Debating the Socialist Party, demanding the release of the Mother Jones, educating organizers, and engaging in some sabotage; a look at early labor militancy in Arizona from I.W.W. Local 272.

‘Arizona on the Map’ by N.A. Schroff from Voice of the People. Vol. 3 No. 18. May 1, 1914.

Big times are on in Phoenix and its neighborhood. An intellectual storm is raging and the I.W.W. is its center. Never in the history of Phoenix has so much discussion and interest been aroused as there is now. The loyal bunch of 272 in spite of losing their jobs repeatedly for agitating in the Plaza and on the job have made their influence felt as never before. Why? Because of their eternal persistency. In spite of the cussing of fossilized scissor-bills (which will soon be a thing of history), in spite of capitalistic job discrimination the I.W.W. is now not only and accredited Labor Union of workers, but is an accredited school of Philosophy. Facing the indifference and apathy of the workers to its policy of procrastinating political buncombe, facing death for lack of a vital hold on workers, repudiating industrial unionism, the Socialist Party gave out a dying groan and in its nearly bankrupt sheet gave a two column bawl that is logical only in its misunderstanding of the class struggle. Not only that but on Sunday, April 19, in the Plaza they made an open repudiation of all forms of industrial unionism and stood pat for the pure and simple craft unionism. Mr. Ghent who is their most logical speaker at last forsook his monastic den and scholarly quiet to address the “mob” and “slum proletariat” five hundred in number, which had assembled to see the intellectual battle royal between the Socialists and the Syndicalists, or I.W.W.

The “mob” trampled all over the green grass in the Plaza but the gardener or caretaker long since converted to “wobblie philosophy” protested not and was conspicuous by his absence. It was a “Labor Sunday” and the crowd was good natured. From 2 to 4 o’clock the I.W.W. laid bare the hideousness of capitalism and appealed for job organization and class consciousness.

From 4 to 6 o’clock the Socialists laid bare the wickedness of the Syndicalists.

A reply was made to the Socialists charge that the casual and unskilled worker had no economic power.

The I.W.W. speaker showed that the casual worker and unemployed was the key to the whole labor problem, that it was the man out of a job that regulated the wages of the man on the job, that the revolution will be a matter of psychology and not of logic. The revolutionary power of emotion and hunger was shown to the superior to mere “reason” and that if the workers “waited” much longer there would be no unemployed problem because they would all starve to death. The superior type of industrial organization was shown, the championship of the cause of the “under dog” by the I.W.W. time and again and the age old fight of the unskilled against the skilled worker as well as the capitalist shown.

Last week (Sunday in a big mass plaza meeting the Colorado struggle received attention and a rising vote (as a mark of respect) to send a telegram to the Hellgovernor of Hellorado demanding immediate release of dear old Mother Jones. Here is the telegram the crowd sent:

Phoenix, Arizona, Easter Sunday, 1914.

To the Governor of Colorado:

“We, the working class of Arizona, representing all trades, occupations and industries in monster mass meeting assembled from all parts of the State, emphatically protest against the capitalistic hounding, badgering, annoying and imprisonment of Mother Jones and demand the immediate release of Labor’s Guardian Angel from the foul jail and dungeon in which she is now imprisoned. We demand her immediate release at once from your scabby tin soldier parasites who fatten off honest labor.

“You and your class have made Colorado an industrial hell. We have read of your terrible outrages committed on defenseless men, women and children, the news of which your capitalistic associated press has suppressed as see in April number “Pearson’s Magazine.” We have men on the scene of action, besides reliable information in the Socialist and Labor Press.

“We do not petition, we do not request, but we demand in the name of the working class, the class you have openly flaunted, defied and spurned, that you release Mother Jones. There are over eight million unemployed in the United States and they may as well go to Colorado as starve to death.

“You must release Mother Jones at once and allow her to go anywhere in Colorado or the United States, and allow her to talk about anything she wants to, and you must give her protection. Her life and liberty are worth more than the lives of all the labor leaders in the country. Signed The Working Class of Arizona.”

Telegram adopted unanimously by rising vote and transmitted Sunday night.

Phoenix Local is now nicknamed “The Workers’ University” and has become a school that is sending its graduates East, North, South and West. This is no play of humor. but a real fact.

A strike at Tucson (2nd largest city in Arizona) in which Organizer Pendelton was deported by police (although sent for by telegram from 200 Tucson strikers) was followed by the usual activity of the fire department. But this time the hose was NOT turned on the “mob.” Loss $6,000. What a coincidence!

Several large farm employers in the neighborhood are troubled with bad machinery. They pay low wages and it may be that they did not spend enough for good machinery or that the workers who made the machines were underpaid. There must be somewhere a close connection between low wages and bad machinery. We are not students enough to figure out just exactly (politically or financially) what this connection means. Selah! Eureka! One big employer has had so much trouble lately that he promises every man now $3.00 and board for eight hours. Selah! Selah! Watch us grow!

All over the State the workers are thoroughly disgusted, whether working or not working. They have lost their “job consciousness” and at last have become “class conscious” in all reality. The docile meekness and “goodness” of the workers is fast passing away and the under dog is showing his teeth and using them. Things (and members) are coming our way at last. Perseverance and grit are winning the battle. Workers take new courage! Do your best, in jail, unemployed or overworked, REVOLT! The day is ours. We are right; we will win. Mother Jones is free.

N. A. Schroff, Sec. 272.

The Voice of the People continued The Lumberjack. The Lumberjack began in January 1913 as the weekly voice of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers strike in Merryville, Louisiana. Published by the Southern District of the National Industrial Union of Forest and Lumber Workers, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, the weekly paper was edited by Covington Hall of the Socialist Party in New Orleans. In July, 1913 the name was changed to Voice of the People and the printing home briefly moved to Portland, Oregon. It ran until late 1914.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lumberjack/140501-voiceofthepeople-v3n18w069.pdf