Tag: Poverty

Hellraisers Journal: From The Industrial Union Bulletin: “Shall we Die Starving or Shall We Die Fighting?” -J. H. Walsh

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Am I to die, starving in the midst of plenty?
Or shall I die fighting?
For my part, a thousand times over,
I’ll die fighting before I’ll die starving.
-J. H. Walsh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday July 30, 1908
National I. W. W. Organizer Reports from the Pacific Northwest

From The Industrial Union Bulletin of July 25, 1908:

SHALL WE DIE STARVING, OR SHALL WE DIE FIGHTING?
[by J. H. Walsh]

IWW Emblem, IUB -p1, July 25, 1908

We are confronting a new condition in the labor movement in the northwest, and judging from all the labor reports it is the same throughout the United States, as well as many of the foreign countries.

Every train in this country is loaded with dozens of “hoboes” (working men looking for jobs), and in some instances there are hundreds in place of dozens. Last night there arrived on one train in this city [Spokane?] 313 men who were beating their way. The previous night 73 arrived in one box car, and in another car 53. The men coming to the headquarters report the same news day after day, and that is that the unemployed army is growing larger and larger.

There are ten men in the harvest fields in this country for every job. They are working for as low as 75 cents per day. There are women and children in this country actually starving. This is not the worst. The worst is yet to come. After the harvest is over the hundreds who secured work, although at small wages, will return to the army of unemployed. Its ranks will be swelled again. And swelled just on the verge of winter, when hardships will be added to the workers’ struggles for an existence.

Those who are getting their “feet under dad’s table,” coupled with those who have a job sufficiently remunerative to eke out an existence, will stand united with the philosophers in passing resolutions condemning the conditions-Bryan, “God Knows” Taft, etc., etc. But resolutions, no matter how philosophically drawn, will not fill empty stomachs.

I am with the “down-and-outs”-I am broke. I am in a land of plenty. Am I to die, starving in the midst of plenty? Or shall I die fighting? For my part, a thousand times over, I’ll die fighting before I’ll die starving.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Industrial Union Bulletin: “Shall we Die Starving or Shall We Die Fighting?” -J. H. Walsh” →

Hellraisers Journal: Why Workers Walk and Why “Wandering Willies” Tramp While Plutocrats Wallow in Luxury

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

You pity yourselves,
but you do not pity your brothers,
or you would stand together
to help one another.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday July 27, 1898
Chicago, Illinois – Workers Walk in Rain as Street Cars Pass By

From the Appeal to Reason of July 16, 1898:

Your Turn May Come to Be a Tramp, AtR, July 16, 1898

WHY DO WE WALK?

E. B. Webster in National Tribune.

As I started home from “down town,” when I reached Madison street I noticed hundreds of people walking, all going west.

I was intending to take a car, but seeing so many people walking, I says to myself: “The cars must have stopped.” But, no, the cars were moving right along, one every half minute.

Then why do the people walk? I determined to walk home with the rest and punish myself for having been dormant and letting the street railway company buy up the street for a few thousand dollars from the aldermen who had the power to give away what they never owned and had cost them nothing.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Why Workers Walk and Why “Wandering Willies” Tramp While Plutocrats Wallow in Luxury” →

Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Victor Hugo speaks to the poor, “after in vain having implored the rich….”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote Victor Hugo, Letter to Rich, Debs Firemens Mag, Jan 1883
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal: Sunday July 10, 1898
Victor Hugo: “Not to be a slave is to Dare and Do.”

From the Appeal to Reason of July 9, 1898:

VICTOR HUGO’S LETTER TO THE POOR

Victor Hugo, St L Dsp p2, May 22, 1885

Shall I now speak to the poor, after in vain having implored the rich? Yes, it is fitting. This, then, have I to say to the disinherited: Keep a watch upon your formidable jaw. There is one rule for the rich—to do nothing, and one for the poor—to say nothing. The poor have but one friend, silence. They should use but one monosyllable: Yes. To confess and to concede-this is all the “rights” they have. “Yes” to the judge. “Yes” to the king. The great, if it so please them, give us blows with a stick; I have had them, it is their prerogative, and they lose nothing of their greatness in cracking our bones. Let us worship the sceptre, which is the first among sticks.

If a poor man is happy he is the pickpocket of happiness. Only the rich and noble are happy by right. The rich man is he who being young has the rights of old age; being old, the lucky chances of youth; vicious, the respect of good people; a coward, the command of the stout-hearted; doing nothing, the fruits of labor.

The people fight. Whose is the glory? The king’s. They pay. Whose is the magnificence? The king’s. And the people like to be rich in this fashion. Our ruler, king or croesus, receives from the poor a crown apiece and renders back to the poor a farthing. How generous he is! The colossal pedestal looks up to the pigmy superstructure. How tall the manikin is! He is upon my back. A dwarf has an excellent method of being higher than a giant; it is to perch himself upon the other’s shoulders. But that the giant should let him do it, there’s the odd part of it; and that he should honor the baseness of the dwarf, there’s the stupidity. Human ingenuousness.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Victor Hugo speaks to the poor, “after in vain having implored the rich….”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Speech by May Wood Simons at Socialist Party Convention Brings Delegates to Tears

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Women of the World, Unite.
You have double chains to lose
and you have the world to gain.
-May Wood Simons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 31, 1908
Chicago, Illinois: City of the Impoverished Men, Women and Children

From the Montana News of May 21, 1908:

Montana News, Women's Clubs, MTNs p3, May 21, 1908

Socialist Party of America Button

Extracts from the speech of May Wood Simons at the opening of the Chicago convention:

When his auditors had come back from he heights to which Wanhope had lifted them, it remained for May Wood Simons to take them down into the Valley of the Shadow. It is safe to say that such a stirring appeal to the heart of an American audience was never made before. Before Mrs. Simons had spoken for five minutes there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

The sobs of women resounded through the vast auditorium. In one of the front seats William D. Haywood, who came through his great persecution and trial at Boise without batting an eyelash-the man who did not even pale before danger and death when they menaced him and his-was crying openly.

At the press table the hardened reporters, who have seen misery in all its many forms time and again, until their very souls were calloused, were coughing suspiciously and unbidden tears were falling on the shorthand notes of the speech. It was a masterpiece of pathos, that simple description of “The State of Things as They Are.”

Plain Little Recital.

And yet there was nothing theatrical about the little statement. It did not savor of the dramatic in the least. It was just a plain little recital of fact. That was all. And yet a big six-footer just behind the writer of this article was blubbering like a baby. And he was a magazine writer, too. Not for a small magazine, but for one of the most prominent in America.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Speech by May Wood Simons at Socialist Party Convention Brings Delegates to Tears” →

Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason Defends Robert Hunter, Now Under Attack by Police Chief of New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote re Hunger March, Jewish Daily Forward of Mar 28, NYT p3 Mar 29, 1908

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

Hellraisers Journal: Monday April 13, 1908
New York, New York – Robert Hunter Blamed for Bombing

The unemployed, and those who stand up for them, are to blame for a bomb thrown by a murderous criminal unconnected with them, this according to the Police Force of New York City. The actual crime of the protesting unemployed men, women and children was, apparently, their failure to starve silently and in an orderly manner.

From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1908:

Robert Hunter.
—–

Robert Hunter, Painting by Sergeant Kendall, The Critic, Jan 1905

In his address to the public following the breaking up of the meeting of the unemployed in Union Square, New York, Police Commissioner Bingham assumed an insolent and pompous attitude toward the working class. He served notice that the was going to deal with such meetings hereafter with an “iron hand.” We have heard such talk before. There is nothing in it.

Bingham goes on to defend the police. Of course. The police acted under his orders. Thousands of eye-witnesses declare that the police acted with unspeakable brutality in riding rough shod over the people and clubbing them without mercy. Hundreds who were unable to escape from the crowd bear the marks of the outrageous and unprovoked assaults of the police hirelings. Of course the police were not to blame, and of course Bingham comes to their rescue and defends them. The police were the mere tools in the hands of such politicians as Bingham.

Among other things, Bingham took occasion to misrepresent Comrade Robert Hunter and place him in a false light before the people. We happen to personally know Comrade Hunter and to have known him from his childhood. There is no gentler, kindlier, more considerate soul. Nor at the same time one more courageous. His heart throbbed in sympathy with the thousands of the unemployed. With all the passion of his noble nature he yearned to serve them, to comfort them. And so he was to speak to them on that fateful day when the blue-coated Cossacks swooped down upon the hungry hordes and scattered them with as little mercy as if they had been so many tarantulas. Robert Hunter did not speak. He had no chance to speak. But he was blamed for the trouble because he sympathized with the unfortunates; because he did not have a heart of stone.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason Defends Robert Hunter, Now Under Attack by Police Chief of New York” →

Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote WZF, re Poverty of Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918


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

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday April 6, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part II

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

HOW LIFE HAS BEEN BROUGHT
INTO THE STOCKYARDS
A Story of the Reorganization of the Packing Industry

William Z. Foster
Secretary Chicago Stockyards Labor Council

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part II]

DRASTIC ACTION TAKEN

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p68, April 1918

The cup was full. It was evident that the packers had no intention of living up to their agreement, but were seeking openly to destroy the unions, let the consequences be what they might. The unions accepted the issue. They at once broke off negotiations with the packers and sent the committee away to Washington again to demand that the President take over the packing houses, as the only way to guarantee their operation during the period of the war.

On January 18th the committee met with President Wilson, explained to him the imminent danger of a great strike in the packing houses and asked that he take steps to seize the industry. The President replied that the proposed remedy involved a big issue, that he would take it under advisement, and that in the meantime another, effort would be made to get a settlement through arbitration.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: A Shameful Picture of Poverty in “The Greatest Country in the World”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Plea for Justice, Not Charity, Quote Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 14, 1898
From the Salvation Army: A Picture of Poverty in America

From the Appeal to Reason of March 12, 1898:

A SHAMEFUL PICTURE.

Gen William Booth, Salvation Army, Bff Eve Ns, Jan 6, 1898

Comrade Booth, of the Salvation Army gives us some facts that ought to make the “greatest country in the world” ashamed of itself. Read this and wonder no longer why socialism is growing:

The pauper world-there’s a world for you! A world with starvation. Then the vicious world, the gambler and the harlot. Last the criminal world-why, in this country alone there are 80,000 men and women who are behind bars. These are the three worlds in which our work lies. We have 415 different institutions, ninety of which are at work in the United States. We feed 250,000 hungry men, women and children every night and shelter 13,000 ragged men and women, of which 4,500 are in the United States. On cold nights the figures sometimes double. We give them hot and cold water with which to wash, and if the person is afflicted with those strange little pests-unknown, of course, in Denver-we furnish crematories for them. While the poor fellow is taking a bath we bake his garments, so that if he comes in 20,000 strong he goes out one single personality. In addition to this we furnish him with a rousing salvation meeting and give him something to think about. If a man falls we offer a hand to help him onto his feet again. We have sixty-nine institutions for the rescue of young girls. Talk of pity! Am I not talking to a people who are sending pity to that island Cuba? Yet in their midst they have objects of pity.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: A Shameful Picture of Poverty in “The Greatest Country in the World”” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Blanket Stiff: He walks and walks the road he built and carries his home upon his back.

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Then we’ll sing one song of the poor and ragged tramp,
He carries his home on his back;
Too old to work, he’s not wanted ’round the camp,
So he wanders without aim along the track.
-Joe Hill

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 4, 1908
“The Blanket Stiff, Product of Roosevelt’s Prosperity”

From the Socialist Montana News of February 27, 1908:

The Man Without a Country
Still on the Hunt for the Dinner Pail

The Blanket Stiff, Montana News p1, Feb 27, 1908

—–

The Wage Slave

A little more than half a century ago a question of great interest to the country was brought up by a few men and women who saw the evil effects of slavery and its consequences. The question was agitated so persistently that it spread through the world. Not to our own country was it confined, but it became the absorbing question in Europe, and it was acknowledged that it was an evil and a disgrace to humanity and to the civilized world that beings made in the image of God should be subjected and treated like animals.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Blanket Stiff: He walks and walks the road he built and carries his home upon his back.” →

Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: “The Herding of the Workers,” Rose Hawthorne Lathrop on Slums of New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Plea for Justice, Not Charity, Quote Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 30, 1898
New York City Slum Life – Charity Worker Knows Not Whom to Blame

From the Appeal to Reason of January 29, 1898:

Poverty NYC by Lathrop, AtR Jan 29, 1898

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, 1851-1926

A year ago, I started out to see what the east side of New York was like, and the street which struck me as the most astonishing in its difference from the up-town streets was Goerck Street. It was a warm August afternoon, and the inhabitants of the houses along its street were sitting on the steps and standing about the side walks, to say nothing of those upon the street itself.

I looked eagerly at the faces that should suggest dangerous depravity, and I thought I saw upon almost every countenance expressions of the most satanic cruelty and selfishness. I find that the people who visit me for investigation in this quarter of the city come in the same excited state of alarm at the character of the East Side residents. But after a few month of living among them one entirely abandons any idea of their being so different from other human beings, and there scarcely remains any surprise in one’s mind concerning them, excepting this fact of their living together in crowds, which seems dangerous to moral and physical health. I have found that it is a very common thing for a family of eight to have only one bed; so that possibly an elderly woman afflicted with a disease like rheumatism or cancerous affections in obliged to sleep upon chairs or to lie upon the floor, while the younger members of the family are piled upon the bed, and the poor little children are disposed of anywhere.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: “The Herding of the Workers,” Rose Hawthorne Lathrop on Slums of New York” →