Rebel Girls Women in the Mesabi Iron Range Strike of 1916

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Rebel Women in the Mesabi Iron Range Strike of 1916 grants from southern and eastern strike, ardently tackling the chal- Europe—had walked away from their lenges confronting the miners. jobs in early June. The IWW stepped Mining company officials refused to in to organize the workers and helped recognize any of the strike demands Girls draft a list of strike demands that and hired over 1,000 armed guards David LaVigne included higher wages, a shorter to protect their properties and mon- work day, payday twice per month, itor the strikers’ actions. Just prior to abor activist Elizabeth Gurley and eradication of a labor system Flynn’s coming, fatal clashes between L Flynn was no stranger when she that paid miners not by a daily rate, strikers and mining company police arrived in Duluth on July 11, 1916. As but for the amount of ore produced. had provided county law enforce- early as 1907 Flynn had advocated Commenting on the demands shortly ment authorities an excuse to arrest for the rights of Minnesota workers, after her arrival, Flynn declared that and jail the IWW’s chief organizers. and she was nationally known as an mining companies were “taking Undeterred, Flynn traveled back and orator with the Industrial Workers of millions of dollars worth of ore from forth across the Mesabi Range, tire- the World (IWW), an industrial union Minnesota every year, and it seems to lessly canvassing its 20-odd cities and committed to overthrowing capital- me they should be willing to leave just many mining “locations,” smaller ism. In 1916, Flynn returned to Minne- a little of their enormous profits here settlements sited within easy walk- sota to support an IWW strike on the among the working men.”1 ing distance of mines. She delivered Mesabi Iron Range. Eight thousand Over the ensuing months, Flynn forceful speeches at each stop, prom- iron ore miners—a mixture of immi- became the most visible face of the ising the strikers that “the I.W.W. is

90 MINNESOTA HISTORY facing: Women march in an Industrial in other forms. Through actions that Workers of the World (IWW) parade in extended far beyond the role of any Hibbing, June 21, 1916. one individual, women contributed to the strike by confronting mining going to see you through . . . until company abuses, participating in the great end is gained.” By August, meetings, parades, and industrial an observer from St. Paul would sabotage, setting up pickets, and skill- marvel that “Miss Flynn is at present fully managing limited strike-time the power behind the strikers. She resources.4 controls them and keeps order and is always ready to give wise counsel.”2 Yet the mining companies’ tac- Violent encounters tics ultimately proved too difficult to overcome even for an organizer early all historical as skilled as Flynn. In an effort to Naccounts cite two deadly skir- discredit her leadership, local news- mishes between striking miners papers attacked Flynn for not fitting and law enforcement officials as the proper gender roles. The editor of most significant events of the Mesabi the Chisholm Tribune-Herald, Walter Range strike. The first clash took Brown, argued that there were “higher place in the city of Virginia on June ideals for a woman to cultivate,” and 22, and ended in the death of a Cro- assured readers of the IWW’s demise atian immigrant miner named John since Flynn, who was divorced, “was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in Minnesota Alar. The tragedy spurred an increase even unsuccessful in her one attempt during the strike. in the number of mining company at domestic life.” For her part, Flynn police and induced an order by Min- campaigned passionately on behalf of narrative in need of reconsideration. nesota governor Joseph A. A. Burn- the strikers, while conceding with a Aside from Flynn’s role, histories of quist to snub out strike activity. On smile that “my marriage and divorce the strike mostly ignore the contri- July 3 a second violent encounter near have given my enemies the chance butions of women. Studies of radical the city of Biwabik led to the deaths they were seeking to malign and vil- politics, in general, have long over- of sheriff’s deputy James Myron and a ify me.” In the end, it was not Flynn’s looked women’s participation, assum- Finnish soda pop deliveryman named defiance of gender norms that caused ing their political inclinations to be Tomi Ladvalla. It was immediately the strike to fail but insufficient relief primarily conservative or citing the following this incident that St. Louis funds. Miners desperate to feed their male chauvinism of organized labor. County sheriff John Meining arrested families gradually returned to work, and union officials called off the strike It was not Flynn’s defiance of gender norms that on September 17. Flynn continued to fight for the strikers’ cause through caused the strike to fail but insufficient relief funds. December, devoting most of her time to raising legal funds for the IWW Women’s exclusion from mining the most prominent IWW organiz- organizers still held in a Duluth jail.3 work on the Mesabi Range meant that ers, stifling the strike’s momentum they were not strikers in 1916, as was and prompting the call to Elizabeth the case in labor conflicts elsewhere. Gurley Flynn. The existing historical oday Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Working-class women did, nonethe- narrative suggests that men were Tfigures prominently in accounts less, express their class consciousness the main actors in these two events, of the Mesabi Iron Range Strike of 1916. A rich body of scholarship connecting the conflict to radical DAVID LAVIGNE holds a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota. His research working-class and ethnic politics cel- focuses on the historical memory of European immigration to the United States during the twentieth century. He is currently a visiting assistant professor of history at the College of ebrates her importance. She remains, St. Benedict/St. John’s University. however, an anomaly in a male-driven

FALL 2016 91 but a closer examination shows that rounds at the company guards. A women played critical roles in both shot whizzed by Foley’s head and he instances. later inferred the woman’s deadly The woman at the center of intentions, claiming “it was one of the June 22 conflict was Lucija those—wasn’t fine buckshot—one Rosandich—a Croatian immigrant, of those slug, round bullets, fit any miner’s wife, and mother of a baby 18-gauge shot gun.” The shots set girl. She lived in Virginia near the off a fury of gunfire, and it was at Alpena mine. At a meeting on the this time that Alar emerged from evening of June 21, the IWW decided another house, also carrying a Win- to shut down mining operations at chester rifle. He took a shot to the the Alpena. By 3:30 a.m. the next abdomen and died almost instantly. morning, a crowd of 100 picketers Although the coroner failed to had lined up on vacant lots near the determine who killed Alar, accounts mine and awaited the arrival of the blamed Rosandich for setting off the morning shift. Located at the edge firestorm that led to his death.6 of Virginia’s North Side, the site of The events that led to the deaths the impending confrontation was a of James Myron and Tomi Ladvalla Montenegrin immigrant Milica Masonovich, maze of workers’ homes, industrial similarly placed a woman at the cen- wife of striking miner Philip Masonovich, was machinery, and mounds of ore and ter of the storyline. On July 3 Myron arrested for her role in a melee. waste rock. Beside the picketers were and fellow St. Louis County deputy piles of rocks and bricks that they sheriffs Edward Schubisky, Nick Dil- At this moment, Philip Masono had collected during the night. Ten lon, and Edward Hoffman traveled vich emerged from the other room mining company guards watched to the Chicago Location near Biwa- and asked for his shoes. As his wife from across the street. When Oliver bik. The men had orders to arrest started to retrieve them, Dillon threw Iron Mining Company chief of police Philip Masonovich, a striking miner her violently across the room. Milica David Foley eventually arrived at accused of violating a local liquor later recalled her reaction: “I told Nick the scene shortly before 5:00 a.m. law. When the deputies arrived at the [Dillon] to get out of the house and I he ordered the picketers to disperse. Masonovich home around 3:30 p.m. chased him out. I went outside after Nick and one of those fellows with Despite the activism of both Rosandich and him hit me over the head with [a] club.” Fighting ensued between the Masonovich, comments by male participants deputies and Philip, who was backed minimized the women’s significance. by three Montenegrin immigrants boarding at the house. Milica partici- A striking miner yelled back, “You they found Philip’s wife, Milica, cook- pated in the melee as well, delivering have no business here.” Fighting ing in the kitchen. The Montenegrin a blow to deputy Edward Schubisky’s broke out soon after.5 immigrant and mother of five chil- head that knocked him down and As picketers and company guards dren greeted the men and explained badly injured him. IWW activist battled in the street, Rosandich that her husband was asleep in an Harrison George would later say that suddenly ran out of a nearby house adjacent room. Deputy Nick Dillon the Montenegrin woman came from carrying a Winchester rifle. She was replied that “they had not come to sit a nation “where women go to battle one of several women in the fray. down” but to take Philip and another with the men.” During the fighting, Other women bearing firearms poked man to jail. With no evidence of a Myron took five shots to the back. out their heads from windows and warrant presented, Milica interpreted Another bullet killed Ladvalla who, doorways of adjoining buildings. the raid as a pretense to harass strike with his wagon, stood innocently After her initial rush, Rosandich supporters and answered back, “You outside the house. The local coroner ran into Foley and dropped the rifle fellows will not take my husband to again offered no conclusion as to momentarily. When the chief of jail before Old Man O’Hara comes who shot the men, but most accounts police turned toward another part of from Biwabik.” William O’Hara was agreed that Milica Masonovich’s rush the fight, Rosandich unloaded three the city’s chief of police.7 at the deputies instigated events.8

92 MINNESOTA HISTORY Despite the activism of both who were inside naturally came frequent marches to publicize the Rosandich and Masonovich, com- to help her.” The newspaper later miners’ cause. The largest of the ments by male participants min- added that Philip gallantly carried processions immediately followed imized the women’s significance. his injured wife a mile and a half to John Alar’s death, when as many as Oliver Iron Mining Company chief see a doctor. He apparently never did 3,000 people paraded down Virginia’s of police Foley said of the shot that get his shoes, for he made the trek in main street. And, to disrupt min- Rosandich aimed at him, “No, I stocking feet.9 ing operations, the IWW advocated wasn’t hit. Been a man, might have industrial sabotage. Reports surfaced hit me. It was up a little high, didn’t of strikers damaging mining equip- get it on her shoulder right.” Foley Strike activities ment, blowing up railroad bridges also emphasized that he ordered used for ore shipments, and placing the other company guards not to hile the deaths of Alar, tacks on roads to disable mining com- harm Rosandich. “I would rather WMyron, and Ladvalla were the pany guards’ automobiles. Women be killed than have a woman hurt,” summer’s most sensational moments, were committed, if often unrecog- he testified. In Masonovich’s case, the majority of Mesabi Range resi- nized, participants in each of these deputy Schubisky played dead after dents experienced the strike through activities. Milica knocked him down because “I day-to-day activities implemented by Touring the Mesabi Range in could not attack a woman.” Pro-labor the IWW. To coordinate the workers, late August, Leonora Austin Hamlin accounts further depicted Milica as the IWW held organizational meet- of the Women’s Welfare League of receiving male protection. The Finn- ings. These events attracted crowds St. Paul, a reform-minded women’s ish American IWW newspaper Sosial- in the hundreds and usually took isti failed to mention Masonovich’s place in Finnish workers’ halls, which Three women and a boy carried a 12-foot-wide assault on the deputies while claim- also provided space for administer- red banner with the words “Murdered by Oliver ing that Philip and “[the] other men ing the strike. The union planned Gunmen” at the funeral procession of John Alar.

FALL 2016 93 club, praised the prominent role that as attending union meetings and a second for-women-only meeting in women played in the strike. “They picnics. Local women rarely filled early August, urging the assembled are good soldiers,” she reported. leadership positions, although IWW crowd to join the picket line.11 “The women there are appreciating attorney Judge O. N. Hilton noted a Another way in which women the opportunity for co-operation rare exception when he described a supported grassroots activism was and fellowship that has come from woman—her name lost to history— by participating in parades. On June the struggle.” Women’s enthusiastic serving on the Virginia local’s strike 15 a recently-married couple, report- participation derived in part from committee. To attract women to edly on their honeymoon, joined well-established traditions of com- union meetings and gatherings, more than 320 strikers in a proces- munal activism amongst immigrants. the IWW staged events specifically sion between the cities of Aurora Hamlin observed, for instance, that intended for them. Immediately and Virginia. The bride wore a hat Finnish immigrants “stand for equal- following the formation of a Cen- trimmed with a showy red feather ity between men and women. They tral Strike Committee in mid-June, and marched alongside her husband. bring that idea with them from Fin- the union hosted a for-women-only Women were again among the 1,200 land where men and women enjoy meeting at strike headquarters in protestors who participated in a equal political rights.” The IWW also Virginia. The purpose was to iden- massive parade on July 28. Walking encouraged women’s involvement, tify ways in which miners’ wives two abreast, the marchers started out having sought from its founding to could assist the strike. “It was not from Virginia for the city of Eveleth organize all workers regardless of a meeting for the mothers, wives and sang spirited refrains in their race or sex. In July 1916, the IWW and sweethearts of the masters,” native tongues. The procession in newspaper Solidarity even published IWW organizer Sam Scarlett pro- due time ran into armed deputies a “Woman’s Special Edition” that claimed. “The poodle dogs of the blocking the route. Several women included an article in which Eliza- masters’ wives would take up too rushed to the head of the line, hurled beth Gurley Flynn countered charges many seats in the hall, and, besides, insults at the officers, ripped open of women’s political conservatism they wouldn’t care to come anyway.” their blouses, and tempted the men and called for “a new and perfect Elizabeth Gurley Flynn coordinated to shoot. The deputies backed down, womanhood.”10

Mesabi Range women’s partic- Women posing for photograph at an IWW picnic during the Mesabi strike. “Just a Few of the Red ipation in the strike almost always Girls at the Finnish Picnic,” read the caption of a similar photo of the same scene published in the involved grassroots activities such International Socialist Review, August 1916. causing the official strike bulletin fasten the offense on her.” On July 21 ing later in the month. Referencing of the IWW, Strikers’ News, to boast a sheriff’s deputy finally apprehended this renewed energy, the Women’s that the women “were supported by Hulda Jamback after finding her Welfare League’s Hamlin proclaimed, the strikers to a man and the thugs standing between two railroad cars in “As for the women on the picket lines, hesitated, at a loss how to meet the the D. & I. R. railyards. Jamback was a they are not playing ‘the baby act’ . . . solidarity of the workers.”12 Finnish immigrant, miner’s wife, and They’re thoroughly ‘game,’ those Women’s involvement in IWW mother of three young boys. Railroad women.” The IWW recruited women parades took on a distinctly gendered officials conceded that her actions did because it believed that company character. Children regularly accom- not create considerable expenses, but guards and county law enforcement panied their mothers during marches, they were a nuisance that delayed ore officials would handle them less and women pushed baby carriages shipments.14 harshly than men. There was along procession routes. Women speculation—false, as it turned out— and children also carried signs that that laws and executive orders framed the strike as a struggle not he IWW’s most common strike prohibiting picketers from interfering over mining conditions but the well- Tactivity was establishing pickets with men going to work did not apply being of miners’ households. At a outside the mining workplace. Strik- to women. Women on the picket line late July parade in Hibbing 50 women ing miners lined up at the entrances of could not be blacklisted from mining and children hoisted signs bearing operating mines for each shift change. employment like men could. And the mottos “Don’t Scab Against Father,” “Don’t Take the Bread Out “As for the women on the picket lines, they are not playing of Our Mouths,” and “Citizens We Want Your Sympathy.” For a parade in ‘the baby act’ . . . They’re thoroughly ‘game,’ those women.” Aurora, children designed homemade placards painted in red, with the S’s As men choosing to work walked past, picketing was a way to support hus- endearingly turned backwards. The the picketers intimidated the strike- bands and family members. As signs read “Our Fathers Strikes For breakers by screaming verbal insults, picketer Martha Karakaš explained, Us,” “We Are Human Beans,” and “We calling them “scabs,” and hurling “You go work in mine work hard like Want Milk.” These actions by women rocks. They also commonly wrestled everything get dollar or maybe dollar and children shamed strikebreakers away strikebreakers’ dinner pails, an’ half a day, you go on strike pretty and heartened striking miners to dumping out the contents or smash- quick your own self an’ your wife go carry on the fight. By generating ing the pails to pieces. In the most picket too just lika me—I know!”15 public sympathy for strikers’ families, extreme cases, there were reports of On the picket line, women used they increased union membership picketers beating up strikebreakers. strategies that men did not. Observers and aided fundraising.13 Because picketing brought pro-labor most frequently commented on the There is one documented instance and pro-mining company factions into fact that women not only threw rocks of women supporting the IWW direct contact, it became the site of at strikebreakers but also pelted through industrial sabotage. On July greatest conflict during the strike. In them with rotten eggs, spit in their 17 the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad an effort to defuse tensions, Governor faces, and tossed pepper or sand into reported that a vandal had cut the air Burnquist authorized suppression of their eyes. On August 1, for example, hoses on 50 railroad cars at the Miller pickets used to intimidate strikebreak- the night shift at the Genoa mine and Hudson mines near Aurora. The ers. More than any other strike-related near Eveleth faced a barrage of eggs cars held full loads of iron ore and activity, picketing involved women as they boarded a streetcar to go to awaited shipment. Over the next in prominent roles. When historians work. Two miner’s wives—Angela three nights, yardmasters discovered have mentioned women’s involvement Krivz, a Slovenian immigrant and an additional 120 air hoses slashed in the Mesabi Range strike of 1916, mother of three, and Frančiska “Fan- around Aurora. “The air hose cutter they have invariably focused on the nie” Podlogar, a Slovenian immigrant is still busy on the east Range,” a local picket line. and mother of five—had lain in wait newspaper announced after one inci- The arrests of the IWW organizers with the “ancient and odiferous” mis- dent. “A woman living near Aurora is following the Biwabik killings on July siles. Eveleth chief of police Robert suspected of doing the work but noth- 3 severely curtailed strike activities, Mitten apprehended the two women, ing has been discovered which would and it was women who revived picket- but refused to accommodate a third

FALL 2016 95 woman, Frances Sterle, a Slovenian children.” The women were even Kitzville Location near Hibbing, 1915. immigrant and mother of four, who more aggressive when picketing vehemently insisted that Mitten resumed the next day, singling out rhetorically asking, “What woman charge and arrest her for the assault officers and strikebreakers and beat- wouldn’t?”18 as well. Making light of the situation, ing them up.17 Ercoli and the other women con- a local newspaper joked that “judg- Law enforcement officials tinued their resistance after arriving ing from the large number of eggs of launched another assault against at the Virginia municipal jail. Outside doubtful age and reputation which women picketers on August 11 at the jail, a crowd of 100 men, women, have already been thrown at officers Virginia. The typical frenzy of jeer- and children demanded the prisoners’ and men going to work, these inci- ing, pepper throwing, and smashed release and tried to free the women dents must have been in the planning dinner pails broke out during the before police turned the crowd away. many, many years ago.”16 6:00 a.m. shift change at the Alpena The women in jail raised a ruckus When law enforcement officials mine, site of John Alar’s tragic death. of their own and relentlessly bad- cracked down on pickets, women A newspaper reporter on the scene gered the guards. “One would have resisted in ways that were again gen- called it a “battle royal,” and Virginia thought bedlam had been let loose,” der specific. On the morning of July city police began to arrest male pick- an observer stated. “The noise awaked 31, crowds of picketers, including eters. Women participating in the nearly everybody in the neighbor- 50 women with children, gathered outside of the Kitzville Location “It don’t look just Christianlike to us to lock women up near Hibbing. They lobbed rocks and in jail with suckling babies at their breasts and other eggs at men attempting to work the Albany, Laura, and Nelson mines. little tots clinging to their skirts.” Deputy sheriff Peter Wring arrived at the scene with two carloads of depu- picket line attempted to block the hood of the city hall.” To add to the ties and had his men clear a path for arrests and were soon among those confusion, the women insisted—in the strikebreakers by brandishing herded into waiting police cars. One this case, unsuccessfully—on keep- riot sticks. To the officers’ surprise, of the women apprehended, an Italian ing their infant children with them women picketers thrust their infant immigrant and miner’s wife named upon arrest. Most newspapers com- babes forward as shields, effectively Elisa Ercoli, made a bold attempt to plained that this common strike negating the deputies’ attempts to escape the police and run into the strategy transformed municipal protect the strikebreakers. Wring crowd. Patrolman Fred Kiah grabbed jails and courtrooms into “kinder ordered a retreat and expressed dis- her and allegedly “left the black gartens,” but Hibbing editors Claude gust. “I have been fair,” he protested, and blue mark of his five fingers on and Marc Atkinson countered that “and these women pickets have not.” her breast.” Ercoli, in turn, strug- “it don’t look just Christianlike to us An outraged Hibbing businessman gled vainly to get away by sinking to lock women up in jail with suck- exclaimed, “A mother dog has more her teeth into Kiah’s right hand. A ling babies at their breasts and other consideration for her pups than have strike sympathizer later defended little tots clinging to their skirts.” many of the miners’ wives for their Ercoli’s hand-biting aggression by As for Ercoli, she posted bail and

96 MINNESOTA HISTORY households was a major motivation for the strike. Food and housing costs were expensive on the Mesabi Range, and most miners endured marginal living conditions. Journalist C. Whit Pfeiffer went so far as to compare local housing to urban slums, assert- ing that miners did not earn sufficient pay to maintain “a desirable family standard of living.” Such circum- stances especially burdened women. An Aurora writer identified only as “A Woman of the Working Class” sent a letter to the editor of the Duluth Her- ald lamenting the physical hardships suffered by the miner’s wife. “We women give our health in doing many of our duties,” she stated, “which, if our husbands were given fair living wages, we could then afford to hire help.” Another woman, Hannah Rogers, wrote to the IWW newspaper Industrial Worker concerned about the frequency of funerals in Eveleth due to mine accidents. Rogers expressed frustration that following such trag- edies but “a few crumbs were thrown to the wives and families of the murdered.”20 Cartoon satirizing women picketers in jail, Virginia Daily Enterprise, Aug. 11, 1916. In spite of these desperate conditions, labor advocate and journalist Mary Heaton Vorse encountered a district court later dismissed her more challenging when the IWW’s women during the strike striving case. She promptly rejoined the daily national office delayed relief funds. to maintain a sense of hope and 6:00 a.m. picket line.19 Women’s ability to manage house- dignity in their homes. At the Car- holds and allocate limited resources son Lake Location near Hibbing, relieved financial pressures on their Vorse witnessed women who were Maintaining households husbands and enabled men to stay “serious and strong-looking and on strike. Historians have overlooked neatly dressed.” She commented esabi Range women entered such activities because they are not on windows tidily decorated with Mthe public sphere when political in the conventional sense white curtains, homes enlivened they participated in organizational of the word. However, the holistic by blossoming flowers, and a tar- meetings, parades, industrial sabo- nature of IWW ideology understood paper shanty romantically adorned tage, and pickets. At the same time, industrial conditions as not solely with a fragment of stained glass. At they supported the strike through about the workplace but as a class the Kitzville Location a seven-year- activities associated with women’s problem that affected all of society. In old girl with scarlet ribbons tying traditional gender roles. The loss of this way, work and home were insepa- together her braids shyly greeted income during the strike exacerbated rably linked, and women were critical Vorse by whispering “I had a doll— already impoverished living stan- to the class struggle that the Mesabi once.” Vorse applauded the fortitude dards, and efforts to maintain the Range strike represented. of the girl’s mother. “This woman had well-being of families became even The poverty of working-class tried so hard,” she explained, “she

FALL 2016 97 had done so much with so little. Life arrested women and children who of various range towns and have met had set her the task of bringing up fought for access to restricted water with fairly good results.” The women her children in this forbidding, flow- supplies. Bresnac was one of several promised to maintain commerce after erless village, to hand on to them her women who claimed to have suffered the strike with those merchants who love of beauty and color and order. miscarriages following confrontations lent support to the “starving strikers,” How ambitious she was, and what with law enforcement officials.22 and threatened electoral campaigns tireless ambition she had.”21 Women also challenged mining against public officials who opposed Women took more direct action company actions that limited strikers’ them.23 when mining officials evicted families abilities to feed their families. Early Raising food and sharing housing from company-owned housing and in the strike, mining companies pres- was another way to mitigate limited cut off basic services. Vorse observed, sured wholesalers in Duluth to cut off resources during the strike. Agnes for example, women fighting to credit to Mesabi Range merchants, Peterson, superintendent of the restore access to company-controlled forcing striking miners to purchase Minnesota Bureau of Women and water supplies. At one mining loca- goods on a cash-only basis. The IWW Children, visited the Mesabi Range in tion she encountered an immigrant responded by opening a coopera- late August to examine the conditions woman chopping wood, “her legs tive store in Hibbing, which women of women and children. She credited far apart, her axe heaved above her helped to manage. Other women pre- women’s home-keeping skills with head.” Identified as a Mrs. Bresnac, pared meals for the IWW organizers fostering a positive environment. the woman confidently greeted the jailed following the July 3 killings in “We saw no real suffering among the journalist and “strode forward, strong Biwabik. These women confronted families of the strikers,” she acknowl- and handsome, a handkerchief on her guards who confiscated the food and edged, “and the homes are as good head.” Vorse found Bresnac imposing who shouted insults meant to intim- as homes of certain classes of people and described her as “an enormous idate them. As the strike dragged on, ever are…Most of them have good Amazon of a woman.” Bresnac then women played a key role in raising vegetable gardens.” Elizabeth Gurley recounted a struggle with a min- relief funds. Strikers’ News reported in ing company guard: “They tried to early August that “girls and women keep me off water, I scratch his face have been soliciting the business men good. He throw me down! I kick and scratch him more! . . . No cloud without a silver lining.” County deputies

Woman and girl getting water at Leonidas Location near Eveleth, 1913. Women’s ability to manage households and allocate limted resources relieved financial pressures and enabled men to stay on strike. Mining company propaganda claimed that the IWW allowed women and children to go hungry, that strikers attacked and blew up houses, and that persistent threats caused miners’ wives to go insane. IWW propaganda contended that mining wages starved out families, that company guards beat up women, and that violent actions tore apart the Alar and Masonovich households. For both sides strike-time rhetoric emphasized not women’s agency, but their need for protection.25 Moving beyond these source biases, a fresh perspective emerges. It is admittedly a gendered narra- Cover of “The Rebel Girl” tive. When Leonora Austin Hamlin “Mrs. Pelean’s vegetable garden,” Eveleth. traveled to the Mesabi in late August, conventional understandings of the the St. Paul Pioneer Press applauded role of women in radical politics. Flynn offered a similar assessment her initiative and critiqued state and Their involvement empowered these of an Italian boarding house. Flynn federal investigations for examining women in exciting and influential spoke admirably of the proprietress, “only the man’s side of the case.” ways. Towards the end of the strike, who forced her own husband to Whereas the male point of view eval- IWW organizer Leo Stark would uproot and sleep with the boarders. uated the strike “in terms of dollars or proudly remark that “the rebel girls “The wife of the family was a fat, jolly, their equivalent,” the newspaper said are doing great work.” His statement perspiring woman,” Flynn recalled. that Hamlin’s examination of home co-opted a phrase typically associated “She banished her husband to this conditions would assess its merit with the original “Rebel Girl,” Eliza- masculine retreat and took me in with “in terms of life and human welfare.” beth Gurley Flynn, and was meant to her in a little bedroom.” The Italian In these comments, the Pioneer Press commend women who had refused woman’s hospitality allowed Flynn to both recognized women’s active role bail following their arrests by law carry on organizing work after local in the strike and highlighted the often enforcement officials. At first glance, hotels refused to lodge her.24 unique aspects of their participation. actions like willingly remaining in

Towards the end of the strike, IWW organizer here are multiple explana- Leo Stark would proudly remark that “the rebel Ttions for why historians have ignored women’s involvement in the girls are doing great work.” Mesabi Iron Range strike of 1916. A key reason is the sparseness of Women like Lucija Rosandich and jail may not seem as consequential as records left by working-class immi- Milica Masonovich faced prejudices the fiery speeches of IWW organizers grant women. A clear paper trail has that men did not. When undertaking or deadly gunfights between striking guaranteed a place in the historical the same activities as men, such as miners and mining company guards. narrative for prominent leaders like parading and picketing, women acted But it was the combination of grand Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, but recon- in ways that were distinctive. Wom- public spectacles and simple everyday structing the lives of working-class en’s responsibility for maintaining acts like rejecting bail—or confront- women requires piecing together households was an experience that ing police, marching in parades, random accounts, usually told by most men did not share.26 joining pickets, and providing for male observers. The biases of male Still, the Mesabi Range strike one’s family—that in 1916 fueled a sources are a second reason for the shows working-class women as com- strike and made history on the Mes- silencing of women’s involvement. mitted activists and it challenges abi Iron Range.27

FALL 2016 99 Notes

1. Michael G. Karni, “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn “Hearings before Committee on Labor and Labor 18. Virginia Daily Enterprise, Aug. 11, 1916, 1; and the Mesabi Strike of 1916,” Range History 5, Legislation,” testimony by John R. Meining, Feb. Virginian, Aug. 11, 1916, 8; Duluth News Tribune, no. 4 (1981): 2–4; Duluth Herald, July 12, 1916, 17. 6, 1917, 817; Harrison George, “Victory on the Aug. 12, 1916, 9; Duluth Herald, Aug. 11, 1916, 21; 2. Duluth News Tribune, July 21, 1916, 5; St. Mesaba Range,” International Socialist Review Sosialisti, Aug. 14, 1916, 1; Mesaba Ore and the Paul Pioneer Press, Sept. 6, 1916, 7. (Jan. 1917), 431. Hibbing News, Sept. 16, 1916, 3. 3. Chisholm Tribune-Herald , Aug. 25, 1916, 1; 9. Transcript of “Hearings before Committee 19. Virginia Daily Enterprise, Aug. 11, 1916, Chisholm Tribune-Herald , Dec. 8, 1916, 1; Duluth on Labor and Labor Legislation,” testimony by 1; Duluth Herald, July 28, 1916, 13; Duluth News Herald, Aug. 26, 1916, 6. Foley, Feb. 8, 1917, 1055; Virginia Daily Enterprise, Tribune, Aug. 2, 1916, 5, and Aug. 12, 1916, 9; 4. The best accounts of the Mesabi Range June 23, 1916, 1; Duluth News Tribune, July 4, 1916, Mesaba Ore and the Hibbing News, Aug. 5, 1916, p. Strike of 1916 are: Neil Betten, “Riot, Revolution, 1; Eveleth News, July 6, 1916, 1; Sosialisti, July 6, 1; Virginian, Sept. 7, 1916, 6; Virginian, Sept. 9, Repression in the Iron Range Strike of 1916,” Min- 1916, 1. 1916, 1; Minnesota District Court (St. Louis nesota History 41, no. 2 (1968); Robert M. Eleff, 10. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Sept. 6, 1916, 7; Mes- County–Virginia), court journal, case file #960, “The 1916 Minnesota Miners’ Strike against U.S. aba Ore and the Hibbing News, Sept. 16, 1916, 3; MNHS; Mesaba Ore and the Hibbing News, Sept. Steel,” Minnesota History 51, no. 2 (1988); Philip S. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, The Rebel Girl: An Autobi- 16, 1916, 3. Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United ography, My First Life, 1906–1926 (New York: Inter- 20. C. Whit Pfeiffer, “From ‘Bohunks’ to Finns: States; Volume 4: The Industrial Workers of the national Publishers, 1955), 213–214; Carl Ross, The Scale of Life among the Ore Strippings of the World, 1905–1917 (New York: International Publish- “The Feminist Dilemma in the Finnish Immigrant Northwest,” Survey (April 1, 1916), 8–11; Duluth ers, 1965); Melvyn Dubofsky, We Shall Be All: A His- Community,” Women Who Dared: The History of Herald, July 10, 1916, 9; Industrial Worker, July 15, tory of the Industrial Workers of the World (Chicago: Finnish American Women, edited by Carl Ross and 1916, 3. Quadrangle, 1969). A growing body of scholarship K. Marianne Wargelin Brown (St. Paul: Immigra- 21. Vorse, A Footnote to Folly, 143-144. explores women’s participation in radical politics. tion History Research Center, 1986), 73–74; 22. Industrial Worker, Aug. 5, 1916, 2; Strikers’ For examples involving the IWW, see: Anne F. Philip S. Foner, Women and the American Labor News, Aug. 4, 1916, 1; Flynn, The Rebel Girl, 202, Mattina, “‘Yours for Industrial Freedom’: Women Movement; From Colonial Times to the Eve of World 211; Vorse, “Accessories Before the Fact,” 7; Mes- of the IWW, 1905–1930,” Women’s Studies: An Inter- War I (New York: Free Press, 1979), 394, 399; Soli- aba Ore and the Hibbing News, Aug. 5, 1916, 1; disciplinary Journal 43, no. 2 (2014); Jennifer Gug- darity, July 15, 1916, 3. Vorse, A Footnote to Folly, 137; “Union Comes to lielmo, Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s 11. Duluth Labor World, Dec. 23, 1916, 4; Vir- Mesabi,” in The People Together, 27; New Times, Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880– ginian, June 16, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily Enterprise, Aug. 12, 1916, 1. 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina June 17, 1916, 1; Duluth News Tribune, June 17, 1916, 23. Strikers’ News, Aug. 4, 1916, 2; Virginia Press, 2010); Aaron Goings, “Women, Wobblies 9; Virginian, Aug. 10, 1916, 6; Duluth News Tribune, Daily Enterprise, July 29, 1916, 1; Solidarity, Aug. 5, and the ‘War of Grays Harbor,’” Montana: The Mag- Aug. 12, 1916, 9. 1916, 4; Duluth Herald, July 27, 1916, 15; Virginia azine of Western History 64, no. 4 (2014). 12. Duluth Herald, June 15, 1916, 18; Duluth Daily Enterprise, July 31, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily 5. Virginia Daily Enterprise, June 22, 1916, 1; Herald, July 28, 1916, 16; Eveleth News, Aug. 3, 1916, Enterprise , Sept. 2, 1916, 1. Eveleth News, June 22, 1916, 1; Transcript of “Hear- 1; Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 28, 1916, 1; Solidar- 24. Letter from Agnes L. Peterson and Victo- ings before Committee on Labor and Labor Legis- ity, Aug. 5, 1916, 4; Industrial Worker, Aug. 5, 1916, ria Ericson, Bureau of Women and Children, to lation: Labor Troubles in Northern Minnesota, 1; Strikers’ News, Aug. 4, 1916, 2. W. F. Houk, Commissioner of the Minnesota State of Minnesota House of Representatives,” 13. Hibbing Daily Tribune, July 26, 1916, 4; Department of Labor, Sept. 1, 1916, Bureau of testimony by David F. Foley from Feb. 8, 1917, Mary Heaton Vorse, A Footnote to Folly: Reminis- Women and Children Correspondence, Minne- 1053–54, John and Norman Lind papers, Minne- cences of Mary Heaton Vorse (New York: Farrar & sota Department of Labor and Industry files, sota Historical Society (MNHS); Duluth News Tri- Rinehart, 1935), 142; “Union Comes to Mesabi,” in MNHS; Flynn, The Rebel Girl, 208. bune, June 23, 1916, 9; Duluth Herald, June 22, The People Together: One Hundred Years of Minne- 25. Hibbing Daily Tribune, July 25, 1916, 4; Buhl 1916, 16; Virginia Daily Enterprise, June 23, 1916, 1. sota, 1858-1958 (Minneapolis: People’s Centennial Advertiser, June 23, 1916, 3; Ely Miner, Aug. 25, 6. Virginian, June 22, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily Book Committee, 1958), 27; Duluth Herald, July 1916, 4; Transcript of “Hearings before Commit- Enterprise , June 22, 1916, 1; Transcript of “Hear- 29, 1916, 16; Marion B. Cothren, “When Strike- tee on Labor and Labor Legislation,” testimony ings before Committee on Labor and Labor Legis- Breakers Strike: The Demands of the Miners on by David F. Foley and N. H. Godfrey, Feb. 8, 1917, lation,”testim ony by Foley, Feb. 8, 1917, 1054–55, the Mesaba Range,” Survey (Aug. 26, 1916), 535; 1057, 1106-1107; Duluth News Tribune, July 11, 1916, 1058-59; Virginia Daily Enterprise, June 23, 1916, 1, Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 26, 1916, 1. 5; Eveleth News, July 20, 1916, 1; Leslie H. Marcy, 8; Duluth Herald, June 22, 1916, 1, 16. 14. Virginian, July 18, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily “The Iron Heel on the Mesaba Range,” Interna- 7. Otto Christensen, “Invading Miners’ Enterprise , July 21, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily Enterprise, tional Socialist Review (Aug. 1916), 75, 79; “The Homes,” International Socialist Review (Sept. 1916), July 22, 1916, 1; Duluth Herald, July 22, 1916, 15; Startling Story of the Minnesota Miners’ Strike 161–162; Industrial Worker, Sept. 9, 1916, 2; New Duluth News Tribune, July 23, 1916, 6A. on the Mesaba Range 1916” (New York: The Min- Times, July 8, 1916, 1; Mary Heaton Vorse, “Acces- 15. Mesaba Ore and the Hibbing News, Sept. nesota Iron Range Strikers’ Defense Committee, sories Before the Fact,” The Masses (Nov. 1916), 7; 16, 1916, 3; St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug. 29, 1916, 7; 1916), 5–6; Solidarity, Aug. 12, 1916, 4; Sosialisti, “Dollars and Steel Against Humanity,” IWW Col- Virginian, July 29, 1916, 1; Chisholm Tribune- Aug. 2, 1916, 1; Industrial Worker, July 1, 1916, 4; lection, Box 159, Walter P. Reuther Library; Sosial- Herald, July 28, 1916, 1; Solidarity, Nov. 25, 1916, 1; “Dollars and Steel Against Humanity,” IWW Col- isti, July 6, 1916, 1, Harold E. Rajala, trans., Federal Hibbing Daily Tribune, Aug. 7, 1916, 1. lection, Reuther Library. Writers’ Project (Duluth) records, Northeast Min- 16. Duluth News Tribune, Aug. 12, 1916, 9; 26. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug. 23, 1916, 6. nesota Historical Center. All subsequent citations Duluth Herald, Aug. 8, 1916, 19; Virginian, Aug. 4, 27. Solidarity, Sept. 2, 1916, 4. for Sosialisti are translations by Rajala in the Fed- 1916, 1; Eveleth News, Aug. 10, 1916, 1; Duluth Her- eral Writers’ Project records. ald, Aug. 4, 1916, 23; Duluth Herald, Aug. 5, 1916, 16. 8. Christensen, “Invading Miners’ Homes,” 17. Hibbing Daily Tribune, July 31, 1916, 4; Photos on p. 90, 91, 93, 99 (vegetable garden), 162; Mary Heaton Vorse, “The Mining Strike in Duluth News Tribune, Aug. 1, 1916, 11; Itasca Iron courtesy Iron Range Research Center; p. 92, 94, Minnesota: From the Miners’ Point of View,” Out- News, Aug. 10, 1916, 7; Hibbing Daily Tribune, courtesy Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State look (Aug. 30, 1916), 1045; Solidarity, Aug. 5, 1916, Aug. 3, 1916, 4; Duluth News Tribune, Aug. 3, 1916, University; p. 99 (“The Rebel Girl”), Wikimedia 1; Duluth Herald, July 4, 1916, 1; Transcript of 10; Duluth News Tribune, Aug. 2, 1916, 5. Commons. All other images in MNHS collections.

100 MINNESOTA HISTORY

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