Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young with Eugene Debs in Terre Haute, July 4th, Part II

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I have no country to fight for;
my country is the earth;
I am a citizen of the world.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 8, 1918
Terre Haute, Indiana – John Reed and Art Young with Debs on July 4th

From The Liberator of September 1918:

With Gene Debs on the Fourth

By John Reed
[Part II]
—–

EVD, w Reed n Young, Liberator, Sept 1918

It was on the Fourth of July that Art Young and I went to Terre Haute to see Gene. Barely a month before, the terrible rumor had gone round, chilling all our hearts- “Gene Debs is going back on the party!” That lie he nailed in the ringing statement published in the New York Call, and the Wallings, the Simonses, the Bensons cringed under the lash of his words…. Then came his tour through the middle states, menaced everywhere with arrest, violence, even lynching…and Debs calmly speaking according to schedule, fearless, fiery and full of love of people…. Then his Canton speech, a clear internationalist manifesto, and the Cleveland arrest.

“Gene Debs arrested! They’ve arrested Gene!” people said everywhere, with a shock, a feeling of pity, of affection, of rage. Nothing that has happened in the United States this year has stirred so many people just this way. The long sentences given to conscientious objectors, the suppression of the Socialist press, the indictment of editors, lecturers, Socialist officials under the Espionage and Sedition Acts-people didn’t seem to be deeply moved by these things; but the arrest indictment of Gene Debs-of Gene Debs as a traitor to his country! That was like a slap in the face to thousands of simple people-many of them not Socialists at all-who had heard him speak and therefore loved him. Not to mention the hundreds he has personally befriended, helped or even saved from every sort of evil….

“Gene Debs arrested! Our Gene! That’s going too far!”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young with Eugene Debs in Terre Haute, July 4th, Part II”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young with Eugene Debs in Terre Haute, July 4th, Part I

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I have no country to fight for;
my country is the earth;
I am a citizen of the world.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday September 7, 1918
Terre Haute, Indiana – John Reed and Art Young with Debs on July 4th

From The Liberator of September 1918:

With Gene Debs on the Fourth

By John Reed
[Part I]
—–

EVD, w Reed n Young, Liberator, Sept 1918

WHAT’LL it be, Mr. Sparks?” asked the drug-clerk, with the familiarity of common citizenship in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the respect due to a successful politician.

“Gimme a nut sundae, George,” said the lawyer, who lived around the corner on Sycamore street. Sparks is not his real name. He was dressed up in a new grey suit, adorned with a small American flag, buttons of the First and Third Liberty loans, and a Red Cross emblem. “Reg’lar Fourth o’ July weather, hey George?”

Through the windows of the drug-store Eighth Street looked extremely animated; with families trooping toward the center of the town, flags aslant in children’s hands, mother and pa in holiday attire and sweating freely; with patriarchal automobiles of neighboring farmers, full of starched youngsters and draped with bunting. Faintly came the sound of an occasional fire-cracker, and the thin strains of martial music from the parade. A hot, sticky wind blew occasional puffs of yellow dust up the street.

“Yes, we got a spell of heat all right,” responded George. “We’re going to close the store pretty soon and go up town to see the p’rade.” He scooped ice-cream and went on gossiping. “They say Gene Debs has got arrested up to Cleve-land….”

Everyone in the place stopped talking and looked up.

“Yes,” said the lawyer in a satisfied tone. “Ye-e-es, I guess from what the papers say Gene stepped over the line this time. I guess they’ll shut him up now.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young with Eugene Debs in Terre Haute, July 4th, Part I”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part IV

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Remember, this is the only
American working-class movement which sings.
Tremble then at the I. W. W.,
for a singing movement is not to be beaten.
-Jack Reed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 5, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Take care, most arrogant master-class…”

From The Liberator of September 1918:

Part IV of John Reed’s coverage of Chicago I. W. W. trial with drawings by Art Young-

The Social Revolution In Court
By Art Young And John Reed

—–

Chg IWW Trial by A Young, Documents Seized, Liberator Sept 1918
—–

Day after day, all summer, witness after witness from the firing-line of the Class Struggle has taken the stand, and helped to shape the great labor epic; strike-leaders, gunmen, rank and file workers, agitators, deputies, police, stool-pigeons, Secret Service operatives.

I heard Frank Rogers, a youth grown black and bitter, with eyes full of vengeance, tell briefly and drily of the Speculator mine fire, and how hundreds of men burned to death because the company would not put doors in the bulk-heads. He spoke of the assassination of Frank Little, who was hung by “vigilantes” in Montana, and how the miners of Butte swore to remember…. (In the General Headquarters of the I. W. W. there is a death mask of Frank Little, blind, disdainful, set in a savage sneer.)

Oklahoma, the tar-and-feathering of the workers at Tulsa; Everett, and the five graves of Sheriff McRae’s victims on the hill behind Seattle… all this has come out, day by day, shocking story on story. I sat for the better part of two days listening to A. S. Embree telling over again the astounding narrative of the Arizona deportations; and as I listened, looked at photographs of the miners being marched across the arid country, between rows of men who carried rifles in the hollow of their arms, and wore white handkerchiefs about their wrists.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part IV”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part II

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Remember, this is the only
American working-class movement which sings.
Tremble then at the I. W. W.,
for a singing movement is not to be beaten.
-Jack Reed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 3, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Big Bill Haywood, with his black Stetson…”

From The Liberator of September 1918:

Part II of John Reed’s coverage of Chicago I. W. W. trial with drawings by Art Young-

The Social Revolution In Court
By Art Young And John Reed

Chg IWW Trial by A Young, Haywood etc, Liberator Sept 1918
—–

In the early morning they come over from Cook County Jail, where most of them have been rotting three-quarters of a year, and march into the court-room two by two, between police and detectives, bailiffs snarling at the spectators who stand too close. It used to be that they were marched four times a day through the streets of Chicago, hand-cuffed; but the daily circus parade has been done away with.

Now they file in, the ninety-odd who are still in jail, greeting their friends as they pass; and there they are joined by the others, those who are out on bail. The bail is so high-from $25,000 apiece down-that only a few can be let free. The rest have been in that horrible jail-Cook County-since early last fall; almost a year in prison for a hundred men who love freedom more than most.

On the front page of the Daily Defense Bulletin, issued by headquarters, is a drawing of a worker behind the bars, and underneath, “REMEMBER! We are in HERE for YOU; You are out THERE for US! ”

There goes Big Bill Haywood, with his black Stetson above a face like a scarred mountain; Ralph Chaplin, looking like Jack London in his youth; Reddy Doran, of kindly pugnacious countenance, and mop of bright red hair falling over the green eye-shade he always wears; Harrison George, whose forehead is lined with hard thinking; Sam Scarlett, who might have been a yeoman at Crecy; George Andreytchine, his eyes full of Slav storm; Charley Ashleigh, fastidious, sophisticated, with the expression of a well-bred Puck; Grover Perry, young, stony-faced after the manner of the West; Jim Thompson, John Foss, J. A. MacDonald; Boose, Prancner, Rothfisher, Johanson, Lossiev….

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part II”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part I

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Remember, this is the only
American working-class movement which sings.
Tremble then at the I. W. W.,
for a singing movement is not to be beaten.
-Jack Reed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday September 2, 1918
Chicago, Illinois – “Small on the huge bench sits a wasted man…”

From The Liberator of September 1918:

Part I of John Reed’s coverage of Chicago I. W. W. trial with drawings by Art Young-

The Social Revolution In Court
By Art Young And John Reed

Chg IWW Trial by A Young, Prosecution, Liberator Sept 1918
Chg IWW Trial by A Young, Defense, Liberator Sept 1918
—–

IN the opening words of his statement why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him, August Spies, one of the Chicago martyrs of 1887, quoted the speech of a Venetian doge, uttered six centuries ago-

“I stand here as the representative of one class, and speak to you, the representatives of another class. My defense is your accusation; the cause of my alleged crime, your history.”

The Federal court-room in Chicago, where Judge Landis sits in judgment on the Industrial Workers of the World, is an imposing great place, all marble-and-bronze and mellow dark wood-work. Its windows open upon the heights of towering office-buildings, which dominate that court-room as money-power dominates our civilization.

Over one window is a mural painting of King John and the Barons at Runnymede, and a quotation from the Great Charter:

“No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseized of his freehold or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled or any otherwise damaged but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land-

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice….”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: John Reed and Art Young Cover the Chicago IWW Trial, Part I”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Floyd Dell Recounts The Masses Trial; Art Young Found Asleep in Courtroom

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“For heaven’s sake, wake Art Young up,
and give him a pencil!
Tell him to try to stay awake
until he gets to jail!”
-Attorney Malone

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 5, 1918
New York, New York – The Masses Trial as Told by a Defendant

The trial of the those connected with The Masses began on April 15th of this year and lasted for about two weeks, ending in a hung jury. A new trial is certain, according to the prosecution. Floyd Dell, one of the defendants, tells the story of that trial wherein the defendants were facing up to twenty years in prison for alleged violations of the Espionage Act of 1917. We begin with Part I today and will conclude tomorrow with Part II.

From The Liberator of June 1918:

The Story of the Trial [Part I]
By Floyd Dell

Masses 1st Trial, Dell by B Robinson, Liberator p13, June 1918

AT 10:30 o’clock in the morning on April 15 we filed into one of the court-rooms on the third floor of the old Postoffice Building, and took our places about a large table in the front enclosure. Ahead was a table at which sat three smiling men from the district attorney’s office; higher up, on a dais, behind a desk, a black-gowned judge, busy with some papers; to the right a jury-box with twelve empty chairs; and behind us, filling the room, a venire of a hundred and fifty men from among whom a jury was presently to be selected.

It was with the oddest feelings that we sat there, waiting. It seemed strange that this court-room, this judge, this corps of prosecutors, those rows of tired men at the back, had any personal relationship to us. It took an effort to realize that we were not there as interested observers, but as the center of these elaborate proceedings.

It was more than strange, it was scarcely credible. Was it possible that anyone seriously believed us to be conspirators? Was it conceivable that the government of the United States was really going to devote its energies, its time and its money to a laborious undertaking, with the object of finding out whether we were enemies of the Republic! It was fantastic, grotesque, in the mood of a dream or of a tragic farce. It was like a scene from “Alice in Wonderland,” re-written by Dostoievsky. But it was true. We did not expect that the judge, frowning as he read over the papers before him, would suddenly look down at us over his spectacles and ask: “What the devil are you doing here? Don’t you know that I am a busy man, and that this is no place for silly jokes?”

No….For we knew that war produces a quaint and sinister psychology of fear and hate, of hysterical suspicion, of far-fetched and utterly humorless surmise, a mob-psychology which is almost inevitably directed against minorities, independent thinkers, extreme idealists, candid and truth-telling persons, and all who do not run and shout with the crowd. And we of the Masses, who had created a magazine unique in the history of journalism, a magazine of our own in which we could say what we thought about everything in the world, had all of us in some respect belonged to such a minority. We did not agree with other people about a lot of things. We did not even agree with each other about many things. We were fully agreed only upon one point, that it was a jolly thing to have a magazine in which we could freely express our individual thoughts and feelings in stories and poems and pictures and articles and jokes. And when the war came we were found still saying what we individually thought about everything-including war. No two of us thought quite alike about it. But none of us said exactly what the morning papers were saying. So–

We rose to answer to our names: Max Eastman, Floyd Dell, Merrill Rogers, Art Young, Josephine Bell*-a poet-philosopher, a journalist, a business manager, an artist, and a young woman whom none of us had ever seen until the day we went into court to have our bail fixed. And there was another, invisible “person” present, the Masses Publishing Company, charged, like the rest of us, with the crime of conspiring to violate the Espionage Act-conspiring to promote insubordination and mutiny in the military and naval forces of the United States and to obstruct recruiting and enlistment to the injury of the service. We all sat down, and the trial had begun.

*John Reed, war-correspondent, and H. J. Glintenkamp, artist, also indicted, were not on trial

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: Floyd Dell Recounts The Masses Trial; Art Young Found Asleep in Courtroom”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Reporter Talks with Louise Bryant & Interviews Jack Reed

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In the relations of a weak Government
and a rebellious people
there comes a time when every act of the authorities
exasperates the masses,
and every refusal to act excites their contempt.
-Jack Reed

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday May 14, 1918
Greenwich Village – Home of Jack Reed and Louise Bryant

After a short conversation with Louise Bryant, wife of John Reed, a reporter recently conducted an interview with Mr. Reed in the couple’s Greenwich apartment. Both Bryant and Reed were witnesses to the Bolshevik Revolution during their tour of duty there as war correspondents.

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of May 5, 1918:

TWO MONTHS LONGER OF KERENSKY AND GERMANY WOULD HAVE
RULED RUSSIA, SAYS JOHN REED
—–
Lenine and Trotzky Will Go Down Under 10,000 Feet the Moment
They Stop Representing the Masses-
People of the Bread Lines Real Rulers of Russia.
—–
Korniloff Allowed Riga to Fall to Scare the People Into Action-
If Kerensky Came Back the People Would Kill Him-
Lies About Bolsheviki Have Seriously Damaged
the American Cause in Russia.
—–

John Reed, Louise Bryant, Spart, Nov 1916The half-starved men and women on the bread lines are the rulers of Russia. The crowd is the government. The faction of which Kerensky was the head, once looked upon by the world as radical, became, comparatively, as conservative as Taft in his second campaign. This faction did not represent the crowd, so it fell, leaving Kerensky with about as much influence in Russia as one William Jennings Bryan has here. If Kerensky should return to Russia he would be killed. If he and his supporters and remained in power two months longer every city in Russia would have been under German control. Korniloff planned the fall of Riga to frighten the Russian people into action, and admitted it publicly. The Kerensky government, when the people threatened to take its power from it, practiced sabotage on the food supplies of the people, fomented strikes in the manufacturing plants, and closed down factories.

So, among many other things, says John Reed, war correspondent, soldier of fortune, unswerving Socialist, Bolshevik, Harvard graduate, friend and co-worker of Lenine and Trotzky, and the young American, who was some time ago reported as having been sent to America by Trotzky to act as American Consul General for the Bolsheviki. He returned to this country one day last week to face trial with Max Eastman, Art Young and others of the former editors of The Masses, who have been indicted on a charge of conspiring to encourage resistance to the draft.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Reporter Talks with Louise Bryant & Interviews Jack Reed”

Hellraisers Journal: John Reed Returns to USA to Face Federal Charges of Conspiracy to Obstruct the Draft Law

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The speculators, the employers,
the plutocracy…with lies and sophistries
they will whip up our blood until we are savage-
and then we’ll fight and die for them.
-Jack Reed

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday May 3, 1918
New York, New York – John Reed Facing Federal Charges

From Portland’s Oregon Daily Journal of April 29, 1918:

John Reed, Ogden Standard p12, Feb 19, 1918

John Reed, Writer For
“Masses,” Held
—–

An American [Atlantic] Port, April 29.-(I. N. S.)-John Reed, an American writer, bearing credentials from the Bolsheviki as consul general at New York, was detained aboard a Scandinavian steamer upon his arrival here Sunday.

Reed was one of the contributors to “The Masses” who were indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged conspiracy to defeat the draft law. He appeared in the federal court today and pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to obstruct the draft law.

—–

John Reed is a former Portland man, son of Mrs. Charles J. Reed.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Liberator of May 1918:
John Reed located and series on “Red Russia” continues-

John Reed Found, Liberator p3, May 1918

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: John Reed Returns to USA to Face Federal Charges of Conspiracy to Obstruct the Draft Law”

Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “Red Russia-The Triumph of the Bolsheviki” by John Reed

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In the relations of a weak Government
and a rebellious people
there comes a time when every act of the authorities
exasperates the masses,
and every refusal to act excites their contempt.
-Jack Reed

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

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday March 16, 1918
From The Liberator: John Reed on the Russian Revolution

Correspondent John Reed was in Russia with his wife, Louise Bryant, during the amazing events of October and November 1917. In the latest edition of The Liberator is published Reed’s account of what he witnessed, and which we republish, in part, below:

Liberator Cover, Russian Revolution by John Reed, Mar 1918

RED RUSSIA-
The Triumph of the Bolsheviki

I.

THE real revolution has begun. All the swift events of the last eight crowded months–the sudden debacle of Czarism in February, the brief inglorious attempt of Miliukov to establish a safe and sane bourgeois republic, the rise of Kerensky and the precarious structure of hasty compromise which constituted the Provisional Government–these were merely the prologue to the great drama of naked class-struggle which has now opened. For the first time in history the working-class has seized the power of the state, for its own purposes–and means to keep it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “Red Russia-The Triumph of the Bolsheviki” by John Reed”

Hellraisers Journal: Max Eastman, John Reed, Art Young & Four Others from The Masses Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

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In the relations of a weak Government
and a rebellious people
there comes a time when every act of the authorities
exasperates the masses,
and every refusal to act excites their contempt.
-Jack Reed

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

Hellrasiers Journal, Tuesday November 20, 1917
New York, New York – The Masses & Staff Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

Max Eastman, John Reed, Art Young, for HJ Nov 20, 1917

Max Eastman, John Reed, and Art Young, and others connected with The Masses now stand charged with conspiracy in violation of the Espionage Act.

From the Binghamton Press and Leader of November 19, 1917:

MAX EASTMAN OF MASSES INDICTED
—–

New York, Nov. 19.-Max Eastman, publisher of The Masses, a magazine recently denied second class mail privileges was indicted here today with six others connected with the publication of a charge of conspiracy in violation of the espionage act by the Federal Grand Jury. Bench warrants were immediately issued for their arrest.

Those named with Eastman were Floyd Dell, managing editor; C. Merrill Rogers, Jr., business manager; Henry R. Glenter-Kamp [Glintenkamp], cartoonist; Arthur Young, artist; John Reed, writer, and Josephine Bell, writer.

In addition two other indictments for attempting to use the mails for non-mailable matter were returned against The Masses Publishing Company as a corporation and C. Merrill Rogers, Jr., as an individual.

———-

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

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Max Eastman, John Reed, Art Young & Four Others from The Masses Indicted by Federal Grand Jury”