Tag: Woman Suffrage

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks to Striking Chicago Garment Workers, “Don’t be afraid of their jails!”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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No matter what your fight don’t be ladylike!
God Almighty made women
and the Rockefeller gang of thieves
made the ladies.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 28, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – Mother Jones Jumps into Garment Strike

From The Day Book of February 27th:

MOTHER JONES URGES STRONG ACTION
IN GARMENT STRIKE

Mother Jones Speaks to Chg Garment Strikers, ISR Dec 1915

The same old Mother Jones, with her scream of hatred for the bosses who grind their workers, jumped into the garment ladies garment strike yesterday. Twice she addressed the strikers and twice the crowd of workers yelled back in answer when she shouted for more vim in the strike.

“Picket,” she screamed at the packed hall at 180 W. Washington st.,

Picket! Let them arrest you. Don’t picket in ones or twos. Go in hundreds-five hundreds of you. Get out there, and if they arrest one they’ll have to arrest all of you.

When they start taking you to cells by the hundreds, taxpayers will begin asking questions. Pretty soon they’ll find out what this is all about and your strike will be won.

The substance of Mother Jones’ talk yesterday, which is as yet unprinted, follows:

They call me a radical agitator. They call your organizers radical agitators. Let me tell you that the most radical agitators we have ever had were those who founded our government. It was founded on a mighty revolt against tyrants. Let us keep up our revolt against indecent labor conditions until we clean up the bosses in Chicago.

They served me with a copy of an injunction Sunday as I came into the city. I thought it was the Salvation Army because it was handed me on the Sabbath. Then I read the name of one of your judges and I knew it was an injunction sent in violation of the Lord’s commandments. Why I’ve had enough injunctions served on me to fill 99 coffins when I go to meet my master.

I hope that Judge Baldwin has his lap dog here because I want to give him a message to carry back. I want him to hear what I have to say about this strike that I am butting into.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Arrives in Chicago, Served with Injunction, Declares, “What a lot of rot!”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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All strikes are alike;
They are protest against charity,
ignorance, misery, hunger,
industrial slavery, and jails.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 27, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – Mother Jones Arrives to Aid Garment Strikers

Mother Jones states she will aid the garment workers now on strike in this city, court injunction notwithstanding. Most of the strikers are women. Many of them have been brought before Judge Baldwin, the old injunction judge, forced to listen to his endless lectures and sentenced for up to six months in jail.

From The Pittsburgh Press:

PREPARE TO DEAL WITH “MOTHER” JONES
—–

By United Press.

Mother Mary Harris Jones, Logansport, IN, Sept 27, 1916

Chicago, Feb. 26.-Officials anticipated activities of “Mother” Jones, aged 83, labor leader. When she arrived here from New York to participate in the garment workers’ strike, she was served with a copy of the injunction prohibiting picketing.

[She declared:]

What a lot of rot. Imagine an old judge issuing a thing like that in the twentieth century.

I shall speak in Chicago if I am asked and attend meetings too. All strikes are alike; they are a protest against charity, ignorance, misery, hunger, industrial slavery, and jails.

Miss Gertrude Barnum, who with Theodore Roosevelt, helped settle the kimona workers’ strike in 1913, has also arrived to help the strikers.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Everett Defense News Letter No. 12: Caroline A. Lowe Comes to Aid of Class-War Prisoners

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

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 20, 1917
Seattle, Washington – Caroline A. Lowe Joins Defense Team

From Charles Ashleigh for Defense News of February 17th:

Everett Massacre, Def News Letter 12, Feb 17, 1917

Seattle, Wash., Feb. 17th.

Caroline A. Lowe, Progressive Woman, Sept 1913

The panel of jurors, from which will be drawn the twelve to serve in the cases of the 74 men charged with murder, has been already published. There are 175 jurors on the list, of whom 71 are women.

MISS FLYNN HAS
SUCCESSFUL TOUR.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has just returned from a speaking trip through Washington, Oregon, Idaho and part of Montana in the interests of the Defense of the 74 victims of Bloody Sunday. Every where the workers have heard eagerly the facts of the tragic and brutal massacre of November 5th and have given willingly of their time, energy and money to help set free our imprisoned fellow workers. Miss Flynn will now be engaged until the trial in the State of Washington and, more especially, in King County.

WELL KNOWN WOMAN VOLUNTEERS FOR DEFENSE.

The Defense has secured most valuable aid in the services of Miss Caroline A. Lowe, a woman of national prominence, who has entered into the campaign for the release of the 74 working men who are threatened with life-long imprisonment for their belief in Free Speech. Miss Lowe is an attorney-at law, practicing in Kansas and California and was formerly vice-president of the Kansas City Teachers’ Association. She was also National Lecturer for the Socialist Party. Miss Lowe addressed the U. S. Senate Committee on National Suffrage, during the Suffrage hearing in 1911. She was prominent in the fight for Free Speech in Kansas City, Mo., in the winter of 1913-14 when the workers won a clear-cut victory, securing the right to use the streets as a public forum.

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Flynn, 16, Plans Rejuvenation of World. Not an “out-and-out woman suffrage socialist.”

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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It is glorious to be arrested
in a good cause.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, age 16

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 4, 1907
From Her Flat in the Bronx: An Interview with Miss Flynn

From New York Evening World of August 24, 1906:

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

LIFE’S BIG THINGS ALONE INTEREST
GIRL SOCIALIST
—–

Miss Elizabeth Flynn at Sixteen
Plans Rejuvenation of World.
—–
STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL.
—–
Is Leading Spirit of Unity Club
and Laughs at Her Arrest.
—–
NO WOMAN SUFFRAGIST.
—–
Says She Fully Realizes the Size of
the Task, but Will Devote
Life to It
—–

The youngest girl socialist in America is undoubtedly Miss Elizabeth Flynn, who was arrested for preaching socialism in the streets and discharged yesterday, and who to-night will address an open-air meeting on Main street, Orange. Although she is only sixteen years of age, Miss Flynn has become the leader of a club of Socialists, the title of which is Unity and the purpose of which is to bring about a lull in the fighting that has so far marked the progress of the socialist party.

Miss Flynn, who lives at No. 795 East One Hundred and Thirty-fourth street, talked freely to-day with an Evening World reporter,. She announced her plan to devote her life to the socialistic cause, saying that she believes it is much better for a woman to give her time to the conversion of mankind to a great economic improvement than to be a mother of children.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Indiana Federation of Labor Convention

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I reside wherever there is a good fight against wrong-
all over the country.
Wherever the workers are fighting the robbers
I go there.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday September 30, 1916
Logansport, Indiana – Mother Jones: Interview and Speech

From the Logansport Daily Tribune of September 27, 1916:

Mother Jones, Logansport Dly Tb IN, Sept 27, 1916

Comes to Address Federation of Labor
and Grants Testy Interview
—–
STILL VIGOROUS AT AGE OF 86
—–
(By Helen C. Kuppenheimer.)

Mother Mary Harris Jones, Logansport, IN, Sept 27, 1916

Mother Jones arrived in the city last evening. The office sent me out to hunt her up and get an interview. These were the directions: “You’ll find her in one of the down-town restaurants-she’s a little, sweet-faced women with white hair and just as kind as she looks.”

I found her down at a Broadway restaurant sitting at a table with three men. I knew her because she was little and white-haired and sweet-faced, just like the office said she would be. I walked over to the table confidently, even boldly-here at least was one interview over which I need feel no timidity or trepidation-because she was as kind as she looked.

She was talking to the men at the table with her and I stopped beside her chair until she would give me an opportunity to speak to her. Finally she glanced up at me and then down at my feet and back up again-and then, very sharply, “Well?” I told her rather hurriedly who I was and what I wanted.

“An interview? What for? The paper? No I am going home and go to bed. I have nothing to say.” All these rapid fire remarks were made in a voice which might easily have reached to the farthest corner of a large hall. While her voice is as strong as a fog horn, it is as nothing compared to the quality of her glance which first pierces and then shrivels the person upon whom it is directed.

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Hellraisers Journal: “The Disfranchised” by Ryan Walker from the American Socialist

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Men, their rights, and nothing more;
women, their rights,
and nothing less.
-Susan B. Anthony

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

Hellraisers Journal Sunday September 24, 1916
American Socialist: Ryan Walker on the Right to Vote

the-disfranchised-by-r-walker-amsc-sept-23-1916

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1916: Pays Visit to Atlanta, Georgia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The future of this country is
in the hands of the women,
but they must wake up
and they must demand.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 21, 1916
Mother Jones Interviewed During July Visit to Atlanta, Georgia

From The Atlanta Constitution of July 9, 1916:

Mother Jones, Atlanta Constitution, July 12, 1916

“Mother” Jones Will Reach Atlanta
Monday on a Secret Mission
—–

“Mother” Jones, famous internationally for her work for miners, will arrive in Atlanta Monday morning on a mission, the nature of which she refuses to disclose in advance, and for a visit of indefinite duration.

She is coming directly from Washington, D. C., and will be met upon arrival by a party of local friends, headed by Jerome Jones, who Saturday received a telegram from William Green, Chicago, secretary of the United Mine Workers of America, announcing “Mother” Jones intention to pay this city a call.

The visit of “Mother” Jones to Atlanta while the general assembly is in session would in itself be somewhat significant, because she is noted as a lobbyist and worker for laws which are intended to brighten and lighten the lot of the laborer. Many take her visit just at this time, with a factory inspection-child labor and factory labor bill on the calendar for debate and vote in the house during the week, as especially significant, and in all probability the week’s legislative grind will be materially enlivened by her presence in the city, if not in the lobbies and the galleries at the capitol.

“Mother” Jones-she is known by no other name-is a unique and at once an extraordinary American woman. About 80 years old, she has devoted the greater part of her life thus far to the cause of labor, and most of her years have been spent in the mining camps of the west, although she is equally well-known among the underground workers of every other section of the country and in Canada.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Educate and Agitate!” Mother Jones Speaks at Labor Day Picnic in Evansville, Indiana

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The miners need no angel.
They are living in hell
and they want to raise hell.
-Mother Jones

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

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday September 6, 1916
Evansville, Indiana – Labor Day Speech of Mother Jones

From the Evansville Courier of September 5, 1916:

WILSON AND KERN LABOR’S FRIENDS
—–
Mother Jones Tells 10,000, Gathered for Labor Day,
Their Duty to Re-elect Them
—–
HAVE PROVED THEIR WORTH
—–
“Educate and Agitate” Is Her Remedy to Bring About
Further Social Reforms
—–
Tells of Her Work in West Virginia and Colorado
in Behalf of Miners
—–
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Hellraisers Journal: From Solidarity: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on “Problems Organizing Women,” Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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No matter what your fight, don’t be ladylike!
God Almighty made women and
the Rockefeller gang of thieves made the ladies.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday July 21, 1916
From Solidarity: Miss Flynn on Organizing Women

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Reno Gz-Jr, July 12, 1916

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World who recently arrived in northern Minnesota to assist with the strike of the iron miners of the Mesabi Range, on July 15th had published in that organization’s weekly journal, Solidarity, an article on the problems of organizing women. Miss Flynn encourages working women to rebel against the limits enforced against them by the prevailing attitudes which dictate that women should be “lady-like” and stick to tending home and children. Today we offer part one of the article; part two will appear in tomorrow’s Hellraisers Journal.
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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones in Atlanta, Georgia, Where Legislation on Child Labor Is Pending, Gives Interview

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

Tuesday July 18, 1916
Atlanta, Georgia – Mother Jones in City for Short Stay

From The Atlanta Constitution of July 12, 1916:

Mother Jones, Atlanta Constitution, July 12, 1916


Mother Jones, Laborers’ Friend,
Confers With Local Leaders
—–


Picturesque Character Here on
Flying Visit-
Is Her Visit Inspired by Pending
Legislation Before General Assembly?
-She Will Not Answer.
—–

Mother Jones, known internationally for her defense of organized labor and for agitation for improved labor conditions generally, arrived in Atlanta early yesterday afternoon, direct from Washington, D. C., on a mission, the precise nature of which she declines to reveal. She is scheduled to leave the city this afternoon.

At the train Mother Jones was met by a delegation of union labor friends, headed by Jerome Jones, editor of The Atlanta Journal of Labor, and was taken at once to the Ansley hotel, where she is a guest. During the afternoon she visited the federal penitentiary.

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