You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday October 18, 1903
From the Appeal to Reason: Mr. Carnegie's Discovery
Mr. Carnegie says: "The greatest discovery of my life is that the men who do the work never get rich." Oh, that the men who do the work could wake to this discovery! Perhaps they might then ask the question, WHY?
Meanwhile, the workers at the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead were notified in writing on Friday that a reduction in wages is possible on Jan 1904. Since the strike of 1892 an agreement has been in place which requires a notice of three months, before the first of year, should either side deem it necessary to change the scale of wages. The company claims that the recent depression could make a reduction in wages necessary
SOURCES
Yours for the Revolution
The Appeal to Reason, 1895-1922
-ed by John Graham
U of NE Press, 1990
The Bessemer Herald
(Bessemer, Michigan)
-of Oct 17, 1903
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Saturday October 18, 1913
Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado - Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Killed
We are receiving word that the mine guards have attacked the Forbes Tent Colony making use of the machine gun from the Death Special. Guards on horseback also used their rifles in the attack. A miner, Luca Vahernick, was killed, and a boy, Marco Zamboni, was shot nine times in the legs. A young girl who was on her way home from school was shot in the face. She lives on a near-by farm. The attack began at 2 p.m. and continued until dusk. The miners had only seven rifles or shotguns, six revolvers, and very little ammunition, but they were able to defend the Colony and prevented the guards from entering.
John Lawson arrived at Forbes this morning. As Lawson approached the camp, he found the Gunthugs Belk and Belcher lurking about, and confronted them. These are the same guards who were involved in the murders of Brothers Lippiatt and Powell, and now it appears, they have murdered another union brother. Louie Tikas stepped between Lawson and Belk, in that quiet, calm way of his and eased them apart. And, in this way, he may have saved Brother Lawson's life.
Louie Tikas with star
John Lawson to his left
We expect to have more information on this story tomorrow.
SOURCES
Out of the Depths
The Story of John R. Lawson, a Labor Leader
-by Barron B. Beshoar
(1st ed 1942)
CO, 1980
Buried Unsung
Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre
-by Zeese Papanikolas
U of Utah Press, 1982
Photo:
http://www.tokaravani.gr/...
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Friday October 18, 2013
More on the Homestead Strike of 1892
Many students of the Homestead battle see it as a signal event in establishing the predominance of the rights of capital over rights of labor in the workplace. While legal and supra-legal suppression of workers was nothing new, Homestead seemed to draw the lines as never before. For several decades after, corporate violence against workers, especially immigrant workers, in the form of private enforcement agencies like the Pinkertons and the infamous Coal and Iron Police, was acceptable, even when the human rights of workers were clearly violated and public sentiment favored their cause.
The Battle of Homestead Foundation
http://www.battleofhomesteadfoundation.org/...
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Pretty Bird-Hazel Dickens
Fly far beyond the dark mountains
To where you'll be free evermore
Fly away little pretty bird
Where the cold winter winds don't blow.
-Hazel Dickens