Tag: January 1919

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January 1919-Found Messaging Mooney Convention from Los Angeles

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Courts n Justice, ES2 p190, to Mooney Conv, Jan 14, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 22, 1919
Mother Jones News for January 1919
-Found in Los Angeles, California

On January 14th, Mother Jones sent a message from Los Angeles to the National Labor Convention for the defense of Tom Mooney which opened in Chicago on that date.

Telegram from Mother Jones:

Mother Jones, Eve Rv E Liverpool OH p2, Jan 4, 1919

January 14, 1919

To Ed Knockels,
166 Washington St.,
Chicago, Illinois

To the delegates in Convention greeting. May your resolutions be tempered with reason. Courts of our country must be exonerated. Convention must demand courts be cleansed of corporation judges. Place men on bench who will consider justice before dollars. Blot must be removed from courts. If the workers lose faith in courts then where are they to turn for justice.

Mother Jones.

———-

[Photograph added from The Evening Review (East Liverpool, Ohio) of January 4, 1919.]

From Nebraska’s Lincoln Daily Star of January 15, 1919:

LABOR RADICALS BADLY DEFEATED IN FIRST CLASH
—–

CHICAGO, Jan. 15.-After a fight which occupied the entire morning session the conservatives defeated the radicals by a vote or 2 to 1 today in organizing the national labor congress, called to consider plans for obtaining a new trial for Thomas J. Mooney, serving a life term for murder growing out of the San Francisco preparedness day parade bomb out rage.

[…..]

At the opening of today’s session Chairman Nolan made a plea for harmony and urged the delegates to speedily get to the consideration of the business for which the convention was called.

A message of greeting from “Mother” Jones at Los Angeles was read, in which she expressed the opinion that a rehabilitation of the country’s judicial system was necessary. “If labor loses confidence in the courts where can we turn for justice,” the message read.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Seattle Union Record: Thousands Cheer for Big Strike as Mass Meeting Jams Hippodrome to the Doors

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote John McKelvey re Stt GS Shipyards, SUR p1, Jan 27, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 28, 1919
Seattle, Washington – “Mass Meeting Endorses Big Strike”

From the Seattle Union Record of January 27, 1919:

Seattle General Strike, Mass Meeting Endorses, SUR p1, Jan 27, 1919

SHIPWORKERS ARE IN FIGHT TO WIN
—–

Jamming the big Hippodrome to its doors with cheering thousands on Sunday afternoon [January 26th], the Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and Helpers held what was probably the largest and most enthusiastic meeting of organized labor which has been held in the Northwest.

The last doubt, if one still existed, that the big union stood behind the industrial battle as one man was dispelled by the meeting. Impressed not only with what it meant to them, but what it means to all of labor, a motion to endorse the strike was carried by a unanimous standing vote and three rousing cheers.

Jack Duschack, business agent of the union, was the first to speak. He told the story of the endeavor of the Metal Trades Council to secure living wages for the workers.

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Hellraisers Journal: Sacramento IWW Prisoners Arrive at Leavenworth; Mortimer Downing Speaks to the Court

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mortimer Downing, Speech to Court, Sacramento, Jan 17, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 27, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Fellow Workers Arrive from Sacramento

From The Leavenworth Times of January 26, 1919:

MORE I. W. W. PRISONERS HERE
—–
Special Car Load of Them Brought in
From California Yesterday
-Names and Sentences.
—–

Sacramento IWW, Silent Defense, Dec 1918 to Jan 1919
Silent Defenders

Another big batch of I. W. W. prisoners was landed in the Federal penitentiary yesterday. They were brought in from California in a special car in charge of six deputy United States marshals. They got into the prison at 3:30 in the afternoon.

These were all white men and they were a tough looking bunch. There were sharp and well dressed looking prisoners in the ninety-one that were brought over from Chicago with Haywood last fall, but the California gang seems to be run down hobos.

They will be dressed in Monday and put to work Tuesday. Like the other I. W. W. prisoners they will be divided up among the working gangs of the penitentiary.

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Hellraisers Journal: Stanley J. Clark, Socialist Imprisoned at Leavenworth, Confirms IWWs Brutally Beaten

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Stanley J Clark, Workers Demand World, AtR p2, Nov 19, 1921—–

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 26, 1919
Leavenworth Prison – Stanley J. Clark Confirms Brutal Treatment

From The New Appeal of January 25, 1919:

I.W.W.’s Beaten Up, Says Stanley Clark

WWIR, Chg IWW, EVD re Stanley J. Clark, ISR Feb 1918
International Socialist Review
February 1918

Confirmation of the story of brutalities inflicted upon political prisoners in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kans., published in a recent issue of The New Appeal, has reached us in the form of a letter from Mrs. Dorothy Clark, wife of the well-known Socialist lecturer, Stanley J. Clark. Clark was convicted of having violated the Espionage Act and is a fellow prisoner of the I. W. W.’s and other radicals at Leavenworth.

Mrs. Clark, hearing of the occurrences at the federal prison and anxious to learn whether her husband had been injured, came to Kansas City, Mo., which is within an hour’s car ride of the prison doors. While learning that Clark had escaped maltreatment she also learned that The New Appeal’s report of the manhandling of other prisoners was not exaggerated. In a letter to The New Appeal Mrs. Clark says:

I came here because I had heard of the inhuman treatment that men were receiving in this prison at Leavenworth and I knew that I should go insane unless I could see Stanley and know just what had happened. I was relieved of course to find that nothing had happened to him personally, but I found him terribly stirred up and in a perfect frenzy of indignation over the treatment that the other prisoners had received.

It seems that they have a new warden, who at once began to lengthen the hours of work and to cut down food rations. Some of the poor boys, not realizing that they were buried in there and by the world forgotten and absolutely at the mercy of their captors, attempted to strike to enforce the old and regular system of hours of work.

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Hellraisers Journal: As Support Grows for 30,000 Shipyard Strikers, GENERAL STRIKE THREATENED IN SEATTLE

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Big Bill Haywood, re General Strike, Speech NYC, Mar 16, 1911———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday January 24, 1919
Seattle, Washington – Seattle Workers Threaten General Strike

From The Seattle Star of January 22, 1919:

Seattle General Strike Threatened, Stt Str p1, Jan 22, 1919

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of January 23, 1919:

Seattle General Strike Vote, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 23, 1919Seattle General Strike, re Shipyards, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 23, 1919

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1918, Part III-Found in California Organizing Oil Field Workers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Charity Justice, Stt Str p1, Dec 27, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 22, 1919
Mother Jones News for December 1918, Part III
-Mother Found in Taft, California, Organizing Oil Field Workers

Mother Jones, Bff Enq p14, Dec 26, 1918

Following her audience with the Governor of California on behalf of Tom Mooney, Mother Jones spoke in and around the San Francisco area urging working men and woman to take action to free Mooney and all other political and class-war prisoners. Mother then traveled to Taft, near Bakersfield, at the request of the oil field workers there with the intention of organizing them into the United Mine Workers of America.

We next find her in the pages of the The Kalamazoo Gazette as the author of  a “Message to Women in Industry.” Here she states that the organization of women into “men’s” unions will strengthen organized labor for both working women as well as for working men:

Women ought to join men’s unions-not organize separate unions of their own. The battle against unpatriotic greed, the struggle for a free America, is no sex matter.

An infusion of women into men’s unions works for good to both men and women. Man has studied the disease longer than woman; he has a broader vision of society’s problems. Woman is less indifferent to suffering than man. She will contribute energy and inspire to action.

A woman will not see the hair torn from the scalp of a ten-year-old girl by unprotected cog-wheels, without wanting to do something about it.

Note: the photograph above is from The Buffalo Enquirer of December 26, 1918.

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1918, Part II-Found in San Francisco on Behalf of Tom Mooney

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Mission for Mooney, SF EXmr p7, Dec 12, 1918

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 21, 1919
Mother Jones News for December 1918, Part II
-Mother Found in San Francisco on Behalf of Tom Mooney

From the San Francisco Examiner of December 12, 1918:

‘Mother’ Jones to Aid Mooney
in His Fight for Liberty
—–

Labor Leader Represents 500,000 Workers
in Appeal for Man’s Release.
—–

Mother Jones, Ft Wy Jr Gz p3, Dec 17, 1917

“Mother” (Mary) Jones, labor leader, arrived in San Francisco last night from Chicago to urge a new trial for Thomas J. Mooney, serving a life sentence for the Preparedness Day bomb murders.

Armed with credentials from the Illinois State Federation of Labor and the Chicago Federation of Labor and a letter from Governor Lowden of Illinois, “Mother” Jones said her first errand will be to obtain an audience with Governor William D. Stephens, who recently commuted Mooney’s death sentence.

“Mother” Jones declared her dissatisfaction with the imprisonment of Mooney, who, she said, was innocent and so held by the great mass of the labor organizations that had sent her here. She said:

I believe this is an issue that goes to the very heart of the judicial system, not only of California, but of the entire nation. That is what I shall try to present to Governor Stephens.

The organizations that sent me to San Francisco number many hundreds of thousands of workers and behind them are 500,000 more, the mineworkers, who are with me on this mission.

The visitor was met by San Francisco and Oakland members of the International Workers’ Defense League at the Ferry building. She went to the Hotel Clark. “Mother” Jones will address some of the labor bodies during her stay in California.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1918, Part I-Found Speaking at Convention of Illinois Federation of Labor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Kaisers at Home, Speech Bloomington IL FoL, Dec 4, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 20, 1919
Mother Jones News for December 1918, Part I
-Mother Found Speaking before Illinois Federation of Labor Convention

Mother Jones, Ft Wy Jr Gz p3, Dec 17, 1917

On Wednesday December 4, 1918, Mother Jones was introduced at the Convention by John H. Walker, President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor. She stood before the delegates gathered together in Bloomington for the 36th Annual Convention of the Illinois F. of L. and gave a long and spirited address in which she said, in part:

Your President is not a member of the high class burglars’ association—he wouldn’t welcome me here if he was.

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Workers, we are passing through the greatest change the world’s history has ever undertaken to bring man through. The world is making over, it is making into a new world, and it is up to the workers to say how that world will be shaped for the future destiny of the race. If we are indifferent to the change that is coming the future generations will pay the penalty.

I want to make a statement to you. I don’t live in your club rooms, I don’t belong to your parasitical type of woman, I am not a Sunday School teacher, I don’t work for Jesus—He don’t need me. I want to open the eyes of the workers…..

You and your organizations are up against a stone wall, and the most insidious machine that was ever organized in the human history is organized to break you. Are you going to let them do it? Or will you rise like men and tell them you are at the threshold of a new civilization, the map of the world is changing and you are going to change, too? You went abroad and cleaned up the kaiser, now let us clean up the kaisers at home!….

You know what the women did in New York. I went there to talk to the women. The women came to hear me. The commissioner of police sent a woman there who did not belong to my class. I spotted her immediately. She was one of Mrs. Belmont’s little lapdogs and when I began to talk she said I must be careful. She said she was the president of a number of organizations. One of them was a school decorating organization. I got the women worked up anyhow and they went out and cleaned up the scabs. The cops ran and the women with babies in their arms took the clubs and beat the cops. They were not Sunday School women, they were fighters. If the men had the fight in them those women had we would have won the battle in New York…..

Tom Mooney has been sentenced by order of the capitalists, the chamber of crooks, of California, to life imprisonment. I know Mooney, I know his wife, I know his mother. He has been a good fighter. He may have made a great noise at times, just as I have, but I know he had no more hand in the crime he is charged with, nor did any other working man, than I had, and I was a thousand miles away from San Francisco at that time. I am going to tour the nation and arouse the people to the injustice of that trial…..

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Hellraisers Journal: National Labor Convention for Mooney: Debs Invited, W. F. Dunn of Butte Speaks for Radicals

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re General Strike, Journal Paper Mill Workers p7, Mar 1919

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 18, 1919
Chicago, Illinois – National Labor Convention for Mooney Hears from Radicals

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of January 16, 1919:

National Labor Mooney Conference, HdLn, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 16, 1919 National Labor Mooney Conference, Radicals, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 16, 1919

—–

(Special Dispatch to The Bulletin.)

Chicago, Jan. 16.-At this morning’s session of the Mooney Labor Congress Ed Nolan scored the capitalist press on its criticism of the invitation of Debs and its attempt to give a sense of dissension among the delegates. Debs’ name was again greeted with tumultuous applause. It was moved that the Nonpartisan league be given the floor. The motion was defeated. Dunn of Butte moved to give the Detroit delegate the floor. The Detroit leader clearly outlined the program before the convention as follows:

No political begging, a general strike to free Tom Mooney and also to take a stand to free political prisoners and recognize Russia; reorganize the American Federation of Labor on an industrial basis.

The radicals are satisfied with the moves so far.

—–

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