You..ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Thursday June 18, 1903
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Mother Jones Leads March of 30,000 to City Hall
30,000 striking textile workers, fighting for a 55-hour week, marched through the city of Philadelphia yesterday. Mother Jones was at the head of the march with a little girl striker on each side of her. The streets were full of banners and signs:
We want justice!
We want to go to school!
We want time to eat our meals and think!
Mother described her speech for us:
I put the little boys with their fingers off and hands crushed and maimed on a platform. I held up their mutilated hands and showed them to the crowd and made the statement that Philadelphia's mansions were built on the broken bones, the quivering hearts and drooping heads of these children. That their little lives went out to make wealth for others. That neither state or city officials paid any attention to these wrongs. That they did not care that these children were to be the future citizens of the nation.
The officials of the city hall were standing in the open windows. I held the little ones of the mills high up above the heads of the crowd and pointed to their puny arms and legs and hollow chests. They were light to lift.
I called upon the millionaire manufacturers to cease their moral murders, and I cried to the officials in the open windows opposite, "Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit."
The officials quickly closed the windows, just as they had closed their eyes and hearts.
SOURCE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
(Cincinnati, OH)
-of June 18, 1903
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
-ed by Mary Field Parton
Charles H Kerr Pub, 1990
Pittston Strike Commemorative Edition
Wednesday June 18, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia - More testimony on the Attack on Holly Grove
There was a dramatic outburst from Senator Maritine this past Saturday. As he heard testimony about the attack on Holly Grove, the Senator from New Jersey rose to his feet and shouted:
What sort of man is this man, Paul Morton, I mean, Quinn Morton. Is he an ordinary American citizen that he could order such a thing.
The attorneys for the coal operators also stood up and shouted, "Mr Morton will be brought before your committee and you will see him and talk to him."
The Senator replied:
Lord help me, then.
The Senators had been hearing testimony from the ex-mine guard, Lee Calvin, who was on the train at the time of the attack. He told how he was recruited that night by Sheriff Bonner Hill and Quinn Morton, a mine operator. There were 10 or 12 men with rifles on the armored train. He stated that he refused to take up a rifle when offered one. The lights were turned down, and they were told not to raise the windows but to shoot right through them.
As they approached Holly Grove, he saw a steady stream of gun fire coming from the baggage car where he knew a machine gun was mounted. Calvin denied seeing any gun fire coming from the tents before the attack began. He testified:
I just heard the engine whistle blow and the shooting from the train began. I am positive the shooting first began from the baggage car.
As the train moved past Holly Grove, Calvin stated that Coal Operator Quinn Morton came running back Through the car and shouted:
Back up the train and we will give them another round.
Quinn was reminded by the Sheriff that there were women and children in the camp.
It was at this point in the testimony that Senator Maritine jumped to his feet and had his outburst. When chastised by the coal attorneys for this show of emotion, The Senator responded:
I just can't help it.
SOURCE
The New York Times
-of June 15, 1913
http://select.nytimes.com/...
Tuesday June 18, 2013
From Democracy Now: Turkish Union Join Protests
See transcript here:
http://www.democracynow.org/...
Confederation of Public Workers Unions on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/...
Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions
https://www.facebook.com/...
(Would greatly appreciate any Turkish speaker who could tell me if this is the right page.)
"They'll never shoot that Union of me!"
They'll Never Keep Us Down, Hazel Dickens