Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: “To Aberdeen or Bust” IWW Men Leaving for Free Speech Fight

Share

———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 1, 1911
I. W. W. Free Speech Fight On in Aberdeen, Washington

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of November 30, 1911:

The Spokane local of the Industrial Workers of the World is to rush 100 of its members to Aberdeen, Wash., to fill the jails of that town. They will help in a street speaking agitation now being waged there.

A telegram from Aberdeen Wednesday to the local secretary, W. A. Douglass, stated the fight was on and urged that all available men in Spokane start immediately. The communication stated the organizer and secretary of the Aberdeen local were already in jail for street speaking. 

Reports from Portland, Ore., tell of an outbreak of “soap box orators” in that city. In conference Wednesday the chief of police and Commissioner Coffey decided to jail all speakers creating street demonstrations. The Spokane local says men will be rushed to the Rose city immediately, if necessary.-Spokane “Chronicle.”

———————-

Reinforcements From Vancouver.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Nov. 24.-At the local headquarters of the I. W. W. it was declared tonight that 368 men are going from here to Aberdeen, Wash., to participate in the free speech fight there.-“Spokesman-Review.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: “To Aberdeen or Bust” IWW Men Leaving for Free Speech Fight”

Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “Hypocrites” -by Ammon A. Hennacy, from Atlanta Federal Prison

Share

Quote Ammon Hennacy, Book of Ammon p136, 1964———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 17, 1920
“Hypocrites” by Ammon Hennacy, Written in the Hole at Atlanta Prison

From The One Big Union Monthly of November 1920:

Hypocrites by Ammon A. Hennacy, OBU Mly p35, Nov 1920

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “Hypocrites” -by Ammon A. Hennacy, from Atlanta Federal Prison”

Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Aniversaries – In November We Remember: Joe Hill, Wesley Everest, and Everett Massacre

Share

Quote Wesley Everest, Died for my class. Chaplin Part 15———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 3, 1920
Industrial Workers of the World – Some November Anniversaries

From The One Big Union Monthly of November 1920:

Some I. W. W. Anniversaries

Joe Hill, Funeral Program page 1, small, Chicago Nov 25, 1915

The month of November is particularly rich in memories for the I. W. W.

The events of the day are crowding upon us so fast that we cannot devote much time or space in our publications to the memories of the past, but not for a moment should the workers of this country be allowed to forget the outrages committed upon us in years gone by.

For the time being we shall content ourselves with a very brief review of some of the most horrid anniversaries of the I. W. W., which should be “celebrated” this month, not forgetting such anniversaries as that of Frank Little, whose anniversary falls in a different month.

On November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was legally murdered in the prison of Salt Lake City, Utah. His ashes are scattered by loving friends, who believe in his innocence, over the flower beds of this and other countries, and his memory lives in the songs which the I. W. W. members sing on every occasion.

Joe Hill Sig, OBU Mly p60, Nov 1920

Besides being a writer of songs which made the workers of all countries listen, Joe Hill, the miner, was also an amateur cartoonist. We reproduce here with a couple of his cartoons.

On November 5th, 1916, The Everett Massacre took place. We shall not try to describe this terrible tragedy of the class struggle. We refer every body to the account of it, issued in a book of 302 pages by the I. W. W. This book, “The I. W. W. Massacre,” is written by Walker C. Smith and sold by the I. W. W. Should be read by every red- blooded worker. Five were killed and scores wounded.

The Everett Massacre was one of the foulest deeds ever committed by the dirty hirelings of the capitalist class. It can be compared only to the indescribable horrors of Armistice day in Centralia, Wash., on November 11, 1919. The gruesome death of our Fellow Worker Wesley Everest on that day is enough to stagger the world. We cannot go into details. Read the book “The Centralia Conspiracy,” by Ralph Chaplin. It describes in word and illustration those terrible days.

Fellow Worker Bert Bland, who with a number of others is now serving a sentence equal to life imprisonment in Montesano as a result of the Centralia conspiracy, writes a touching tribute to the memory of the martyr Wesley Everest, which is published herewith.

Wesley Everest’s last greeting was: “Tell all the boys I did my best.” Joe Hill’s last message was: “Don’t mourn. Organize!” Frank Little’s last message is known only to his murderers, but we have no doubt it was like Joe Hill’s.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: I. W. W. Aniversaries – In November We Remember: Joe Hill, Wesley Everest, and Everett Massacre”

Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: Butte Miners’ “Picket Line of Blood” by Ralph Chaplin

Share

Quote re IWW Martyr Manning ACM Massacre, BDB p1, Apr 26, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 10, 1920
Butte, Montana – Metal Miners’ Honor Picket Line of Blood

From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:

ACM Massacre Butte, by Ralph Chaplin, OBU Mly p9, June 1920

“The Richest hill in the world” has once more been stained with the blood of workers. Its arrogant industrial autocrats of Butte have again taken refuge in murder to shield themselves from the organized power of the union miners. The lynching of Frank Little has been paralleled by the massacre on Anaconda road. Butte-naked, barren, black—the city of gun-men and widows, of “sweat-holes” and cemeteries, stands out before the world today a blot on what we call civilization. Machine guns and searchlights command the city from the heights. Armed soldiers guard the approaches to the mines and gun-men loiter at every corner, or whiz up and down the streets at all hours of the day and night. There is one place on Anaconda road where everything in sight has been riddled with bullets. The blood of the dead and wounded has hardly dried in the dust. Miners have been told in unmistakable language that their constitutional right to picket means nothing and that the will of the copper trust is mightier than the law of the land. Bloody Butte! It is an ignoble title—ignobly won. But it is a fitting title.

The overlords of Butte will not permit their right to exploit to be challenged. Drunk with unbridled power and the countless millions profiteered during the war, with lying phrases of “law and order” on their lips, the blood of workingmen dripping from their hands and the gold of the government bursting their coffers they face the nation unreprimanded and unashamed—reaction militant, capitalism at its worst. The copper trust can murder its slaves in broad daylight on any occasion and under any pretext. There is no law to call a halt. In the confines of this greed ruled city the gun-man has replaced the Constitution. Butte is a law unto herself.

This huge mining camp is typical of the present stage of capitalism. The parasites of big business, furious with the realization of their approaching doom, are striking at the working class more blindly,more ferociously and more frequently than ever before. Even their most savage anti-labor laws are proving themselves inadequate to darken the rising sun of solidarity.

The gunman and lynch-mob are more and more replacing the law as measures of labor repression. The old maxim “whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” is finding daily confirmation.

Holy grove, Ludlow, Calumet, Everett and Bisbee still stand as grewsome monuments to the White Terror in America. Butte has been added to the list for a second time. Armistice Day in Centralia is only a few month past yet we can no longer refer to it as “yesterday” but the day before. Yesterday was the massacre on Anaconda road. Nobody knows where the blow will fall tomorrow. Things are moving rapidly these days.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: Butte Miners’ “Picket Line of Blood” by Ralph Chaplin”

Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part II

Share

BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 3, 1920
Minneapolis, Minnesota – May Day-I. W. W. and A. F. L March Together

From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:

May Day in Mpl Sec Lundberg, OBU p6, June 1920

[Part II of II.]

Some of those in charge attempted to turn the speaking into a “campaign rally” to boost some local aspirants for different political offices and relegate all other speakers to the rear and have the crowd tired out before any genuine working class speakers could get the platform, and they succeeded to a certain extent; but when W. F. Dunne, editor of the Butte Daily Bulletin, managed to get the floor he lost no time in explaining how the Workers’ International Labor Day had been desecrated by those who had no other desire except to get into office, no matter how, and that those who would stoop to misuse Labor’s holiday would need watching.

May Day in Mpl Justice Is Dead, OBU p9, June 1920

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part II”

Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part I

Share

BBH Quote re May Day, AtR p2, Apr 27, 1907———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 2, 1920
Minneapolis, Minnesota – May Day Celebrated by 10,000 Workers

From The One Big Union Monthly of June 1920:

May Day in Mpl Sec Lundberg, OBU p6, June 1920

[Part I of II.]

On May 1st, 1919, when the workers of Minneapolis attempted to celebrate International Labor Day, their parade was broken up several times by the police and other willing tools of the money interests, but they always succeeded in reforming and managed to continue their parade until their destination had been reached. All speaking was stopped by the police, but that did not seem to dampen the spirit of the workers, as will be seen from what happened on May 1st, 1920.

Only about two thousand participated in 1919, but as a result of police opposition all unions in Minneapolis took part in one gigantic parade on May 1st, 1920, with the result that close to 10,000 workers were participants in the largest and most enthusiastic May Day celebration that Minneapolis ever had. Not a word was said in regard to this by most of the local news perverters. Only one paper had the decency to mention the affair, in spite of the fact that it was one of the most important events of the day.

May Day in Mpl 10000 Workers, OBU Cv, June 1920

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “First of May in Minneapolis” by E. W. Latchem, Part I”

Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “The Background of Centralia” by Ralph Chaplin

Share

Quote Ralph Chaplin, IWW Centralia n Lumber Barons, OBU Mly p19, May 1920 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 4, 1920
Ralph Chaplin on the Truth Behind the Centralia Conspiracy

From The One Big Union Monthly of May 1920:

THE BACKGROUND OF CENTRALIA

By RALPH CHAPLIN

Centralia Defendants, OBU Mly p11, May 1920—–

IN ORDER to get the truth of the Centralia conspiracy it is necessary to understand the circumstances leading up to the tragedy on Armistice Day, 1919. There are two distinct viewpoints from which this unfortunate affair may be observed: That of the lumber interests, which is to isolate the incident from its anteceeding circumstances and make it a “plain murder case”; and that of working people of the Northwest generally to consider all the facts in the case in order to find out, not only how the tragedy occurred, but what brought it about as well.

It is well to state here that the lumber interests, with the aid of the trial judge, the prosecuting attorneys and the press, succeeded in keeping from the consideration of the jury, all but the actual happenings on November 11th. The long and unbroken chain of threats, raids, deportations and murders perpetrated against the I. W. W. boys before they made a last stand for their lives in their union hall, was objected to by the lumber trust’s attorneys and ruled out by the lumber trust’s lackey on the judicial bench. In this manner men who were simply defending their lives and property from a mob were shown to be deliberate and wanton assassins, while their tormentors were held up to the world as splendid examples of unquestioned and persecuted patriotism.

The efforts of the defense to prove the existence of a conspiracy on the part of the lumber interests to raid and demolish union halls and to murder their occupants were painstakingly ignored by the press.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The One Big Union Monthly: “The Background of Centralia” by Ralph Chaplin”