Tag: Seattle Central Labor Council

Hellraisers Journal: Political Prisoner Hulet M. Wells, Socialist, Released from Leavenworth Federal Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little re Guts, Wobbly by RC p208, Chg July 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 22, 1920
Leavenworth, Kansas – Hulet M. Wells Released from Prison

From the Everett Labor Journal of November 19, 1920:

Hulet Wells, ISR p11, July 1917

HULET M. WELLS IS AT LIBERTY
—————

WASHINGTON, D C, Nov. 16.-Hulet M. Wells, former president of the Seattle Central Labor Council, sentenced to prison by the Seattle federal court for alleged seditious utterances in opposing the draft act, was released from Leavenworth prison on November 13 under order of immediate commutation of the remainder of his sentence.

The formal order for his release was signed today by Attorney General Palmer.

——-

Wells, after two trials, was sentenced to serve two years in the federal penitentiary following his conviction in the local district court on a charge of having violated the military law of the United States. He began serving his sentence at McNeil Island in June, 1919, and about one year ago was transferred to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Note: Hulet Wells was convicted in March of 1918 but did not begin serving his sentence until June of 1919 when all appeals were exhausted.

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Hellraisers Journal: Anna Louise Strong on Seizure of the Seattle Union Record and Arrests of Ault, Strong, Rust, and Listman

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 15, 1919
Seattle, Washington – Union Record Editor and Staff Arrested

From The Nation of December 13, 1919:

A Newspaper Confiscated—And Returned

By ANNA LOUISE STRONG

[Part II of II.]

SUR Seizure, Red Rags to Die, Spk Rv p3, Nov 15, 1919
Spokane Spokesman-Review
November 15, 1919

Meantime [as more facts came to light concerning the Centralia outrage] The Record had been seized. Two hours before the seizure the other competing newspapers knew of it, and proclaimed it on the streets. Reporters, camera men, and moving-picture men accompanied the deputies. The editor, and the president and secretary of the board of trustees, were arrested and later released on bail. The employees were cleared out of the building which was then searched. Much material was carted away. The seizure occurred while the presses were turning out the regular home edition, and their work was stopped. The staff was told, rather vaguely, that the place was closed. Later in the evening the proprietors again obtained possession of the plant, with the assurance that there was no intention of holding it. However, on the following day, when the main edition was on the press, the marshal again arrived, stated that the plant was indefinitely closed, and gave the employees half an hour to clear out. The first act of one of the deputies was to take down the telephone, call up a competing newspaper, and announce “We’ve shut her down tight.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Anna Louise Strong on Seizure and Return of the Seattle Union Record Following the Centralia Outrage

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 14, 1919
Seattle, Washington – Union Record, Confiscated and Returned

From The Nation of December 13, 1919:

A Newspaper Confiscated—And Returned

By ANNA LOUISE STRONG

[Part I of II.]

SEATTLE has a way of making labor history. The third week in November saw not only the confiscation and later the return of the property of The Seattle Union Record, the mouthpiece of organized labor in that city, but produced as by-products several actions new in the history of unionism. The newspaper’s plant was seized without warning by the United States Attorney, held throughout a week’s time through various court delays, and at last returned on order of the court, which stated that it was illegally held. The mailing of the paper was held up for over a week by the local postmaster on the ground that he was “in doubt” concerning its mailability.

SUR Seizure, Stt Str p1, Nov 13, 1919
The Seattle Star of November 13, 1919

Meantime, the labor movement of the city, which was obviously expected by the authorities to indicate its anger in some storm or upheaval, remained calm and self-controlled, and began voting a day’s pay per member for “a bigger, better Union Record.” Several unions displayed spontaneously the extent to which solidarity of feeling has transcended in Seattle the actual craft lines of organization. The union teamsters, sent to The Union Record office to haul away the confiscated files, records, and papers, obstinately refused to handle them until the marshal appealed to the secretary of The Union Record’s board of control, whom he had just arrested. Mr. Rust then went out and told the teamsters “It’s all right, boys; go ahead.” And they went ahead.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Liberator: “Reflections on the Seattle General Strike by a Woman Who Was There”-Revolution?

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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 29, 1919
Seattle General Strike: Revolution? -60,000 Striking Workers Run the City

From the New York Liberator of April 1919:

When Is a Revolution Not a Revolution

Reflections on the Seattle General Strike
by a Woman Who Was There

Seattle General Strike, Metal Trades Council, SUR p3, Feb 4, 1919

“A GENERAL STRIKE, called by regular unions of the American Federation of Labor, cutting across contracts, across international union constitutions, across the charter from the American Federation of Labor,”-this was what the chairman of the strike committee declared it to be. A General Strike in which the strikers served 30,000 meals a day, in which the Milk Wagon Drivers established milk stations all over town to care for the babies, in which city garbage wagons went to and fro marked “Exempt by Strike Committee”; a General Strike in which 300 Labor Guards without arms or authority went to and fro preserving order; in which the Strike Committee, sitting in almost continuous session, decided what activities should and should not be exempted. from strike in the interests of public safety and health, and even forced the Mayor to come to the Labor Temple to make arrangements for lighting the city.

Yet almost any member of the Strike Committee will tell you, in hot anger, that “this was no revolution, except in the Capitalist papers; it was only a show of sympathy and solidarity for our brothers in the shipyards.” And so in truth it was, in intention. It would seem that the beginnings of all new things take place, not through conscious intention, but through the inevitable action of economic forces.

Hardly yet do the workers of Seattle realize all the things they did.

The shipyard workers of Seattle struck, 35,000 strong, on [Tuesday] January 21st. On January 22, a request was brought to the Central Labor Council for a general strike in sympathy with the Metal Trades. This was referred to the various unions for referendum. By the following Wednesday, January 29, the returns were pouring in.

“Newsboys vote to strike and await instructions of Joint Strike Committee.” “Hotel maids vote 8 to 1 for strike.” “Waitresses expect to go strong for general strike.” Foundry employees, butchers, structural iron workers, milk wagon drivers, garment workers, carpenters, barbers, building laborers, longshoremen, painters, glaziers, plasterers, cooks and assistants, these were among the votes to come in the first week.
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Hellraisers Journal: The Ohio Socialist: “The History of the Seattle General Strike” from the Seattle Union Record

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 29, 1919
The History of the Seattle General Strike: Organization

From The Ohio Socialist of March 26, 1919:

THE SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE


(HERE IS THE HISTORY OF THE SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE
AS APPEARED IN THE SEATTLE UNION RECORD)
—–

Seattle General Strike, Now See, SUR p2, Feb 6, 1919

Four days before the strike actually took place, the meetings of the General Strike Committee began. With their first session on Sunday, Feb. 2, 1919, authority over the strike passed from the Central Labor Council, which had sent out the call, and from the Metal Trades Council which had asked it, and was centered in a committee of over 300 members, elected from 110 local unions and the Central Labor Council, for the express purpose of managing the strike.

The first meeting was called in order at 8:35 in the morning and continued is session until 9:30 that evening, with short intermissions for meals. From this time on until the close of the strike, there were meetings daily and at almost all hours of day and night, of either this General Strike Committee, or of the Executive Committee of fifteen which it delegated some of its authority. The volume of business transacted was tremendous; practically every aspect of the city’s life came before the strike committee for some decision.

A general strike was seen, almost at once, to differ profoundly from any of the particular strikes with which the workers of Seattle were familiar. It was not enough, as some of the hasty enthusiasts declared, to “just walk out.” The strikers were at once brought face to face with the way in which the whole community, including their own families, is inextricably tied together. If life was not to be made unbearable for the strikers themselves, problems of management of selection and exemption had to take the place of the mush simpler problem of keeping everyone out of work.

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Hellraisers Journal: 110 Seattle Unions Call for General Strike to Begin Thursday at 10 A. M.; 60,000 Workers Will Join Walk-Out

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Seattle General Strike, Set for Thursday, SUR p1, Feb 3, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 4, 1919
Seattle, Washington – General Strike of 60,000 Workers Set for Thursday

Seattle General Strike, All Unions To Go Out, SUR p1, Feb 3, 1919

Seattle General Strike, Announcement Delaney, SUR p1, Feb 3, 1919

At 10 o’clock next Thursday morning 60,000 organized workers in the city of Seattle will stand shoulder to shoulder in the first general strike that has ever been successfully inaugurated in the history of this country. Insolently and contemptuously Mr. Charles Piez and his labor-snubbing shipping board threw down the defiant gauntlet which has now been taken up with a firmness of resolution and a solidarity unmatched in the annals of the American Labor movement.

The workers of the northwest believe that they have been flouted and fooled by Piez and his fellow labor-baiters, that they have been deceived and betrayed by the politicians, both state and federal, and they have resolutely grasped the only weapon over which they have any direct control, determined to make a fight that will demonstrate whether or not they have the power to secure the justice that has been denied them by industrial barons and bureaucratic despots.

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Hellraisers Journal: As Support Grows for 30,000 Shipyard Strikers, GENERAL STRIKE THREATENED IN SEATTLE

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Big Bill Haywood, re General Strike, Speech NYC, Mar 16, 1911———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday January 24, 1919
Seattle, Washington – Seattle Workers Threaten General Strike

From The Seattle Star of January 22, 1919:

Seattle General Strike Threatened, Stt Str p1, Jan 22, 1919

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of January 23, 1919:

Seattle General Strike Vote, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 23, 1919Seattle General Strike, re Shipyards, Btt Dly Bltn p1, Jan 23, 1919

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Hellraisers Journal: Tom Mooney’s Death Sentence Commuted to Life in Prison by Governor Stephens of California

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 29, 1918
Sacramento, California – Life of Brother Mooney to be Spared

From the San Francisco Chronicle of November 29, 1918:

Tom Mooney, Gov Commutes to Life, SF Chc p1, Nov 29, 1918
—–

Tom Mooney, SF Chc p1, Nov 29, 1918


Governor, in Decision,
Refuses to Recognize
Case as Representing
Clash of Capital and Labor
—–
ACTION INFLUENCED BY
APPEALS FROM WILSON
—–
Convicted Man No True Friend
of  Working Class,
Statement Says;
Matter Decided on Merits
—–

Sacramento, November 28,-The death sentence of Thomas J. Mooney was commuted to life imprisonment today by Governor William D. Stephens. Mooney, convicted of the Preparedness parade bomb murders in San Francisco July 22, 1916, was sentenced to be hanged at San Quentin Prison December 13.

In announcing his decision governor Stephens asserts the case does not represent a clash between capital and labor. He characterizes as “absurd” propaganda that would make Mooney appear as a martyr to the cause of labor, and indicates that this action was influenced by two telegraphic appeals from President Wilson which urged commutation of sentence for international reasons….

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Hellraisers Journal: With Band Playing “The Marseillaise,” Bolsheviki Steamer Shilka Leaves Seattle, Sets Sail for Russia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I have no country to fight for
My country is the earth
And I am a citizen of the world.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal: Thursday January 10, 1918
Seattle, Washington – The Shilka Sets Sail to Cheers of Supporters

From The Tacoma Times of January 9, 1918:

Rss Rev, Shilka lvs Stt, Tacoma Tx p5, Jan 9, 1918

—–

(Special to the times.)

SEATTLE, Jan. 9.-Serenaded by a volunteer brass band playing “The Marseillaise” and “The Star Spangled Banner,” cheered by more than a hundred admirers and friends, the Russian steamship Shilka, which had return from Tacoma on Monday morning with her bunkers full of coal, bade farewell to Seattle at Pier 5 at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon when she sailed for Kobe via Yokohama.

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