You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday July 9, 1905
Chicago, Illinois - First Convention of Industrial Workers of the World Comes to an End
Below the fold our readers can find the Hellraisers report from the last day (July 8th) of the first Convention of the Industrial Workers of World.
But before our own report, we offer the following summary of yesterday's events from today's edition of the Inter Ocean, which summary is surprisingly accurate for a member of the kept press:
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS ELECT.
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Convention of Socialists Ends With
Organization Perfected.
Despite predictions that the convention of the Industrial Workers of the World would end in fire and smoke, the delegates, representing 50,000 workers, elected officers for the ensuing year by a unanimous vote yesterday.
The officers elected are as follows:
President-Charles O. Sherman, Chicago, secretary of United Brotherhood of Metal Workers.
Secretary and Treasurer-William E. Trautmann, Cincinnati, United Brotherhood of Brewery Workers.
Delegates at Large-John Riordan, British Columbia, American Labor union; F. W. Cronin, Butte, Mont., American Labor union; Frank McCabe, Kansas City, Mo., United Brotherhood of Railway Employes; C. H. Moyer, Denver, president of Western Federation of Miners; Charles Kirkpatrick, Chicago, United Brotherhood of Metal Workers.
These seven men will constitute an executive board, in whose hands the convention placed the right to act in the reformation of the world in general and laborers in particular.
Organizing delegates will be sent broadcast throughout the land to secure the affiliation of labor unions with the new organization.
The most conservative of the delegates declare the membership of the association at the time of the next convention, in May of 1906, at a place to be fixed by the executive board, will be over 1,000,000.
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[Photograph added.]
Convention of Industrial Unionists
Day Eleven-July 8, 1905
MORNING SESSION
The Convention was called to order at 9 a. m. and quickly proceeded to the report of the Committee on Literature and Press:
TO ALL WORKING PEOPLE
To-day the warfare of the struggle between the classes is as
merciless, fierce and bloodthirsty as it ever was in the past.
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Old as the story of wealth is the story of oppression, and that oppression has always been leveled at, and heaped upon those who have produced all the wealth—the laboring class.
To-day the warfare of the struggle between the classes is as merciless, fierce and bloodthirsty as it ever was in the past.
Your employer may be personally your friend. He may be a man of the best intentions, and really desire to better the condition of those he employs. But when his competitor cuts wages, he in turn must cut yours or go out of business.
This is the iron law of business, the law of competition, and the class struggle.
Can you not see the futility, therefore, of fighting individual employers ?
The whole method must be swept away, until in the hands of the laboring class rests the control of the tools of production and distribution.
For this, the most important of all questions, insists upon being answered, and must be answered without evasion.
Who are entitled to the ownership and control of the industries? Those who perform the labor and produce the wealth; or, those who produce nothing yet claim ownership after production, because they have permitted part of your product to return to you in the form of wages?
The natural law of labor and wages, as laid down by all the great authorities, beginning with: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” is that the result of labor belongs to that one who performs the labor. Thus the ownership is by right of labor alone.
Naturally, then, follows this question: Who shall fix the wages? Those who labor with the machines of production and distribution, or those who laboring not at all, demand a portion of the product?
Many men who claim to be our friends tell us there is a harmony and identity of interest between the laboring and the master class. Let us see. You are interested in getting the largest possible returns for your labor. The master is interested in getting your labor for the smallest wages.
Can you imagine harmony or identity of interest here?
This industrial union has been brought into existence because those who organized it recognized there could be neither harmony nor identity of interest, but instead, a never-ending and merciless conflict, until the wage system is swept away.
This organization has come into the field for the purpose of giving you a weapon with which to wage a contest for better returns for your labor than you now enjoy, and that in all conflicts you can offer an unbroken front of all labor to your enemy,—the master class.
Also by becoming members of this organization you do your part toward bringing into life and action a solidified workers’ union, —a union that, recognizing the solidarity of the working class, unites instead of dividing the workers.
All the efforts of labor organizations of the past have been directed toward benefiting a few of the laboring class.
Just the skilled workmen of the various trades, as cigar makers, carpenters, engineers, etc.
And after these men have joined their various unions, they seem to feel they have become of another class than their fellow workers, and seem to think those fellow workers are not entitled to the same treatment, conditions and pay as they demand for themselves.
The industrial union, however, offers to all the workers the same advantages the older organizations offer to only a favored few.
Recognizing that the common laborer is as valuable to society as the most skillful mechanic, we offer to him the same shelter, the same assistance and the same comradeship the older unions offer to only a few tradesmen.
In the past, these bodies of union men have been kept divided and at enmity by leaders who either ignorantly or willfully assassinate the welfare of their followers for the benefit of the master class. By these divisions and the strife, thus brought about, these unions have wasted upon each other the strength which should have been expended against the common enemy.
But the industrial union, embracing all workers, gives no opportunity for craft conflict, nor can unscrupulous leaders embroil the branches in wrangles over trade autonomy.
A uniform label for all products of union labor makes impossible wrangling between trades over their labels. It will end corrupt bargaining between capitalists and labor officials to further the label of one group of workers above that of another.
Such a union label is truly a weapon of defense for the workers; instead of an advertisement for favored manufacturers and to assist in the formation of monopolies to further oppress working class purchasers.
Divided in resources and fighting strength as are the forces within the present unions, nearly every strife becomes a battle, not between laborers and capitalists, but between different divisions of the working class.
But the industrial union concentrates all its force upon any one point, financially or any other way.
It is the business and duty of the industrial union to wipe out all imaginary boundary lines or divisions between the workers by bringing them within the lines surrounding all the workers in this and other countries.
Neither must a worker serve an apprenticeship to man or machine, nor “stand and deliver” an enormous initiation fee to become a member of this union.
In this industrial union there is room for and no bar against any worker on account of race, sex, creed or color, and an earnest invitation is extended to every worker to enroll him or herself a member of this union.
At the time craft unions were organized trades were of importance, and individual employers were the rule. Inventions and developments upon the industrial field have wiped out the trades. Craft unions have refused to keep up with the progress of economics. They have served their time. Their usefulness has ended, and they are to-day only deadweights on the forward movement.
Would you not think a nation foolish that would go to war with bows and arrows against machine guns. Yet that is the condition of the trades unions to-day on the industrial field, its members rushing unarmed and divided to do battle with a unified, disciplined and merciless employing class.
Divided into small crafts they are helpless, for many crafts are employed in one industry.
Betrayed by their leaders, these crafts are led singly to battle and destruction, for all other crafts of that industry assist the master in crushing their brothers. Just think how easy it is done.
Union hod carriers go on strike, and union bricklayers carry brick and mortar for themselves.
Union coal miners strike. Union railroad men haul scabs to the mines and scab coal away from the mines.
Officials of the miners’ union order members of that union to unload machinery loaded by scab teamsters.
We recognize that injury to one is injury to all, and that the workers should be organized as a whole; thus avoiding such treason among themselves.
In this way only an entire industry becomes a branch of the organization, and the day of craft troubles will disappear.
For the uniform union label will mean uniform union conditions to all.
And when you join any union, your card is good in any other union without another initiation fee.
We see that the defeats of the past that have met us at every turn were only because of our lack of unity.
For these reasons this organization has come into being. We earnestly entreat you to enroll yourself with us.
Photograph added.]
The report of the Literature and Press Committee was referred by the Convention to the incoming Executive Board.
INSTALLATION OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
THE CHAIRMAN: The installation of Organizations. The representatives of the different local unions, international unions and individual members who are to take part in this new movement will so announce by rising to their feet.
The respective representatives and individuals rose.
THE CHAIRMAN: Individuals, all who take part in this new movement, either representing themselves, their local unions or other national bodies.
The delegates rose almost unanimously.
THE CHAIRMAN: I, as Chairman, hereby duly install the respective individuals and the representatives of the local unions as a part of the Industrial Workers of the World. (Applause).
DEL. CLARENCE SMITH: I desire to know if those who did not stand did not participate in becoming a part of this organization. In other words, Mr. Chairman, I want to know if those who did not install themselves and did not participate in installing their organizations at this time, shall have a voice or a vote in this organization from this time on.
THE CHAIRMAN: Those who have not become installed have neither a voice nor a vote from this time on.
DEL. SMITH: I believe it would be well to have a record of those.
THE CHAIRMAN: To make a record of the delegates, or of those present?
DEL. SMITH: To make a record of those who have installed themselves in the organization. Several delegates representing organizations with instructions to install did not rise or participate in the installation.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Secretary will read the roll call and proceed to make a record of the delegates and their organizations that have been installed.
The roll call revealed that these organizations were installed:
Western Federation of Miners,
Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance
Industrial Workers' Club, Cincinnati,
Industrial Workers' Club, Chicago,
Workers' Industrial and Educational Union of Pueblo,
United Mine Workers of Pittsburg, Kansas,
United Brotherhood of Railway Employees,
Punch Press Operators of Schenectady, NY,
Journeyman Tailors' Union, I. U. No. 102, Pueblo,
United Metal Workers of America,
Journeyman Tailors' Benevolent and Protective Union, San Francisco,
The delegation of the American Labor Union voted to install with the exception of one member, Henry S. Davis.
Among the individuals installed we sadly find but few women. Among the notable women who are now members of the Industrial Workers of the World are: Miss Luella Twining, Mrs. Emma F. Langdon, Lucy Parsons, and Mother Jones.
Newly elected to Executive Board of
Industrial Workers of the World.
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ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
The President: C. O. Sherman
Nominate for the office of President were Albert Ryan of the W. F. of M. of Jerome, Arizona; and Charles Moyer, president of W. F. of M. Both men declined the nomination, with Moyer nominating Charles O. Sherman in his stead.
Bill Haywood was next nominated:
DEL. GUY MILLER: Briefly I rise to voice my own preference. When one realizes that the battle is to be hard and bitter, one wants to know that the man who is to lead that movement will stand the hardest blows and be able to give as much as he receives. The man whom I name is one who has the power to do and the courage to dare in larger measure than any other man identified with the labor movement in America. I name that peerless Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners, William D. Haywood. (Applause.)
DEL. FERBER: Mr. Chairman and Fellow Delegates, I rise not to make a nomination, but to second the nomination made by Guy E. Miller. I second the nomination of the man who has acted as our Chairman; a man whom I consider one of courage; a man whom I think and I trust the capitalists of this country and of the world will not point their fingers to with scorn, but a man who will not be afraid to go to the bull-pen if necessary.
MOTHER JONES: And lick the militia.
Haywood declined the nomination:
DEL. HAYWOOD: Brothers and sisters, I realize the honor that has been conferred upon me by being placed before this convention as a candidate for the presidency of this organization; but it is impossible for me to accept the nomination. I have but recently left Salt Lake City, where the Western Federation of Miners held their thirteenth annual convention, and was there re-elected as Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners. I was elected in good faith by the membership of that organization. I accepted the office in good faith. When you stop to consider the condition of other officers in other labor organizations that have been involved in trouble, and think what it means to the officers of that organization to have been re-elected, you will understand where my duties lie at the present time.
I want to stay there with the Western Federation of Miners to fill out the term for which I have been elected. In doing so I believe I can assist the Industrial Workers of the World. You can depend upon me at every turn in the road. You can crush me on the wheel, if you will; I will do everything I can to carry my part of the burden. But owing to the condition of my family making it impossible—or rather I do not desire to be away from home as much as an office of this kind would entail upon me. I cannot move my family to where the headquarters are likely to be located, and believing that that family is the first consideration, I must decline the nomination.
Charles O. Sherman was then elected by the unanimous vote of the convention as President of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was called to speak and stated in part:
DEL. SHERMAN: Mr. Chairman, Brothers and Sisters: As I never was placed in a position of this kind before, it is difficult for me to find words fitting for the occasion....
I feel that I have been honored with the greatest trust that any man was ever honored with in years (applause), because I feel that no man was ever offered an executive office or any position where the principles were involved that are involved in the Industrial Workers of the World. I feel that it was the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon any man when the Western Federation of Miners laid their vote at my feet, realizing as I did the vast material that they have got in their organization that I feel is superior to myself for a position of this kind; realizing the great education that they have had, and when they absolutely refuted to furnish a candidate and laid the force and the vote of that organization at my feet, I felt that it was the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon me. I trust, sisters and brothers, that you will realize as keenly as I do the responsibility that you have put upon me.
As Mother Jones remarked, we are up against the real thing. But I feel that if I get the same co-operation of the sisters and brothers that there has been in this convention, if they give the same co-operation to the administration of this organization that they have to this convention, there will at the next convention be plenty of candidates for the executive head of this organization. (Applause).
Because I feel that with the assistance of those who are joining this organization at the present time and those that will join between now and the next convention, we are going to have an industrial organization second to none in the world. I realize too keenly that there will not be one moment of quietude, there will not be one moment but what there will be a contest or fight on somewhere, but I will say to you, brothers, that as long as there is one drop of blood left in my body, if my constituents will stand by me they will find me on the battle line supporting the banner. (Applause).
If we do not succeed, it will not be because we will recede from the position, but because we will be crushed. We will succeed or they must kill us. (Applause).
The watchword must be, “There is no defeat. We must and will win.” (Applause)....
Charles O. Sherman was then installed as President:
President Sherman was then called before Chairman Haywood, to be installed.
CHAIRMAN HAYWOOD: President Sherman, the Ritual Committee, have prepared a pledge. “You have been selected by the members of this organization to assume the responsibilities of office. The place of difficulty and danger is the post of honor. It is neither to be sought nor shunned. All that the world has gained is the gift of the toilers. They stand with empty hands, but they are coming to claim their own. It is your duty to carry out the policies that will best defend their interests. Your devotion and courage will hasten the day when those who have known only toil and gloom shall enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of the world. Let neither praise nor slander take you from the path of duty. The measure of your service will be the measure of our love. Guard well the interests confided to your care.”
President Sherman then assumed the duties of President, amid applause.
PRESIDENT SHERMAN: Sisters and Brothers, I subscribe to the charge in full, and will, to the very best of my ability, carry them out to the letter....
The Secretary-Treasurer: William E. Trautmann
The only man nominated for the office of Secretary-Treasurer was W. E. Trautmann. The nomination was seconded many times with several speeches of praise. We offer these two examples:
DEL. CLARENCE SMITH: I have known Brother Trautmann since last September only, but since last January I have been intimately associated with him in the work of the Executive Committee that has prepared for this convention. I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that in my opinion there are two requirements for an official position in this organization. One of them, which is the less of the two in my opinion, is perfect familiarity with the work with which he has to contend or meet, and the other, which is the most important of all, is the willingness to meet any test to which he may be put.
I believe that the members of this organization, particularly the members of the Executive Board and its officers, are going to be placed in a position where, if they perform their work properly, they will be the target, not for the American Federation, as has been referred to on this floor, so much as the target for the capitalist class. And I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that in my judgment the fight of the capitalist class in Colorado against the Western Federation of Miners will, by the side of this that we are approaching, be the mere skirmish, and this is to be the battle.
I believe that when men are to place particularly their lives in the hands of other men, we should have men who can be absolutely trusted with the lives of those men with whom they are associated. I do not know any other man with whom I would care to place my life if I were to be associated with this movement, than William E. Trautmann, the man who has been nominated. (Applause).
I move you that the nominations now be closed and that the President cast the ballot of this association for William E. Trautmann as the unanimous choice of this organization for Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World. (Seconded.)
DEL. POWERS: I rise to second the motion; and I will say on the nomination of Brother Trautmann, that the people I represent here are familiar with the name of Comrade Trautmann. We know that he is one of the pioneers of this movement. We know also of the great sacrifices he has made, and I know also of the work that he has done in this convention, and the hardly comprehensible amount of work which he has done in the launching of this organization. It is hardly conceivable to me how a man could go through all the work which he has gone through since this movement took its initiative step.
I think, also, comrades, that when the workingmen of America have an opportunity to see the typical workingman represented by Comrade Trautmann, and to know by his speech and by his actions that he is the real every-day workingman, the man who has got the education necessary as a worker and all that sort of thing they will feel that the work of this organization is in the hands of the right man.
Now, comrades, I do not feel equal to the emergency; I do not feel equal to the task of giving Comrade Trautmann the credit which properly belongs to him, but I heartily endorse on behalf of the Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance and heartily second the motion of the comrade to close the nominations and make the election of Comrade Trautmann unanimous. (Applause.)
W. E. Trautman was elected to the office with entire convention rising to their feet amid great applause.
Secretary Trautmann was called forward to speak:
SECRETARY TRAUTMANN: My comrades, in the early days of my life, confronted by the conditions of being raised from the slums of this proletarians of the world, I have known the class conflict on all its sides in every part of the world, and I was made by cruel conditions a slave, but a class conscious slave of the working class. In Russia, when the first lashings were administered to me in the same city where to-day the revolution arises, from that day I have become, not by the mere study of the works of the economists, not by a study of the conditions as they are shown in the books, but by the cruel, barbarous conditions under which my class has been evolved, I have become a class conscious wage worker and a wage slave. (Applause).
Driven from one part of the world to another: born in a country which is considered to be free, in New Zealand; my father himself being a miner and crushed to death in the mines; from that day on my family was separated and I became a victim of the present system, and as a victim I became a warrior against the conditions that have made me a victim. (Applause).
I came to this country, where my father was a citizen until he was forced to emigrate to New Zealand. When I entered upon the shores of this country, I found the same conditions prevailing as I found over in Russia, in Germany, in all the countries of the world wherever I had a chance to travel as a wage earner. I was a member of the United Brewery Workers, an organization of which I am proud because the rank and file are in it. When a member of that organization that to-day stands foremost in all the battles of the wage earners of this country, I went through all the struggles with them and have seen defeats and have seen victories.
And today, I say as a United Brewery Worker that I know the rank and file will pretty soon be ready to become a part of the Industrial Workers of the World. There were days in this country when we had to work sixteen and eighteen hours a day. I saw the progress that that organization made under the leadership of progressive men in those early days, and I saw how this organization was later on, through the instrumentals of the capitalist class, made an auxiliary of the capitalist system of society, not by the fault of the rank and file themselves, but by their ignorance to observe and their having too much confidence in leadership. (Applause.)...
In accepting this office in the Industrial Workers of the World I realize the confidence that the representatives of the working class of this country have placed in me. I realize also that the storm and the fight will begin from this day on. Through all my life I have tried to be on the right side, although I was always in the minority, but it is not a shame or a disgrace to stand with the minority, because a time will come when the minority will be the majority. (Applause)....
I look to see the day when the working class will be their own masters, and not the slaves of a master class; and with that object clear before my eyes I pledge to this organization of the working class, not to the representatives at this convention only, but to the entire working class, the devoting of my energies to the interests of the victims of the capitalist system of society, of which I have been one. I thank you. (Applause.)
The Executive Board
An election was held for the two at-large positions on the Executive Board, and John Riordan and F. W. Cronin were elected by a wide majority of the vote.
The organizations announced the selections:
Western Federation of Miners: Charles Moyer,
United Metal Workers: Charles Kirkpatrick,
United Brotherhood of Railway Employes: Frank McCabe.
The convention unanimously ratified the selections of these members to their positions on the incoming Executive Board.
INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS
THE CHAIRMAN: I do not think it is necessary to put the motion. The next thing in order will be the installation of the officers. It seems to me that the platform here is the proper place for the members of the Executive Board, the Secretary-Treasurer and the President of the organization as well. In the installation this morning the Chairman overlooked the obligation.
The officers and members of the Executive Board proceeded to the platform and arranged themselves before the Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN (addressing the candidates): You have been selected by the members of this organization to bear the responsibilities of office. The post of difficulty and duty is the post of honor. It is neither to be sought nor shunned. All that the world has gained is the gift of the toilers. They stand with empty hands, but they are coming to claim their own. It is your duty to carry out the policies that will best defend their interests. Your devotion and courage will hasten the day when those who have known only toil and gloom shall enjoy the sunshine and beauty of the world. Let neither praise nor slander take you from the path of duty. The measure of your service will be the measure of our love. You will now raise your right hand and repeat after me:
“I. . . . . promise to fulfill the duties of my office to the best of my ability. I promise to deliver all books, papers, money or other property entrusted to my care to my successor in office or faithfully account for the same. I shall obey the constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World, in letter and spirit. I further promise to use all my efforts to secure unity of action among the workers, on both the political and economic field, and never by any act of mine create dissension in the councils or division in the ranks of the workers. To all of which I pledge my sacred honor.”
The obligation was taken by all the officers.
THE CHAIRMAN: The officers and members of the Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World are duly installed. (Applause).
SELECTION OF HEADQUARTERS
The city of Chicago was selected for the headquarters for the Industrial Workers of the World. The temporary office will be located at the large headquarters of the United Metal Workers at 148 West Madison street where rent will be free of charge.
COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS.
DEL. MOTHER JONES: Owing to the fact that there is no money in the treasury to start this organization with, it seems to me it would be good policy to leave the decision of the salaries to the incoming officers. I for one am not afraid to trust those officers with fixing the salaries that will compensate the officers, and I think it will be satisfactory to the body as a whole. I do not know that this body here could now decide what is best to do with regard to the salaries, as long as we have no funds to begin with. When the funds grow larger and it is worth while making a decision about that, I believe that is time enough for us to begin. (Motion seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, Mother, will you please state that motion again? Just make the motion so that I can understand it.
DEL. MOTHER JONES: My motion is to refer the salary question to the incoming officers, the Executive Board. (Seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: It has been regularly moved and seconded that the salaries of the members of the Executive Board be referred to the executive officers. Are you ready for the question?
DEL. BRADLEY: Am I to understand that the Executive Board itself is to fix the salaries of the members of the Executive Board and the others?
DEL. JOHNSON: I would like to offer as an amendment to the motion that the compensation of the Executive Board shall be in accordance with the wages that the different members of that board receive, and in addition the extra expenses connected with their work. (Seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: There has been an amendment made to the motion, but I wish you would make that amendment again, as short as possible.
DEL. JOHNSON: I offer an amendment to the motion, that the compensation of the members of the Executive Board shall be equal to the wages that they receive in their respective vocations, and in addition to that the expenses incurred by their work.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have heard the amendment to the motion, which has been duly seconded. Are you ready for the question on the amendment? (Question called for). Those who are in favor of the same will signify it by saying aye. Contrary minded no. The ayes have it and it is so carried.
Daniel De Leon
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STENOGRAPHIC REPORT.
We are pleased to report that there is a complete stenographic report of the proceedings of convention, and that this report will be left in the hands of Daniel De Leon and the Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance for transcription and publication.
De Leon argued for the report:
Now as a matter of right this stenographic report is the property of the Daily People, and we can put it through quickly, long before the Board can have come to a decision and long before it can have raised the funds for that. The stenographic notes are valueless as they are now. They are valuable only if we have stenographic notes transcribed. You all know that it takes time to collect funds, and a person who works wants to know who is going to pay him for it. I am authorized to say that the stenographic report can be published, that the publication of it can be begun immediately by the Daily People.
De Leon further stated:
This report is the property of the Daily People. You rejected the motion of Delegate Smith; you rejected the motion of the Committee on Ways and Means: and had we acted on the spirit that disposed of those motions we would have discharged the stenographer on the spot, and then there would have been no stenographic record of the transactions of this convention. But we saw the value to the Movement of preserving this record, and so, while you were hanging fire and this convention was making history, we continued the expense of the stenographer’s fees.
[History will owe Comrade De Leon and the Socialist Labor Party a debt of gratitude.]
Bill Haywood
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THE CONVENTION COMES TO AN END
DEL. WHITE: I move that we now adjourn.
THE CHAIRMAN (DEL. HAYWOOD): Just a moment. I want the President here when we adjourn. Is there any further business to come before the convention?
DEL. COATES: Have we decided on the place where the next convention is to be held?
THE CHAIRMAN: I do not believe it has been decided.
DEL. COATES: Of course the constitution, as I understand it, fixes the first Monday in May, doesn’t it?
THE CHAIRMAN: The first Monday in May is the date, but the place has not been named.
DEL. DE LEON: I move that this matter be referred to the incoming Executive Board. By that time they will know what organizations have joined and in what place it would be advisable to hold that convention; they will be in a much better position to decide. (Seconded.)
The motion was put and carried.
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, delegates, the temporary Chairman has a request to make of this convention. At the opening of the convention I was presented by some one with a gavel. I do not know to whom that gavel belongs, but I would very much like to retain it, and I would like to ask the privilege of this convention to do so.
DEL. MORRISON: I move that the request be granted.
DEL. T. J. HAGERTY: I move that the Chairman take possession of that gavel in the name of this organization, of the Industrial Workers of the World. (Seconded.)
DEL. POWERS: Before you put the motion I wish to state that there is another comrade there at the door that has got the stick that Comrade Haywood called the meeting to order with, so that he has got a rival in Chicago to that gavel.
DEL. PAT O’NEIL: I have a resolution that I would like to offer and move its adoption:
“Whereas, During the period from the issuance of the Manifesto to the convening of this congress of industrial workers, the Miners’ Magazine, the Chicago Arbeiter Zeitung, the Crisis, the Cleveland Arbeiter Zeitung and the Daily People have uncompromisingly advocated our cause; therefore be it
“Resolved, That we, the Industrial Workers of the World, express our thankfulness to the above mentioned journals for their support of industrial unionism.”
Motion seconded.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have heard the reading of this resolution. What is your pleasure?
DEL. POWERS: Question on the gavel.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is my request in regard to the ownership of the gavel granted?
DEL. SHURTLEFF: I would like to state that that gavel is the property of the International Machinists’ Union. It has been carried by me all over the country from the West to the East. Personally I am willing for the Chairman to keep it. I don’t think there will be any question about it, and really I would rather see him keep it than any other man.
THE CHAIRMAN: I thank you very much, Delegate Shurtleff. I will put this with the chart and the chairman’s badge, in one group. What is the pleasure of the convention in regard to this resolution?
DEL. COATES: I have no objection to the resolution at all, except I know of a number of other papers, that I cannot call by name just now, which have done valiant service for this Manifesto and for this organization since the issuance of the Manifesto. A number of them are small papers out in the community or in the part of the United States in which I live, and I think, Mr. Chairman, if we are going to do this, if we are going to offer thanks to somebody that in my opinion simply did their duty, let us include them all. Let us not only name four or five that are the most prominent and exclude a number of others that are entitled to the same thanks, but let us include them all. I am in favor of that motion.
DEL. DE LEON: I move, to amend that resolution by adding the words: “and all other papers that have upheld the cause of industrial unionism.” If any one can name them, let them be placed in that resolution, so as to include them all. (Amendment seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is that the names of all other papers that are known be added to this list? Is that it?
DEL. DE LEON: The amendment is to add “and all other papers that have stood for the cause of industrial unionism.”
THE CHAIRMAN: “And all other papers that have stood by the cause of industrial unionism.”
DEL. FITZGERALD: If I am not out of order I would like the Voice of Labor inserted in there.
DEL. GILBERT: I think this is all out of order. The Crisis was the first paper to champion this cause, and I prefer not to put in any names. As the delegate here said, we only did our duty, and therefore what do we want a vote of thanks for? Therefore I move as a substitute that the whole thing be laid on the table. (Seconded.)
DEL. DE LEON: Is he to be allowed to make a speech on a motion to lay on the table?
DEL. T. J. HAGERTY: I object to the substitute, on the ground that there are very few labor papers in this country that have endorsed the Manifesto. By looking at the labor exchanges we can find out the names of the other labor papers or journals that have endorsed this working class movement, and it seems to me right and proper here that we should express some recognition of the fact; that these papers and whatever other papers may be known be recognized as supporting our cause. If there are other papers, it ought to be no great matter to find out their names. Every man here who has been in the labor exchanges since the issuing of that Manifesto can find that out. As soon as the other papers outside of the Voice of Labor are known, I think they can very easily be specified, and not make any error in the names. There are a number of papers that have supported the movement, but I personally do not know any others outside of that, and I have been in the labor exchanges since the issuance of the Manifesto. I would like to know the names of those that support this Manifesto and have them added to that resolution.
The motion on the substitute to lay on the table was lost. The amendment of Delegate De Leon was then carried, and the resolution was adopted.
DEL. J. C. SULLIVAN: Mr. Chairman, unfortunately the Assistant Secretary of this convention incurred some loss, partially, I suppose, owing to the fact that she was acting as Secretary of this convention; that is, she lost some effects, and the matter was presented to this convention yesterday. Whether or not the loss has been recovered or replaced I am unable to say, but I believe that the work that she has done and the attention that she has given to the duties of Assistant Secretary of this convention are worthy of consideration and a just and fair recompense. I move you at this time that the Executive Board be instructed to pay out of the first money available in the treasury of the Industrial Workers of the World a just, fair and equitable compensation for the services rendered to this convention by the Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Langdon. (Seconded.)
The motion was put and carried, and the Chairman directed the Executive Board to take notice accordingly.
Chairman Haywood retired and President Sherman resumed the Chair.
There being no further business to come before the convention, the President at 1.20 P. M. declared the first convention of the Industrial Workers of the World adjourned sine die.
~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
Proceedings of the First Convention
of the Industrial Workers of the World
-Industrial Workers of the World, Big Bill Haywood
Merit Publishers, 1905
https://books.google.com/...
The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Jul 9, 1905
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
William E Trautmann
https://books.google.com/...
Cripple Creek Deportations June 1904
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
Mother Mary Harris Jones, Miners Angel
http://www.biography.com/...
Charles Moyer, President of Western Federation of Miners
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/...
Daniel De Leon
http://spartacus-educational.com/...
Big Bill Haywood, 1904
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
IWW Founding Convention Stenographic Report
https://www.marxists.org/...
Pyramid of Capitalist System
https://en.wikipedia.org/...
See also:
CONVENTION-Industrial Workers of the World
ELEVENTH DAY-Saturday, July 8
MORNING SESSION
https://www.marxists.org/...
CONVENTION-Industrial Workers of the World.
APPENDIX 2-June 27-July 8
Roll Call Votes, Auditor's and Financial Reports
https://www.marxists.org/...
The 1905 Proceedings of the
Founding Convention of the
Industrial Workers of the World
Friday June 27 through Saturday July 8th, 1905
https://www.marxists.org/...
Luke Grant reports to Samuel Gompers
http://www.gompers.umd.edu/...
Grant's Report on Final Day
http://www.gompers.umd.edu/...
In 1905 Luke Grant, the labor editor of the Chicago Inter Ocean, attended the founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World. A member of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, which was an AFL affiliate at the time, Grant kept Gompers informed of the convention's progress.
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One Big Industrial Union - May Day Chorus of Asheville
PAINT 'ER RED!
Come with us you workingmen and join the rebel band
Come you discontented ones and lend a helping hand
We march against the parasite to drive him from the land
With One Big Industrial Union
Chorus:
Hurrah! hurrah! we're gonna paint 'er red!
Hurrah! hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We're gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union.
In factory and field and mine we gather in our might
We're on the job and know the way to win our hardest fight
For the beacon that shall guide us out of darkness into light
Is One Big Industrial Union.
Come on you fellows, get in line, we'll fill the boss with fears
Red's the colour of our flag, it's stained with blood and tears,
We'll flout it in his ugly mug and raise our loudest cheers
For One Big Industrial Union.
"Slaves", they call us, "working plugs", inferior by birth
But when we hit their pocketbooks, we'll spoil their smiles of mirth
We'll stop their dirty dividends and drive them from the earth
With One Big Industrial Union.
We hate their rotten system more than any mortals do
Our aim is not to patch it up but build it all anew
And what we'll have for government when finally we're through
Is One Big Industrial Union.
-Ralph Chaplin/Elmer Rumbaugh
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