You..ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Wednesday June, 1903
From The Comrade: an editorial by John Spargo on women's suffrage.
Comrade John Spargo is well known as an advocate for the rights of women and children. Here he takes on the issue of the Socialist Party and women's suffrage:
There is one reed forcing itself more and more upon the movement of which it is perhaps appropriate that we should say a few words in this connection — the need of developing the social side of our party activities. We have been "Unsocial Socialists" too long. In the political movement there has always been the serious difficulty arising from the fact that women do not — and generally can not — take part in it. By a monstrous injustice they are in most cases deprived of the right to vote and cannot therefore be expected to join very heartily in political work. Then again, because they are not voters, our appeal is not made to them either as frequently or as strongly as it should be.
And there are thousands of Socialist workers who could bear witness to the unpleasant consequences resulting from the lack of sympathy in the home fostered by these facts. What interest in "politics" can we expect from the average woman when she has no vote? So we lose in two ways: because of the lack of interest shown by their wives many of our comrades work with much less vigor and efficiency, while, on the other hand we lose the powerful assistance of the women themselves. That there are already many earnest women in our ranks is true- but their number is relatively small. And none more readily than they will assent to what we have felt impelled to say on this matter.
The Comrade
-of June 1903
http://archive.org/...
Tuesday June 3, 1913
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Marine Transport Workers I.U. Local 8! Victory!
On May 28 the strike of Local 8 of the Marine Transport Workers I.U. was settled in favor of the union. Fred Taylor head of one of the largest stevedoring companies in this city was forced to the bargaining table. Representing the longshoreman was a committee of three longshoremen. As follows the I.W.W. custom, this committee crossed the color line and represented both native born and immigrant workers.
After a strike of two weeks the Longshoremen won time and a half for overtime, double time for Sundays and holidays, no discrimination against strikers and recognition of the a worker's committee. Overtime pay is particularly important to the Longshoremen since they often work shifts of 24 and even 36 hours straight.
Fellow Worker Ben Fletcher
I.W.W. organizer, Ben Fletcher is widely known as a skilled speaker. Nevertheless, he maintained a low profile during this strike. He did make a trip to Baltimore during this strike to convince the I.W.W. longshoremen on the Atlantic coast not to handle hot cargo. Throughout the strike, solidarity was solid across the color line. As
Solidarity put it:
The Polish, Jewish, Negro and English speaking fellow workers were solidly lined up...These boys realize what the one big union can do.
SOURCE
Ben Fletcher
The life and Times of a Black Wobbly
Including Fellow worker Fletcher's Writings & Speeches
-by Peter Cole
Charles H Kerr Pub, 2007
For further study:
Working In These Times
"A 100-Year-Old Idea That Could Transform the Labor Movement"
-by Daniel Gross
http://inthesetimes.com/...
Monday June 3, 2013
From Labor Notes: One of our own, namely Mentatmark, has article published!
Photo by Mentamark
used with permission
GE workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, marched out of the plant and struck for two hours on each shift to protest the company's plan to send a third of their jobs to Texas.
The article describes the struggle of UE Local 506 in Erie to stop the export of 950 union jobs to the right-to-work(so-called) state of Texas.
Read full article here:
http://www.labornotes.org/...
Note: this link posted with permission of Mentatmark.
UE Local 506
http://www.uelocal506.org/
From Making Change at Walmart: The Denver Send-off for the #Ride4Respect
OUR Walmart members Dominic Ware and Amy Stinnett talk about being Walmart strikers at the send-off for the Ride for Respect caravan in Denver. For them, and the many others who have traveled to Bentonville, being able to have a voice on the job, rather than being silenced, is what its all about. Respect should be something every associate receives.
Follow the #Ride4Respect
https://twitter.com/...
SIGN THIS PETITION
Stand with Walmart Workers/Petition for June 7
http://action.changewalmart.org/...
DONATE
https://donate.changewalmart.org/...
JOIN/PLAN AN EVENT
http://corporateactionnetwork.org/...
Connect with OUR Walmart
http://forrespect.org/
Land of Hope and Dreams
Solidarity,
JayRaye