Tag: Lawrence Textile Strike Committee of 1912

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: The Prosecution of Ettor and Giovannitti, Leaders of the Lawrence Strike

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Giovannitti, The Walker, Rest My Brother—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 2, 1912
The Plot Against Ettor and Giovannitti, Leaders of the Lawrence Strike

From the International Socialist Review of June 1912:

BBH Walking w Ettor n Giovannitti, ISR p872, June 1912

EDITORIAL

A Plot to Murder Wage-Workers. Our readers already know that Ettor and Giovannitti, the I. W. W. organizers who directed the Lawrence strike in its earlier stages, were thrown into jail on charge of conspiracy to murder. At the time this seemed merely a move to cripple the strike, and it was expected that when work was resumed at the mills they would be released. Now, however, it seems that a desperate effort will be made to pack a jury with tools of the mill owners and send our comrades to the electric chair. No one claims that they had any part in the actual killing of any one. The victim was a woman striker [Anna LoPizzo], and the shot was fired by a policeman, as is fully explained in the New York Call of May 10. The real question is whether the prisoners were inciting the strikers to violence, and on this point there is an overwhelming array of testimony in the negative. The REVIEW had a representative on the scene all through the closing days of the strike, and from his personal knowledge we can say that the capitalists and police were eager to have the strikers resort to force, and in many ways did all they could to provoke violence. The strike committee on the other hand realized that any resort to force would give the police and the soldiers the pretext they were looking for to slaughter hundreds of strikers. Consequently they maintained such discipline and restraint among the strikers that the pretext never came, and finally the strike was won. Now in revenge, the jackals of the mill owners are seeking to murder Ettor and Giovannitti. Their trial has been postponed to the August term of court. Money for their defense is urgently needed. Send it direct to William Yates, Treas., 430 Bay State Building, Lawrence, Mass.

NYC May Day Parade w Banner for Ettor n Giovannitti, ISR p871, June 1912

[Emphasis added.]

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

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 – Thursday April 4, 1912
Lawrence Textile Strikers Win Great Victory with I. W. W., Part II of IV

From the International Socialist Review of April 1912:

ONE BIG UNION WINS

By LESLIE H. MARCY and FREDERICK SUMNER BOYD

Lawrence General Strike Com, ISR p617, Apr 1912

On January 11, anticipating some difficulty on pay day, the Secretary of Local 20, I. W. W. wired to Joseph J. Ettor, member of the National Executive Board, who was then in New York City, to go to Lawrence. He left the next afternoon, and arrived on the night of January 12.

Plans were then laid for the conduct of the strike. A general strike committee was formed that met daily, each nationality on strike being represented on it by three delegates. In addition there were three representatives each from the perchers, menders and burlers, the warp dressers, Kunhardt’s mill, the Oswoco mill, the paper mill, the workers in which had struck in sympathy with the textile workers and presented similar demands, and from time to time other sections were represented that were gradually merged as occasion demanded. The general strike committee thus numbered 56 men and women, all of them mill workers.

The first work of the committee was to devise means for carrying on the fight and caring for the strikers. There were no funds when the strike was declared, but in a week or ten days money began to dribble in from surrounding New England towns, and as the strike continued contributions came in from every State in the Union, from all parts of Canada and even from England.

Lawrence Relief Station, ISR p618, Apr 1912

The money in the shape of strike pay would not have lasted a week, but this battle was conducted on a different basis from former fights. Each nationality opened relief stations and soup kitchens, and was responsible for the care of its own people. The Franco-Belgians had had a co-operative in operation long before the strike, and food purchases were made through its machinery. Money was paid over to the various national committees as it became necessary by the general finance committee, with Joseph Bedard as Financial Secretary. With this money the purchasing committee bought goods, and the national committees took their portion.

Meals were provided twice a day at the various stations for the strikers who needed them, and in this manner the Franco-Belgian station at the Mason street headquarters provided 1,850 meals twice daily, the Italians 3,500, the Syrians 1,200, Lithuanians 1,200, the Poles 1,000, and soon, the Germans took care of 150 families and several hundred single workers.

Lawrence Children w Bread, ISR p618, Apr 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: From The New York Call: “Lawrence Strike Ends in Victory” -Workers’ Committee Accepts Offer

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote re Lawrence Strike Victory NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike

From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

HdLn Lawrence Mtg Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

(By United Press.)

LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.

Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.

The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.

The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.

Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.

Chant the Internationale.

The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Amos Pinchot and Journalist Gertrude Marvin Meet with Lawrence Textile Strike Committee

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote EGF, Heaven n Hell, ISR p617, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 13, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Mrs. Pinchot and Miss Marvin Investigate Conditions

From The Boston Daily Globe of March 11, 1912:

Lawrence, Meeting w Strike Com, Pinchot Marvin, Miller, Bst Mrn Glb p2, Mar 11, 1912

Left to Right-Mrs Amos Pinchot, Gertrude Marvin, William Gates,
Francis Miller, Edward Reilly, Rebecca Smith.

From the Bridgeport Evening Farmer of March 9, 1912:

Lawrence, March 9-Wearing a chic, white felt crush hat, long gray coat and high boots, Mrs. Amos Pinchot [Gertrude Minturn Pinchot], sister-in-law of Gifford Pinchot who came down here to investigate conditions for herself, was “out and about” at 6, this morning, despite the dismal drizzle that kept even many of the strikers off the picket route.

With Miss Margaret Marvin [Gertrude Marvin], a magazine writer, Mrs. Pinchot breakfasted in true cosmopolitan fashion in a typical “sling ’em out quick” counter lunchroom and then made the rounds of soup kitchens, tenement homes, police stations and courtroom. She argued with strike pickets, policemen and militiamen and got the point of view of everyone whom she saw and who “looked interesting.”

She spoke laughingly, today, of threats by policemen to arrest her for “obstructing the sidewalk” when she questioned them too closely and said she might be tempted when she gets back to New York to write about some of the “inhuman things” she has seen in her two days visit here.

—————-

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Coming Nation: “The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan-Bayonets, Hunger, Misery

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 7, 1912
“The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan & Photographs from Scene of Revolt

From The Coming Nation of March 2, 1912:

-page 4: “The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan

Lawrence Strike by John Sloan, Cmg Ntn p4, Mar 2, 1912

—–

-pages 5-6, 12: Rock Fenn on Unity, Class Solidarity and Revolt

Revolt of the Textile Workers

How the Working People of all Nationalities in Lawrence Have
United in Class Solidarity and Revolt Against Exploitation

By Rock Fenn

FROM the home of the striker at Lawrence to the office beyond the canal is a long step. On the one side are tenements reeking with the effluvia of families jammed into dispiriting rooms; on the other side a few well-fed bosses in great brick buildings a hundred yards long, with wide windows one above the other, three, four, five or six stories high.

Lawrence American Flag Not Secure, Cmg Ntn p6, Mar 2, 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: “Muckrakers” at Lawrence Include Cora Older, Charles Edward Russell, and Mary Heaton Vorse

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 – Friday March 1, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Prominent Magazine Writers Visit Strike Zone

From Boston Evening Transcript of February 29, 1912:

MUCKRAKERS ON THE SCENT
———-
Party Including Russell, White, Baker, and Others
Spends Day Gathering Material at Lawrence
———-

HdLn Lawrence Revolution Unbroken, IW p1, Feb 29, 1912
Industrial Worker
February 29, 1912

A group of prominent magazine writers visited Lawrence yesterday for the purpose of gathering material. Among those in the party were Charles Edward Russell and Mrs. Russell, William Allen White, Ray Stannard Baker, Mary Heaton Vorse, Mrs. Freemont [Cora] Older, wife of the San Francisco publisher, and Miss Frances Jolliffe, also of San Francisco. The party came in on the midnight train from New York and left last night after spending a busy day going over the city. They first visited the county jail, where Ettor and Giovannitti are confined, and though they tried hard to see the two men they were unsuccessful. They were however allowed to talk to the Polish women pickets who refused to pay their fines and are serving out their sentence.

The members of the party were held up by the military guard in their attempt to go to the mills through Canal street, as they were wearing the strikers card, “Don’t be a scab.” Then they visited some of tho homes of the strikers, and later dined at a Syrian restaurant as the guests of William D. Haywood. There were also present other strike leaders, several newspaper reporters, Miss Emma Goulain and two more Franco-Belgians.

Just as they reached the restaurant the guide happened to catch sight of patrolman Michael Moore, the Syrian policeman who was prominent in the Saturday morning incident at the station [see Hellraisers Journal of Feb. 26th]. He was pointed out to the visitors as the policeman who clubbed a woman. He was still nearby when the party cams out from the restaurant and stood for a moment on the sidewalk before starting downtown. They stopped, and Moore came up and ordered them to move.

“All right, well go,” said one man, but the women were not so complacent. Mrs. Older said to the patrolman: “So you’re the man who clubbed a woman, are you?”

“Now don’t stand talking to me,” replied the patrolman. “You’ve got to go along.”

Some of the men tried to argue that they were under no compulsion to move, and in the end the policeman all but arrested one of the young Franco-Belgians who was in the party.

———-

[Newsclip, emphasis and paragraph break added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Socialists of Quaker City Prepared to Receive Children of Lawrence Strikers; Girl Picket Fined $10

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote EGF, Heaven n Hell, ISR p617, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 25, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Strikers Prepare to Send Children to Philadelphia

From The New York Call of February 24, 1912:

(Special to The Call.)

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 23.-Great enthusiasm prevailed today at the headquarters of the Socialist party, [on] Arch street, when a telegram was received from Lawrence, Mass., announcing that in response to the request of the local Socialists and unionists, 100 children of the textile strikers were to be sent to this city and would arrive at the Broad street station at 6:30 o’clock tomorrow evening, where they will be received by an enthusiastic crowd and be distributed among the workers who are eager to give them good homes until their parents win the battle at Lawrence.

[Women Pickets Hard to Handle]

LAWRENCE, Mass., Feb. 23.-Josephine Liss, the pretty Polish strikers who was arrested on Wednesday on a charge of assault upon a militiaman, was convicted in police court today and fined $10. At first she refused to pay the fine or to appeal, declaring that she might as well be in jail if she could not have her freedom outside. She finally entered an appeal on advice of her counsel and was held in $100 bonds.

The soldier asserted that the girl had struck him in the face several times. The defendant said that the soldier had sworn at her and insulted her. Acting Judge Advocate Douglas Campbell, who conducted the prosecution, protested  to the court that in his opinion it was “cowardly” of the Strike Committee to send out women pickets, because they were hard to handle.

“Let them send out men,” he said “and we will deal with them.”

Dont Scab, Bst Mrn Glb p1, Feb 24, 1912

[Emphasis and photograph added.]

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: 175 Boys and Girls, Children of Lawrence Textile Strikers, Sent to New York City for Care and Safekeeping

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 – Sunday February 11, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Strikers Children Sent to New York City

From The Boston Daily Globe, Evening Edition, of February 10, 1912:

Lawrence Strikers Children to NYC, Bst Glb Eve p1, Feb 10, 1912

Upper Picture-Strikers’ Children from Lawrence in
South Station [Boston], Waiting to Board a New York Train.
Lower Left Hand-Child of a Striker. Lower Right Hand-
Miss Florence Sawyer, with One of the Youngest in the Party.
———-

One hundred and seventy-five boys and girls, children of textile strikers in Lawrence, were brought to Boston this morning on their way to New York city, where they are to be cared for by different families until the strike is settled. The children left at noon for New York. They were to have departed on the 10:03 train out of the South Station, but they reached the North Station too late to make the connection. They went to the South Station by an elevated train, and from the time of their arrival at 10:30, until their departure, at 12, made the waiting room of the great terminal building lively with their songs and pranks.

The children were in charge of five women and 10 men. The man who conducted the party described himself as being Henry Lindworth, a Frenchman, who said he was “a comrade” and was “secretary in charge of the party.” Lindworth had a pocket full of letters from Socialist Democrats and plain Socialist in New York applying for one or more of the juveniles, whom they promised to give homes during the pendency of the strike. Each of the children had pinned to his or her garments a slip of paper on which was written the name, age and address of the child.

The children ranged in age from 4 to 14, and all of them seemed to be comfortably dressed, although the clothing of most was of rather poor quality, and some of them wore patches, but the little ones all seemed happy, and looked upon their trip as a great lark. They were ever ready to burst into song when Lindworth called on them to do so, which he frequently did. The song they most sang at the South Station was “La Internationale,” which Lindworth said was the hymn of those who are opposed to society as it is now constituted.

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Hellraisers Journal: Joe Ettor Addresses Mass Meeting on Behalf of Lawrence Textile Strikers at Boston’s Faneuil Hall

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Joe Ettor re John Golden, Lawrence Strike n Revolution, Bst Glb p4, Jan 27, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 29, 1912
 Boston, Massachusetts – Joe Ettor Speaks on Behalf of Lawrence Strikers

From The Boston Daily Globe of January 27, 1912:

ETTOR SPEAKS IN FANEUIL HALL
———–

Lawrence Strike Leader Joe Ettor, Bst Glb Morn p2, Jan 16, 1912

Joseph J. Ettor was the star of the great meeting in the interest of the Lawrence strikers which was held last evening in Faneuil Hail under the auspices of the socialist party of Boston. His picturesque looks and his vivid description of conditions in Lawrence contributed in part to the applause which greeted him. 

This man differs in appearance from any labor leader that has ever been seen in this part of the world before. He has a face on him which at first impresses you as being feminine, but which becomes masculine and full of expression when he talks. His skin looks as soft as a girls and his eyes are as black as coals.

More than $200 was taken up in a collection for the benefit of the strikers. The hall was crowded, though not uncomfortably so, and the rather large force of policemen found nothing to do but listen. There was a band of music, which kept the crowd entertained until 8:20, when a great cheer went up as the red Socialist flag and the American flag were borne up the center aisle and behind them came Ettor, James P. Carey and a number of people who were to sit on the platform.

The meeting was called to order by George D. Hall, who said he had personally visited all the textile cities in New England and had found nowhere more miserable conditions than existed in Lawrence.

———-

Woman Striker Speaks.

Miss K. S. Hanscom, one of the Lawrence strikers, addressed an audience for the first time and found a little difficulty in expressing herself. But she was so deeply impressed with the thing she wanted to say that she found no difficulty in making herself understood. She wanted to express first her admiration for the courage of the poor people who went out on strike, but more especially for the Italian women who were the first to walk out of the Wood Worsted mill. The average wage of most of the men and women, she said, was $5 a week, and they were compelled to do three and four times more work than formerly. The weavers and spinner do not average $9 a week.

Chairman Hall announced that the Boston Socialist Club proposed through a committee of 300 to collect by means of a house-to-house campaign clothing and funds for the strikers.

———–

Ettor Speaks of Wood.

Joseph J. Ettor was loudly cheered when he was introduced and it took considerable protesting with his hand to stop the applause.

This evening I was an conference with Mr. William M. Wood and he assured me that while I represented 20,000 workers he had 14.000 investors. Some of  them live on the Riviera. (Laughter).

[Continued Ettor with a laugh:]

That’s way off in Russia, I guess. You see the capitalist class know no East nor West, nor any other boundary.

The important thing today is that 20,000 mill workers of Lawrence are out on strike. The other side has done all in its power to crush out every effort that has been made by these people in the past to express themselves. The one who made a complaint was always made the victim of oppression by bosses and superintendents.

———-

Learn They Are Not Slaves.

An attempt is being made to bring the workers back to the mills, that they may be able to weave their lives into cloth on the old terms. John Golden with Billy Woods, say that in Lawrence we have no strike-we have a revolution. Well, where it is a question of life and death it is sure a revolution.

Twelve days ago the strikers were slaves, with nobody to speak for them-slaves attached to the looms who did not dare to raise their heads. All that has been changed in 12 days. These people have discovered that they are not slaves to superintendents or agents of mills.

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Hellraisers Journal: Lawrence Strikers Greet Bill Haywood with Wild Enthusiasm as Attempt at Settlement Falls Flat

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote BBH Dream of One Big Union, Bst Glb p4, Jan 24, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 27, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Big Bill Haywood Arrives to Cheering Crowds

From The Boston Daily Globe of January 25, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence Attempt to Settle Strike Fizzles, Bst Glb p1, Jan 25, 1912

Lawrence BBH on Platform, Bst Glb p1, Jan 25, 1912

By F. P. SIBLEY.

LAWRENCE, Jan 24-The first attempt to hold a conference between the striking employes of the textile industry and the mill owners and mill agents fizzled flat tonight.

The mill owners’ representatives did not all come to the meeting in City Hall. Nobody appeared for the Kunhardt, the Duck, the Pemberton nor the Arlington Mills. Of the seven men representing the other mills, all but two left almost immediately.

The strikers’ committee was then told that the mill agents who were there had not sufficient authority to treat with them. “We’re wasting our time,” said a strikers’ delegate and the strike committee adjourned to its own hall.

[…..]

Lawrence BBH Hailed, Bst Glb p4, Jan 25, 1912

Greeting to Haywood.

In the meantime [while Ettor was in conference with the Mayor] the scenery was setting for the first big spectacular event of the day. For two hours the strikers and their sympathizers, with tour bands, were gathering at the North Lawrence Station to greet William D. Haywood, the famous labor agitator, whose coming has been so eagerly expected here.

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