Tag: Socialist Labor Party

Hellraisers Journal: From Spokane’s Industrial Worker: “Employment Sharks Must Go!” -Part II, Industrial Control

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
Share

Quote JH Walsh, re Employment Sharks, IUB p1, Feb 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 27, 1909
Spokane, Washington – Industrial Control Will Defeat Employment Sharks

From Spokane’s Industrial Worker of March 25, 1909:

IWW re Emply Sharks, Spk IW p3, Mar 25, 1919

[Part II.]

How to Fix Things

The importance of a systematic fight can hardly be overestimated. The employment agencies are IN OUR WAY. It is not worth while to try to reform them, even if it were possible. They MUST BE DONE AWAY! There are a number of very good reasons for this, and there is every certainty of success of the I. W. W. in doing it. So well known to the workingmen is it that the Union is fighting this thing that it would a dull day for the Secretary if from a dozen to fifty men did not come into the hall who had been robbed and who want the Union to recover the money for them. The instinct of the workers teaches them where their interest is. A systematic boycott of these dives, the continue advertising they get from the Union and other means, such as picketing, etc., etc., are having a great and good effect. The opposition of the agents themselves shows us that we are on the right track. But the fight must be urged, kept up, increased! Down with the employment shark! Up with the Union! During the few weeks that the Union has been unable to hold street meetings some may imagine that we have got slack in this fight. It is only the lull before the storm. The I. W. W. men know well enough who started the riot on the streets of Spokane and then tried to throw the blame on the Union! We have forgotten none of these things. They are simply drawing interest for the near time to come.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Spokane’s Industrial Worker: “Employment Sharks Must Go!” -Part II, Industrial Control” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones 1898, Part II: June-December; Found in Kansas and Nebraska

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Get Evil at Its Root, St L Rpb p2, Feb 5, 1898———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 11, 1899
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for the Year 1898, Part II

Mother Jones Mrs AF Smith Preach Socialism, KC Str p9, Oct 91898
Kansas City Star
October 9, 1898

In the pages of the Appeal to Reason of July 2, 1898, Mother Jones was found as “Mary G. Jones” on the list of delegates who bolted the Convention of the Social Democracy, held in Chicago during June of 1898. The disgruntled delegates immediately set about to establish a rival organization called the “Social Democratic Party of America,” and are now calling for “every loyal supporter of socialist principles” to “promptly come to the front and join” the new party. Mother Jones finds herself in good company as Eugene V. Debs and his brother, Theodore, are among the prominent Socialists who have joined the newly founded S. D. P.

July 1898 also found Mother Jones speaking in Omaha to packing house strikers. It was reported that she was speaking as “a traveling representative of the paper known as the “Appeal to Reason.”

In October 1898, Mother Jones was found in the “two Kansas Citys” preaching socialism along with Mrs. Anna Ferry Smith of San Diego. It was reported that the two women had traveled by a horse-drawn wagon from Chicago, speaking on street corners along the way.

In December 1898, Mother Jones was found leaving Kansas City and heading towards Texas “in a prairie schooner drawn by one white horse.” She was next found in Fort Scott and Mound City, Kansas. The Mound City Torch reported:

She is on her road to Texas, traveling in a private carriage alone. She is distributing literature and lecturing on needed reforms as she goes.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones 1898, Part II: June-December; Found in Kansas and Nebraska” →

Hellraisers Journal: From Social Democratic Herald: “The March of Socialism” by Eugene V. Debs

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Social Democrats, Sc Dem Hld, Jan 28, 1899—–

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 3, 1899
Eugene V. Debs: “The name of the Social Democratic Party suits me precisely.”

From the Social Democratic Herald of January 28, 1899:

The March of Socialism

[by Eugene V. Debs]

EVD, New Time Magazine, Feb 1898

Each passing day adds new testimony to the progressive march of socialism throughout the civilized world. A letter just received from Russia contains words of greeting and congratulation, and prompts me to pen this article for The Herald. The Social Democratic Party of the United States commands the confidence and respect of the leading socialists of other nations, and they look to our party to organize the socialists of this country and bring them into harmonious alliance with the hosts of international socialism, in the universal battle for the overthrown of capitalism.

The work accomplished during the past few months is as gratifying and inspiring to socialists as it is abhorrent and alarming to their enemies. The superb victory at Haverhill sent a thrill of joy and consternation, hope and horror through the country. The plutocratic press is still harping upon it, wondering how it happened and predicting all sorts of evils if there is any spread of this dread affliction. They are straining their old power to scare the people and make them mind their masters, as they have been so long in the habit of doing. Riley’s nursery tale warning aptly illustrates the situation:

Gobble uns'll get you, Sc Dem Hld, Jan 28, 1899

The plutocrats and their parasites will not contemplate with calm indifference the march of socialism. Every artifice known to their Machiavellian resources will be employed to resist the advance. The ignorant and servile can be easily deflected from their course, but the thinking and vigilant will do ceaseless sentinel service and be prepared to parry every blow and expose every device and intrigue of the enemy.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Social Democratic Herald: “The March of Socialism” by Eugene V. Debs” →

Hellraisers Journal: From Montana News: Eugene Debs on Red Special and “true spirit of Socialist comradeship…”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Yours for the next battle,
Eugene V. Debs

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 15, 1908
Eugene Debs on the Campaign’s “true spirit of Socialist comradeship.”

From the Socialist Montana News of November 12, 1908:

TO OUR COMRADES: GREETING
—–

By Eugene V. Debs.

EVD Debs Hanford Campaign, AtR p4, May 23, 1908

The campaign is ended and my very first thought is of the kindness shown me and the loyal support given me in every part of the country. While at times the exactions were trying I was sustained every hour by the loving care and unflagging support of comrades. To me this was the most beautiful and satisfying feature of the campaign. It expressed the true spirit of Socialist comradeship which is the making of our movement and which will sustain it through every ordeal till it is finally triumphant.

The one incident we all deeply regretted was the illness of Comrade Ben Hanford. With all his heart he yearned to be where he always has been, in the thick of battle, but he had given himself too freely all his life, utterly forgetful of self, until at last his physical powers succumbed and he was compelled to see others on the firing line while he was reserved for less strenuous service that he might have some chance for physical recuperation. His very illness bears testimony to his many years of service in the past when it required courage and sacrifice to be a Socialist, and all of us join most fervently in the hope that he may recuperate his impaired powers and again take his wonted place in the activities of the movement.

Truly this has been a magnificent campaign for the Socialist Party. Our meetings from coast to coast have been the marvel of all, and such enthusiasm has never been displayed in any political campaign.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Montana News: Eugene Debs on Red Special and “true spirit of Socialist comradeship…”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1908, Found in Kansas and Alabama

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

EVD Quote re Mother Jones, AtR, Nov 23, 1907

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 11, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1908
In Alabama: “Old Mother Jones..claims every miner as her son…”

Mother Jones, Dnv Pst p2, July 19, 1908

At the beginning of the month of September, we found Mother Jones attending a picnic in Girard, Kansas. By the 20th of September, we found the “Miners’ Angel” in Birmingham, Alabama. She went to Alabama in answer to the call of the miners on strike there, cutting short her visit in Girard, as promised in August.

From the Pittsburg Daily Headlight of
August 19, 1908:

WILL GO TO ALABAMA.
Mother Jones to Assist in the Alabama Strike.
—–

…[Mother Jones] arrived in Girard only a few days ago from a trip through Oklahoma and Texas, where she has been delivering lectures. She expected to remain for some time, but circumstances have come up which compel her to leave for Alabama, where a strike is on among the miners of the coal fields of that state. Strikes are one of her specialties and she has followed strikes in all parts of the United States for years and has spoke in every state in the union except two and her motherly attitude towards the miners makes her a favorite among them….

From The Biloxi Daily Herald of September 23, 1908:

S. W. ROSE ON HIS TRAVELS

Cullman, Ala. Sept. 20, 1908

To The Biloxi Daily Herald.

[…..]

I came this morning from Birmingham to “this side,” and am now domiciled at Cullman…

Birmingham will not let socialists speak on the streets. They hurt the feelings of the mighty city chiefs and the great governor, who is interested in working children in his cotton mill.

However, the socialists held a hall meeting that was filled to the doors. Old Mother Jones, who claims every miner as her son, was there, and the fire of her tongue is enough to terrify Birmingham city and Alabama’s state government, and yet her kind old mother heart will bring the mist to men’s eyes as she tells the woes of childhood as she has seen them in the miner’s and cotton-worker’s families. Mother Jones has been to jail again and again for her fiery words, but jails have no terrors for this modern “Joan of Arc,” and she is loved by all who known her…..

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1908, Found in Kansas and Alabama” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Woman: City of Los Angeles Locks-Up Socialist Women for Speaking on Streets

Janet RayeFree Speech Fights
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 9, 1908
Los Angeles – Socialist Women Raise Hell for Free Speech

From The Socialist Woman of August 1908:

SOCIALIST WOMEN IN JAIL.

LA FSF, SF Call -p9, July 10, 1908

Four Socialist women—Mrs. Bertha M. Dailey, Mrs. Alice Vail Holloway, Mrs. Helen A. Collins, Mrs. Cloudsley Johns—all of Los Angeles, have been spending the warm days of July in the jail of that city. This, for speaking on the streets of Los Angeles—the City of Angels.

The Los Angeles Herald asks, editorially, “Why arrest scholarly, refined, delicately nurtured, women, mothers of families, and irreproachable members of society, and allow men to exercise with impunity the right of free speech?…Salvation Army speakers, evangelists, and other reformers are not interfered with…The worst feature of all this wretched display of prejudice and lack of good judgment is in the fact that all the leading newspapers of the land—ALL—have published accounts of the arrest of the little women and the immunity of the big men, and are commenting on it unreservedly. Los Angeles may well afford to do without this kind of advertising, and we think the chamber of commerce should call a special meeting to review this whole subject, and set our city right before the United States of America.”

In the meantime, the “little women” are doing a good stroke of agitation work for the Socialist movement. They are advertising the Los Angeles movement as it was never advertised before, and are creating sympathy where it never before existed. A daintily gotten-up “At Home” card sent out by them, reads as follows:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Woman: City of Los Angeles Locks-Up Socialist Women for Speaking on Streets” →

Hellraisers Journal: Charles H. Kerr on the Socialist Party Convention of 1908, Brand’s Hall, Chicago, Illinois

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

SPA & Organized Labor, Chg Conv, May 14, 1908
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 9, 1908
Chicago, Illinois – Socialist Party of America Stands with Labor

Socialist Party of America Button

In this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review, Charles H. Kerr gives a day-by-day account of the national convention of the Socialist Party of America, held in Chicago from May 10th until May 17th. The convention took a strong stand with organized labor, as a whole, while, sadly, side-stepping the issue of Industrial Unionism.

The article by Comrade Kerr was eighteen pages long, from which we offer excerpts below.

From the International Socialist Review of June 1908:

SPA Chicago Convention May 10, ISR, June 1908

Sunday Session, May 10th:

The Convention opened at 12:30 pm at Brand’s Hall, Chicago. A complete list is given of Delegates representing forty-five states.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Charles H. Kerr on the Socialist Party Convention of 1908, Brand’s Hall, Chicago, Illinois” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs in New York City to Boom Haywood for President, Plans to Unite Two Socialists Parties

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

The people will ultimately see that
socialism is their only hope
-Eugene Victor Debs

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

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday January 25, 1908
New York, New York – Debs Calls for Nomination of Haywood

From the New York Tribune of January 23, 1908:

DEBS HERE TO BOOM HAYWOOD.
—–
Says President Roosevelt Is Aiding Spread
of Socialism-May Unite Factions.

SPA, SLP, emblems buttons

Eugene V. Debs was in New York yesterday to help along the plan to amalgamate the two warring factions, the Socialist party and the Socialist Labor party, the latter representing the De Leon socialists. He said he was for William D. Haywood, secretary of the Western Federation of Miners, as the Socialist candidate for President.

A conference will be held to-day between Debs, the leaders of both parties and Haywood, at which a slate will be informally selected. The leaders on both sides said yesterday that it is practically certain that the amalgamation will take place.

[Debs said last night:

This financial crisis will end in an international crisis such as this world has not seen in our time. Then socialism will have its best chance.

President Roosevelt has done more to further the spread of the socialist propaganda than any man I know of. His policy, or lack of policy, whichever way you take it, along with his currency and tariff views, is paving the way for socialism. The more he says the longer the bread line will grow, and the people will ultimately see that socialism is their only hope. When the international crisis comes socialism will spread all over the world.

———-

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs in New York City to Boom Haywood for President, Plans to Unite Two Socialists Parties” →

Hellraisers Journal: Thunder of Cheers Greets Bill Haywood at Brooklyn Labor Lyceum: “Socialism Is My Religion”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

We have no fight with capital.
All we want is the full equivalent for
the things which we produce.
Capital can take the rest.
-Big Bill Haywood

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 24, 1908
Brooklyn, New York – Haywood Speaks at Labor Lyceum

BBH, SF Call p17, Dec 8, 1907

On the afternoon of Sunday January 19th, Big Bill Haywood was greeted with cheers from thousands of men and women when he arrived at the Brooklyn Labor Lyceum. The hall was packed and thousands were turned away. Haywood declared himself a man of the west who always went armed and then produced two cards, one his union card and the other his Socialist Party card. Haywood said:

By the economic power of this gun, the working class is going to win political power.

At the conclusion of the speech, Haywood was taken upstairs for a meeting with delegates of the Brooklyn Central Labor Union whom he thanked for their assistance in saving himself, Moyer and Pettibone from being railroaded to the gallows by the Mine Owners of Colorado and Idaho.

Earlier in the day, Haywood had met with delegates of the New York City Central Federated Union where he announced that he would accept the nomination for President of the Socialist Party should such be offered him.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Thunder of Cheers Greets Bill Haywood at Brooklyn Labor Lyceum: “Socialism Is My Religion”” →

Hellraisers Journal: IWW Convention Begins in Chicago; Young Delegate, Miss Flynn, Talks Socialism on Street Corner

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
Share

I studied carefully the New York East Side,
the slums, the dives, and the sweatshops
and the terrible conditions of the people there
drove me into socialism.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday September 18, 1907
Chicago, Illinois – Girl Socialist Is I. W. W. Delegate

Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, age 17, of New York City, is a delegate to the Convention of Industrial Workers of the World which opened its first session on Monday morning, September 16th.

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of September 17, 1907:

…Industrial Workers of the World Open
Annual Convention…..

IWW Universal Label, IWWC 1906 Proceedings

With a gavel valued at $100 in the chairman’s hands, the annual convention of the Industrial Workers of the World opened in the morning at Brand’s hall. The gavel was presented by the unions of Alaska. It is made of walrus tusks. It is expected a tangle over the credentials will be straightened out today, and the unionists will take up business matters…

———-

[Photograph added.]

Miss Flynn, “Platform Wonder”

MISS GLYNN IN SOAPBOX TALKS.
—–
“Platform Wonder” Tells Her Hearers
the General Strike Is to Be the
Watchword of Future.
—–

EGF Girl Socialist w Hat, NYW, Aug 24, 1906

Standing on a soapbox at Halsted and O’Brien streets last night, Miss Elizabeth Gurley Glynn [Flynn], the 17 year old union “platform wonder,” addressed a crowd of 200 workingmen and exhorted them to prepare for the “general strike” in Chicago in the near future. Other unions “revival” meetings were held at Clark and Erie streets and elsewhere about the city. The soapbox campaign will be conducted while the convention of the Industrial Workers of the World is in session this week at Brand’s hall.

[Declared Miss Flynn:]

Not until every workingman quits his labor and refuses to go back until he is given a fair share of the profits will the labor question be settled. The general strike is the watchword of the future. It is certain to come soon.

Meetings will be held tonight in the Milwaukee avenue district and at several places on the west side.

———-

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: IWW Convention Begins in Chicago; Young Delegate, Miss Flynn, Talks Socialism on Street Corner” →