A comrade in Portland defends the activities of the I.W.W. local against its detractors in the pages of Solidarity and gives us an insight into the life of activists in the city.

‘The I.W.W. in Portland’ by Ed Gilbert from Solidarity. Vol. 2 No. 40. September 16, 1911.

Portland, Ore., Sept. 4. An article was published in the Sept. 2nd edition of Solidarity written by Wm. Hoffman. Under the caption “A Bigger Rockpile” this man Hoffman makes certain statements setting forth the conditions that exist in Portland. A fellow worker of some local at a distance from Portland upon reading the article written by Hoffman would naturally arrive at the conclusion that the I.W.W. is dead in Portland. As Wm. Hoffman is not a member of the I.W.W., I don’t think he is in a position to speak with any certainty about the affairs of the Portland local. Although he tells the truth about some of the conditions in Portland yet it is the opinion of the members here that the article in its entirety is very misleading. We feel that this article should not be let go without correcting the impression that our fellow workers would most likely have upon reading Hoffman’s letter.

The members of the Portland Locals are not concerned about the Rockpile that Mr. Hoffman describes. It is common knowledge here that I.W.W. men are not frequent visitors to the rockpile. The police know that we do not believe in cracking rocks simply because some capitalistic judge orders us to. I have been in close connection with the Portland Locals for the last two years and to my knowledge in that time only one I.W.W. man has hit the rockpile. He was arrested for putting up stickers and as the judge had sentenced an agent of the Steamship Company for pasting up advertising stickers he refused to discriminate in favor of the I.W.W. and likewise sentenced our man to five days. As a general thing we are not molested. Hoffman also mentions the Jesus screamers drawing crowds. To this I will say that just as long as the Jesus screamers bring good looking young girls on the street to make an exhibition of themselves certain of the wage slaves will look, listen and laugh.

When Hoffman makes a statement that I.W.W. soapboxers can not give away our literature be is either ignorant of the true facts or making a deliberate misstatement. I will give you the true condition of the locals here.

Fellow Worker Spicer arrived in Portland several months ago and was engaged as organizer. Later Fellow Worker Shea arrived and has taken part in the propaganda. Their efforts have been very successful. Geo. Reesce is employed in a position that brings him to town about twice a week and he holds very successful street meetings also. We are taking 200 copies of Solidaritys and 250 copies of the Worker. They are entirely sold out in a day or two and we will have to increase our bundle order in the very near future as the demand is far greater than the supply. Pamphlets are not neglected and large amounts of various revolutionary literature are disposed of every night. The literature sales of last week amounted to over forty dollars. Members are secured at every street meeting and the locals are in a more prosperous condition now than at any time since before the Spokane Free Speech Fight.

We have fixed up our hall at our own expense and have purchased over fifty dollars worth of new chairs within the past two weeks. On Sunday nights we hold hall meetings and the hall is crowded to its utmost capacity and large numbers are turned away because the hall cannot accommodate all that come from the street meetings to hear our hall lectures.

Last night we held our usual Sunday night hall meeting. Lorton, Shea, and Reese spoke to about five hundred interested wage slaves. The collection was very good, literature sales were large, and seven recruits were secured. Not so bad for a town that Mr. Hoffman thinks needs a few good reds to jar the “cattle” loose.

“Politics” is another attraction for the slaves, so Mr. Hoffman states. I cannot understand why a man who carries a card in the Socialist Party as Mr. Hoffman does has anything to kick about if the slaves are attracted by “politics.” As a matter of fact the slaves of Portland are not attracted by the political idea. The political actionists find that the slaves will not be interested, any longer, in anything but the real issue and are forced, to hold the attention of the slaves, to exploit the sentiment of the hour–Industrial Unionism. They confine their true sentiment in regards to Industrial Unionism to circular letters condemning direct action, economic organization and the I.W.W. We have received such a letter lately, written by an individual with the knowledge and consent of the branch of the S.P. local to which he belongs, telling us that the ill-famed I.W.W. is dead and ready to be buried and a great deal more of such piffle, winding up by saying that the S.P. must cater to the A.F. of L. to gain the support of that organization. This letter is being circulated, at the present time, among the Socialist locals, but in the meantime the I.W.W. is a pretty healthy “dead one” and going ahead in the West–at a great pace.

Mr. Hoffman advises all class conscious men to keep away from the City of Roses. That may be Mr. Hoffman’s advice but it is not the advice of the Portland locals. We welcome all class conscious men in our hall and if he is willing to become an active member we give him every aid and encouragement to get out and fight like hell for one big union of the working class.

Mr. Hoffman mentions an employment bureau controlled by a Y.M.C.A. man. We are not interested either in the man or the bureau as we expect no more consideration there than we would get from any other capitalistic hireling or institution.

Now a word to the editor. We feel in Portland that we have neglected our press in regards to sending in local information, but the publishing of Hoffman’s article has awakened us to our responsibilities and we will give our attention to maintaining a systematic means of communication with our press in the near future.

Some means will be adopted so that the editor will be enabled to know just which communications are official and which are not. Solidarity stands very high in the estimation of the members of the Portland locals and we are doing all in our power to increase the circulation in Portland.

With best wishes, I remain

Yours for the Revolution,

ED. GILBERT, Local 92.

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/1911/v02n40-w092-sep-16-1911-Solidarity.pdf