‘Paterson Textile Workers in New Quarters’ by F.A. Blossom from One Big Union Monthly. Vol. 1 No. 8. October, 1919.

Paterson Branch, Textile Workers’ Industrial Union No. 1,000 of the I.W.W. has moved to 20 Van Houten Street.

This forced removal is but another instance of systematic persecution of the militant working class organizations, which is coming to be a regular part of capitalism’s campaign to hang on to its “right” to get rich off the toil of the workers. For months past, religious and ‘‘patriotic’’ organizations brought pressure to bear on the owner of the former headquarters to get him to turn the ‘‘Wobblies’’ out in the street. He protested vigorously, declaring that they were his best tenants, that they attended to their own business, paid their rent promptly and created no disturbance.

Finally, the business interests, seeing that they could not gain their ends by round-about methods, through their obedient tools in the religious and patriotic bodies, came out into the open — more or less — and through the Chamber of Commerce, threatened the landlord that, if he did not kick the I.W.W. out, the Chamber of Commerce would start a campaign in the local papers against his two theater enterprises. Before this threat, he capitulated and gave the I.W.W. notice to vacate.

Much trouble was experienced in finding new quarters, on account of the general prejudice against the organization in the minds of the scissorbill public. Slides were even shown in the moving picture houses stating that the I.W.W. could not find a hall to rent — this being intended to spread the black list idea further. In spite of this campaign, a new office was secured that is as commodious and as centrally located as the former quarters.

The above is now the address of our paper ‘‘The Textile Worker’’. F. A. Blossom.

One Big Union Monthly was a magazine published in Chicago by the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World from 1919 until 1938, with a break from February, 1921 until September, 1926 when Industrial Pioneer was produced. OBU was a large format, magazine publication with heavy use of images, cartoons and photos. OBU carried news, analysis, poetry, and art as well as I.W.W. local and national reports.

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/sim_one-big-union-monthly_1919-10_1_8/sim_one-big-union-monthly_1919-10_1_8.pdf