‘An Old Timer: The Story of the Migratory Worker’ by The Flying Squadron from International Socialist Review. Vol. 15 No. 2. August, 1914.

WHEN the Home Guard worker is thrown on the industrial scrap heap he is, at least, surrounded by friends or relatives. He has been a resident of the town and is well known in the community. Through the influence of some of his friends he can get into the County Poor House. But far different is the story of the migratory worker.

On account of the industrial conditions, the migratory worker is forced from place to place in search of a job. A few weeks’ work in the harvest fields, and then he is off to some construction job which is completed perhaps in two or three months, making it impossible for the migratory worker to have a home.

He cannot vote at the city election; he has no political pull; he has no influential friends; no bank account. He belongs to no church or lodge. It is true that he pays hospital fees every month whenever he is employed, but the moment he leaves the job his receipt for the hospital fee is null and void. Some times he has two or three jobs in a month.

In Humboldt County, California, the labor unions maintain one of the best equipped hospitals on the Pacific Coast. For ten dollars a year a worker can get a Union Labor Hospital ticket.

But the lumber corporations still collect the monthly hospital fee, in spite of the fact that many of the men are paying into their own hospital.

The trade unions of Eureka, Cal., took this case to the Supreme Court of the state. What did the Supreme Court decide? It maintained that the employer could not take out the hospital fee against the will of the employe, but that the employer can, upon employing a man, lay down certain regulations and conditions, and if the employe does not care to accept them the employer can refuse him employment. According to the Supreme Court, it is unlawful for the boss to do this, but if the slave does not like it he can become a tramp. Such is the way of the law.

The following is the story of one Jack O’Brien, one of the many thousands of worn-out migratory workers.

In the summer of 1912 the Modesto Water Company was constructing an irrigation canal near Modesto, Cal. Through the fault of the company-loving foreman’s attempts to save powder, a certain blast did not do its work, leaving an overhanging ledge of dirt and rock. Some of the workmen protested, saving the cut was dangerous. But the foreman commanded them to get back on the job.

Contrary to the opinion of our well-to-do and comfortable “public” that the hobo will not work, the men realized that-if they refused to go on they would again be thrown out of work on an already overcrowded labor market to become tramps, facing the hardships of hunger and want, and they stuck.

We met O’Brien at Colfax, Cal., huddled up to a camp fire with a few blankets and some tin cans between some bushes, and a canvas stretched out overhead. This was his home. O’Brien is sixty-five years old. He was injured while making profits for a boss. The Marshal of Colfax refused to send him to the County Hospital. The trainmen refused to give him a lift. With a crippled foot and the rheumatism, he ts unable to walk. The only food he gets is from passing hoboes or migratory workers. This is very little, for these men have not much for themselves.

What about the California Compensation Act? Well, O’Brien was hurt before this act became a law. And even if he had been hurt after, it is doubtful if he would have benefited.

And so there he lies on the Scrap Heap. worn out and lonely, awaiting the appearance of the passing hobo who may be kind enough and sufficiently supplied to stop and cook up a meal which he may share.

Like a worn-out machine that can no longer be used, O’Brien lies rejected of respectable society. This is the story of the migratory worker and every worker everywhere today.

Ye slaves, arise! The remedy for such conditions lies in organization. Unite in One Big Union and build up a system of society wherein every worker will be able to live like a human being. Then when our Day of Work is done, we shall know that a comfortable old age awaits us. The man who has planted and harvested shall spend his days in plenty. The builder shall have a roof over his head. And comfort shall be his portion. The man who has toiled shall not want for any needful thing! Then men like poor old Jack O’Brien will have something to look forward to besides a six-foot plot of ground, a barrel of quicklime and the Potter’s Field.

The International Socialist Review (ISR) was published monthly in Chicago from 1900 until 1918 by Charles H. Kerr and critically loyal to the Socialist Party of America. It is one of the essential publications in U.S. left history. During the editorship of A.M. Simons it was largely theoretical and moderate. In 1908, Charles H. Kerr took over as editor with strong influence from Mary E Marcy. The magazine became the foremost proponent of the SP’s left wing growing to tens of thousands of subscribers. It remained revolutionary in outlook and anti-militarist during World War One. It liberally used photographs and images, with news, theory, arts and organizing in its pages. It articles, reports and essays are an invaluable record of the U.S. class struggle and the development of Marxism in the decades before the Soviet experience. It was closed down in government repression in 1918.

PDF of issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v15n02-aug-1914-ISR-riaz-ocr.pdf