DOCSLIB.ORG

Soapboxes and Saboteurs: 100 Years of Wobbly Solidarity: an Exhibit

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Soapboxes and Saboteurs: 100 Years of Wobbly Solidarity: an Exhibit Deep Blue Deep Blue https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/documents Research Collections Library (University of Michigan Library) 2005 Soapboxes and Saboteurs: 100 Years of Wobbly Solidarity: An Exhibit Hand, Franki https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/120279 Downloaded from Deep Blue, University of Michigan's institutional repository \ ' Soapboxers and Saboteurs 100 Years of Wobbly Solidarity September 6 - November 26, 2005 An Exhibit Curated by Julie Herrada Special Collections Library Uoiversity of 11.ichigan Special Collections Library Exhibh Hours: Monda)' - Friday: 10:00 - 5:00 Saturday: '1 0:00 - Noon Special Collections Library 7th Floor Harlan Hatcher Gradl,",e Libral), Dedicated to aU the anonymous Wobblies who sacrificed Universiry of Michigan their lives for their fellow workers, and to Carlos Cortez, Ann Arbo r, Ml who was a true living spirit of the IWW. (734) 764-9377 [email protected] http://www. tib.u mi ch.edu/spec-coll CopyriJ.jht 200S by rh.... Univcrsi ry of Mlchis:' n 1J brnrr Ull i \lc r ~i f}' o f .\fich igan. Ann ,\ rb\)(, 1\11 U ni versity or Michigan Board of Regents: Davicl A. 6r;t ndotl Lau n.: n(c B. Delich Olivia P. "Mayn,lrC! Rebecca J\ lcGowan Andrea rischc:r Newman '\ ndrC'w C. I{jchn f:t S. Man in T3.y lor Kathe rine E. Wh itt: elcome to this exhi bi t celebrating the centenru al yea r of the Indus trial \Vu rke rs .... v ___ . ._ . ~ of the World, one of the most influential and colorful labor unions of ou( Sbr. ....... • • .l.-tI T.~ .0..... _ Industrial Worker Wti me. Ju~ e Herrad., Curator of rhe exhibir and of the Labadie Collection of .••• I-.I"~ ~ •• 010 .. t.. No . ..... ..,. I ..... ... Socia l PrOtest LiteraIUre (part o f the Special Col1ections Library), has brought the:: vivid ~ f" "'" ~~~ ~ I ••• • INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD history of the IWW to ~ fe through photographs, posters, pamphlets, manusc ripts, books, P ..IlIi.rh ~d W eeki" and newspaper dppings. 065 WEST I...... KE STREET CHIC AGO. ILL. .... 6 1S The variety and richness of marerial s included in thi s exhibit demonstrate the extraordin ary strengths of the Labadie CoJlection. The Collection began with the gift o f)o bbadie's own archjve and li brary to the University of Michigan in 1911. Known as I'the gentle anarchis t of Detroit," Labadie was a printer, early la bor leader, and col"um oisr fo r several A~ nes Ing les, journals (among them Benjamin Tucker's magazine Liberty), who corresponde::d with 809 30. Division S t ., .<1o nn .t:.ri)o r , 1,11cb . many other important progressive thinkers and accumulated a nore\vorthy coUection of radical publications of the late 19th and earl y 20th centurie5. He c eived y our note and am hr.vin,:; the rn~ . t6ri :!.1 fo ri·;s. l~cled £'. s pel' dil'El ct.i.ons. I'm s ure you will However, it was through the contacts and support of the fi rst curator of the Labadie f 1 nd some of it VE.lue."i)l e. House-cl ean:tnc; is n i)i g Collection, Agnes Inglis, that a great many of the I\X!\x! mate ri als in the collection were job Ill'ound this office. ''::here ;-rere tons of o l d stuff and I feal"' much intercs'dnr; lm..terllll WRS bal ­ acgujred. Born to a wealthy family in Detroit. Agnes Ingli s became a social activist as an ed a nd sol d . adult and was a good friend and supporter of many radical causes such as social welfare 'l'he boys wN'e inforMed to SRve s.t least one c opy of every i teJ::1 to s end to the collect ion . I f assistance and labor organizing. She became known as a. re li able person who could help they have failed , it is s i r::ply b e ct'.use t here '0".'8.8 out in many ways, whether the need was for organizing Emma Goldman's appearances in so much l'lu t eriRl to ch oose from . But I'm s u re they did the bes t the;.' could. Ann Arbor or providing bail money for jai led I\'V'W members. \,(/hile she was Curator of I l ook f Ol'W[c!' O 'co the plef'.8ul'O o f visi tine the Labadie Collection from the 19205 to the 1950s mnny people who ad mired her gave tha t '1! onderful collection 30me dB.y . Ju:;,t a t pre­ their personal and organizational papers and archives to the Collec tion, including several sent 1 1m hes.d over heels i n v;O!'k here end oee but little c.iHmce of 8ettine c aue ht up f or eome ',;1..,e who were integral to I\XI\'V hi story. (See the letter from Ralph Chaplin on facing page.) to come ~ hly ' :ii'e arid boy alvmy s \"lish to be t'e t:1 er~ibered . The University of Mjchigan Library has continuously added to the Labadie Collection Your loy.:..lty a nd devotion ~k ve endep.red y ou t o a ll of u s .. I lin si..I.:'e vi e riou. l e n o ve many t!l:!.ng s to ta lk SInce !ts receJpt. Ie now has some 800 subscri ptions to periodicals being produced by over . radical groups and te ns of thousands o f books, pamphlets, and manuscripts on topics 1/1th best I'ish es PJld much appreci Q. tion , I ranging from ea rl y labor unions to civil rightS struggles to student unrest of the 19()Os. it r ennin, is one o f the leading collecti ons of h.i storical sources related to social radicali sm in the Sinc ~!"61y , world , and is used intensively by students and faculty at the Un.iversity o f l\1ichigan as 67~e~ we U as by resea rchers from around the country and from abroad. We are extremeJy grateful to our co-sponsors, who have helped ro make this ca talogue and a special concert and reception fea turing singer An.ne Feeney on October 19th possible. Peggy Daub, Head Lel/er from kalph Chaplin to A~~Il('S lng/if,firJI fIImlor 0/ Ihr La{;(/dif Co/iUlion Special Collections Lib,"ry The Making of a Radical Labor Union "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common." Opening sentence of the IW,\'';: Preamble. Sponso rs Special Collections Library, University o f Michigan In the last half of the nineteenth cenwry, working conditions in American facrorie!l, University Library, University of Michigan mines, and mills were deplorable. Industrialists were ruthlessly making money at the expense of the health and sa fety of workers, often looking upon their employees D epartment o f History, University of Michiga n as less than human and treating th em practically as slaves. No labor laws existed to protect the Industri al Workers of the World , Detroit Branch men, women and children who poured in to no rthern industrial centers. The cheilpeSt of Insti tute for the Humanities, U niversity of Michigan laborers were the freed slaves fro m the South and poor immigrants fcom E urope escaping Institute o f Labo r & InduStrial Rela tions, Uni versity of Michigan famines, devastati ng wars, and repressive regi mes. Instead of finding a better way of life I nternati o nal Brotherhood of E lectrical Workers, Local 58 they fo und conditi ons as dire as rbose they had le ft behind, with disease~ rid den slums of Program in American C ul ture, University of Michigan sub-standard tenements and shoddy min ing towns maki ng their home lives no Roger A. Lowenstein, LSA '64 easier than thej r work lives. Some of these immigrants began speaking out and or~n izi ng working people to try to forge a better standard of living for themselves and their compatriots. At first only skilled tradesmen were unionized, bLl t in 1869 the Knights of Labor was created, a union including ail workers regardless of skill, race, or gender. Thanks to Ooseph A. Labadie, fo under of tile Labadie Collection, was an organizer for the Knights of Labor io the 18705). T he union Franki Hand of the Special Collections Library fo r the design and hyout of this catalogue rapidly grew in membership to nearly 750,000, but declined in the 1880s and was practically extinct by 1900. Tom H ogmth and Leyla Lau Limb of the Library s COllSlIT1Jation Ullit 1.11': If/'. COlJstitlltio/l, 1908 In addition to poverty~lcvel wages, dangerous machinery, sub-standard and unsanitary Shahana Alam, rccCllt graduate of the School of Information,for scanning the illustrations for this sweatshops, and indifferent and cruel bosses, exceedingly lo ng houts were imposed o n catalogue workers o f all ages. Six-day workweeks of 1 2 ~ 1 4- h o u r days were not uncommon. O ne of the principal Jabor struggles in the 1880s was the movement for the eight-hour day. Kathleen Dow and Peggy Daub of the Special Collections Library lor moral support and assistance T his idea was considered a majo r threat to industrial progress and profits, and whenever those advocating it rook acti on they were usu ally met with violence. with the exhibit (Kathleen) and raising money (peggy) One of the galvanizing events in American labor history was the Haymarket Riot in Chicago Staff of the Special Collections Library Jor their sUpp0l1 and accommodation in 1886, sparked by the struggle for an eight ~ h o llr day.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Politics and the 1920S Writings of Dashiell Hammett 77
    Politics and the 1920s Writings of Dashiell Hammett 77 Politics and the 1920s Writings of Dashiell Hammett J. A. Zumoff At first glance, Dashiell Hammett appears a common figure in American letters. He is celebrated as a left-wing writer sympathetic to the American Communist Party (CP) in the 1930s amid the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe. Memories of Hammett are often associated with labor and social struggles in the U.S. and Communist “front groups” in the post-war period. During the period of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communism, Hammett, notably, refused to collaborate with the House Un-American Activities Committee’s (HUAC) investigations and was briefly jailed and hounded by the government until his death in 1961. Histories of the “literary left” in the twentieth century, however, ignore Hammett.1 At first glance this seems strange, given both Hammett’s literary fame and his politics. More accurately, this points to the difficulty of turning Hammett into a member of the “literary left” based on his literary work, as opposed to his later political activity. At the same time, some writers have attempted to place Hammett’s writing within the context of the 1930s, some even going so far as to posit that his work had underlying left-wing politics. Michael Denning, for example, argues that Hammett’s “stories and characters . in a large part established the hard-boiled aesthetic of the Popular Front” in the 1930s.2 This perspective highlights the danger of seeing Hammett as a writer in the 1930s, instead of the 1920s.
    [Show full text]
  • Cohen, Michael. “The Ku Klux Government”: Vigilantism, Lynching
    JSR_v01i:JSR 12/20/06 8:14 AM Page 31 “The Ku Klux Government”: Vigilantism, Lynching, and the Repression of the IWW ■ Michael Cohen, University of California, Berkeley It is almost always the case that a “spontaneous” movement of the subaltern classes is accompanied by a reactionary movement of the right-wing of the dom- inant class, for concomitant reasons. An economic crisis, for instance, engenders on the one hand discontent among the subaltern classes and spontaneous mass movements, and on the other conspiracies among the reactionary groups, who take advantage of the objective weakening of the government in order to attempt coup d’Etat. —Antonio Gramsci 1 When the true history of this decade shall be written in other and less troubled times; when facts not hidden come to light in details now rendered vague and obscure; truth will show that on some recent date, in a secluded office on Wall Street or luxurious parlor of some wealthy club on lower Manhattan, some score of America’s kings of industry, captains of commerce and Kaisers of finance met in secret conclave and plotted the enslavement of millions of workers. Today details are obscured. The paper on which these lines are penciled is criss-crossed by the shadow of prison bars; my ears are be-set by the clang of steel doors, the jangle of fetters and the curses of jail guards. Truth, before it can speak, is stran- gled by power. Yet the big fact looms up, like a mountain above the morning mists; organ- ized wealth has conspired to enslave Labor, and—in enforcing its will—it stops at nothing, not even midnight murders and wholesale slaughter.
    [Show full text]
  • America's Biggest Mass Trial, the Rise of the Justice Department, and the Fall of the IWW
    H-HOAC Review: Shapiro on Strang, Keep the Wretches in Order: America's Biggest Mass Trial, the Rise of the Justice Department, and the Fall of the IWW Discussion published by John Haynes on Monday, August 9, 2021 Dean A. Strang. Keep the Wretches in Order: America's Biggest Mass Trial, the Rise of the Justice Department, and the Fall of the IWW. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. 344 pp. $36.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-299-32330-1. Reviewed by Shelby Shapiro (Independent Scholar)Published on H-Socialisms (August, 2021) Commissioned by Gary Roth (Rutgers University - Newark) Printable Version: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=56024 Destroying the IWW Interest in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies, seems to come in waves: the 1950s saw Fred Thompson’s The I.W.W.: Its First Fifty Years (1955) while the 1960s brought Joyce Kornbluh’s Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology (1964), Robert Tyler’s Rebels of the Woods: The I.W.W. in the Pacific Northwest (1967), Patrick Renshaw’s The Wobblies: The Story of the IWW and Syndicalism in the United States (1967), Ian Turner’s Sydneys’s Burning (1967), and Melvyn Dubofsky’s We Shall Be All (1969), to cite but a few. Entries for the twenty-first century include Lucien van der Walt’s PhD dissertation, “Anarchism and Syndicalism in South Africa, 1904-1921: Rethinking the History of Labour and the Left” (2007); Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW, edited by Peter Cole, David Struthers, and Kenyon Zimmer (2017), and Peter Cole’sBen Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly(2021).
    [Show full text]
  • C464c4 1920.Pdf
    l11111111111111111111llllllllllllllllllnllnlliilllullululllullllllllulllllllllllllllllllilllilllllllllllllllllllullllllllllllllllulllulull~lllllulllllllluulll~lnlulllnlllulllllllllullilllill~lllllulllllllu~nU 6 e a aongue of JFlam q The martyr cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of flame; every prison a more illustrious abode; every burned book or house en- lightens the world; every suppres- sed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. The minds of men are at last aroused; reason looks out and justifies her own, and malice finds all her work is ruin. It is the whipper who is whipped and the tyrant who is undone.-Emerson. 8 . I1III~llUlll~ll~IIllUllllUlll~lllUUUl~llllUllllUlllllUllllllllllllllUllllllllillll~lllllllliIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIlllllll!lllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll~ MURDER OR SELF-DEFENSE? HIS BOOKLET is not an apology for murder. It is an honest effort to unravel the tangled mesh of circumstances that led up to the Armistice Day tragedy in Centralia, Washington. The writer is one of those who believe that the tak- ing of human life is justifiable .only in self-defense. Even then the act is a horrible reversion to the brute-to the low plane of savagery. Civilization, to be worthy of the name, must afford other methods of settling human differences than those of blood letting. The nation was shocked on November 11, 1919, to read of the killing of four American Legion men by members of the In- dustrial Workers of the World in Centralia. The capitalist news- papers announced to the world that these unoffending paraders were killed in cold blood-that they were murdered from ambush without’provocation of any kind. If the author were convinced that there was even a slight possibility of this being true, he would not raise ‘his voice to defend the perpetrators of such a coward1 y crime.
    [Show full text]
  • Bert Williams
    he MessengerFIFTEEN CENTS A COPY . 00.000,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,000,0 A Voice From The Dead X Bert Williams An Interpretation ODHOHOHODODO - O ODCHOCHCHOCHDHOODHO THE MESSENGER [April, 1922 . Royal Theatre 15th & SOUTH STS . PHILADELPHIA WHEN IN PHILADELPHIA The Most Handsome Colored Photoplay House in Go to the America . Olympia Philadelphia Stands in a class by itself in . Prominent for the high class Photoplays shown here and the high grado music fur. Organ Theatre by our $ 30,000 Moller . nished CO-OPERATION FOR For information on organistas cooperative spelaties apply to CO -OPERATIVE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 2 Weet 13th Street New York the finest, most gripping THE MESSENGER Published Monthly by the MESSENGER PUBLISHING CO ., Inc , York . Main Office : 2305 Seventh Avenue New Telephone , Morningside 1996 Largest Motion Picture 16e. per Copy $1.50 per Year 446 TOAD ) U. S. U. S. 20. Outoldo House of its kind in $2 Outside , . No. 4. VOL . IV . APRIL 1922 South Philadelphia . CO N T E N TS I. EDITORIALS 385 388 2. EcoxOMICS AND POLITICS STS . 389 BROAD & BAINBRIDGE 3 . EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 394 4 . Who's Who 394 5. OPEN FORUM , July , , at the Entered as Second Class Mail 27 1919 , of March 3, 1879 . Post Office at New York , N.Y. under Act Editors : OWEN A. PHILIP RANDOLPH CHANDLER Contributing editor : GEORGE FRAZIER MILLER W. A. DOMINGO 385 April , 1922. ) THE MESSENGER Editorials ANTI LYNCHING LEGISLATION AND LABOR RUSSIAN CHILDREN STARVING . , Lynching labor , , THE Dyer Anti- Bill should interest WHILE the farmers in the West use corn for fuel , Out of the four thousand or more persons who millions of innocent helpless Russian children , country , be .
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record-Sen Ate
    - ., .. 6262 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. A U GUST 23 law. The touchstone for such juuicial power is the Constitu­ . utilize Its every man and its every energy to dPfc::;{j ifs libp.r+y tion and nothing else. It remains to be determined, whether the and to defeat tbe migration to its soil of mi~hty nations M Constitution has conferred authority on Conoo-ress to enact this ferocious warrior , whose barbarous inlmmanitv for tll r e law. Clause 11 of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution em­ years has surpasse-d all others sin~ tbe death of Atinn. tile powers Congress ' to raise and support armies.' This power scourge of God. The 1'\-Tits are deniet1.'~ is plenary. It is not restricted in any manner. Congress may .AnTICLE BY OTTO H. KAHN. summon to its army thus authorized every citizen of the United States. Since tt may summon all, it may summon any. Said Mr. SUTHERLAND. I a..~ unanimous C'nm;;cnt to ha \e printetl the Supreme Court in the case of The United St..·1tes v. Tarble as a public document an article by Otto II. Knlni on AJnpr jea us (13 Wallace, 408): 'Among the powers assigned to the National of German origin and the war. I believe it wilT be \ery llelpf:1l Government is the power to raise and support armies: * * * to the German-Americans of tllis country, aml I belie ~ it wi ll IK' Its control over the subject is plenary and exclu ive. It can well to have it widely distributed. determine without question from any State authority how the · The PRESIDEJ\'T pro tempore.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Title: the Industrial Workers of the World in Nebraska, 1914-1920
    Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: The Industrial Workers of the World in Nebraska, 1914-1920 Full Citation: David G Wagaman, “The Industrial Workers of the World in Nebraska, 1914-1920,” Nebraska History 56 (1975): 295-338. URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/1975-3-IWOW_1914-1920.pdf Date: 3/13/2010 Article Summary: Between 1877 and 1917, as the United States become the world’s leading industrial nation, power became centralized in the hands of a few individuals, and life for the working classes became increasingly unbearable. A movement termed the Industrial Workers of the World developed from three working-class elements: Negroes, immigrants, and Native Americans forced off the land. The I.W.W. is thought to have increased wages, shortened hours, and bettered working conditions in the Midwest. The wobblies were considered radicals and were very controversial, which
    [Show full text]
  • 2017 Molina Michael.Pdf (2.335Mb)
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE RADICAL REACTIONS: THE FIRST RED SCARE IN THE GREAT PLAINS AND THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDERLANDS, 1918-1920 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By MICHAEL MOLINA Norman, Oklahoma 2017 © Copyright by MICHAEL MOLINA 2017 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my committee, namely, chair Dr. Sterling Evans, Dr. Elyssa Faison, Dr. Ben Keppel, and Dr. David Wrobel for providing support and guidance through this long process. I would also like to thank my loving and amazingly supportive wife, Kayla Griffis Molina, whose faith and encouragement made everything infinitely more doable. Without her steadfast support, and grueling enforcement of studying, I would have never passed comps and gotten this far. I love you sweety! Similarly, I wish to thank my faithful research buddy and seminar comrade, Matt Corpolongo. His keen insight and political commentaries helped shape my perceptions and gave me a unique perspective. Lastly, I would like to thank my family. To my dad, Arnie Molina, who provided invaluable assistance in Austin and made a great research partner. To my mom, Cherye Molina, whose constant love and prayers made all the difference. To my brother, Matthew Molina, whose encouragement and dry humor made thing bearable. And finally, to my grandma, Georgia Maria Hale, whose unwavering faith and daily prayer helped more than she will ever know. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and without the love, faith, and support from my advisors, friends, and family, none of this would have been possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Control and the Iww Free Speech Movement
    ABSTRACT I CAN’T SPEAK: SOCIAL CONTROL AND THE IWW FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT Beginning in the spring of 1910, downtown Fresno became the center of a heated free speech strike. Police Chief Shaw ordered the arrest of members of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as Wobblies, for giving speeches on downtown street corners without a permit. Wobblies flocked to Fresno to protest the policy by attempting to give speeches and being themselves arrested. This thesis offers a rhetorical criticism of the rhetoric of control that was expressed by the ruling class of Fresno. The policies restricting speech on public streets, and local newspaper reports that were written during the strike comprised the rhetoric of control that sought to silence the Wobblies. This thesis also critiques the rhetoric of resistance produced by the IWW. This rhetoric of resistance was composed of the rhetorical acts, firsthand accounts and contemporaneous stories published in the IWW’s own press. This study examines the use of the war metaphor as found in each of these rhetorics, and it identifies the images that were used in each of these rhetorics to support the metaphor. The thesis makes the argument that in the rhetoric of control the war metaphor and the images used in its support, restricted the popular understanding of the strike resulting in negative outcomes. In the rhetoric of resistance, the war metaphor and images used by the IWW worked to build support for the union and galvanize the union membership. James K. Bartram August 2018 I CAN’T SPEAK: SOCIAL CONTROL AND THE IWW FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT by James K.
    [Show full text]
  • A Witness to History: the Life and Times of Ralph Chaplin, by Maria
    WashingtonHistory.org A WITNESS TO HISTORY The Life and Times of Ralph Chaplin By Maria Pascualy COLUMBIA The Magazine of Northwest History, Summer 2001: Vol. 15, No. 2 On September 5, 1917, a few months after America's entry into World War I, Department of Justice agents made simultaneous raids on 48 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) meeting halls across the country, seizing correspondence and literature that would become courtroom evidence. The original draft of the labor anthem, "Solidarity Forever," written by one Ralph Chaplin, was among the documents confiscated. Later that month close to 200 Wobbly leaders, including Chaplin, a future manuscripts curator of the Washington State Historical Society, were arrested for conspiring to hinder the draft, encourage desertion, and intimidate others in connection with labor disputes. Of these, 101 of them, Chaplin among them, went on trial in April 1918. The trial lasted five months, the longest criminal trial in American history up to that time. Three months prior to the raid, in June 1917, Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act. Part of an overall strategy to combat opposition to the draft, the act had a clause that provided penalties of up to 20 years in prison for "whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment services of the US…." Using the Espionage Act, the federal government imprisoned Chaplin and the others.
    [Show full text]
  • IWW Records, Part 3 1 Linear Foot (2 MB) 1930-1996, Bulk 1993-1996
    Part 1 Industrial Workers of the World Collection Papers, 1905-1972 92.3 linear feet Accession No. 130 L.C. Number MS 66-1519 The papers of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in February of 1965, by the Industrial Workers of the World. Other deposits have been made subsequently. Over the turn of the century, the cause of labor and unionism had sustained some hard blows. High immigration, insecurity of employment and frequent economic recessions added to the problems of any believer in unionism. In January, 1905 a group of people from different areas of the country came to Chicago for a conference. Their interest was the cause of labor (viewed through a variety of political glasses) and their hope was somehow to get together, to start a successful drive for industrial unionism rather than craft unionism. A manifesto was formulated and a convention called for June, 1905 for discussion and action on industrial unionism and better working class solidarity. At that convention, the Industrial Workers of the World was organized. The more politically-minded members dropped out after a few years, as the IWW in general wished to take no political line at all, but instead to work through industrial union organization against the capitalist system. The main beliefs of this group are epitomized in the preamble to the IWW constitution, which emphasizes that the workers and their employers have "nothing in common." They were not anarchists, but rather believed in a minimal industrial government over an industrially organized society.
    [Show full text]
  • Legacy, Memory, and the Seattle General Strike Of
    “I’VE TRIED SO HARD TO MAKE GOOD AMERICANS OUT OF YOU”: LEGACY, MEMORY, AND THE SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE OF 1919 by KATHRYN GREY AMMON Submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for departmental honors Approved by: ________________ Dr. Jonathan Hagel Thesis Adviser ________________ Dr. David Farber Committee Member ________________ Dr. David Roediger Committee Member _________________________ Date Defended Abstract: This historical project explores competing legacies and formation of memory within the Seattle General Strike of 1919 both in its after effects on the Seattle Labor Movement and the nation as a whole through the First Red Scare. This paper is divided into three chapters, an examination of the strike, national and local media coverage of the strike, and an examination of national and local repercussions from the strike. The Seattle General Strike of 1919 existed within an intersection of many disparate movements—and truly has been memorialized as more than the sum of its parts. The Seattle General Strike has not been evaluated within the context of differing pro-capitalist and pro-worker solidarity viewpoints and how these two stories split, which this thesis will do. 1 Introduction It was ten in the morning of February 6, 1919 when the church bells in Seattle, Washington rang out their usual chimes. Several schoolchildren, likely as young as nine years old stood up, quietly packed their bags, and walked out of their school room. As they walked out the double doors of the school, one teacher yelled after them. “There you go,” said the teacher, “to join those Bolsheviki, when I’ve tried so hard to make good Americans out of you.”1 These children were not just school pupils—they were workers with a union job, specifically, they were members of the newsboys’ union.
    [Show full text]