None of the ‘free speech’ fights engaged in by the I.W.W. were as hard fought as the struggle in San Diego which saw the local ruling class deploy mass imprisonment, torture, and murder.

‘The San Diego Maelstrom’ by Stumpy from Solidarity. Vol. 3 No. 24. June 8, 1912. 

On the surface, the free speech fight here is becoming more calm and less spectacular Apparently the vigilantes have every I.W.W. driven out of San Diego or forced into biding. Business is again seated on her throne, while her devotees chase the elusive sucker.

But deep down in the causes of things the social revolution is gaining force, a force that is all the more irresistible for its very calmness. The mighty import of the struggle that is now being waged here between the workers and the masters is as yet seen by [unreadable] of toilers as but a faint glimmer class struggle in their daily lives. forces of Labor are here contending for the very existence of an open organization, while the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association are congratulating themselves that they now have the plan that will drive all forms of labor organization off the earth.

It is not alone in San Diego that the fight is being carried on. The M. and M. are doing their best to force it onto us in many other places. Their plan is to get us involved in so-called free speech fights in so many places that we will be unable to bring sufficient force to meet their attacks. And in this way they are not relying on the local police to do all their work, but have the national courts at work as well.

These phases of the fight are not, however, the ones that are of the most import to us at present. The official murder of our men by policemen and the unofficial brutality of the vigilantes are at first sight but the acts of fear-crazed and power-maddened brutes. An intimate knowledge of their acts and purposes, however, shows there is a method in their madness.

Vigilante Confessions.

Two of the vigilantes were talking to a well-known college instructor of the East a few day ago, when one of them said: “Our acts of the past two months are all parts of a well laid plan. If we can aggravate some of these people into an act of retaliation for what we have done to them, it will give us just the chance we want. That chance is an excuse to shoot a lot of them, and that will stop all labor agitation for awhile.” It is less than a week since one of the city detectives said in an unguarded moment we can punish, these lice enough to make them fight back we will have good reasons to kill off a few thousand of them, and that will end the trouble.”

In view of the above, the Tribune editorial of March 5 seems almost a prophecy. In that editorial, among other remarks, was the following:

“We are law-abiding citizens, and the law is the only thing that keeps us from taking them (the I.W.W.) out and shooting or hanging them.”

The Tribune, which is owned by Spreckles, is too “law abiding” to shoot men in cold blood, but if it can torture men into acting in self-defense it will then ay that shooting is legal.

I.W.W. Will Not Be Trapped.

There is no possibility of the I.W.W. being drawn into any such trap as that. This is not a military campaign in which we are engaged, but a fight for economic control. And in this connection I may say that the plans are now perfected and being put into operation which will win the fight, and in six months will also, I believe, give us job control. That will mean that we will have the stars of at 1 least a dozen policemen among our souvenirs, instead of having our bones bleaching on the desert around San Diego.

Webb to “Investigate” I.W.W.

Governor Johnson has sent Attorney General U.S. Webb here to investigate the “situation,” and Webb, has brought Assistant Attorney General Raymond Benjamin along to help him. They had not been in town an hour when Webb said that “There will be no invasion of the District Attorney’s office. I am here to make an official investigation and will make no report. Governor Johnson is seeking to learn the truth of conditions in San Diego with respect to the I.W.W. and nothing more. Whether or not my investigation will take any other form than merely co-operating with the local authorities is too soon to state. I apprehend nothing but the most cheerful and willing co-operation by the local officials.”

Mr. Webb had a conference with the chief of police yesterday and says that he was assured by the officials that the police have the situation well in hand, and that in future it will not be necessary to have the help of the vigilantes. But in connection with that statement the vigilantes say that they will accept volunteer officers’ commissions and work with the police. This will legalize their crimes, and leave Mr. Webb free to investigate the I.W.W. The Attorney General intimated that if some arrangement of this kind were not made he would have the militia called in. Also, he wants the regular grand jury discharged and a special grand jury called to investigate things. This will be much more satisfactory to the vigilantes, as District Attorney Utley can have the jury made up entirely of vigilantes, instead of with only five, as the jury is made up at present.

Bank President Julius Wangenheim, State Senator Leroy A. Wright, Real Estate Dealer J.M. Porter and Street Commissioner Walter P. Moore are now engaged in a movement to make the vigilantes a daylight organization, though they shyly say that it will also work at night.

Whitewashing Real Estate Porter.

Fred H. Moore, attorney for the Free Speech League, succeeded in having J.M. Porter called into court on a charge of intimidating the attorneys for the defense in the Kirk case. It was proven by many witnesses, some of whom are vigilantes, that Porter tried to intimidate the attorneys, but from the decision of “Not Guilty,” given by the three judges who sat on the case, it is very apparent that the only reason it was allowed to be brought into court was so that Porter could be whitewashed.

“Nick Carter” Faded.

Chief of Police Wilson bad himself interviewed a few days ago to the extent of a column, and stated that he had been trying to keep it quiet, but the fact was that he had been shot at two times by I.W.W’s., and one of his detectives got behind a telephone pole so quick a shot couldn’t catch him. But that is not the worst of it, for six gun men came here from Los Angeles to kill him and two others.

The story of the chief is that these six men were selected by lot to come here and do the killing, but one of them got cold feet and told of the plot. The police let this one man go, but he was to return at an appointed time and tell the story again. When he failed to arrive, the chief said that he must have been done away with by the other five. It is understood that Nick Carter will sue Chief Wilson for infringing on a copyrighted article without giving him due credit.

Attorney Moore has been trying for several days to get a warrant issued for Chief Wilson on account of that officer having arrested Wm. Rollins and turned him over to the vigilantes, who drove him from the town. The justice of the peace refused to issue the warrant except on the order of District Attorney Utley, and Utley is one of the moving spirits among the vigilantes.

San Diego a Law Unto Itself.

The “Law and Order” gang have a scare over the announcement that Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman may return here to hold a meeting. One of the vigilantes at once came out with this statement: “Regardless of the fact that Attorneys Webb and Benjamin are here for the purpose of investigating the conditions relative to the I.W.W. troubles, Emma Goldman and Dr. Ben Reitman will not be allowed to hold a meeting in San Diego. Should they attempt to return to San Diego, as they announce they will, they will not be allowed to enter the city.”

The above statement shows how little the business men of San Diego respect the law and its officers, and even the so-called jurisdiction of the state The San Diego Union on the 24th inst., says flatly, “San Diego has made itself a law unto itself,” thus setting up a town as being superior to the state of which it is a part. Such remarks are the common thing among the vigilantes here, and are highly applauded by their own gang. On the 23d the Union had an editorial in which they said: “Since the governor has undertaken to solve our problem we are certain that failure will result if he makes it possible for the I.W.W. to overwhelm us again. It may be necessary if the governor resorts to force to compel us to receive these unwelcome guests, for the rest of us to move out, but while we stay here we shall insist upon choosing ‘our’ associations and enforcing ‘our’ laws.”

Capitalists Experiencing Nightmare.

These statements of the Union and Tribune are by no means isolated cases of spite. Labor-bating papers of the entire nation are watching the San Diego experiment, and giving the vigilantes here all the encouragement possible, Commissioner Weinstock’s conclusions regarding the structure of the I.W.W. are frequently quoted, and inferences of a Gripe Nuts Post character are drawn. The St. Louis Republic recently said: “In considering such a move as the I.W.W., there is no need to pause over its history. It makes not the slightest difference where it came from. We know where it is going. It is headed straight for that red bell which has overtaken every rule of terror which the world ever saw. Nor is it necessary to consider the philosophy. It has none. It is mere brute ferocity. The tiger which springs on the traveler in the jungle has no philosophy–only a thirst for blood. He cannot be reasoned with–he must be overcome.”, Had the editor of the Republic been here the past two months he would have been inclined to insert the word “vigilante” in place of the letters “I.W.W.,” and let it go at that.

How Citizens Love the Flag.

On the 25th the school children of the town were gathered together by some would-be patriots and persuaded to sing national songs and listen to some vigilantes and ex-butchers with titles of “Colonel” and “Captain,” who told what a glorious thing it is to be a patriot and love the flag, goblezzer. Two days later a man tried to speak on the streets of San Diego, two blocks outside the restricted district, and was mobbed and badly beaten by officers in uniform and men wearing U.S. flags. The flag was no protection to this man who had tried to exercise his constitutional right of free speech without first getting the O.K of some real estate grafter. The speaker was A.B. Carson, who recently came here from Los Angeles. He was beaten by the officers, and then arrested on a charge of resisting an officer.

The papers state today that many cases of typhoid fever have been brought from the west coast of Mexico by the U.S. Transport Buford, but do not mention that the Buford is to be unloaded here.

“Justice Mill” Grinds Slowly.

The cases we have in court are dragging on very slowly. It seems to be impossible to try more than one a week of the street speaking cases, and of the conspiracy and attempt-to-murder charges there have been none brought into court yet. At the present rate it will take several years to get the cases all tried. The police department is trying to solve some of the cases by turning the men out and telling them to come back in a month or two for trial. It is the intention, however, to convict many of the men who were held on the more serious charges, as the officials have the idea that they have some of the leaders among them and want to make an example.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1912/v03n24-w128-jun-08-1912-Solidarity.pdf