Tag: Women’s Trade Union League

Hellraisers Journal: “The Strike of the Singers of the Shirt” by Rose Strunsky for International Socialist Review, Part II

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Quote Clara Lemlich, Cooper Un Nov 22 re Uprising, NY Call p2, Nov 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 13, 1910
Rose Strunsky on New York City’s Shirtwaist Uprising, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of January 1910:

The Strike of the Singers of the Shirt
—–

By Rose Strunsky.
—–

[Part II of II.]

NYC Uprising, 40,000 Shirtwaist Strikers March, ISR p620, Jan 1910

The next day [November 24th, following the November 23rd mass meeting at Cooper Union], when the girls in the shops were informed of the general strike, they rose without a question, left their work and went out. Six hundred shops joined the union in a few days. The spontaneous and enthusiastic response to the call came as a great surprise to every one. None had guessed of this latent fire-neither the leaders, nor the Woman’s Trade Union League, nor the girls themselves. None knew that it was there. In forty-eight hours it reached forty thousand girls. Their demands were for the recognition of the union, a twenty per cent, increase in their wages and shorter hours—a fifty-two hour working week.

Before the strike was several hours old twenty shops settled and five hundred girls won. The next day forty-one shops settled and seven thousand girls returned to work and each day brings bosses who are willing to settle on union terms.

Morning, afternoon and evening every hall on the East Side and the large halls in the city that could be gotten, were filled with strikers and sympathizers, to discuss ways and means and to encourage each other in the struggle.

The war was on, and the chivalrous instincts in the old veterans of the class struggle came out. Besides the Socialists and the Women’s Trade Union League, the United Hebrew Workers [United Hebrew Trades] sent out committees to help these new militants; the American Federation of Labor offered Mr. Mitchell to give his aid and advice, and Solomon Shindler [Schindler], the Gompers of the East Side, has directed their forces from the very beginning.

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Hellraisers Journal: New York Call Extra: “Shirtwaist Strikers Present Facts of Great Struggle to the Public of New York City”

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Quote Clara Lemlich, Cooper Un Nov 22 re Uprising, NY Call p2, Nov 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 30, 1909
New York, New York – The Call Supports Uprising of Shirtwaist Makers

From The New York Call of December 29, 1909:

New York Call Extra Uprising Edition, p1, Dec 29, 1909

SHIRTWAIST STRIKERS PRESENT FACTS OF GREAT
STRUGGLE TO THE PUBLIC OF NEW YORK CITY

—–

WORKING GIRLS’ STRIKE RESULT OF OPPRESSION
—–
Discontent With Shop Conditions Had Been Steadily Growing
for Years-What Led Up to Present Situation-Employers
Desperate and Losing Ground Rapidly, While Strikers
Are Standing Solid, but Financial Aid Is Needed.
—–

By WILLIAM MAILLY.

When 30,000 workers in one trade, mostly girls under twenty years of age, quit work with one accord and go on a general strike almost without warning and with little preparation there must be some exceptional reason for their action.

The present strike of shirtwaist makers is an exceptional strike. Behind it is a long, bitter story of working conditions that had gradually become unbearable-a story of low wages that went lower in hard times, but never higher in good times, of long hours of day and night and Sunday labor in the busy season and idleness or semi-idleness in the dull season, of unsanitary shop conditions, with poor light, foul air and unhealthy surroundings, of the tyranny, and some times worse, of petty bosses and foreman, of a subcontracting system which relieved the manufacturer, so-called, of responsibility, but made it possible for contractors to employ labor at beggarly wages and to reap large profits-all these things had combined to make the general lot of the shirtwaist makers miserable, degrading and increasingly oppressive.

And these things prevailed because the shirtwaist makers were unorganized. They had no union. They were competing among themselves to their own undoing and the great benefit of their employers. They were helpless to resist oppression because they not act together. They were victims because they submitted being victimized.

What Led to the Revolt.

But a change had to come. Such a state of things could cannot prevail indefinitely. And when the change did come it came all the more quickly because the force that impelled it had been gaining strength for so long a time. Like a long-smoldering volcano that suddenly erupts, so the growing discontent among the shirtwaist-makers found vent in a revolt that burst forth within a few hours…..

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for November 1919, Part I: Found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C.

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Quote Mother Jones, Raise Hell in Jail, Gary IN Oct 23, NYT p2, Oct 24, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 28, 1919
Mother Jones News for November 1919, Part I
Found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington, D. C.

From The Survey of November 8, 1919
-taken from “Closed Towns” by S. Adele Shaw:

GSS, Mother Jones, WZF, Organizers, Survey p64, Nov 8, 1919

———-

[One] evening I went to a meeting of strikers [held in Braddock, Pennsylvania]. All was quiet as I made my way toward the river. Down a poorly lighted street, so dark I could scarcely see the curb, I found the men standing, filling the vacant lot before the door of the hall which was packed, and on the sidewalks and street, but not blocking either. There was neither noise nor excitement. “Mother Jones goin’ to speak.” “Come on, lady.” And the men held up their arms to open a passage for me. The hall was jammed. Sweat stood on every forehead.

The first speaker was J. G. Brown of the Pittsburgh strike committee. I had heard him the summer before in the mill towns telling the men what the eight-hour day would mean for them and their families, urging them to take out their papers and become citizens, and never failing to impress upon them the necessity of obeying the laws of the town, state and the country. Then came the deep clear voice of a woman, filling every corner of the hall. I stood on tiptoe and saw the grey hair of Mother Jones, the woman agitator of the mining districts of Colorado and West Virginia, who with the rough speech and ready invective of the old-time labor spell binder, has exerted a powerful influence over the striking steel workers. At her first words there was complete silence. Though practically all were foreigners, not a man in the hall appeared to miss a word.

[Mother Jones said:]

We’re going to have a hell of a fight here, boys. We are to find out whether Pennsylvania belongs to Gary or to Uncle Sam. If it belongs to Gary we are going to take it away from him. We can scare and starve and lick the whole gang when we get ready…The eyes of the world are on us today. They want to see if America can make the fight…Our boys went over there. You were told to clean up the Kaiser. Well, you did it. And now we’re going to clean up the damned Kaisers at home…They sit up and smoke seventy-five cent cigars and have a lackey bring them champagne. They have stomachs two miles long and two miles wide and we fill them…Remember when all was dark in Europe and Columbus said, “I see a new land,” they laughed. But the Queen of Spain sold her jewels and Columbus went to it…He died in poverty, but he gave us this nation and you and I aren’t going to let Gary take it from us…If he wants fourteen hours he can go in and work it himself…We don’t want guns. We want to destroy guns. We want honest men to keep the peace. We want music and play grounds and the things to make life worth while…Now, you fellows go on out. I want to talk to the other boys.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for November 1919, Part I: Found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C.” →

Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part III

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Quote WZF, re Walsh closing for Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918

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

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 7, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part III

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

HOW LIFE HAS BEEN BROUGHT
INTO THE STOCKYARDS
A Story of the Reorganization of the Packing Industry

William Z. Foster
Secretary Chicago Stockyards Labor Council

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part III]

THE SHORTER WORKDAY

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p71, April 1918

A big battle raged around the question of the eight hour day. In this measure’ the packers saw typified the victory so earnestly sought by the workers. They bent every effort to defeat it. Although compelled to admit the justice, economy and inevitability of the eight hour day as a general proposition, they exhausted every pretext to prevent its consideration, for very obvious reasons, till after the war.

Their strong argument was that, due to the irregular supply of cattle, sheep and hogs, and the limited capacities of the plants, introduction of the eight hour day could only be brought about after months and years of rebuilding and other preparation. To establish it suddenly now would be disastrous. It would reduce the production of vitally necessary foodstuffs full 20 per cent. This would involve starvation for the boys in the trenches and very possibly the loss of the war.

To establish this contention the brainiest superintendents in the packing business piled complexities upon complications. But their efforts were in vain. The workers met and defeated them at every point. Samuel Gompers and Victor A. Olander made the general argument for the shorter workday, and a masterful one it was. Dennis Lane, John Kennedy, Martin Murphy, Tim McCreash, John Joyce and Joseph Selkirk, all skilled butchers, applied it to the packing houses. These union workers destroyed every technical objection raised by the superintendents, checking them one by one. Once, in the midst of the arbitration, they even went to Kansas City to ascertain the exact capacity of certain departments of the packing plants in that city. They routed the experts, horse, foot and dragoons, and proved beyond all question of doubt the practicability and economy of immediately establishing the eight hour day in the packing industry. At the first hour, seeing they were defeated, the packers urged the administrator in case he saw fit to shorten the workday, to make it apply only to the skilled trades—an insidious attack on the unions that did not pass without thorough exposure.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part III” →

Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part II

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Quote WZF, re Poverty of Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918


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

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday April 6, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part II

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

HOW LIFE HAS BEEN BROUGHT
INTO THE STOCKYARDS
A Story of the Reorganization of the Packing Industry

William Z. Foster
Secretary Chicago Stockyards Labor Council

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part II]

DRASTIC ACTION TAKEN

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p68, April 1918

The cup was full. It was evident that the packers had no intention of living up to their agreement, but were seeking openly to destroy the unions, let the consequences be what they might. The unions accepted the issue. They at once broke off negotiations with the packers and sent the committee away to Washington again to demand that the President take over the packing houses, as the only way to guarantee their operation during the period of the war.

On January 18th the committee met with President Wilson, explained to him the imminent danger of a great strike in the packing houses and asked that he take steps to seize the industry. The President replied that the proposed remedy involved a big issue, that he would take it under advisement, and that in the meantime another, effort would be made to get a settlement through arbitration.

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Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part I

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Quote WZF, re Organizing Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918

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

Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 5, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part I

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

Life and Labor, Editors, and WZF, April 1918

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part I of III.]

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p63, April 1918

EIGHT MONTHS ago the vast army of packing house workers throughout the country were among America’s most helpless and hopeless toilers. Practically destitute of organization, they worked excessively long hours under abominable conditions for miserably low wages. Hope for them indeed seemed dead. But today all this is changed. Like magic splendid organizations have sprung up in all the packing centers. The eight hour day has been established, working conditions have been improved and wages greatly increased. From being one of the worst industries in the country for the workers the packing industry has suddenly become one of the best.

The bringing about of these revolutionary changes constitutes one of the greatest achievements of the Trade Union movement in recent years. A detailed recital of how it occurred is well worth while.

Since the great, ill-fated strike of 1904 the packing trades unions had put forth much effort to re-establish themselves. But, working upon the plan of each union fighting its own battle and paying little or no heed to the struggles of the rest, they achieved no better success than have other unions applying this old-fashioned and unscientific method in the big industries. Complete failure attended their efforts. No sooner would one of them gain a foothold than the mighty packers, almost without trying, would destroy it.

The logic of the situation was plain. Individual action had failed. Possibility of success lay only in the direction of united action. Common sense dictated that all the unions should pool their strength and make a concerted drive for organization. Therefore, when on Friday, July 13, 1917, exactly thirteen years after the calling of the big strike, Local No. 453 of the Railway Carmen proposed to Local No. 87 of the Butcher Workmen that a joint campaign of organization be started in the Chicago packing houses, the latter agreed at once. The two unions drafted a resolution asking the Chicago Federation of Labor to call together the interested trades and to take charge of the proposed campaign.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Rose Schneiderman: “Working Sisters..Organize! You Will Need No Laws to Save You.”

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Working sisters, fix your own hours of labor!
Organize!
You will need no laws to save you from coming
to work before 6 and leaving after 9.
-Rose Schneiderman

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 27, 1908
Stirring Appeal to “Working Sisters” by Rose Schneiderman

As the Women’s Trade Union League continues its work on behalf of working women (see below), we pause to recall a fiery speech by one of our favorite union organizers.

From The Pittsburgh Press of June 30, 1907:

Quote Working Sisters Organize, Ptt Prs p16, June 30, 1907

From The Pittsburgh Press of July 19, 1907:

NY WTUL officers, Ptt Prs p14, July 19, 1907

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Rose Schneiderman: “Working Sisters..Organize! You Will Need No Laws to Save You.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1907, Found in Utah & Chicago

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Mother Jones Quote, Red Flag, DNT Aug 11, 1907, p7

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

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday November 14, 1907
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October, Found in Utah & Chicago

From Utah’s Eureka Reporter of October 4, 1907:

Mother Jones, Mar 11, 1905, AtR

Mother Jones Will Speak Here Again
—–

The Ladies Socialist Club will hold a meeting in the Elks Hall tomorrow evening the program to include an address by Mother Jones who will arrive in town again tomorrow morning. The ladies will probably prepare refreshments for the occasion.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Eureka Reporter of October 11, 1907:

Political [News]
—–

From the present indication the voters of Eureka will have to choose between the Republican and Socialist tickets as the Democrats are undoubtedly down and out as far as the coming election is concerned. Some of the prominent members of the party are in favor of putting up a ticket but it would be a hard matter to secure candidates who would willing to dig up for campaign expenses as they realize that there is absolutely no chance to elect anyone upon a Democratic ticket in Eureka. One or two who have taken a prominent part in Democratic affairs here state that they would rather see an endorsement of the Socialist ticket than to allow the matter to go by the board but we believe that the rank and file of the Democratic party here are with the Republicans as they realize that the city is in splendid condition as a result of the clean business like city government which we have had here for the past four years.

—–

The Ladies’ Socialist Club held a meeting at the Elk’s hall last Saturday night [October 5th] and selected the following new officers: Mrs. D. J. Russell, financial secretary, Mrs. Robert Adamson, organizer and Mrs. George A. Udall, recording secretary.

Mother Jones was present and addressed the meeting and after the adjournment of the Miners Union the members of the two organizations enjoyed a nice banquet.

The Ladies Socialist Club will hold regular meetings in the future.

———-

Hellraisers Journal of October 11, 1907, reported on the death, on Labor Day, of Federal District Judge John Jay Jackson who so famously tangle with Mother Jones during the U. M. W. of A. organizing drive of 1902 in state of West Virginia.

Mother later described her thoughts on her exchange with the “Old Injunction Judge,” whereby, by most accounts, she got the better the him:

Plea for Justice, Not Charity, Quote Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Federation of Labor Protests War in Response to Wilson’s Break with Germany

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[Show] the capitalists that we will not permit
ourselves to be made cannon fodder
for their interests.
-William Sims, Janitors’ Union

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 7, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – Chicago Federation of Labor Protests War

The Chicago Federation of Labor met February 4th at its regular bi-monthly meeting, the day after President Wilson announced his decision to break off diplomatic relations with Germany. Concerning the grim prospect of war, the following resolution was passed by the delegates:

The Chicago Federation of Labor protests against this country taking part in the European War and demands that all American citizens be prevented from entering the war zone.

From The New York Times of February 4, 1917:

WWI, US Break w Germany, NYT Feb 4, 1917

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of February 5, 1917:

CHICAGO LABOR PROTESTS
WAR WITH GERMANY
—–
Demands That All American Citizens
Be Kept from Belligerent Zone.
—–

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Hellraisers Journal: Women, Children, and Elderly Driven from Their Homes in New York and Illinois

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The bosses ride fine horses
While we walk in the mud,
Their banner is the dollar sign,
Ours is striped with blood.
-Aunt Molly Jackson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday October 31, 1916
Immigrant or American-Born, Neither Matters When Workers Strike

Today’s Hellraisers presents two stories of striking workers driven from their homes by company gunthugs. The strikers in Utica, New York, are mostly Polish immigrants. In Hardin County, Illinois, there are very few immigrants, most of the strikers are second or third generation Americans. But we find from these two stories that neither the striker of foreign birth nor the native-born striker can expect any mercy from the gunthugs hired by the companies and deputized by the county sheriff.

From the Duluth Labor World of October 28, 1916:

2,700 POLISH TEXTILE STRIKERS DRIVEN
FROM HOMES IN NEW YORK
—–

BRUTAL GUARDS ASSAULT WOMEN
TEXTILE WORKERS
—–
By DANTE BARTON.
Member Industrial Relations Committee.

A. D. Juilliard (1836-1919), wiki

NEW YORK, Oct. 26.-Right in the heart of central New York, prosperous and boasting of its wealth, there is now an example of cruelty, incompetence and lawlessness against striking workers which rivals the things done in Colorado by the Rockefeller interests, or on the Mesaba range or in Pittsburgh, by the Steel trust.

Just outside of Utica, in the little town of New York Mills, 2,700 Polish men and women, industrious and peaceful, are being thrown out of company houses, terrorized and assaulted by armed thugs and guards, their children sickened and in many instances killed by the diseases of exposure; themselves and their families subjected to starvation and sickness.

These things are being perpetrated against them by their employer, the New York Mills corporation, of which A. D. Juilliard, New York city, is the responsible president, because they have struck for a 10 per cent increase of wages that are too low, by any standard, for decent living.

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