Tag: Samuel Gompers

Hellraisers Journal: “The Strike of the Singers of the Shirt” by Rose Strunsky for International Socialist Review, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Clara Lemlich, Cooper Un Nov 22 re Uprising, NY Call p2, Nov 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 11, 1910
Rose Strunsky on New York City’s Shirtwaist Uprising, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of January 1910:

The Strike of the Singers of the Shirt
—–

By Rose Strunsky.
—–

[Part I of II.]

NYC Uprising, 40,000 Shirtwaist Strikers March, ISR p620, Jan 1910

Letter T, ISR p620, Jan 1910

HE Song of the Shirt in chorus! The fact is momentous. The lyric becomes an epic. The plaint becomes a war-song. It becomes a man song.

It is historic. The singer has come out of the garret. She has dropped her needle and bends over her machine in the crowded tenement of a shopkeeper or in the loft of a manufacturer. There are rows upon rows of machines next to her, and she sings the Song of the Shirt in chorus. It is the death of the woman. It is the birth of the sexless laborer.

As woman she was in the field of labor as man’s scab. She underbid him. She was an accident in the field the stones to be picked up for loading the sling of the capitalist.

That this most finely developed industrial country should be the first to turn woman into the laborer was historically logical and to be foreseen, and now this great dramatic and vital birth has happened—happened by the new Singers of the Shirt; by the general strike of the forty thousand shirt-waist makers of New York, which began on November 23rd.

This new-born laborer, this woman per se of yesterday, has taken the slug-horn to her lips and called out her armies upon that battlefield where she had been but a tool these hundred years of industrial transition, and, stern-eyed and intense, has made her first charge against the enemy. The act is impressive and significant and has the beauty which comes with a noble growth and the sadness which accompanies beauty and growth. The outbreak was strong and unexpected though for years the foundations of it were laid by quiet propaganda as well as economic necessity.

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Hellraisers Journal: President of Bogalusa Trades Council and Two Carpenters Shot to Death Defending Leader of Negro Union

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Messenger p2 editorial, Bogalusa Massacre, Feb 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 26, 1919
Bogalusa, Louisiana – White Union Men Shot Down Defending Black Labor Leader

From The Shreveport Times of November 23, 1919:

Bogalusa Massacre of 1919, HdLn, Shreveport Tx p1, Nov 23, 1919

Bogalusa, La., Nov. 22.-Three white men were shot to death and two wounded in a fight at a garage here today in which several men attempted to prevent special police [company gunthugs] from arresting a negro labor leader, suspected of inciting negroes, and two white men who had carried shotguns to protect him while parading him down the main street of the city.

The dead are:

L. E. Williams, president of the allied trades council of Bogalusa and owner of the garage.

J. P. Bouchillon and Thomas Gaines, carpenters. They were shot by the officers.

[The wounded are:]

S. J. O’Rourke, carpenter and one of the men for whom a warrant for arrest had been sworn, and Jules Leblanc, a special policeman and a former captain in the United States army.

Saul Dechus [Sol Dacus], the negro, is president of the Negro Union. He escaped from the garage with four white men during the shooting.

James Williams, brother of the slain leader, was arrested, charged with assault with intent to kill.

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Hellraisers Journal: Clara Lemlich, Young Garment Worker, Calls for General Strike at Mass Meeting at Cooper Union Hall

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Clara Lemlich, Cooper Un Nov 22 re Uprising, NY Call p2, Nov 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 25, 1909
New York, New York – Clara Lemlich Calls for General Strike of Waist Makers

Clara Lemlich, ab 1910, Wiki
Clara Lemlich
“I want to say a few words.”

On Monday evening, November 22nd a mass meeting was held at Cooper Union Hall to consider the plight of New York’s waist makers, 70% of them young immigrant women. After listening through the long-winded speeches of the union leaders, a young garment worker arose from the crowd and demanded the opportunity to speak her mind. The New York Call of November 23rd describes the scene:

Clara Lemlich, who was badly beaten up by thugs during the strike in the shop of Louis Leiserson, interrupted Jacob Panken just as he started to speak, saying:

I want to say a few words.

Cries came from all parts of the hall, “Get up on the platform!” Wilting hands lifted the frail little girl, with flashing black eyes, to the stage, and she said simply:

I have listened to all the speakers. I would not have further patience for talk, as I am one of those who feels and suffers from the things pictured. I move that we go on a general strike!

As the tremulous voice of the girl died away, the audience rose en masse and cheered her to the echo. A grim sea of faces, with high purpose and resolve, they shouted and cheered the deliberation of war for living conditions hoarsely.

When Chairman Feigenbaum put Miss Lemlich’s motion to a vote there was a resounding roar of a yes throughout the hall, and once again the vast crowd broke into roars of applause. The demonstration lasted several minutes.

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Edward Boyce and Samuel Gompers Denounce Militarism and Treatment of Coeur D’Alene Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 28, 1899
Cincinnati, Ohio – Presidents Samuel Gompers and Edward Boyce Speak

From The Indianapolis Journal of October 27, 1899:

MILITARISM DENOUNCED
—–

PROTEST AGAINST THE TREATMENT OF
COEUR D’ALENE MINERS.
—–
Mass Meeting at Which Samuel Gompers Spoke,
and Strong Resolution Were Adopted.
—–

Edward Boyce, Prz WFM, SL Hld p5, May 6, 1899

CINCINNATI, Oct. 26.-An enormous meeting was held to-night at Music Hall, the officers of which were of the Central Labor Council of Cincinnati and the speakers were Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and Edward Boyce, of Butt Mont., president of the Western Federation of Miners. Fully 6,O00 men remained during the two long speeches. The announced purpose of the meeting was to protest against the treatment of prisoners held in the Couer d’Alene region in the “bull pen.”

Before the speaking began the resolutions were read. The first resolution was a demand of the President of the United States to enforce the Constitution, especially in the sixth section, which, they claim, has been violated. The second resolution demanded of the President the withdrawal of the United States troops from Shoshone county. The next resolution demanded a court-martial of General Merriam and his subordinate officers. The last resolution was that all the federal, the military and civil officers responsible for the alleged illegal acts committed by them should be held to the strictest accountability.

President Gompers said the present afforded a great opportunity for laboring people. He said this enormous attendance and the passage of these resolutions would have a far-reaching effect and would do much to relieve the oppressed in Idaho and to bring the oppressors to Justice. President Gompers said that he was in the mountain region near the scene of the uprising in Shoshone county but a few days before it occurred. He said that by conversation with men who knew about the situation he learned the condition of affairs at Wardner, Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines. He vehemently denied that labor organizations had anything whatever to do with that uprising. The labor unions had been locked out by the operators, who went outside and brought in inferior and dangerous nonunion men and set them to work in the mines. These ignorant miners, unused to the ways of the union, demanded union prices and were denied.

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Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “Victory at McKees Rocks” by Louis Duchez, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD to McKees Rocks Strikers, Aug 25, Butler PA Ctzn p1, Aug 26, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 9, 1909
Louis Duchez on Victory of McKees Rocks Strikers, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of October 1909:

IWW McKees Rocks, Victory by L Duchez, ISR p289, Oct 1909

[Part I of II.]

—–

Letter I, ISR p289, Oct 1909N this article the writer is not going to give much space to a recitation of the crimes of the capitalist class at McKees Rocks and the other strike points in Pennsylvania. It is unnecessary. The capitalist press has done that more effectively—regardless of the motives that may have prompted them—than he is able to do. The class struggle is a historic fact and the diametrically opposed interests have long ago been proven. Such practices as were exposed during the last few weeks are only the logical result of the capitalist system of society at this stage of working class activity.

Readers of the Review want something more than a mere account of the cruelties of the Pressed Steel Car Company. They want to know something about the spirit and growth of solidarity and industrial organization among the striking wage slaves in Pennsylvania.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Buffalo Labor Journal: “Steel Strikers Holding Firmly” & Message from William Z. Foster

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 7, 1919
Buffalo, New York – Steel Strikers Standing Firm as Gibraltar

From Buffalo Labor Journal of October 2, 1919:

STEEL STRIKERS HOLDING FIRMLY
—–
Propaganda in Sunday Papers Fails in Desired Effect
-Gunmen Modest in Their Retirement
-Big Mill and the Assessors

GSS William Z Foster, Binghamton Prs n Ldr, p11, Oct 1, 1919

A flood of printer’s ink and a mountain of good white paper was utterly wasted in the campaign of propaganda which the barons of the Steel Trust and their affiliations poured forth in last Sunday’s papers of this good, old America of ours.

According to the writings of the lads employed by Kaiser Gary and his entourage, the gates of the big mills would be choked on Monday morning with the men, eager to bend their backs to the crack of the driver’s whip

Their fond anticipations failed to realize and there was no response to the weasel voice of the hired scribblers. The men are standing as firm as the rock of Old Gibraltar.

None went back-divel the wan.

In all this pyrotechnical display of the propagandists we fail to catch the sonorous voice of our old friend, False Alarm Donner. In the first week of the strike Donner could be heard with his discordant bray over the thunderous voices of both master and men. That lad made a high mark for himself as the Grand Claimant of All. He spouted interviews like a Texan oil gusher.

They have put the soft pedal on Donner and the atmosphere no longer vibrates with his amazing prognostications.

So much for friend Donner; now for the big mill with its company houses, its Moses Taylor hospital, its Smokes Creek and its favored assessments. All are interwoven closely with its desire for welfare work and its Oh! Be Joyful efforts at uplifting.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Messenger Takes on Gompers and Congressman Byrnes of North Carolina, Stands for Socialism

Janet RayeA. Philip Randolph
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“The only radical Negro magazine in America.”
-The Messenger
———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 1, 1919
“Why Negroes Should Be Socialists” by the Editors

From The Messenger of October 1919:

Messenger, Unionizing Negro Workers, Gompers, Oct 1919

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Hellraisers Journal: From Labor World: Leaders of National Committee Jailed for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Kaisers here at home, Peoria IL Apr 6, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 12, 1919
North Clairton, Pennsylvania – Iron and Steel Organizers Arrested

From the Duluth Labor World of August 9, 1919:

GSS HDLN Steel Organizers to Jail, LW p1, Aug 9, 1919

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 7.-When President Samuel Gompers and other officers and organizers at the Atlantic City convention all arose and pledged themselves to go to jail if necessary to unionize the iron and steel workers of the country they evidently were fully aware of the extremes to which the steel barons would go to prevent their men from organizing.

Last Sunday [Aug. 3rd], the first arrests were made at North Clairton, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Secretary Foster [Secretary of the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers] and several other organizes were thrown into jail and a union meeting held on a private lot, the owner of which presided at the meeting, was broken up.

Steel Men Swarm Into Unions.

The struggle to secure the rights of free speech and free assembly in this section of Pennsylvania has been unending and discouraging. Yet the committee appointed by President Gompers to organize the iron and steel workers has made some progress, for in spite of the many arrests that have been made and the other harassing tactics that have been resorted to good progress is being made. For the first time in years union meetings are permitted in McKeesport, Rankin, Braddock and Homestead. In all of these places meetings have been held and men are swarming into the unions by the thousands.

But, surrounding Pittsburgh are boroughs and boroughs. Nearly all are important steel centers and all are bad. Some are worse than others. The worst one so far discovered is North Clairton.

North Clairton is a typical one-man steel town. It is a place where the steel trust has always had its own sweet, unhampered, autocratic way. The casual visitor to the Pittsburgh section would not likely ever hear of North Clairton. Yet, within its tyrannical borders, some 4,000 steel workers live out their miserable existences working in 10 and 14-hour shifts with its crushing, killing 24-four shifts at the weekly changes. The national committee could not ignore the plea for organization on the part of these enslaved human beings.

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part II

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF re Useless Capitalist Class, Ptt Prs p47, Sept 27, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 11, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part II

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 8, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
———-

EGF, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909 [Part II].

The Slave Market.

Go look down the street to these employment agencies and what do you see? You see, “Men wanted-a dollar and a half, two dollars, two dollars and seventy-five cents per day.” And a lot of these men work for two dollars and a half, because they must; and if you want two dollars and a half, there will be probably the together fellow that will cut you down to two dollars, and the man gets the job, takes a wage upon which he can barely exist and hold body and soul together, and he does not know after his job tonight where his supper is to be had a week from tonight! And that working man and men is the type that forms the average worker in this country, these “Jobless” are the man that is so anxious for a job at two and half dollars or a dollar and seventy-five cents a day.

And what comes of the rest of the labor’s production; where goes the millions upon millions that labor produces? Surely the dollar and seventy-five cents, the dollar and a half, or even three dollars a day does not represent the sum total of the product of labor; for if it did, the worker would not be getting his wage. The employer does not take us for love; he does not like us and he does not give us a job because we are going to be brothers in heaven. That does not interest him a bit. The only thing he worries about is, can he make a profit on our labor and if he cannot, surely we won’t get the job. And so it stands to reason, no matter how high or how low our wages, there is something over and above, that goes to the master for himself and the bargain that we make is simply divvying up with the men that employ us and saying to them we will work in your factory and I will give you the bulk of the product, work the first two hours for myself, produce my wage, ad then pay you for being a good boss and giving it to me; and then the rest of the day put in producing enough to pay for the raw material, the wear and tear on the machinery and reward you for allowing me to produce it for you; and of course the capitalists say to such a bargain as that “Absolutely delighted,” and accept. (Applause.)

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Speaks on Life and Liberty at Butte Miners’ Day Celebration

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Life and Liberty, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 18, 1909
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Butte Miners’ Day Celebration

From The Butte Inter Mountain of June 14, 1909:

EGF, Miners Un BD, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909
EGF Speaks, Miners Un BD, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909

The Butte Miners’ union has never had a more auspicious birthday than was today, its thirty-first. Thirty thousand people thronged the streets along the line of march and cheered the 2,000 miners and the 1,500 other union members who turned out in tribute to the parent union body of them all, so far as this city is concerned.

Flag day, too, secured its recognition, both from those who joined in the parade and those who watched it. The American flag was borne at the head of every union body. Nearly every individual member wore a tiny flag fast to the lapel of his coat, and it was to be noticed that the official badges of many of the organizations have in them the national colors, and particularly is this true of the Miners,’ union badge.

The parade was one of the longest that has ever taken place here, requiring an hour and five minutes to pass a given point. It started from the corner of Main and Copper streets at 10 o’clock, 30 minutes later than had been intended, but that is a remarkably small delay and speaks well for the able manner in which the bodies which swung into line were handled.

The line was led by a squad of 20 policemen, commanded by Sergeant Brinton. Following them cam President Flynn of the Miners’ union, grand marshal of the day, and his two aides, Robert Crane and John Harrington, all mounted. Immediately behind them marched the Boston & Montana band, once again under the leadership of Sam Treloar.

Next in line were 40 men, members of the Laundry Workers’ union, and behind them 26 carriages, all filled with women members of the Laundry Workers and members of the Woman’s Protective union.

The Clerks’ union turned out 500 strong and brought up the rear of the first division of the parade, which was in charge of John Connelly and Angus McLeod.

The second division in charge of Michael O’Brien and Eli Koskeli, was head by Butte City band, which was followed by the Mill & Smeltermen’s union , of whom there were 80 in line. Engineers’ union No. 83 came next, and nearly as strong in numbers. The Workingmen’s union, the Bartenders’ union and the Bricklayers’ union were also in this division, and the county and city officials in five carriages brought up the rear.

Then came the third division of the parade, the Miners’ union exclusively, headed by the Montana State band, and in charge of Joseph Shannon, Joseph Little, James R. Robinson and Tim Driscoll.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the orator of the day, occupied a carriage immediately following the band.

The miners marched four abreast and each one of his left breast wore the official badge of the union. There were just 1,000 men in the first section of the division. The second section was headed by a fife and drum corps, and first in line behind that came a four-horse carryall for old and disabled miners, who are always given a place of honor in the parade.

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