Tag: The Internationale

Hellraisers Journal: “May Day and the Revolution” by Eugene Victor Debs

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

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 1, 1914
“May Day and the Revolution” by Eugene V. Debs

From The Goltry News (Oklahoma) of May 1, 1914:

May Day and the Revolution

(By Eugene V. Debs.)

EVD Life Size Photo by Jas Soler, ISR p1044, May 1910

We are again about to celebrate the annual holiday of the International Socialist Movement. The thrill of May Day is even now in our veins and our hearts beat faster as we contemplate the glad tiding of this day to the workers of the world. 

May Day is above all days in the year the day of the working class; the day of rejoicing and fraternal greeting; the day of high hope and lofty aspiration; the day of national and international celebration.

Not yet have we of the United Stales risen to the heights of this grand occasion and given to May Day its revolutionary significance as have our comrades in European and other nations; not yet have we grasped the full and splendid meaning of this day to our class and to humanity, but this year I trust our celebration may be worthy of the day and that this jubilee of the working class may resound from coast to coast with the glad tidings of the coming revolution.

May Day was not granted as a boon to the workers by their patronizing masters to tranquilize their discontent, but was chosen and set apart by themselves as the day upon which to arouse themselves from their lethargy, lift up their weary bodies from the earth, clasp hands with their fellow workers, and solemnly vow to break their fetters and emancipate themselves from slavery. 

May Day is henceforth emancipation day for the working class. On this day the revolution breathes the breath of life into the nostrils of the workers and the awaking pulsing workers recruit with eager, passionate spirit the swelling ranks of the revolutionary movement.

Each and every industrial center and each agricultural district should this year join the May Day celebration and make its observance so general and fill it with such ardor and enthusiasm as to compel attention to the program of the day and the significance of the event. The very thought that labor’s holiday has been internationally proclaimed and will be celebrated by the workers of every nation on the face of the earth; the very contemplation of the fine spirit of the day and the eager greeting of comrades to comrade and nation to nation, voiced in every tongue known to man and borne to us on every tide and every breeze, is of itself enough to thrill us in every fiber and set every drop in our veins tingling with the fervor of international solidarity.

On this day of the downtrodden masses the inspiring message that Socialism brings to them must be heard around the world. The electrifying shibboleth of Marx must be echoed and re-echoed everywhere:

“Workers of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to gain.”

Unity and solidarity must be the watchword of the day. Industrial and political organization of the workers, all the workers, regardless of race, sex or creed, must be urged with all the force and persuasiveness at our command. Without organization the struggle is vain and the cause lost. The commonwealth of the workers that is to be must be organized primarily in the industries where they are employed and the time to do that is now, and May Day is the day to emphasize its supreme necessity.

The political power of the workers must also be developed through the Socialist Party, the only party organized and controlled by themselves; the only party which represents their interests, expresses their aspirations, and fights their battles in the war for emancipation.

May Day, pregnant with new and bounding life and rapture of resurrection, is the glorious harbinger of the social revolution, the gleaming promise of industrial freedom and social justice to all the WORKERS of the WORLD.

May Day Red Special International, Goltry OK Ns p2, May 1, 1914

[Photograph of Debs and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Haywood Describes Joyful Return to Lawrence of Strikers’ Children, Welcomed with Monster Parade

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Lawrence Children Home, Ptt Prs p2, Mar 31, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 2, 1912
Big Bill Haywood Tells the Story of the Joyful Return of Lawrence Children

From the International Socialist Review of May 1912:

When the Kiddies Came Home

WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD

Monster Parade Welcomes Lawrence Children Home, Bst Mrn Glb p1, Mar 31, 1912
Monster Parade Welcomes Lawrence Children Home

After two months’ vacation in their temporary homes in New York, Philadelphia, Barre, Vt., and Manchester, N. H., the children of the Lawrence strikers, who had been involved for ten weeks in an industrial war with the master class of the woollen and cotton industries, returned to receive the greatest reception ever held at Lawrence. Most of the children were too young to appreciate what the wonderful demonstration of solidarity meant or the reason of their departure and their return under such changed circumstances. There were among their number, however, some who were strikers themselves and knew their home leaving was to lessen the burden of their parents. The strikers understood it was not a matter of sentiment, but that this rigorous action was adopted as a war measure.

It was for the purpose of calling the attention of the world to the conditions existing at Lawrence, to the conditions of the thousands of children in the textile industry of the New England states that were slowly starving to death because their parents were unable to make a living wage, likewise for the purpose of relieving the Strike Committee of the burden incident to caring for so many little ones and to remove their emaciated and wan faces from the vision of their parents who were on strike.

Although this measure had never been adopted before in America, its significance was soon realized and the spirit of class consciousness became aroused in the working class everywhere. The children found excellent homes and the letters they wrote back to their parents were a comfort and an inspiration. At the same time it enabled those who cared for the children to take an active part in the struggle that was on at Lawrence. Ordinarily they would have contributed their quota to the strike fund, but in caring for the little ones of the striking textile workers, they not only gave many times what their contributions would have amounted to, but they took a big part in the real battle.

The strikers of Lawrence hold a feeling of deepest appreciation for those who have cared for their children. They know that their little ones were treated better than they could have been at home. From all reports, they were received as little guests, and when the time came for them to leave: their “Strike Parents” there was many a tug at their little heartstrings. They had learned to love their new homes. They left Lawrence physically destitute, often ill-clad and without underclothes and wearing garments made of shoddy.

These were the children of parents who weave the cotton, linen and woollen fabric that helps to clothe the world.

They went to other cities to be clothed and returned to their homes well dressed, with roses in their cheeks and laden with toys and other gifts.

Their arrival was made the occasion of a great demonstration in celebration of the millworkers’ notable industrial victory. More than 40,000 people thronged the streets, over half of them taking part in the monster parade.

While the mass of workers were waiting for the arrival of the train, the Syrians, headed by their drum corps, marched around the county jail playing their inspiring Oriental music and carrying to the cells of Ettor and Giovannitti the glad tidings of the coming children.

Long before the special train with the children arrived from Boston, the region in the vicinity was black with people, while along the side streets leading into Broadway, the different divisions of the Industrial Workers of the World were drawn up in line according to nationality, there being fourteen divisions in all. The Italians and Syrians were accorded the place of honor. The heads of their divisions were made prominent by the beautiful floral decorations, the Italians carrying a massive piece on a litter held up by four men. It was these two nationalities that furnished the martyrs for the strike, Anna Lapizzio, the Italian woman who was killed in a fusilade of bullets fired by policemen, and John Rami, the sixteen-year-old Syrian boy who was stabbed in the back with a bayonet in the hands of a militiaman. His lung was pierced and he died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The floral pieces were in remembrance of the dead.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The New York Call: “Lawrence Strike Ends in Victory” -Workers’ Committee Accepts Offer

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote re Lawrence Strike Victory NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike

From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

HdLn Lawrence Mtg Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

(By United Press.)

LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.

Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.

The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.

The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.

Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.

Chant the Internationale.

The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.

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Hellraisers Journal: 175 Boys and Girls, Children of Lawrence Textile Strikers, Sent to New York City for Care and Safekeeping

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote Lawrence Strike Committee, Drunk Cup to Dregs, Bst Dly Glb Eve p5, Jan 17, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 11, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Strikers Children Sent to New York City

From The Boston Daily Globe, Evening Edition, of February 10, 1912:

Lawrence Strikers Children to NYC, Bst Glb Eve p1, Feb 10, 1912

Upper Picture-Strikers’ Children from Lawrence in
South Station [Boston], Waiting to Board a New York Train.
Lower Left Hand-Child of a Striker. Lower Right Hand-
Miss Florence Sawyer, with One of the Youngest in the Party.
———-

One hundred and seventy-five boys and girls, children of textile strikers in Lawrence, were brought to Boston this morning on their way to New York city, where they are to be cared for by different families until the strike is settled. The children left at noon for New York. They were to have departed on the 10:03 train out of the South Station, but they reached the North Station too late to make the connection. They went to the South Station by an elevated train, and from the time of their arrival at 10:30, until their departure, at 12, made the waiting room of the great terminal building lively with their songs and pranks.

The children were in charge of five women and 10 men. The man who conducted the party described himself as being Henry Lindworth, a Frenchman, who said he was “a comrade” and was “secretary in charge of the party.” Lindworth had a pocket full of letters from Socialist Democrats and plain Socialist in New York applying for one or more of the juveniles, whom they promised to give homes during the pendency of the strike. Each of the children had pinned to his or her garments a slip of paper on which was written the name, age and address of the child.

The children ranged in age from 4 to 14, and all of them seemed to be comfortably dressed, although the clothing of most was of rather poor quality, and some of them wore patches, but the little ones all seemed happy, and looked upon their trip as a great lark. They were ever ready to burst into song when Lindworth called on them to do so, which he frequently did. The song they most sang at the South Station was “La Internationale,” which Lindworth said was the hymn of those who are opposed to society as it is now constituted.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Charles H. Kerr: New Edition of “Socialist Songs”-No. 11 of Pocket Library of Socialism

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote, Kerr Translation Internationale, Socialist Songs 2nd, Jan 15, 1900———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 2, 1901
New Edition of “Socialist Songs” Now Available from C. H. Kerr

From the International Socialist Review of December 1901:

Socialist Songs.
—————

We are glad to announce that we have just published a new edition of No. 11 of the Pocket Library of Socialism entitled, “Socialist Songs” The new edition corresponds exactly to the words in our larger book “Socialist Songs with Music.” The price of the new booklet is 5 cents, and we offer it at $1.50 a hundred, postpaid, to any Socialist Local, or $1 a hundred, postpaid, to any Local holding a share of stock in our company.

The price of “Socialist Songs with Music” is 20 cents a copy, or $1.50 a dozen, postpaid. This book has given general satisfaction and has made it practicable to have singing in connection with Socialist meetings in many places. The greatest obstacle to its general introduction has been that comrades often could not afford to pay for enough books to scatter through a large hall for propaganda meetings.

The publication of the booklet now announced will make it possible to introduce singing in propaganda meetings everywhere by supplying a few copies of the edition with music for the musicians who assist at the meeting, and scattering the booklets through the crowd. We have endeavored to introduce no song that is not in itself good propaganda material.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: “Six Red Months in Russia” by Louise Bryant, Describes Day-by-Day Drama of Russian Revolution

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Louise Bryant, Six Red Months pxi, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 9, 1918
On Sale Now: “Six Red Months in Russia” by Louis Bryant

From The Liberator of December 1918:

Louise Bryant, Six Red Months Ad, Liberator p2, Dec 1918

Day-by-Day Drama of Russian Revolution

Imagine! If you had been alive at the end of the 18th century what would you have given for a book describing the day-by-day drama of the great French Revolution telling how Mirabeau, Marat, Robespierre, Charlotte Corday, looked, how they acted, what they said-all told by a first class, wide-awake unprejudiced reporter.

You who live now at a time when the great Russian Revolution, more tremendous by far than the French Revolution, is shaking a hostile world to its foundations, have the opportunity to walk with Louise Bryant through the streets of Petrograd and Moscow, to see Babushka and Kerensky in the Winter Palace, to watch the fall of the Provisional Government, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the rise of the proletariat. You can see Lenine, Trotsky, Spirodonova, Kollantai, and many others, watch them in action, hear them talk. You can get an intimate picture of the women soldiers and the ragged Red Guard Army.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Social-Democrat: Anniversary of Paris Commune Celebrated by Socialists World-Wide

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.
-Eugène Pottier – Paris, June 1871

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 31, 1898
Paris Commune Celebrated Annually by Socialists

From The Social Democrat of March 1898:

ScDem Mar 1898

Triumph of Order over Paris Commune May 1871, ScDem Mar 1898

THE COMMUNE OF PARIS.

The 18th of March, the anniversary of the Paris Commune, is annually celebrated by Socialists throughout the world. The Commune of Paris is an event unique in history. It was the first working-class government that the world had ever seen. For the first time the working people had seized the reins of government, and taken into their hands the administration of a great city. No wonder the possessing classes were alarmed; no wonder all the forces of “respectability,” of reaction and obscurantism, rallied to the government of the “little man,” Theirs, and his gang of Imperialist mouchards and Royalist ruffians at Versailles. The revolution of the Parisian proletariat was not a mere political movement, it was a menace to all those interests which live and thrive by the enslavement, the exploitation, and the plunder of the workers.

The history of this epoch-marking insurrection is an oft-told tale. Who, among Socialists, does not know of the desertion of Paris by the reactionary Assembly; of the measures for disarming the Parisian National Guards; of the attempted seizure of the guns on the heights of Montmartre in the morning of the 18th of March; how that attempt was frustrated, and how the troops sent to carry it out fraternised with the National Guards, and shot the officer who ordered them to fire upon the people?

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