Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Western Overall Brigade Present at Chicago Convention of IWW

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Quote Dolly Walsh re IWW Overall Brigrade, Itr Ocn p3, Sept 30, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 1, 1908
Chicago, Illinois – I. W. W. Convention “Running Full Blast”

From the Chicago Inter Ocean of September 30, 1908:

IWWC, EGF n Dolly Reed Walsh, Chicago Itr Ocn p3, Sept 30, 1908

—–

IWWC, Overall Brigade, Chicago Itr Ocn p3, Sept 30, 1908

—–

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Socialist Review: Vincent St. John on the IWW’s Revolutionary Industrial Unionism

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Quote fr IWW Preamble, IUB July 11, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 24, 1908
Industrial Unionism and the Revolutionary Labor Movement of the World

IWW Gen Adm Emblem, IUB, Mar 14, 1908

With the fourth annual convention of the Industrial Workers of the World now underway at Brand’s Hall in Chicago, Illinois, we find this a good time to republish the following article by Vincent St. John wherein he discusses Industrial Unionism as practiced by the I. W. W. Fellow Worker St. John currently serves as the I. W. W.’s General Organizer and Assistant Secretary-which position may change by the end of this year’s convention.

From the International Socialist Review of September 1908:

The Economic Argument for Industrial Unionism.
[by Vincent St. John]

IU by St J, ISR p172, Sept 1908HE SUBJECT of industrial unionism is to-day receiving the attention of the revolutionary labor movement of the world. And the opposite wing of the labor movement, the conservatives, are likewise studying it, but with the aim of defeating its revolutionary object.

Different schools of industrial unionism are springing up. This in itself is a proof that the subject is of general interest, and that it is forcing itself upon those in the labor movement who formerly waved it aside as a visionary and impracticable scheme.

As the Industrial Workers of the World is to-day the only organization of general scope, in the United States, that strictly adheres to the revolutionary principle of industrial unionism, it justly claims the right to speak with authority on the subject. Without revolutionary principles, industrial unionism is of little or no value to the workers.

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

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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

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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.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Elizabeth Flynn, Girl Socialist, Found on Soapbox Lecturing on Philadelphia Street Corner

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It’s great to fight for Freedom
with a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 10, 1907
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Miss Flynn Lectures on Socialism

From the Chicago Inter Ocean of September 9, 1907:

GIRL IN HIGH SCHOOL SOCIALIST LECTURER
—–
Miss Elizabeth Flynn Mounts Dry Goods Box
on Philadelphia’s Corners to Expound the
Doctrines of Her Political Beliefs.
—–

STRICKEN BY POVERTY, SHE AIMS BLOW AT CAPITALISTS
—–
Handles Rockefeller, Roosevelt, and Other Leaders
Without Gloves in Addresses to Masses
-Says Crisis Will Bring Change.
—–

Special Dispatch to The Inter Ocean.

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

PHILADELPHIA. PA., Sept. 8.-Philadelphia is being treated to a series of lectures on socialism, delivered by a girl of 17 years. She is miss Elizabeth Flynn of New York, still in high school, and every night she expounds the doctrine of ther political faith from the top of a dry goods box at a busy corner.

Two weeks ago Miss Flynn passed her seventeenth birthday, celebrating this important occasion by delivering two powerful addresses on socialism, brimful of tart remarks about Mr. Rockefeller’s fine and about the insincerity of Mr. Roosevelt and any other politician of the capitalistic class.

Draws Picture of Capitalist.

Here are some hammer blows from her speeches:

On the one hand is the working class, on the other hand the things they need, and between the two the capitalist dragging down the working man and pushing up the price of materials he must have.

Are we going to sit around and starve ourselves waiting for the capitalist to get out of his market glue?

Mark me!The downfall of capitalism will come in some great crisis.

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Hellraisers Journal: Twenty Thousand Men, Women, and Children Cheer Big Bill Haywood at Pabst Park in Milwaukee

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Stand shoulder to shoulder.
You can’t lose.
Yours, fraternally,
W. D. HAYWOOD

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday August 21, 1907
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Haywood Guest at Socialist Picnic

From The Green Bay Gazette of August 19, 1907:

Haywood, Wilshire's Magazine, 1906

HAYWOOD GIVEN OVATION
—–
Twenty Thousand Milwaukeeans
Turn Out to Greet Miner.

Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 19.-Twenty thousand men, women, and children crowded Pabst park yesterday afternoon to listen to William D. Haywood, secretary treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners, when he addressed the gathering of Milwaukee social democrats at their second picnic of the season.

The picnic was the most successful held by the party in this city and Mr. Haywood was given a most gratifying ovation.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1907, Part I: Found in Speaking in Arizona

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 15, 1907
Mother Jones News for July, Part I: Found in Arizona

Mother Jones, Tacoma Times, Sept 19, 1904

During the month of July, Mother Jones was found continuing her work in Arizona on behalf of the Western Federation of Miners. She toured the mining districts and spoke to the miners, their families, and supporters. One such speech was described by The Tucson Citizen of July 16th:

Mother Jones, known as the miners’ Joan of Arc, arrived in Tucson yesterday afternoon and last night addressed an open air meeting at the corner of Church and Congress streets. Tremendous magnetism and a certain amount of crude eloquence are the attributes with which Mother Jones has endeared herself to tens of thousands of working people all over the United States. Last night she gave a characteristic address….

Mother Jones went throughly into the Colorado and Idaho situation and lambasted the crowd that is prosecuting Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. Getting nearer home she paid her stinging compliments to the Copper Queen Mining Company and gave her own version of the strike situation there. She has been at Bisbee since May 15 of this year lending encouragement to the strikers in the interest of the Western Federation of Miners. Her voice rose almost to a shriek as she told the Federation side of the troubles in the Warren district. Frequently during the address the old woman was cheered and exclamation of “God bless you” and “Good for you, Mother,” were heard from among her auditors. Before she finished the speaker was surrounded by a crowd in thorough sympathy with her, and the wonderful power she exerts over large bodies of men was made manifest in the way she swayed her Tucson audience….

———-

Part I: Mother Jones News for July 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: The Industrial Union Bulletin on Roosevelt’s Square Dealings with Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone

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The labor giant has slept long,
but is now awakening.
-Eugene Victor Debs

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 14, 1907
From The Industrial Union Bulletin: Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”

IUB, Official Publication, IWW, April 13, 1907

The official publication of the Industrial Workers of the World yesterday discussed the remarks of President Roosevelt regarding the citizenship qualities of Comrades Debs, Moyer and Haywood, and included the statement of Bill Haywood, made in response to being termed an “undesirable citizen” by the President of the United States on the eve of his trial.

IS THIS A “SQUARE DEAL”?

HMP, Def Fund, IUB Apr 13, 1907

Nothing has happened in Theodore Roosevelt’s career as president of the United States that so entirely discredits his fitness for that position as the recent reference by him to Debs, Moyer and Haywood, as being “undesirable citizens.” The two latter are soon to appear in court and stand trial for their lives, yet the “chief magistrate” of the nation, oblivious to the ordinary rule that anyone charged with crime is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proven, has made public an opinion that must be prejudicial to their interests. It is an outrage that ranks with the unlawful acts of the mine owners and McParlands of Colorado. Neither of these men has ever been convicted of any crime, yet their case is prejudged in advance of their appearance in court. It is a shameful and brutal spectacle.

IWW, Gen Sec Trautmann, Ex Brd St J, IUB, Apr 13,1907

The facts are these: The president addressed a letter to Congressman James S. Sherman in which certain matters in dispute between himself and the railway magnate, E. H. Harriman; entirely without warrant and apparently with the sole purpose of creating prejudice against Moyer and Haywood, he denounced the conduct of Harriman in the following terms:

It shows a cynicism and deep-seated corruption which make the man uttering such statements, and boasting, no matter how falsely, of his power to perform such crime, at least as undesirable a citizen as Debs, or Moyer or Haywood.

Fellow-worker Haywood, awaiting his trial in Idaho, gave out the following statement:

 

I do not desire to make an extended statement with regard to President Roosevelt’s reference to me in his letter to Congressman Sherman.

The president says that I am an “undesirable citizen,” the inference being that, as such, I should be put out of the way. His influence is all-powerful, and his statement, coming as it does, on the eve of my trial for my life, will work me irreparable injury, and do more to prevent a fair trial than everything that has been said and done against me in the past.

President Roosevelt is the leading exponent of the doctrine of “fair play and a square deal,” but his reference to me in his letter to Sherman demonstrates that he does not practice what he preaches.

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Hellraisers Journal: Max Hayes Blames DeLeon for Havoc at Convention of Industrial Workers of the World

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It is the historic mission of the working class
to do away with capitalism.
-The IWW Preamble

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday November 11, 1906
From The Labor World – I. W. W. Doomed, According to Max Hayes

From the Duluth Labor World of November 10, 1906:

MAX HAYES CLAIMS I. W. W. IS DOOMED
—–
Leading Trade Union-Socialist Says That
Industrial Workers Have Split.
—–
Convention Breaks up in a Row-
Riot Calls From the Police-
Much Havoc.
—–

IWW Label, 2nd Conv, Sept 17-Oct 3, 1906

Max Hayes, editor of the Cleveland Citizens says that the I. W. W. is doomed. [He?] sizes up the situation like this:

The Industrial Workers of the World appears to be doomed, and once more Dan DeLeon plays the role of chief smasher. After weeks of battle the Chicago convention finally wound up in a split, and while the few tired delegates who remained to the end were homeward bound the Sherman and Trautman factions had a beautiful scrap to see who would [hold?] the fort. There was slugging, police calls and injunction suits started, and at this writing Secretary Trautman, who is DeLeon’s man, seems to be trying to pick himself together in the ditch of defeat while President Sherman, who was deposed by his opponents, is grinning at the luckless secretary from a national office window.

It is a difficult matter to sift the facts from the sea of words that are printed in DeLeon’s Daily People, the circulars that have been issued by the Shermanites and the communications that have been rushed into print by the interested parties. It looks as though there was a lot of faking right from the beginning; that some of the so-called departments were on paper; that legally elected delegates were kicked out of the convention and contestants who represented nothing or organizations not in good standing were seated; that the constitution was flagrantly violated in a number of instances; that the delegates usurped the rights of the rank and file conferred through the referendum; that there were financial transactions that looked suspicious; that organizers manipulated to obtain funds for forming paper unions and loafing, etc., etc.

Very few of the prominent men who assisted in forming the I. W. W. last year were present at the second convention, and the Western Federation of Miners was the only important organization represented. It is quite likely that the miners will secede and thus leave DeLeon master of all he surveys. The latter is never happier than when he has smashed something and is permitted to “clarify” things according to his own notions until only the great and only Dan is left with a few retainers who crawl about on their bellies and shout “Allah be praised:” Dandelion DeLeon is a daisy.

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Hellraisers Journal: Industrial Workers of the World Convention Call: Chicago, September 17, 1906

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The working class and the employing class
have nothing in common.
There can be no peace so long as
hunger and want are found among millions
of the working people and the few,
who make up the employing class,
have all the good things of life.
-IWW Preamble

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday August 17, 1906
From the Montana News: I. W. W. Convention Call

W. E. Trautman and C. O. Sherman
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