You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Saturday April 2, 1904
From The Labor World: Editor W. E. Mewen on Military Despotism in Colorado
ANARCHY IN COLORADO.
The situation in Colorado is commanding the attention of the free thinking people of America. If there is such a reign of terror here as is charged by the executive authorities of the state why is it that the leaders of the lawless element have not been convicted in a court of Justice? If the miners are such a bad lot of men why have they not been prosecuted? These are questions that are asked by the thoughtful, unprejudiced men of America.
The truth is that Governor Peabody has entered into a conspiracy with the mine owner's association to crush the miners' union. The state's treasury, already depleted in a vain attempt to destroy organization among the miners, is now being mortgaged, to complete the work of extermination which was begun last July. After the struggle is over and when the state shall have been carried to the verge of bankruptcy, it will be found that the miners' union is stronger than ever.
A review of the hearing before the committee on labor legislation in congress proves conclusively that but one man was killed during the entire strike-a mine superintendent. The mine owners say that he was assassinated. The miners deny the charge, and say that he was killed as the result of a grudge, by an old enemy. The miners further declare that this superintendent was their friend and hence, even if the union championed crime, he would be the last man in Colorado to be attacked.
After several months of watchfulness the militia have at last arrested President Moyer, who is accused of being the arch criminal of the state. What is the charge against him? Desecrating the flag. The man who is accused of being the leading spirit in the criminal work of the state is cast into prison on an entirely foreign charge. Mr. Moyer had a hand bill printed with a picture of the American flag upon it, and the words "are we living in America," above it. In the stripes were printed some rebukes against Gov. Peabody.
Miners have been deported from their homes by the Citizens' Alliance of Telluride.
What is the Citizens' Alliance of Telluride? An organization of gamblers-of the class that usually loiter about a mining camp.
Why are the gamblers against the miners' union? Because the miners' union is against the gamblers. The Western Federation of Miners is not only a progressive organization, but it is a wealthy organization. It discovered that many of its members were spending most of their wages at gambling. After their money was gone they secured loans from the union. This grew to be a nuisance. The line had to be drawn somewhere. It could not very well cure the miner from gambling, so in the interest of self preservation it insisted upon the enforcement of the state gambling laws. This was a new departure in Colorado mining communities. The gamblers defied the law. The miners secured their arrest and conviction.
Since the strike was inaugurated Gov. Peabody has pardoned all of the convicted gamblers upon condition that they join the state militia. These are the men who are deporting the miners from their homes. The mine-owners, the governor of the state and the gamblers have formed a partnership, and entered into a conspiracy to crush the miners' union. The purpose of the gamblers is to get the pittance that the mine-owners see fit to deal out to the miners, while the purpose of the governor at this time, is to rid the state of this body of citizens, knowing full well that he cannot get their votes on election day. There will probably be a political revolution in Colorado.
Then there is Mother Jones, the friend of the miners. She who goes about their homes, nursing the mothers and children, and speaking words of good cheer to the men, was cast into prison for doing this, by a tin soldier who is unfit to even touch the hem of her garment.
There may be some reason for military occupation in Telluride, but there cannot be any just excuse for military despotism. The fair and conservative people of America, when acquainted with the full facts in the case, will look with pity and contempt upon the state of Colorado.
[paragraph break added]
SOURCE
The Labor World
(Duluth, Minnesota & Superior, Wisconsin)
-of Apr 2, 1904
Photo: Moyer's Flag "Desecration"
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
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Thursday April 2, 1914
Ludlow, Colorado - Mine Guards Turned Militiamen Ransack Ludlow Tent Colony
Hellraisers has learned that the Ludlow Tent Colony was ransacked by the state militia this past Saturday (March 28th). The colony was surrounded by militia as the tents were searched. Much destruction occurred, and the colonist charge that the militiamen committed widespread theft during search. Many of the colonist were ready for a fight but were urged, successfully, by John Lawson, Louie Tikas, and James Fyler to remain calm.
Mary Thomas, a resident of Ludlow, gives this description of the search:
[The mine guards turned militiamen] came into our tent colony on the pretense of looking for somebody. They had no search warrants to justify this intrusion on our privacy. They went through every trunk, bed, bag, everything...The guards taunted us by saying that the strike was lost, and what were we waiting for, and if we didn't get out peacefully they would shoot us out [and] they continued to address us as "you damn foreigners."
[emphasis added]
From Wichita Falls, Texas, comes the news that the union men of Texas and Oklahoma are planning a demonstration to protest the imprisonment of Mother Jones.
From The Fort Wayne Daily News:
Mother Jones Protest Meeting.
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WICHITA FALLS, Texas, April 2.-April 21 has been tentatively selected as the date for the "Mother" Jones labor demonstration planned here. Frank Hoffman, of Trinidad, Colo., who is heading the movement, says 10,000 union men from north Texas and Oklahoma will be here to take part in the demonstration, which is proposed as a protest against the treatment given "Mother" Jones in the Colorado coal strike.
SOURCES
Out of the Depths
The Story of John R. Lawson, a Labor Leader
-by Barron B. Beshoar
(1st ed 1942)
CO, 1980
Blood Passion
The Ludlow Massacre and Class War
in the American West
-by Scott Martelle
Rutgers U Press, 2008
Those Damn Foreigners
-by Mary T. O'Neal
Minerva Book, USA
The Fort Wayne Daily News
(Fort Wayne, Indiana)
-of Apr 2, 1914
Photo: Children of Ludlow
http://www.du.edu/...
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Wednesday April 2, 2014
More on the Solidarity among "Those Damn Foreigners" at the Ludlow Tent Colony
A Family at Ludlow
"No one thought of anybody as being different in color or national origin."
Mary T. O'Neal described a speech given by Charlie Costa at a mass meeting held at the Colony's public square. According to her account, the meeting was held to discuss settlement of the strike without recognition of the United Mine Workers of America.
Charley Costa jumped up on the platform and shouted, "Without organization we are no better off than we were before we came here from the old country. At least we managed to eat and sleep without some guard breathing down our necks, or the management taking advantage of us, giving little but starvation wages in return. We are world producers, and we want to share rightfully in what we produce. We will never be better than slaves unless we are organized. I would rather skip all the demands Rockefeller has granted for the right to belong to the union. I'm ready to starve and freeze some more to gain the main thing we went on strike for..the right to organize...so that my children and future generations will have a voice in their work. With me, it's no deal! What do YOU say?"
The hand of every man and woman went up as they shouted, "Rah, rah, rah..me too!...me too!...me too!..."
...Looking back now on these bitter days, I can see a wonderful thing in them despite the terror, the disappointments, the deprivations. Our suffering with the extreme cold and hunger had brought us all together. The mine guards had lumped us together as being "you damn foreigners," but we damn foreigners became as one nationality. If anyone was sick, all were concerned, and would bring whatever medicines we had on hand, or warm soup. No one thought of anybody as being different in color or national origin. We had become a "family" of world citizens, petitioning for the right to make an honest living as free human beings, and to realize a portion of the fruits of our labor.
[emphasis added]
SOURCE
Those Damn Foreigners
-by Mary T. O'Neal
Minerva Book, USA
Photo: African-American Family at Ludlow
http://www.du.edu/...
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Internationale - Pete Seeger
Debout! les damnés de la terre
Debout! les forçats de la faim
La raison tonne en son cratère,
C’est l’éruption de la fin.
Du passé faisons table rase
Foule esclave, debout! debout!
Le monde va changer de base
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout!
C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.
- Eugène Pottier