You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Tuesday March 11, 2014
The Bitter Winter of Unemployment, 1913-14, The IWW Organizes
Frank Tannenbaum on his way to jail.
IWW Leader of Unemployed in New York City, 1914
In early December 1913, a Wall Street correspondent, B. C. Forbes, wrote for the Hearst newspapers:
The United States, very unfortunately, will be strewn with unemployed this winter. At least 250,000 have already been discharged by railroad, industrial and mercantile companies. And retrenchment has only begun.
On January 12, 1914, the
New York Call reported:
A thousand hungry men and boys lined the Bowery in the cold early morning yesterday from the Bowery Mission to Houston street. The line was ever increasing and hundreds were turned away when a bell, rung from the kitchen of the mission, announced that the supply of rolls and coffee had vanished. The great majority of the 'down and outs' were not old men, but comparatively young fellows. At least, 80 per cent of the men were below the age of 35.
As unemployment increased steadily, state and local governments seemed not to notice the suffering of those left with no means to a livelihood. Nor did the American Federation of Labor acknowledge the growing crisis. But the suffering caused by the growing unemployment crisis did not escape the attention of the Industrial Workers of the World.
By January of 1914, the IWW began to publicize a program of "revolutionary agitation among the unemployed." Leaflets appeared and were distributed wherever unemployed workers gathered:
Unemployed and Employed Workers Attention.
Overwork for Some Means Out of Work For Others!
Fellow workers: Let us look facts in the face.
Men and women in want and misery are tramping the streets
Desperate...Starving Amid Plenty.
Are we to allow the condition to continue until we die?...
Conditions right now demand a shorter work day. If those who are now working would take it easy and not work so many hours a day, or so many days a week, there would be plenty of work for all.
We should divide the work of the world amongst the workers of the world, then we would be in a position to put the "shirkers" to work...Let us unite and refuse to starve now.
[printed in The Wooden Shoe of Jan. 22, 1914]
THE IWW ORGANIZES UNEMPLOYED WORKERS COAST TO COAST
IWW organizing of unemployed workers began on the West Coast.
December 26, 1913, Los Angeles- A demonstration led by the IWW which included native-born and foreign-born workers, including Mexicans, was attacked by police. One worker was killed, many were clubbed, and 75 were arrested.
A few weeks later, San Francisco-The IWW along with Lucy Parsons led a protest of unemployed workers. They were also attacked by police and Mrs. Parsons was arrested. Governor Johnson, a Progressive, denied the existence of an unemployment crisis and blamed the trouble on:
..a few leaders who preach the tenets of the I. W. W., who neither wish to work themselves nor desire employment for others, and who preach an anarchistic doctrine at variance with organized Government.
About this time General Charles T. Kelly, former leader in Coxey's Army began to organize a march of the unemployed with Washington D. C. fixed as the destination. The IWW had mixed feelings about Kelly, nevertheless, an IWW contingent was organized by W. A. Thorn. They called themselves the "Union Army of the Unemployed and joined Kelly's army as a separate unit. Both units of the Unemployed Army left San Francisco on February 12th, headed to Sacramento.
Bloody Monday, March 9, 1914, Sacramento-Upon reaching Sacramento, both units of the Unemployed Army encamped on the sandlots of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Sacramento Bee kept up a steady call for action against the Army. That call was answered on what came to be known as "Bloody Monday." The tent colony was attacked by city police with the assistance of the Fire Department. The county provided deputy sheriffs and citizens, recently deputized and armed with pick handles.
The unarmed camp was attacked, the resident beaten, clubbed, hosed with cold water, and chased from the sandlot. Their tents and belongings were set on fire. Much was made of the violence of those attacked when they fought back with the only weapons available to them: bricks and stones.
Many were arrested, including Kelly and Thorn. Some were hospitalized. One unemployed worker was killed, according to some accounts.
Edmonton, Calgary, Boston, Detroit
In Edmonton, the IWW organized the Edmonton Unemployed League with James Rowan playing a leading role. Rowan warned that with each arrest: "more would be ready to take their places and carry on the work." By January 28th, the Edmonton Journal reported:
I.W.W. Triumphant!
The city Council agreed to turn over a large building to the unemployed workers, to distribute meal tickets, and to put 400 men to work on public projects.
In Calgary, IWW organizing efforts to organize unemployed workers were met by arrests, followed by convictions on sedition charges.
In Boston, at a meeting on the Boston Common, the I. W. W. issued a call proclaiming that unemployed workers everywhere had the right to:
..steal food and whatever else they need to maintain their health and welfare, and we affirm that it is stealing only in name and not in fact...The primal rights of man are supreme.
February 12, 1914, Detroit-The IWW along with several local unions and Socialist organizations, attempted to hold a demonstration of 8,000 unemployed workers at an employment office. Before the demonstration could get started, those gathered were attacked by the police who charged into the protesters with revolvers drawn, and clubs swinging. The Detroit press applauded the police action:
The I.W.W. and its agents are public menaces, open enemies to the American nation and not to be tolerated.
The suppression of IWW's rights to free speech and assembly was also reported with glee:
..police put a ban on I.W.W. and the distribution of circulars by the organization.
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New York City
Hellraisers has previously reported on the Unemployment Crisis in New York City during the winter of 1913-14. Yet this description by P. A. Speek, an investigator for the Commission on Industrial Relations gives us a contemporary view of the human toll of the crisis. On February 15, 1914 Speek visited the Municipal Exchange where, at 7;30 AM, he found hundreds of unemployed workers lined up and waiting to register for work. He left us this account of what he saw there:
Their appearance was a sorrowful sight. Probably ten per cent had adequate shoes-overshoes, rubbers, or boots. About 50 per cent had made rags and burlap serve as coverings for their feet. Several with whom I talked told that they had shoes, under rags and burlap, while one told me he had only rags on his feet. Possibly 20 per cent had overcoats, gloves and warm caps. The majority were poorly clothed. "Yes, sir, I suffer from cold, this scanty shoddy on me does not protect me very much" was a typical comment
Led by Frank Tannenbaum, a member of the Waiter's Industrial Union, the I.W.W. began to lead the Unemployed Workers to various churches, seeking food and shelter. Many churches were willing to assist the desperate hungry and homeless men during the cold winter nights. Trouble came at the Church of St Alphonsus the night of March 4th, during one of the worst blizzards of the year. The men were told by Father Schneider to leave, and were attempting to do so when they were attacked by police.
Frank Tannenbaum and 190 others were arrested, Tannenbaum was eventually sent to Blackwell's Island Prison for one year. He was fined $500, to be paid before he could be released: "one day for each dollar."
In the May 1914 issue of The Masses, The Socialist preacher, Reverend Alexander Irvine was quoted:
Fifty years from now, when the doings of 1914 have been forgotten, mostly the people will look back to this day-this day, when we jailed for a year a boy just reaching his majority, for leading an unemployed army into an American church in search of shelter.
SOURCES
History of the Labor Movement in the United States Vol. 4
The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1917
-by Philip S Foner
International Pub, 1965
Rebel Voices
An IWW Anthology
-ed by Joyce L Kornbluh
Charles H Kerr Pub, 1988
Photo: New York City, 1914, Frank Tannenbaum on his way to jail.
http://universityseminars.columbia.edu/...
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The Priest
By Ralph Chaplin
The night we came from out the drifting snow,
The winds were bitter and the streets were drear;
Who mocked us when we had no place to go?
We gaunt eyed men had watched the blizzard grow-
The ghastliest and wildest of the year-
The night we came from out the drifting snow.
But how could God's anointed ever know
How driving Hunger hovers ever near!
Who mocked us when we had no place to go?
We knew your piety for empty show,
But still your pillared church was warm with cheer
The night we came from out the blinding snow.
Some day an earth uprooting storm may blow
Your mighty temples full of screaming fear!
Who mocked us when we had no place to go?
Then you'll remember how you scoffed at woes
And met a plea for shelter with a sneer!
The night we came from out the drifting snow
Who mocked us when we had no place to go?
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The Commonwealth of Toil-Pete Seeger
They would keep us cowed and beaten
Cringing meekly at their feet.
They would stand between each worker and his bread.
Shall we yield our lives up to them
For the bitter crust we eat?
Shall we only hope for heaven when we're dead?
But we have a glowing dream
Of how fair the world will seem
When each man can live his life secure and free.
When the earth is owned by Labor
And there's joy and peace for all
In the commonwealth of Toil that is to be.
-Ralph Chaplin
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