Hellraisers Journal: “Get Red Blood and Fight!” -Mother Jones Speaks at Rally for Striking Street Carmen

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I would rather go before God Almighty
with a paid-up union card than
with first class credentials
from any church in the United States.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 28, 1917
Washington, District of Columbia – Mother Jones Speaks

Mother Jones, Garment Strike, Chg Dly Tb, Feb 26, 1917, crpd

On the Monday Evening, March 26th, Mother Jones spoke at a rally for the striking street carmen and their wives, urging them to “stick together” and to “get some red blood and fight!”

The speech was covered by most of Washington D. C. press.

From The Washington Herald of March 27, 1917:

MOTHER JONES URGES STRIKERS TO STICK
—–
Predicted Disorder Fails to
Materialize at Meeting.

Mother Jones, with silver hair and bent form, but with voice and gesture as vigorous as any orator in the prime of life, swayed an audience of 1,500 that packed National Rifles Armory to the door last night to hear her version of the street carmen’s strike.

While trouble was expected to follow her address, the meeting was conducted without disorder, and a big detail of police under the direction of Lieut. Hartley saw the meeting disperse without trouble on the streets.

The speech of Mother Jones was tinged with anarchism, but in its entirety, the theme of her address was to have the men “stick together” and the wives of the strikers were urged to back them to the limit.

Present Strike Picnic

She rehearsed the industrial battles of the miners, which have brought about her title “Angel of the Miners” and declared that the present strike was a picnic compared to the majority which she had witnessed.

Some of the telling passages in her speech were:

This is the age of arbitration and not the age of Kings.

I would rather go before God Almighty with a paid-up union card than with first class credentials from any church in the United States.

Rome perished when the women became indifferent. So did Greece. So will every other nation. In this industrial war we must have the support of women.

Any old traitor or hypocrite can holler hurrah for the flag. The man who is a true patriot is the one who will work for free manhood for those beneath it.

The walls of the nation will never perish upon an altar of gold.

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Hellraisers Journal: Seattle Union Record Covers Tracy Murder Trial, Plans to Give Day to Day Account

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 21, 1917
Seattle, Washington – E. B. Ault Reports on Tracy Trial

E. B. “Harry” Ault, editor of the Seattle Union Record, organ of the Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity, promises:

The Union Record has made arrangements to be represented at each session of the trial, and next week will cover the story from day to day covering those points the daily press avoids.

From the Seattle Union Record of March 17, 1917:

FAIR TRIAL ASSURED
THE FREE SPEECH PRISONERS
—–

Judge J. T. Ronald Prevents State’s Attorneys
Taking Unfair Advantage-
Deputies So Far Heard as Witnesses
Bound to Convict Tracy-
I. W. W. Officers Prove Good
Antidote for Gunmen-
Jury to Get Liberal Education in Doctrines
of Organization on Trial

By E. B. AULT

Everett Massacre, Judge Ronald, WCS, p139

With the second week of what may prove to be one of the greatest labor trials in history drawing to a close, in which Thomas F. Tracy, the defendant, is the first of 74 workers to be tried for the fatal fracas at Everett last November 5, one great outstanding fact is being made more and more apparent-in so far as Judge J. T. Ronald has power and influence, the trial will be absolutely fair.

Judge Ronald is the dean of the King County superior court, and it was probably for that reason he was chosen by Governor Ernest Lister to preside over these trials. His course throughout the examination of jurors and later on of witnesses, and his rulings on the introduction of testimony have been so fair and equitable as to call forth expressions of admiration from the large audience, many of whom had come to have but little respect for the law or for any one connected with its operation, owing to the many injustices they have suffered in the past at the hands of officers of the law.

George Vanderveer, Defense Attorney

A peculiarly pertinent case in point occurred on the afternoon of Thursday [March 15], when, after the “Sabotage” pamphlet by Walker C. Smith had been admitted as evidence, Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black read portions of the book to the jury. Mr. Black picked out only those portions which would tend to show sabotage as a method of violence, and carefully eliminated such portions as would show its use to be merely a matter of slowing up in work and without violent intent. As was natural, Defense Attorney George F. Vanderveer objected to the method of Mr. Black, declaring the desire was to prejudice the jury and not to establish any fact, and demanded the right to read with Mr. Black, supplying to the jury those parts of the text which were left out by the prosecutor. Judge Ronald ruled that was not permissible, and that Mr. Black was within his rights. The judge, however, closely followed the reading, and after Black had finished and had in one instance quoted all of a certain paragraph except the last sentence, which was set out in black type, he sent the jury out and heard argument on the point. The sentence omitted by Black was: “Note this important point, however, sabotage does not seek nor desire to take human life.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Pamphlet from Everett Prisoners’ Defense Committee Exposes Events Leading to Massacre

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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday January 17, 1917
Everett, Washington – McRae’s Bloody Suppression of Free Speech

Today we present one of two pamphlets, published by the Everett Prisoners’ Defense Committee, which tells the actually story of events leading up to the Everett Massacre. Tomorrow we will feature the second pamphlet which tells the horrific story of that day in Everett now known far and wide as “Bloody Sunday.”

THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE CRIME
OF BLOODY SUNDAY
———-

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE
EVERETT MASSACRE
———-

Industrial Worker, IWW Seattle, Everett Massacre P1, Oct 21, 1916

A review of the activities in Everett prior to the events of Bloody Sunday, Nov. 5, will serve to give a better understanding of that tragedy.

On the First of May, 1916, the Shingle Weavers’ Union called a strike in the Pacific Northwest and by August the strike had been won or called off in practically every place but Everett. In that city the Jameson Mill was the bitterest foe of unionism, and before the mill gates the union maintained twenty pickets.

On Saturday, Aug. 19, the Everett police searched every picket to make sure that they were unarmed; and when that fact was determined, the Jameson Mill owners turned loose their entire bunch of thugs and scabs upon the defenseless men. The pickets were unmercifully beaten.

That night there was another clash between the pickets and the scabs, who were aided by the police. In the melee, one union man was shot in the leg.

No attempt had been made by the city to stop I. W. W. speakers from speaking on the streets until after the Shingle Weavers’ strike had been on for some time. James P. Thompson had spoken in Everett several times during the winter and spring of 1916.

James Rowan was arrested on, or about, August 2nd, on a trumped-up charge of selling literature without a license. He was given 30 days, with the choice of leaving town. He chose to leave town. He was not told how long he was to remain away from town and he afterwards came back. This was the first attempt on the part of the authorities to suppress Free Speech. They were not so boldly ruthless at first; they used the absurd pretext of charging absence of a license when selling literature.

On August 19, the I. W. W. opened a headquarters at 1219½ Hewitt Avenue, but made no attempt to hold street meetings. A large number of workers in Everett were very desirous of hearing James P. Thompson speak and therefore asked the Seattle locals to arrange a meeting for him in Everett. The date was accordingly set for August 22nd, and the meeting was to be held at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues, the usual place for street meetings. On Monday, Aug. 21, the police notified L. Remick, who was in charge of the hall, to close up the place or he would be arrested on charge of vagrancy. Remick closed the hall up and came to Seattle on Tuesday morning. The members of the Seattle locals felt that there would be no interference with the Thompson meeting and decided to go ahead with it.

On Tuesday night as scheduled the meeting took place. Thompson was arrested after speaking about 20 minutes. Fifteen police officers were present and in turn they arrested James Rowan and Edith Frenette as they attempted to speak, and after stopping several local speakers the police surrounded 14 other I. W. W. members and marched them off to jail. A delegation of about 800 citizens marched to the jail and expressed their indignation at the high-handed actions of the police. The prisoners, with the exception of Rowan and Beck, were deported to Seattle without any legal process having been taken. Rowan and Beck were released later and they remained in Everett. During the balance of the week street meetings were held and there was no trouble of any kind.

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Hellraisers Journal: Women, Children, and Elderly Driven from Their Homes in New York and Illinois

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The bosses ride fine horses
While we walk in the mud,
Their banner is the dollar sign,
Ours is striped with blood.
-Aunt Molly Jackson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday October 31, 1916
Immigrant or American-Born, Neither Matters When Workers Strike

Today’s Hellraisers presents two stories of striking workers driven from their homes by company gunthugs. The strikers in Utica, New York, are mostly Polish immigrants. In Hardin County, Illinois, there are very few immigrants, most of the strikers are second or third generation Americans. But we find from these two stories that neither the striker of foreign birth nor the native-born striker can expect any mercy from the gunthugs hired by the companies and deputized by the county sheriff.

From the Duluth Labor World of October 28, 1916:

2,700 POLISH TEXTILE STRIKERS DRIVEN
FROM HOMES IN NEW YORK
—–

BRUTAL GUARDS ASSAULT WOMEN
TEXTILE WORKERS
—–
By DANTE BARTON.
Member Industrial Relations Committee.

A. D. Juilliard (1836-1919), wiki

NEW YORK, Oct. 26.-Right in the heart of central New York, prosperous and boasting of its wealth, there is now an example of cruelty, incompetence and lawlessness against striking workers which rivals the things done in Colorado by the Rockefeller interests, or on the Mesaba range or in Pittsburgh, by the Steel trust.

Just outside of Utica, in the little town of New York Mills, 2,700 Polish men and women, industrious and peaceful, are being thrown out of company houses, terrorized and assaulted by armed thugs and guards, their children sickened and in many instances killed by the diseases of exposure; themselves and their families subjected to starvation and sickness.

These things are being perpetrated against them by their employer, the New York Mills corporation, of which A. D. Juilliard, New York city, is the responsible president, because they have struck for a 10 per cent increase of wages that are too low, by any standard, for decent living.

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Hellraisers Journal: How the Railroad Brotherhoods Won the Battle for the Eight-Hour Day

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday October 30, 1916
Washington, D. C. – The Brotherhoods and Adamson Act

The October edition of the International Socialist Review published two articles regarding the Railroad Brotherhoods and the Adamson Act, which we have re-published in today’s Hellraisers, see below. President Wilson signed the Adamson Act into law early in September just in time to prevent a national railroad strike set to begin on Labor Day.

From the cover of the Review, October 1916:

RR Worker, The Winner, ISR, Oct 1916

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: How the Railroad Brotherhoods Won the Battle for the Eight-Hour Day”

Hellraisers Journal: George P. West Reports: Strikebreaking Agencies Import Criminal Gunthugs, Often Deputized

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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday October 28, 1916
From the Everett Labor Journal: Criminal Strikebreakers

EX-CONVICTS PREFERRED AS STRIKEBREAKERS
—–

Rockefeller, God save my dollars, Minor, ISR Sept 1915 “God save my dollars.”

The following relating to strike-breaking methods in New York will show to what lengths open shop advocates will go to accomplish their ends:

Dante Barton, of the Industrial Relations Committee, in a statement just issued, points out the record of the strike-breaking firm of Bergoff Bros. & Waddell, which is supplying the traction trust with strike-breakers. The statement follows:

Bergoff Bros. & Waddell, who have supplied the thousands of strikebreakers now being housed in car houses and shop buildings by the Interboro, is today the largest and most notorious strike-breaking agency in the United States. It is an amalgamation of Bergoff Bros. and the old firm of Waddell-Mahone.

Almost exactly a year ago this firm was investigated by the United States Commission on Industrial Relations, in connection with an investigation of the strike at the Bayonne refinery of the Standard Oil Company. The investigation was conducted by George P. West and C. L. Chenery, agents of the commission.

In a statement issued recently by the now unofficial Committee on Industrial Relations, Mr. West said:

Waddell, the most experienced member of this firm, admitted to Mr. Chenery and me that he had no prejudice against ex-convicts, but on the contrary, finds many of them particularly valuable for the work in hand.

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Hellraisers Journal: 400,000 New York City Trade Unionists Threaten Sympathetic Strike on Behalf Street Carmen

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday October 9, 1916
New York, New York – The Review Reports on Street Carmen’s Strike

From this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review comes a report on the strike now being conducted by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes of America (A. F. of L.) against the Interborough Rapid Transit Company:

New York Street Car Strike, Telephone Girls Ride Home, ISR Oct 1916

THE NEW YORK STREET CAR STRIKE

NEW YORK, the tremendous city of five million inhabitants, has become the Prize Ring in which is being fought one of the most colossal battles ever waged in this country between Capital and Labor. A general strike on the subway, “L” roads and street car lines of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company was declared on September 7th, in spite of the truce signed by the company and the men on August 7th. It developed that the company merely signed to gain time to organize to break the new union which has sprung up so amazingly within the past few weeks.

When it felt that it was in a position to defeat the carmen, the Interborough began to circulate the “master and servant” [individual or yellow dog] contracts the purpose of which was to destroy any benefit that might accrue thru belonging to the union. Union men on the Interborough who refused to sign were immediately discharged and at a rousing mass meeting held by the union men on the evening of the seventh, the crowd declared enthusiastically for a general strike to enforce the right of the street car men to organize into a union.

Almost from the beginning of the strike, the struggle began to take on a political, or class character. The Central Federated Union, combining all the powerful labor unions of the city voted to stand by the strikers to the last man and the last dollar. Longshoremen, firemen, engineers and boat men were among the first to rally to aid the men battling on the street car lines.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: 400,000 New York City Trade Unionists Threaten Sympathetic Strike on Behalf Street Carmen”

Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part II

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 28, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-Strike Investigators on the Scene

From The Survey of August 26, 1916:

MN Iron Miners Strike, Recruiting, Cothren, Survey, Aug 26, 1916

When Strike-Breakers Strike
The Demands of the Miners on the Mesaba Range
By Marion B. Cothren
[Part II]

The crux of the trouble, is the demand of the underground miners, for a minimum of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet. The underground men are paid either by the foot or by the carload, the rate depending upon the quality of the ore mined and conditions of work—hard and wet mining for instance bringing more than soft ore and dry mining. Thus, although the captain (boss) of the mine agrees beforehand upon the rate to be given a miner, this contract price may be changed from time to time as the character of the ore changes.
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Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part I

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 27, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-“To Hell With Such Wages!”

From The Survey of August 26, 1916:

When Strike-Breakers Strike
The Demands of the Miners on the Mesaba Range
By Marion B. Cothren
[Part I]

MN Iron Miners Strike, Location, Cothren, Survey Aug 26, 1916

THE strike-breakers of 1907 have become the strikers of 1916 in the iron mines of Minnesota. Coming over in boatloads from south eastern Europe nine years ago and hired by the United States Steel Corporation to break the iron strike called at that time by the Western Federation of Miners, these polyglot nationalities speaking thirty-six different tongues have become Americanized in the melting pot of the Mesaba mines. Today Finns, Slavs, Croats, Bulgars, Italians, Rumanians, have laid down picks and shovels and are demanding an 8-hour day, a minimum wage of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet work in underground mines and $2.73 in open pit mines, abolition of the contract labor system, pay-day twice a month.

The last of May, so the story goes, Joe Greeni, an Italian employed underground in the Alpena mine at Virginia, Minn., opened his pay envelope to find a sum much less than he had under stood his contract called for. “To hell with such wages”, cried he, throwing his pick in the corner, whereupon he vowed never to mine another foot of ore. Second thought, however, convinced Greeni, that action was deadlier than inaction. For three days he stayed at his post, going from stope to stope, saying, “We’ve been robbed long enough, it’s time to strike!” Then he left for Aurora to begin agitation at the extreme eastern end of the range in the little St. James’ mine with its force of 40 miners.
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Hellraisers Journal: Striking Shingleweavers of Everett, Washington, Beaten on Picket Line

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday August 25, 1916
Everett, Washington – County Officials Defend Gunthugs

From The Northwest Worker of August 24, 1916:

The NorthWest Worker, Everett WA, Aug 24, 1916

KELLY AND MCRAE DEFEND STRIKE-
BREAKERS AND GUNMEN IN EVERETT
—–
City and County Police Force Used to Help Beat
Up Striking Shingleweavers and Give
Gunmen Plenty of Freedom
—–

Once again King Kelly [County Commissioner] has demonstrated the fact to the citizens of Everett that he is the High Mogul in this neck of the woods. The “King” is spending more than a thousand dollars a month of Everett taxpayers’ money in order to keep “specials” to protect the interests of the mill owners. This fact was demonstrated when some 75 strike breakers attacked the picket line of 19 union shingle weavers at the Cargo mill last Saturday morning [August 19th] and the police stood by and laughed and seemed tickled to death to see the pickets get a licking.
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