You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Thursday April 13, 1905
From The Indianapolis News: A Letter to the Editor Defends Unionism and Socialism
"Unionism and Socialism"
A book by Eugene Debs, released last year.
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We at
Hellraisers find it interesting that this Indiana newspaper should have titled their attack upon the Western Federation of Miners: "Unionism and Socialism." As I'm sure our readers are aware, this is the title given to the book which was released last year by Eugene Debs. Be that has it may, a response has been made to that attack in a letter to the editor which
The News found fit to publish in its April 7th edition:
Western Miners and Socialism.
To the Editor of The News:
Sir-In The News of March 29, under the caption of "Unionism and Socialism," The News, in commenting on an article written by Mr. Gompers for the American Federationist, in which he condemned President Moyer and Secretary Haywood, of the Western Federation of Miners, it was said that he should be commended for protecting union men in their contributions and for making a stand against socialism. The News ought to know that the Colorado strike was because of the refusal of the mine owners to shorten the hours or advance the scale.
To have been fair The News should have given the miners' side of the controversy as well as that of the operators...Moyer and Haywood may be socialists and may favor the socialization of the union, but if they do there is nothing antagonistic to unionism in that, because it is well known that the socialists are friendly to all unions... The fight made by the Western Federation of Miners for civil rights was a fight for the fireside of every laboring man in our land. The battle was temporarily lost, but not for aye-it will come again. All honor to Moyer and Haywood, Gompers to the contrary notwithstanding.
A TRUTH-SEEKER. Spencer, Ind., March 30.
(The News has frequently given the details of the Colorado trouble which this correspondent repeats at length, and has expressed sympathy with the miners' side of the contention. In the article referred to, it expressed no opinion of Messrs. Moyer and Haywood, but told simply what Mr. Gompers said of them. The News's only expression for itself in the editorial alluded to was that workingmen should oppose socialism, and this it heartily believes.-Editor The News.)
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[Paragraph break, emphasis and photograph added.]
REPORT FROM THE CRIPPLE CREEK STRIKE ZONE
From Mrs. Langdon of Victor, Colorado, a town within the Cripple Creek Strike Zone, comes news that the Cripple Creek Strike is not over. The Western Federation of Miners has found it necessary to send out a statement declaring the strike still on in order to counter the lies being propagated by the Mine Owners' Association and the Citizens' Alliance.
We are also pleased to find from this report that Mrs. Langdon has been made an honorary member of the W. F. of M. On having been presented with the emblem of the union, she states:
I value this token of appreciation more than the crown of an empress, nor would the proffer of such tempt me to part with it.
From Mrs. Emma F. Langdon of Victor, Colorado:
THE STRIKE STILL ON.
[As regards the Cripple Creek Strike,] I would have been pleased to record the strike at an end, and victory crowning the efforts of the Western Federation of Miners. The strike in the Cripple Creek district still continues. The miners, however, although on strike since August 10, 1903, are not discouraged. As an indication of their determination to continue the strike until victory has been achieved I reproduce the following:
STRIKE IS STILL ON.
Headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners.
Denver, Colorado, April 11, 1905.
To all Members of Organized Labor and Those who Desire to Maintain Their Honor:
Charles Moyer
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Big Bill Haywood
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The Mine Owners' Association of the Cripple Creek District, with its lawless ally, the Citizens' Alliance, has been sending out fabricated reports to the effect that the strike has been declared off by the Western Federation of Miners. This brazen lie has been hatched and circulated by the same mob that bull-penned and deported miners, that even murdered in cold blood men who refused to yield their allegiance to the principles of the organization of which they were members.
The Mine Owners' Association and the Citizens' Alliance have discovered that while thugs, gunfighters, rape fiends, outlaws and convicts from the penitentiaries may be of valuable assistance to mine operators, in upholding a reign of terror, yet these debauched and depraved degenerates are practically useless in the production of dividends.
The members of the Mine Owners' Association and Citizens' Alliance have had an experience for which they have paid an awful price. The dividends of which they have boasted have been on paper and not in the vaults of the banks. In their desperation they are attempting to deceive through the circulation of a lie, hoping that the old miners will return to the Cripple Creek district and once more become inmates of the mines.
The Western Federation of Miners has not declared the strike off, and never will as long as the mine operators are unfair to organized labor—as long as they continue shipping their ores to the scab mills of Colorado City, and as long as the card or blacklisting system is used to discriminate against members of the Western Federation of Miners.
Hundreds of men have been driven from their homes in the Cripple Creek district, and are still exiles from their wives and children. Many of these men bear the scars that were inflicted by the brutal orders of a Mine Owners' Association and a Citizens' Alliance. These men and their wives and children who have borne the insults and outrages of a hired soldiery, would scorn a compromise or a surrender to that ''law and order'' combination that reveled in a carnival of brutality, to subjugate and enslave the best blood and brawn in the Cripple Creek district.
Men of honor, of spirit, and of independence, will shun the mines of the Cripple Creek district as they would a pestilence. Men who have any conception of the principles of Unionism will not be used as tools of a Mine Owners' Association to assassinate justice.
Stay away from the Cripple Creek district, and the time will come when the miner in Colorado's greatest gold camps can enjoy some of the liberty that is guaranteed to him by the law and the constitution of the state.
Any one who goes to the Cripple Creek district and accepts employment in the mines, will be recognized as a scab by the metal miners throughout the United States and British Columbia.
Whenever the strike is declared off, or a settlement is effected, an official notice will be issued from the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners.
CHAS. H. MOYER,
President W. F. M.
W. D. HAYWOOD,
Sec'y-Treas. W. F. M.
The emblem of the Western Federation of Miners is three stars which represent education, organization and independence. At the twelfth annual convention held in Denver, I was made an honorary member and presented with the emblem of the order. I value this token of appreciation more than the crown of an empress, nor would the proffer of such tempt me to part with it. I see in the emblem of the three stars all that is sublime. I have seen demonstrated under it the fortitude of the faithful followers of the single star—the Star of Bethlehem—the insignia of Christianity—the birthright of Christ—whose faithful followers, martyred followers, created and maintained the sweet sentiment of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Man."
When I look upon the three stars of the Western Federation of Miners, with their innumerable rays spreading Education, Organization and Independence, I feel the inspiration that from far above, He, whose mission the single star announced, looks down upon the sublime constellation of three with approval for its representation and sturdy maintenance of His divine given law, "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Man."
I feel that far above another constellation of stars and stripes, representing human liberty, this land of pioneers, a constellation that has been debauched by tyranny such as the Nero attempted in extinguishing the sentiment of the single star, will again be placed in its true position—representing a brave, happy, pure and justified people by the tribulations of the sturdy followers of the three stars, as was the supremacy of the single star established and the faith of Christianity made permanent by the tribulations of the martyrs of Nero's despotism. By the emblem of the W. F. M., the three stars, I predict an ultimate victory....
[The leaders of the Western Federation of Miners] are the men whom the Mine Owners' Association, the Citizens' Alliance and other enemies of progressive unionism, charge with being anarchists. [These unionist stand] for sturdy manhood and intelligence. Certain it is that for unselfish devotion to the cause and steadfast purpose of uplifting toiling humanity they have never been surpassed.
[These union leaders represent] the inspiration of truth, honesty and justice. We need more such men—more such determination to battle for human liberty.
Someone has said:
God give us men; a time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom lust of lucre does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking ;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For, while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps.
Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps.
[Paragraph break and photographs added.]
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SOURCES
The Indianapolis News
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Apr 7, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/...
The Cripple Creek Strike
A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado, 1903-4-5
-by Emma F Langdon
"Being a Complete and Concise
History of the Efforts of
Organized Capital
to Crush Unionism"
The Great Western Publishing Co.
Denver,Colorado, 1905.
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
IMAGES
Unionism and Socialism by Eugene V Debs, Cover, 1904
http://books.google.com/...
Emma F Langdon
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
Charles Moyer
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
Big Bill Haywood
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
Emblem of the Western Federation of Miners
http://www.nps.gov/...
See also:
Garnered Sheaves:
The Complete Poetical Works of J. G. Holland
Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1873
https://books.google.com/...
"God give us men."
https://books.google.com/...
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We're Coming Colorado-John McCutcheon
We are fighting for our rights, boys,
We are fighting for our homes,
Shouting the battle cry of union;
Men have died to win the struggle;
They've died to set us free,
Shouting the battle cry of union.
The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the gunthugs, and up with the law;
For we're coming, Colorado, we're coming all the way,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.
-Frank Hayes
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