Tag: Socialist Party of America

Hellraisers Journal: Debs Calls Teddy Roosevelt Chief Thief of Socialist Party’s Plank-Interviewed for St. Louis Star

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, SPA Campaign Opens, Riverview Park, Chicago, June 16, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 11, 1912
Belleville, Illinois – Debs Interviewed by Frank A. Wiedinger

From the St. Louis Star of November 4, 1912:

Debs Calls T. R. Chief Thief of
Socialist Party’s Plank
———–

SAYS COLONEL IS A POLITICAL
“DR. F. A. COOK”

BY FRANK A. WIEDINGER.

Eugene Debs Speaks, St L Str Tx p3, Nov 4, 1912 Pressure from below has for years been forcing the old parties to steal the planks of the Socialists, but in this campaign, in trying to keep up with the irresistible demand of the masses for remedial legislation, Theodore Roosevelt has become the chief offender.

Roosevelt feels that his existence depends upon keeping himself in the limelight. He knows that he would be a political corpse if he did not continually turn to the spectacular. He is now poaching on the Socialist preserves and going farther than we ourselves have even gone.

In thus assuming the spectacular, Roosevelt has become a political Dr. Cook. He is a monumental faker. He is a four-flusher. He tells the masses that he, and he alone, is standing for their interests, but the masses will no longer stand for him.

In this wise Eugene V. Debs, Socialist nominee for President, paid his caustic respects to the Progressive standard-bearer in a talk with the writer yesterday noon after a great Socialist rally in the Dreamland Theater at Belleville, Ill.

Both in the interview and in the public speech which preceded it, Mr. Debs devoted the major part of his utterances to Colonel Roosevelt. He also scored Taft and Wilson, but only as the “tools of the capitalistic classes.” In talking of Roosevelt his declarations were mainly in a personal vein, though he resorted to ridicule rather than direct attack.

In so doing he left the distinct impression that seems to obtain also in both Republican and Democratic circles, that he believes Roosevelt is the one who will gain the largest popular vote at the polls tomorrow, and that hence he is the one against whom all the foes of the progressives should turn their batteries.

[Continued Mr. Debs:]

Every decent man regrets and denounces the attempt to assassinate Roosevelt at Milwaukee, and none more so than the Socialists, but there is a thought connected with the first announcement of the shooting which shows how the press is ruled by the capitalists.

“Roosevelt Shot Down By a Socialist,” the papers announced in big flaring headlines. As a matter of fact, investigation showed that not only was Schrank not a socialist, but that on the contrary he had been a steady reader of Republican and Democratic literature. No wonder he was a maniac. This false announcement is only one of the many instances in which the capitalistic press, with one voice, seeks to throw all possible onus of crime upon the socialists.

These same papers, day after day, devoted columns and pages to Roosevelt’s condition, but if a downtrodden laborer was killed while at work because his employer had placed him at defective machinery, or if a sick child died of neglect while the mother was scrubbing at night in a big office building in order to get money for medicine and food, you might search these same papers from beginning to end and find not a mention of either case.

Cites Economic Injustice.

Why is this? Is the life of one human, in the final analysis, worth more than the life of another? The general answer to this would be yes, but I say no-a thousand times no. Given equal opportunity that same workingman might have become the great man which Roosevelt admits that he himself is. That dead child was as dear to its mother as are any of his own to this apostle of large families.

Possibly the reason these instances are generally ignored by the papers is that by calling attention to them they must at the same time reveal the economic injustice under which this country is now suffering. Vote the Socialist ticket on Tuesday and you can correct these conditions. 

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Comrade: “How I Became a Socialist” by May Wood Simons, Eighth of Ongoing Series

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 9, 1902
“How I Became a Socialist” by May Wood Simons

From The Comrade of November 1902:

How I Became a Socialist.

VIII.
By MAY WOOD SIMONS

May Wood Simons, Comrade p32, Nov 1902

“Day’s Wages for Day’s Work.” Over and over again I had read the rugged lines of Carlyle’s “Past and Present” in my university days. It all came back to me one summer vacation when I returned to our Wisconsin town to find it excited over the trial of a favorite professor at the State University.

“Socialism” was then a new word to me and had little or no meaning, but my curiosity led me to at once procure and read the book that was arousing the commotion-R. T. Ely’s “Socialism and Social Reform.” I read it several times and then fell to studying his “French and German Socialism” I was far more impressed by his statement of Socialism than by his objection to it. The latter seemed to me very weak.

In the fall when I returned to Northwestern University I began the reading of Ruskin on the one hand and the study of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy” on the other. Fortunately I was not so fascinated by Mill’s wonderful logic and beautiful style that I lost my spirit of criticism. Hence I did not acquiesce blindly in his conclusions as did the majority of my fellow students. The “Wage Fund” theory, so universally accepted in the economics department, was to me a stumbling block. Long  before reading Marx I came upon the Labor Value theory in Mills and Ricardo, and as I turn over my old note-books, I find them filled with quotations from Mill, that set forth the Class Struggle as plainly as any Socialist ever stated it. These contradictions I could not explain. There was no one to tell me of Mill’s change of mind, and not until I became interested in his personality, and took up his autobiography, did I find that before he died he called himself a Socialist.

My economic studies continued through the other classical writers to the Austrian, German and later American economists, and at each step I felt that I must get out of this mass of dead hair-splitting and mental calisthenics, and find something alive in the way of economics. Their a priori statements and apparent disregard of actual conditions and tendencies was evident to me.

At a bookstore I one day came upon Arnold Toynbee’s “Industrial Revolution.” As I read it I felt that here was something that gave me more of economics than the theoreticians possibly could. My next book was Marx’s “Capital.” I had heard of it before as “The Bible of the Working Classes.” I studied it carefully. The first thing that impressed me was his great scholarship and his masterly chapters on industrial history. The labor value theory was again brought to my attention, and for the first time, surplus value. Here, said I, is the secret of capitalism. When I had obtained the “Manifesto” and Engels’ little book on “Socialism, Utopian and Scientific,” and read them, I was a convert to Socialism.

Quite accidentally I had come into contact with settlement work, at Hull House and the Northwestern University Settlement. I frequently went on “slumming” trips, and having been brought up in a country town, where poverty shows few of its horrible features, I was suddenly made aware that a worse than the Inferno of Dante existed on earth. In the strike of 1894 I took the greatest interest, and my only regret was that I could not be a man on the field of action.

I had originally planned that on finishing my university work I would take a theological course preparatory to entering the ministry, in which work I had already engaged to some extent. I found, however, that my university studies had unfitted me for this, and I turned to the profession of teaching for the next few years. Here I continued my economic and sociological studies and began to fully grasp the idea of Socialism as a philosophy of society. For the first time I felt the inadequacy of our school methods and the existence of class education, and I saw that education too must pass through a revolution.

The years from 1897-99 were spent in or near the Chicago University Settlement. At this time I became a member of a branch of the Socialist Labor party. I knew little or nothing of politics, less of Socialist party matters, or of the international movement. During these two years I spent four hours a day in the office of the Bureau of Charities. Night after night that stream of haggard faces kept me company in dreams. There were three distinct stages in my attitude of mind toward this problem of poverty. The sentiment of sympathy dominated during the first stage. Then the whole thing became mechanical. This in turn gave way to a fierce rebellion against the conditions that made people come begging for a pittance. Two years spent in this settlement and charity work forced both my husband and myself to leave it and give our whole time to the Socialist cause. 

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: West Virginia Miners Play a Waiting Game by Edward H. Kintzer

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 7, 1912
West Virginia Miners Play a Waiting Game
-by Edward H. Kintzer, Socialist Candidate for State Auditor

From the International Socialist Review of November 1912:

WV Miners by Kintzer, ISR p391, Nov 1912

Edward Kintzer, ISR p393, Nov 1912

WITH the calmness of seasoned soldiers, with a purpose that presages no good to the operators, with defiance that brooks no interference with that purpose, the battling miners of West Virginia await the coming war-of-the-ballots.

In dealing with the armed mine guards these mountaineers were taught valuable lessons in solidarity and cohesion which made them effective in meeting this force. So, after delivering a blow of direct action against the operators, with equal intelligence they are preparing to strike at the ballot box. They have organized themselves in spirit if not in fact, having learned to do by concerted action whatever is to be done. 

They are not living in a fool’s paradise expecting the capitalist orders to collapse because a majority might wish it to. Back of their political action there is something more tangible than a mere expression of choice.

And well there should be, for heretofore no election has gone against the operators. They will stop at nothing to purchase votes and stuff ballot boxes. They have bought legislators like they purchase mine props, “made” governors with impunity, and with open effrontery placed two senators in congress against the wishes of the people.

Frank Bohn, associate editor of the REVIEW, while recently touring West Virginia on a speaking campaign, said: “The situation here regarding Senator Watson ought to receive wide publicity. There is nothing else like it. Other Watsons exist but none of them are in congress.”

It is the coal industry and organized “Big Business” that the miners must oppose-these interests that named Watson and Chilton United States senators.

SOCIALISM IS EASY.

It is not difficult to teach these battling miners the fundamentals of Socialism, for the class struggle to them is very apparent and the hallucination of “dividing up” and “destroying the homes” has no terrors for them. They have nothing to divide and no home to destroy. Having recently been evicted they know that nothing could accomplish these things more effectively than capitalism. Their only assets are experience, hope and determination. This experience suggests action, their hope is Socialism and their determination means victory.

Frank J. Hayes, vice-president of the national organization of the United Mine Workers, in a recent letter states the political situation quite clearly. He said:

We have an excellent chance of electing the entire Socialist ticket in Kanawha county. The miners poll 40 per cent of the total vote in this county and they are practically all Socialists, made so by the present strike.

This is the county [Kanawha] in which Charleston, the capital of the state, is located, and, moreover, if we capture the political power of this big county it will practically insure the success of our strike. It is a great opportunity.

Politicians of the old school are admitting that the Socialist ticket will win. Even last March, before the strike, Adjutant General Elliott, absolute dictator by right of martial law over Paint and Cabin Creek districts, stated to the writer: “Unless Roosevelt is nominated by the Republicans there is some question whether the Socialists will be first or second.” He stated that he had been over the lower section (meaning Kanawha county) and knew. He resides at Charleston.

Thomas L. Tincher, a locomotive engineer, is the Socialist candidate for sheriff. He is making the guard system the issue in the campaign.

[Says Tincher:]

A Socialist sheriff would solve the mine guard problem quickly. All he would have to do would be to enforce the law and the mine guard would become a useless institution.

With exceptional outbreaks of hostility between the mine guards and the miners, the situation in the martial law district is quiet. The operators, mine guards and miners are disposed to play a waiting game.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Western Labor Movement” by Eugene Victor Debs

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, Socialist Ripe Trade Unionist, WLUC p45, May 31, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 6, 1902
Eugene V. Debs Describes the Western Labor Movement

From the International Socialist Review of November 1902:

The Western Labor Movement
[by Eugene V. Debs] 
———-

EVD, LW p1, Aug 30, 1902

There seems to be considerable misapprehension, especially among Socialists, in regard to the trade union movement of the Western states, whose delegates, recently assembled in national convention, adopted the platform of the Socialist Party and pledged the support of their organizations to the International Socialist movement. This radical departure from the effete and reactionary non-political policy of the American Federation of Labor, so long and so earnestly striven for by the Western leaders, and so entirely compatible with the Socialist conception of class-conscious and progressive trade unionism, should have been met with the prompt and hearty approbation of every unionist and every Socialist in the land. That such was not the case, the lukewarm comment and half-approving, half-condemning tone of the Socialist Party press, with but one or two exceptions, bear convincing testimony, while the uncalled for, unwise, and wholly unaccountable official pronunciamento of the St. Louis “Quorum,” purporting to speak for the National Committee, capped the climax of unfairness and injustice to the Western movement. [See REVIEW of October 1902]

Stripped of unnecessary verbiage and free from subterfuge, the Socialist Party has been placed in the attitude of turning its back upon the young, virile, class-conscious union movement of the West, and fawning at the feet of the “pure and simple” movement of the East, and this anomalous thing has been done by men who are supposed to stand sponsor to the party and whose utterance is credited with being ex cathedra upon party affairs.

They may congratulate themselves that upon this point at least they are in perfect accord with the capitalist press, and also with the “labor lieutenants,” the henchmen, and the heelers, whose duty it is to warn the union against Socialism and guard its members against working class political action.

The writer takes issue with these comrades upon this vital proposition; and first of all insists that they (including the members of the Quorum) speak for themselves alone, as they undoubtedly have the right to do, and that their declaration in reference to the American Labor Union is in no sense a party expression, nor is it in any matter binding upon the party, nor is the party to be held responsible for the same.

As a matter of fact the rank and file of the Socialist Party, at least so far as I have been able to observe, rejoice in the action of the Denver convention, hail it as a happy augury for the future, and welcome with open arms the Western comrades to fellowship in the party.

“Why didn’t they stay in the Federation of Labor and carry on their agitation there? Why split the labor movement?” This is made the burden of the opposition to the Western unionists, who refused to be assimilated by Mark Hanna’s “Civic Federation”-the pretext for the scant, half-hearted recognition of their stalwart working class organization and their ringing declaration in favor of Socialism and in support of the Socialist Party.

And this objection may be dismissed with a single sentence. Why did not those who urge it remain in the Socialist Labor Party and carry on their agitation there? Why split the Socialist movement?

It is not true that the Western unionists set up a rival organization from geographical or sectional considerations, or to antagonize the Federation; and they who aver the contrary know little or nothing about the Western movement, nor about the causes that brought it into existence. A brief review of these may throw some light on the subject.

In 1896 the annual convention of the Federation of Labor was held in Cincinnati. The Western Federation of Miners, at that time an affiliated organization, was represented by President Edward Boyce and Patrick Clifford, of Colorado. The strike of the Leadville [Colorado] miners, more than 3,000 in number, one of the bloodiest and costliest labor battles ever fought, was then in progress and had been for several months. The drain and strain on the resources of the Western Federation had been enormous. They needed help and they needed it sorely. They had always poured out their treasure liberally when help was needed by other organization, East as well as West, and now that they had reached their limit, they naturally expected prompt and substantial aid from affiliated organizations. Boyce and Clifford appealed to the delegates. To use their own language they were “turned down,” receiving but vague promises which, little as they meant, were never fulfilled. At the close of the convention they left for home, disappointed and disgusted. They stopped off at Terre Haute to urge me to go to Leadville to lend a helping hand to the striking miners, which I proceeded to do as soon as I could get ready for the journey. It was here that they told me that the convention was a sore surprise to them, that 3 or 4 men had votes enough to practically control the whole affair, and that the dilatory and reactionary proceedings had destroyed their confidence in the Federation.

Afterward I was told by the officers in charge of the strike that no aid of the least value, or even encouragement, had been rendered by the Federation of Labor and that the financial contributions were scarcely sufficient to cover the expense of the canvass for same.

It was not long after this that the Western miners withdrew from the Federation and a couple of years later, conceiving the necessity of organizing all classes of labor in the Western states, which as yet had received but scant attention, the American Labor Union was organized, the Western Federation of Miners being the first organization in affiliation with the new central body.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The New York Call: “How I Became a Socialist” by Helen Keller -Has Red Flag Hanging in Her Study

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Helen Keller re Red Flag, NY Call, Nov 3, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 5, 1912
Miss Helen Keller States She Would Love to Carry the Red Flag Past The Times

From The New York Call of November 3, 1912:

How I Became a Socialist
-by Helen Keller
———-

Helen Keller re Schenectady NY Mayor Lunn, Hot Springs Ark Sentinel Rec p1, Sept 29, 1912

For several months my name and socialism have appeared often together in the newspapers. A friend tells me that I have shared the front pages with baseball, Mr. Roosevelt and the New York police scandal. The association does not make me altogether happy but, on the whole, I am glad that many people are interested in me and in the educational achievements of my teacher, Mrs. Macy (Anne Sullivan). Even notoriety may be turned to beneficent uses, and I rejoice if the disposition of the newspapers to record my activities results in bringing more often into their columns the word Socialism. In the future I hope to write about socialism, and to justify in some measure the great amount of publicity which has been accorded to me and my opinions. So far I have written little and said little about the subject. I have written a few letters, notably one to Comrade Fred Warren which was printed in the Appeal to Reason. I have talked to some reporters, one of whom, Mr. Ireland of the New York World, made a very flattering report and gave fully and fairly what I said. I have never been in Schenectady. I have never met Mayor Lunn. I have never had a letter from him, but he has sent kind messages to me through Mr. Macy. Owing to Mrs. Macy’s illness, whatever plans I had to join the workers in Schenectady have been abandoned.

On such negative and relatively insignificant matters have been written many editorials in the capitalist press and in the Socialist press. The clippings fill a drawer. I have not read a quarter of them, and I doubt if I shall ever read them all. If on such a small quantity of fact so much comment has followed, what will the newspapers do if I ever set to work in earnest to write and talk in behalf of socialism? For the present I should like to make a statement of my position and correct some false reports and answer some criticisms which seem to me unjust.

First — How did I become a Socialist? By reading. The first book I read was Wells’ New World for Old. I read it on Mrs. Macy’s recommendation. She was attracted by its imaginative quality, and hoped that its electric style might stimulate and interest me. When she gave me the book, she was not a Socialist and she is not a Socialist now. Perhaps she will be one before Mr. Macy and I are done arguing with her.

My reading has been limited and slow. I take German bimonthly Socialist periodicals printed in braille for the blind. (Our German comrades are ahead of us in many respects.) I have also in German braille Kautsky’s discussion of the Erfurt Program. The other socialist literature that I have read has been spelled into my hand by a friend who comes three times a week to read to me whatever I choose to have read. The periodical which I have most often requested her lively fingers to communicate to my eager ones is the National Socialist. She gives the titles of the articles and I tell her when to read on and when to omit. I have also had her read to me from the International Socialist Review articles the titles of which sounded promising. Manual spelling takes time. It is no easy and rapid thing to absorb through one’s fingers a book of 50,000 words on economics. But it is a pleasure, and one which I shall enjoy repeatedly until I have made myself acquainted with all the classic socialist authors.

In the light of the foregoing I wish to comment on a piece about me which was printed in the Common Cause and reprinted in the Live Issue, two anti-socialist publications. Here is a quotation from that piece:

“For twenty-five years Miss Keller’s teacher and constant companion has been Mrs. John Macy, formerly of Wrentham, Mass. Both Mr. and Mrs. Macy are enthusiastic Marxist propagandists, and it is scarcely surprising that Miss Keller, depending upon this lifelong friend for her most intimate knowledge of life, should have imbibed such opinions.”

Mr. Macy may be an enthusiastic Marxist propagandist, though I am sorry to say he has not shown much enthusiasm in propagating his Marxism through my fingers. Mrs. Macy is not a Marxist, nor a socialist. Therefore what the Common Cause says about her is not true. The editor must have invented that, made it out of whole cloth, and if that is the way his mind works, it is no wonder that he is opposed to socialism. He has not sufficient sense of fact to be a socialist or anything else intellectually worthwhile.

Consider another quotation from the same article.

The headline reads: “SCHENECTADY REDS ARE ADVERTISING; USING HELEN KELLER, THE BLIND GIRL, TO RECEIVE PUBLICITY.”

Then the article begins:

“It would be difficult to imagine anything more pathetic than the present exploitation of poor Helen Keller by the Socialists of Schenectady. For weeks the party’s press agencies have heralded the fact that she is a Socialist, and is about to become a member of Schenectady’s new Board of Public Welfare.”

There’s a chance for satirical comment on the phrase, “the exploitation of poor Helen Keller.” But I will refrain, simply saying that I do not like the hypocritical sympathy of such a paper as the Common Cause, but I am glad if it knows what the word “exploitation” means.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “On the Road with Debs” by Ellis B. Harris, Socialist Party of America

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re Capitalist Politician, ISR Cv, Nov 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 2, 1912
On the Campaign Trail with Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Party of America

From the International Socialist Review of November 1912:

On the Road With Debs
By
ELLIS B. HARRIS

EVD st Madison Sq Garden NYC, ISR p413, Nov 1912

———-

We Are All Optimistic

HOW can we help it after the realization that not only this is our year, but that all the years to come are to be the fulfillment of Marx’s promise to the working class, inevitable Socialism. And Socialism means the system of co-operation in which man’s inhumanity to man can no longer prevail. Then the countless millions that now mourn shall stand free men erect and smiling in the glorious vision of a universal brotherhood that they, the tireless and unconquerable working class have at last brought to practical realization; a condition in which the evil star of exploitation has set to rise no more. Not only this notion, but the whole world shall be consecrated and glorified in a service of justice, truth and love; when property right shall be the right of all the workers to possess all property in the means of production and distribution; and then control it so that man may freely enjoy life and liberty.

Socialist Party Engraved Watch, ISR p443, Nov 1912

Time was when nearly if not quite all of the people could be fooled most if not all of the time by a system of education that teaches that capital is prior to labor; that it belongs to a sort of philanthropic organization that gives employment to the working class and is therefore necessary as an initiative to labor; that being based on private ownership and being the source of the very existence of man, it is therefore more than man and man must be subservient to it.

On this sort of education we have builded a heartless commercialism that is sapping the life blood of the nations to fertilize and make more productive the private property of a master class, property held to be more sacred than the mothers and children of all the races of men on whom this ruling class subsist.

Comes the propaganda of Socialism with the new education based on history, evolution and a true political economy; teaching the unimpeachable laws of value, industrial evolution and economic determinism; making plain to the workers the ages of class struggle that have forced them continually to fight for life against the ruling class and that shall ultimately unite the toiling masses into one great union and a solidarity of comradeship that shall win a final and lasting triumph for all mankind.

To fully realize and appreciate the success of our ceaseless campaign, one cannot confine himself to a view of any particular locality. He must have every opportunity to come in direct touch with it throughout all of the states. One must see the awakening and hear the collective voice of the masses assembled as we have seen them, east, west, north and south; and mingle with them amidst such inspiring scenes as that of Madison Square Garden, New York, and Philadelphia Convention Hall, where twenty thousand people stood beneath a very sea of waving scarlet banners and shouted themselves hoarse for the revolution and Socialism.

SPA Emblem, ISR p395, Nov 1912

Heartily I wish that every comrade might share this trip with the Debs party. That they might touch hands with and feel the heart throb, through that touch of the nation’s working class. Spirits in revolt, thousands of them, class conscious, self-sacrificing and indefatigable.

[Debs asserts:]

One fact in which we may all find comfort, no matter how dark our skies may seem, is that the common heart of humanity is sound and beats true.

And nothing proves the assurance so well as the experiences of our campaign tour, where the rhythmic pulse of the collectivity is made manifest in the desire to hear some message of Socialism.

Here is the rush and the crush of the common fellowship; the good natured crowding of happy men and women that feel they are akin in this, the lobby of a brighter future. I say happy, for here at last they seem to realize that in their unity lies the achievement of every desire and effort for an abundant and happy life. They are not all Socialists by any means, but they are all interested in our message. They are all responsive to the principles of our party as they fall from the lips of its eloquent advocate, comrade Debs.

This is what we see on every hand, a thoroughly dissatisfied working class in every state in the Union, exploited by a plutocracy of wealth, which commands all the powers of government. The struggle for existence has at last become unbearable to the great majority.

The seed of Socialism that we have sown and are still sowing is coming to blossom in the great heart of working man and woman and no one who has seen it in all its phases of development can ever doubt the harvest yield.

Doodle, ISR p414, Nov 1912

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: B. T. W. Members on Trial for Their Lives in Louisiana

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Quote BBH re Industrial Freedom BTW LA, ISR p , Aug 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 1, 1912
Lake Charles, Louisiana – Nine Members of B. T. W. on Trial for Murder

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of October 31, 1912:

WITNESSES ARE BADLY TANGLED
———-

BTW Trial re Grabow, Jury Names, IW p1, Oct 31, 1912

The jury that is to try the nine members of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers who have been singled out by the “Sawdust ring” as those it would most love to adorn with rope cravats, was completed at 3:25 p. m. on October 15th. The jurors were chosen in order named.

Court convened at 9 a. m. on the 16th and a roll call of witnesses showed 82 summoned by the state and 66 by the defense.

[…..]

Brothers in Toil!

Judge Hunter and all our lawyers are putting up a magnificent fight; nothing but a lack of funds can beat us, and we appeal to you to help us, now, today! In labor’s name, we appeal to you!

COMMITTEE OF DEFENSE, B. of T. W.

—————

Opening Events of B. T. W. Trial
———-

C. L. Filigno, IWW BTW Organizer, IW p4, Oct 31, 1912

The trial of the members of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers charged with conspiracy to murder A. P. Vincent, whiskey-soaked Lumber Trust gunman, at Grabow, La., opened at lake Charles, La., on October 7.

The first move of the state was absolutely in disregard to all of the capitalist laws governing conspiracy trials but the objection of the defense was overruled by the presiding judge, Winston Overton. The cases of nine of the defendants were brought into court, whereas the entire number of arrested men should be tried at one and the same time.

The nine men are A. L. Emerson, president B. T. W.; Ed Lehman, organizer; Edgar Hollingsworth, secretary Local 223, B. T. W.; J. H. C. Helton, secretary De Ridder Socialist Party local, and the following members of the B. T. W.: Louis Brown, Jack Payne, Ed Ezell, C. Havens, and R. H. Chatman.

The judge ruled that no member of the B. T. W. nor of the Southern Lumber Operators’ Association would be allowed to serve on the jury…..

The star witnesses for the state made a very poor showing on the opening days. By their own testimony it was proven that attempts were made to get the gunmen drunk so that they would provoke disorders. One witness was forced to admit that he did not want to testify but was paid to do so by the Lumber Trust. The testimony of others was very conflicting……

—————

Women With Them-Would They Riot?

(Special Telegram to the “Worker”)

Lake Charles, La., Oct. 28.-The defense opened today’s testimony with S. O. Cooley, who stated that John Helton took supper with him and afterwards went toward Grabow, where they heard shooting. They then returned home. Helton was unarmed and was never east of Grabow during the battle, as state witnesses had testified. The Ezell family came to his house after the shooting. Two of Ezell’s children were wounded.

J. D. Golden, was then called to the stand. He stated that Emerson talked only on unionism. Helton was never east of Grabow. He saw the first shots which came from the direction of Galloway’s office.

Christine Cooley stated that Helton and Golden came to her father’s home shortly before supper. Helton, Golden and her father had only left the house a little while when the shooting started. She paid attention to the time they were away because she was uneasy about her father when she heard the shooting.

Doris Lebieu stated that she went to all the towns with the unionists and other ladies and children were along. Her wagon stopped in front of the Galloway office. She was certain that the first shot was fired from the office as the bullet brushed her nose.

Minnie Tilly stated that her family tried to leave the house during the battle, but were met by armed negroes and became so frightened that they returned home. They left later, meeting Deputy Gibbs and armed negroes. On Saturday she, and her uncle met M. M. Galloway, who said: “Go back, you S. of a B., or I will blow your brains out.” They went.

Miss Bailey stated the “Leather Breeches” Smith told Denby to take that gun and take Deputy Grantham and Jim Whidden to old man Whidden’s and let no one hurt them.

Claude Payton stated that he saw the first shot fired from Galloway’s office. He left the commissary and went to Ezell’s house. He saw the shooting from Zook Galloway’s house and lumber yard. Ezell’s children and two of his children were wounded.

The prosecution was unable to shake the testimony of any of the witnesses. Labor’s right to organize, not the accused men, is really on trial. All unionists had better get busy.

COVINGTON HALL.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Spokane Industrial Worker: B. T. W. Members on Trial for Their Lives in Louisiana” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part II: Speaks at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands, Grown Men Weep

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 22, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part II
Found Speaking at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands

From the New York Sun of September 11, 1912:

MINERS TO BESIEGE GLASSCOCK.
———-
Will Bring Wives and Children
to West Virginia Capital.
———-

Mother Jones and WV Gov Glasscock, Wilmington DE Eve Jr p6, Sept 13, 1912

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Sept. 10.-Mother Jones announced to-day that the striking miners of the Kanawha district would make another effort to see Gov. Glasscock. Within a week they are to march into the capital again and make a demand for the use of the State House grounds as a meeting place.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The Governor must hear us this time. We want him to hear our story, we want him to see us. The very looks of the men who are fighting for freedom is a tremendous argument for their cause.

We are coming back to our capital again and twice as strong as last week. The men are going to bring their children along and their wives.

—————

[Photograph added.]

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of September 16, 1912:

MOTHER JONES MAKES ADDRESS
———-

TO OVER 1,500 AT FIFTH WARD MARKET HOUSE.
———-
Paints Horrible Picture of Conditions in Strike District
and Flays Coal Barons.

Owing to the rain the mass protest meeting that was to have been held at the wharf yesterday afternoon [Sunday September 15th] was held at the Fifth ward market house, where over 1,500 people assembled to hear Mother Jones, the lady of the mines, and other prominent speakers.

As the old lady with white hair mounted the platform she was greeted with cheers that lasted for over five minutes. She started right in to business, and did not mince words or names when it came down to condemning the conditions in the southern part of the state. Before the meeting closed, Governor William Glasscock and Senators Watson and Chilton came in for their share of flaying, as well as Senators Scott and Elkins. They were classed by her as leeches and blood suckers, and the detective force and mine guards as human blood hounds. She said that right here in the little Mountain State, peonage of the most horrible kind was being practiced, and that Russia and Bulgaria were a paradise compared to it. She said that slavery was nothing compared to it, and that only last Thursday she was forced to cross streams in the strike district in the middle of the night by wading in the water up to her waist.

She claimed that women, children and sick men were thrown out of doors by these hired toughs and compelled to find shelter in the open, and that women were hauled about by the hair if they resisted these insults.

A collection was taken up to be sent to the relief committee which amounted to over $50. It will be used for the purpose of buying food and clothes for the strikers. A large donation was also received from the miners in Cripple Creek, Colo.

Want Legislation.

By unanimous vote it was decided to send a petition to Governor Glasscock demanding him to call a special session of the state legislature to make laws to help the miners. The following legislation is wanted: To do away with the guard system; that all coal dug by the miners shall be paid for by weight; the enforcement of an employer’s liability law; the abolition of the company store; and the payment of the miners every two weeks. She said that the miners would never go back to work until these wishes were complied with, and that the guard system would have to go, and if the governor would not give the citizens their rights, they would be compelled to take the law in their own hands or starve.

Raps Watson.

She also took a rap at the Fairmont district and hit Senator Watson hard. She scorned him as a blot on the state that would take years to wipe off. As she concluded her speech she was madly cheered.

Other speakers were F. C. Harter, also from the southern part of the state, a Confederate soldier, and a well-to-do farmer over 80 years old. He condemned the tactics used by the coal barons as a disgrace to humanity, and a thing that every citizen in the state should be ashamed to tolerate.  “Mother Jones left last evening for Charleston and will stay with the boys, she says, until they get their rights.

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part II: Speaks at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thrills Thousands, Grown Men Weep” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Rather sleep in guard house, Day Book p2, Sept 9, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 21, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part I
Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

From the Baltimore Sun of September 1, 1912:

TROUBLE AT CABIN CREEK.

Mother Jones, Rock Isl Argus p8, Sept 12, 1912

Trouble broke out afresh tonight at Cabin Creek Junction. Just what caused it cannot be learned at this time, but it is said it was started by the miners, who opened fire on the mine guards, seriously wounding two of them. If any or the miners were killed or wounded it is not known at this time. The wounded guards were hurried off to the hospital and their names are kept secret. Several of the guards who have been here for a long time have been marked by the miners, and it is possible that the injured men are of that number.

MILITIA RUSHED TO SCENE.

As a result of the battle tonight, five companies of militia which had been ordered home were rushed to the scene of the trouble.

Before they could arrive, however, a company from headquarters at Camp Pratt, on Paint creek, was rushed to Cabin Creek Junction…

Unless the situation improves materially within the next 48 hours martial law probably will be declared….It is admitted in official circles that the situation is more critical now than at any time since the miners went on strike in the Kanawha field last April. In case martial law is declared more troops will be needed.

MORE OUTBREAKS EXPECTED.

Further outbreaks between strikers and guards are expected at any or all of a dozen places on Paint and Cabin creeks as a result of the tense feeling which exists. In every instance the arrival of the militia has been sufficient to restore order.

Up to the present the strikers have been friendly to the militia, although a change may occur at any time.

“Mother” Jones has sent out word that the militia provost must be removed from the trains on the two creeks, but this guard will not be abandoned. As a result an attack on the passenger trains on either creek would cause little surprise. Close watch is being kept on the railway tracks to prevent the dynamiting of trains.

“Mother” Jones is scheduled to speak at Kingston tomorrow and orders have been issued to the militia to prevent such meeting. 

[…..]

Dogged Mother Jones’ Footsteps.

[T]he statement that the operators, or their agents, the mine guards, would prevent one individual from visiting another may seem to be overdrawn. It is not. Here is a case to illustrate:

About 10 days ago Mother Jones went to Kayford to hold a meeting. An account of that meeting was given in THE SUN of last Sunday [Aug 25th]. It was held after considerable trouble. She arrived at Kayford in the early afternoon and had tramped a good distance up the road before she reached the place. At every step she took she was followed by mine guards. She had had nothing to eat from the time she had an early breakfast and she was hungry. One of the miners, Lawrence Dwyer, the man who had arranged the meeting, asked her and the correspondent of THE SUN to go to his cabin for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The invitation was accepted and we started to Dwyer’s house. No sooner had we stepped off the road and started up the lane leading to the cabin than Mayfield, the chief of the guards, ordered us off with an oath, threatening to arrest us if we took another step. His manner was rough in the extreme, especially to the white-haired old woman who really needed her cup of tea.

Dwyer remonstrated, saying he thought he had the right to take anyone he pleased to his house. He was told, with an oath, that he thought too much. Perhaps that is true. He is not fat. Like Cassius, “he hath a lean and hungry look,” and be certainly “thinks too much” for the peace of mind of the guards. However, Mother Jones went without her tea and she kept off private property.

Felts Blames Her For Trouble.

Later she came to a place where the road ran through the bed of the creek and she attempted to leave the county road on which she had been trudging and walk along the railroad track. Again she was ordered off. Even the railroad track was private property. This time the correspondent of THE SUN protested to Detective Felts. Felts was pleasant enough, but he was firm.

“That woman is old enough to be your grandmother,” he was told, “and no matter how much you may be opposed to her, remember that she is an old woman.”

“That makes no difference,” was the reply. “She is responsible for all the agitation and trouble that is taking place in these mines, and even though she is an old woman we do not propose to allow her any privileges here, or to show her any courtesies. She has got to keep to the public road, and keep off private property.“

That is the point. It would have been a “privilege” if she had been permitted to walk on the railroad track; it would have been a “courtesy” to have permitted her to go to Dwyer’s for her cup of tea. She might have done either, or both, by the grace and the favor of the company, but she could do neither as a matter of right.

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Evening Sun of September 5, 1912:

3,000 MINERS TO MARCH IN
PROTEST TO CHARLESTON
———-
“Mother” Jones Will Lead Delegation
Before Governor Glasscock.
———-

MAYOR OF ESKDALE PLACED UNDER ARREST
———-
Court-Martial Disposing Of Cases Rapidly
-All Civil laws Suspended.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Sept. 5.-Three thousand miners of that part of the Kanawha coal district which is not under martial law are coming to the State House at Charleston tomorrow to make a demonstration against the guard system in behalf of the men who are striking.

They will march through the streets of Charleston led by “Mother” Jones.

“Martial law is all right, but what after martial law?” is the legend to be displayed on a banner in the parade.

Governor Glasscock will be urged to come out and answer that question. “Mother” Jones will make a direct appeal to Glasscock.

Could Have Been Settled Long Ago.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The guard system will come back as soon as the soldiers are withdrawn. Months ago Governor Glasscock could have settled all difficulties by declaring that there shall be no guards. He did nothing at all; now the State and the miners are paying heavily.

Mayor And Miners Looked Up.

Martial law reached out last night and caught 20 miners and guards, including the Mayor of Eskdale, in the strike zone. The men were charged with disorderly conduct. They occupy joint jail quarters in the railroad station at Paint Creek Junction, which, has been turned into a prison.

Court-Martial Working Quickly.

The court-martial is working as quickly as a city court. In two days the military judges have tried 15 men. The verdicts were sealed and sent to Governor Glasscock for approval. The court can fix any penalty within its discretion. All statutory penalties are suspended.

The military authorities today ordered a Socialist paper that has been circulating in the “war” district suppressed as inflammatory. Free speech is one of the constitutional guarantees suspended by martial law.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: “Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families” by G. H. Edmunds-Militia Aids Operators

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Better to Die Fighting, Sac Str p1, June 3, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal –Friday October 18, 1912
West Virginia Militia Aids Coal Operators in Evicting Miners’ Families

From The Wheeling Majority of October 17, 1912:

SOLDIERS EVICT MINERS’ FAMILIES
———-
(By G. H. Edmunds.)
—–

WV Militia Escort Miners to Court Martial, Cmg Ntn p2, Oct 12, 1912

In commenting on the troubles in the strike fields of Kanawha county, Gov. Glasscock mentioned the “invisible government” as being largely responsible for the troubles existing, and many of the citizens of this state have wondered what the “invisible government” was, but on Monday last, every one was brought face to face with this “Gila monster.” We beheld a monster with one head but two faces, a second Janus, too subtle for description.

Remember, Baldwin guards were driven out under the martial law proclamation, and everything went fine in the strike zone so far as peace and quiet was concerned, but, on Monday what do we find.

We find the militia of the state of West Virginia being used by the coal operators to evict miners from their homes, without any process of law whatsoever.

Never before has anything of the kind happened in any of the strikes of the country. Result: More than 100 families, aggregating 500 men, women and children are sitting by the roadside in the mountains of West Virginia with no place to lay their heads but on the hard rocks of the mountains, and absolutely no redress whatsoever. The governor has been appealed to, and his reply to the appeal was that the miners had redress in the civil courts, yet this same governor has suspended the civil courts and instituted martial law in their stead, and yet he tells the miners to go to the civil courts.

Yes, the government of West Virginia is “invisible.”

There seems to be a “power behind the throne” in this fight. Soldiers being used as strike breakers, and putting hundreds of women and children out in the cold to live in the open air in October, without any semblance of law. These people had a right to remain in the houses occupied by them until legally dispossessed, because, in law the fact that they were in the houses, and entered legally, gave them the right of remaining in said houses until legally dispossessed. The miners of West Virginia are being wrongfully treated by the governor, who is the commander in-chief of the state militia.

Strike breaking militia! Oh, shame on the fair name of West Virginia! The way that the militia is being used to evict the miners is done in this wise: The coal company sends several men to a miner’s house to put his household goods into the road. If the miner objects to having his goods put out without due process of law, the militia will arrest him and put him in the guard house. A squad of soldiers follows the evicting army and sees that no miner resists the process.

Yet in the face of all of this, and the hardships that the miners are being put into by the attitude of the governor of the state with their children half clad, hungry and barefooted, sickness in almost every home, no doctor, no money, only the charity of the Miners’ union to look to, and with a cold winter almost upon them, yet these hardships are more to be desired than peonage under the guard system. We are hoping that the governor will soon see the error of his way and do something to redeem the fair name of the great state of West Virginia.

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph break added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: “Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families” by G. H. Edmunds-Militia Aids Operators” →