Cannon as a young wobbly reports on the beginnings of the strike of 500 workers at the Avery Implement Company in Peoria, Illinois for the eight-hour day. Later in the confrontation he, Jack Law, and Frank Little were jailed for conspiracy and inciting riots.

‘Peoria Workers Fall in Line’ by James P. Cannon from Solidarity. Vol. 4 No. 20. May 24, 1913.

Peoria, Ill, May 18, 1913. The One Big Union is in full swing with the long-delayed invasion of the Mississippi Valley. A strike of a small handful of men in the plant of the Avery Implement Works here last Thursday afternoon has steadily gathered momentum until today 500 of the 1000 men employed are out and indications point to a tie-up Monday. Peoria is a notorious “open shop” town and this is the first time in years that the arrogant mastery of the employers has been seriously opposed.

When Fellow Workers Moore, Watts and the writer hit the town three weeks ago we ran into a small meeting of Avery workers which had been called by the socialists. They liked the I.W.W. dope we gave them and a meeting was called for the next night at which a local of metal and machinery workers was organized with sixty-five charter members. Inside of a week we had over a hundred members and then we struck a snag.

The company, which had been treating the matter as a joke, got tipped off to the fact that this was the I.W.W and a bad bunch to play with. They fired a couple of the most active members and this put a damper on the open meetings.

The only action left was to call a strike and it came off on schedule, Thursday afternoon at two o’clock after careful preparation.

One of the boys pulled the whistle, and before the bosses knew what was up, the strike was on. It looked bad at first, but aggressive and continuous picketing gradually started the tide our way and it looks like a stampede now. We caught them at their busy season, when they were behind in their orders and working overtime and Sunday to catch up. They are already whining because we didn’t give them “notice.”

The first week we were in town we told the A.F. of L. official that we were trying to organize the Avery plant. He threw up his hands and said, “It can’t be done.” That is what they have been saying for the past ten years and now they are looking on while it IS BEING DONE by an up-to-date organization that is always on the job. The I.W.W. is in full control and already has over 800 members signed up.

The chief demand here as in all modern strikes is for the eight-hour day.

One Big Union is the talk of the town now and with the help of some good active job agitators we can put Peoria on the map. It’s only a short jump from Chicago. All rebels who come this way will be welcomed by a bunch of live ones.

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/1913/v04n20-w176-may-24-1913-solidarity.pdf