Arguably, no strike led by the I.W.W. in the East was more important than the massive, bloody, and eventually victorious conflict with the U.S. Pressed Steel Company outside of Pittsburgh at MkKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. With William K. Trautmann acting as lead I.W.W. organizer, here Local 299 responds to slanders by the A.F. of L. and displays the strikers’ unity behind the I.W.W.

‘Solid I.W.W. at McKees Rocks’ Statement of Local No. 299 from The Industrial Worker. Vol. 1 No. 28. September 23, 1909.

OUR MARTYRED DEAD.

In making but membership books today for the members of McKees Rocks, Pa., we discovered that every one of the men murdered by the Cossacks of the capitalist class here in McKees Rocks was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Horwarth, the Kroatian. killed first, was the eighth member who had paid his initiation fee. The membership books of the victims in this battle will be framed and displayed In the I.W.W. hall. Make these facts known in the Industrial Worker, so that our fellow workers in the west may know that the I.W.W. is receiving its “Feuertaufe” on the bloodstained battlefield of Pennsylvania.

WM. K. TRAUTMANN. General Organizer.

Solid I.W.W. Union at McKees Rocks

The following is a statement of facts In regard to Industrial Union No. 299, of the Industrial Workers of the World, at McKees Rocks. Pa. The accuracy of these statements may be verified by either the membership of the union or the employers and their patriotic “A.F. of L.” The following concessions have been gained from the company by the I.W.W.:

1. Half holiday on Saturday. Although this was not supposed to go into effect till a week after the settlement, the men simply quit work on Saturday afternoon and made good.

2. No Sunday work. Altogether reducing the hours about 10 per week. Company announces that 1000 additional men will be put to work at once,

3. Shop rules completely changed. Now very liberal.

4. Any foreman accepting a bribe will be immediately discharged. There Is now a union enforce this rule. Pooling system abolished, which means for some an immediate increase of 13 per cent in wages.

6. Immediate Increase of 5 per cent in wages all around.

7. After 60 days, restoration of 1907 scale, which means 15 per cent more Increase.

8. Discharge of all strikebreakers.

When the men returned to work they found that not a thing had been done by the scabs, except the painting of a few cars. The big shop was in a state of complete anarchy. Slime and dirt and rubbish were everywhere. But the foremen, who formerly used their maces and guns on the men, now took off their half to the returning strikers.

When the settlement of the strike was announced ten A.F. of L. organizers came to the strikers’ headquarters and presented their credentials. Five of the strike committee voted to tear their A.F. of L. cards up and throw them in the cuspidor. Wise, the chairman of the strike committee, voted against this, and left the hall with the A.F. of L. organizers.

While thousands were congregating at I.W.W. headquarters, 100 Chartiers avenue, putting In their applications to the I.W.W., these A.F. of L. organizers, together with Wise, came over and urged the men not to Join the I.W.W. Wise wanted them to join the “Carmen’s International Union” of the A.F. of L. Joseph Schmidt, the secretary of No. 299. I.W.W. made a speech in three languages, denouncing Wise and the American Federation of Labor. Hungarian and other speakers followed. James Carr, one of the strike committee, also vouched that the I.W.W. was the right union for the workers to join.

A.F. of L. Tactics.

One of the A.F. of L. organizers there then struck Wm. K. Trautmann of the I.W.W., and Trautmann then knocked him and Wise out of the hall. The same evening there were 200 or more people at the I.W.W. headquarters.

All the members from Pittsburg helped out, taking the names of applicants for membership in the I.W.W. Several speakers addressed the crowd in six languages. The Cossacks stood around but. were afraid of the enormous crowd. This was simply great! Next morning Wise went to the chief of police and wanted Joseph Schmidt arrested for organizing the men in an “anarchist” organization. Then in their utter despair, the A.F. or L. organizers went to the Burgess Justice of the peace) of McKees Rocks and told him that Trautmann, the General Organizer of the I.W.W., was a swindler and had no charter, etc. At 1 p.m. a big crowd, headed by Wise and four others, entered the hall, policemen by the dozens with them. The Burgesses demanded Trautmann’s papers. credentials, etc. Trautmann refused to answer any questions, while Wise and the A.F. of L. bunch shouted like maniacs. Trautmann was arrested at once. This stirred things up and was the best thing that could have happened and showed the big crowd on the mound that. It was a trick of the company to prevent organization. Wise saw at once that his game was up and tried to smooth matters over. Trautmann had his hearing in the evening. And in the meantime all the A.F. of L. organizers had skidooed. The Immense crowd standing inside and outside the courtroom were about to vote to continue the strike, as the arrest of Trautmann was seen to be a trick to prevent the men joining the I.W.W. The Burgesses then dismissed the case against the “anarchist.”

Car Builders’ Industrial Union No. 299. I.W.W., has a charter membership of Snot), and every new man in the shops is forced to show a card In the I.W.W. or go out and pet one before the other men will work with him. This is a case of an open union and a closed shop. The I.W.W. headquarters at 100 Chartiers avenue will seat about 600 people und there Is standing room for several hundred more.

On September 16 the Associated Press announced that the American workers had been separated from the “foreigners” and that a new strike had been started by the “anarchists.” but that the patriotic Americans had broken the strike and marched back to work “following the American flag, etc.” This was a lie out of whole cloth. The facts are as follows: All the scabs that were working in departments of the Pressed Steel Car Company, where foreign-speaking workers were employed, were fired at once. This was not the case in those departments employing Americans. The foreign fellow workers thereupon took the initiative to reinstate every last one of the American strikers and see that all the scabs were fired. The men decided to remain in the plant and refuse to work unless the foremen at once fired all the scabs. The result of this action was, that inside of thirty minutes there was not a scab left in the works. At noon that same day, September 16, Wise, the former chairman of the strike committee, and supporter of the American Federation of Labor, advised the men not to return to work at all, hoping to cause confusion and dissension among the workers by arraying, If possible, the Americans against the others. The employers hoped by using Wise to break the solidarity of the workers. This attempt failed utterly. The I.W.W. is solid at McKees Rocks and presents an unbroken front against the employers, and is growing stronger every day. This is the state of affairs as we go to press on September 23.

A systematic effort Is now being planned to organize the other mills in the vicinity of Pittsburg. Joseph Ettor, member of the G.E.B. of the I.W.W., is now on the scene as well as a number of I.W.W. organisers.

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.”

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v1n28-sep-23-1909-IW.pdf