You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Wednesday September 9, 1903
From the Appeal to Reason: "How We [Socialist] Move in Alabama"
An encouraging report on Socialist organizing in Alabama from the party's state secretary, F. X. Waldhorst:
Socialism in the South-in Dixie! Well, who would have thought such a thing possible? Only two years ago we had two small locals in the state and no agitation. To-day there is a good state organization. In 1902 we had nominees for state office and polled 2,312 votes, with absolutely no campaign money, no organization worth mentioning. To-day we are claiming and getting the attention of the public to such an extent that the plutocratic dailies are giving us space every time we ask for it....
The Socialist movement in the South has such peculiar conditions to contend with as probably are found in no other section of the country. The race question, for one, and the conservative, reactionary, dominant Democratic party, for the other. As the negro is practically disenfranchised in this state, he cannot help us much, but there are signs that the negro is taking to Socialism when he gets the chance to study it; as he is the most class-conscious "work mule" there is, he will soon become a factor....
We have 20 locals in the state now, and the number is constantly increasing. The Comrades are working hard and we expect to take our place in the front ranks at an early date.
SOURCE
"Yours for the Revolution"
The Appeal to Reason, 1895-1922
-ed by John Graham
U of NE Press, 1990
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Tuesday September 9, 1913
The Southern Coalfields of Colorado - Two Courageous Organizers of the U. M. W. of A.
Ed Doyle, the Secretary of District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America, has a list of union organizers who have been killed or beaten in the coalfields of Colorado. On the that list is John Lawson who now represents the International in the area. But in 1903, during the coal strike of the year, he was a union organizer working mostly in the dangerous southern field. His house was dynamited and his wife and daughter barely escaped with their lives. In Walsenburg, he got a taste of the type of justice which Sheriff Farr routinely handed out to union men. And he was shot down by a Mr Coryell, a mine owner, but is, thankfully, still with us and still a union man.
Ed Doyle was present in 1894 when United States troops shot down union miners in Illinois for the crime of playing cards. He began mining as a little trapper boy at age twelve. He was jailed for six months for his organizing efforts in the Northern Field of Colorado, but, like Lawson, he is still with the union and ready to fight again.
These are just two of the courageous men who built the United Mine Workers of America in Colorado. There are many more stories to tell, and we will endeavor to tell those stories over the next few weeks.
SOURCE
Buried Unsung
Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre
-by Zeese Papanikolas
U of Utah Press, 1982
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Monday September 9, 2013
From In These Times: Taking Demands for Change to Marissa Mayer’s Penthouse
From R. M. Arrieta comes this great story of Walmart Workers taking it straight to the front door of Marissa Mayer. Time to party!
San Francisco—With Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up For Your Rights” blasting in the background, about 150 loud and raucous Wal-Mart workers and local union supporters marched down Market Street in downtown San Francisco on Thursday toward the Four Seasons hotel, where Wal-Mart board of director member and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer lives in a penthouse apartment. When they arrived, they held a dance party with a message: Raise the wages and improve conditions for some of the nations lowest paid workers.
Read full story here:
http://inthesetimes.com/...
Get Up Stand Up!-Bob Marley