, but will for July.

I have had a very hard winter’s work, but have done just as much for socialism as if I were writing articles. One very cheering feature is that the cause is growing everywhere. I have been landing plenty of literature In the hands of the boys.

[Drawing of Mother Jones and emphasis added.]

Flower doodle graphic, ISR p824, June 1901

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Mother Jones and the Silk Mill Strike at Scranton, Pennsylvania” →