‘John Farmer’ in rural Washington believes everything he reads in the papers about the I.W.W. and plans war, but doesn’t lower wages for harvest workers.

‘Harvest in the Inland Empire’ by Richard Brazier from Solidarity. Vol. 6 No. 289. July 24, 1915.

Capitalist Papers Have Succeeded in Working Up Farmers to a State of Terror Regarding I.W.W. As a Result, Wages Are Not Lowered.

Spokane, Wash., July 14. This year in the harvest fields of the Inland Empire bids fair to be a memorable one for the I.W.W., if the capitalist press is to be relied upon. Already, before the harvest is on generally, the farmers are terrorized by their fear of the I.W.W. propaganda. This fear has been increased by the usual misrepresentations, vituperation, and discovery of plots and conspiracies galore, which the fertile imagination of a venal press could concoct.

The papers published in the farming sections of the Inland Empire, and even the Spokane sheets, have worked the farmers up to a high state of hysteria, by their malicious and unfounded allegations. They seem to be trying to outdo one another in an attempt to invent means to discredit the I.W.W. For instance, one paper claims to have discovered a plot by the I.W.W. to systematically dynamite the threshing machines. Another has found out that the I.W.W. has made extensive plans to burn up the crops, and another found out we were laying plans to burn up the forests to furnish work for the unemployed.

As there are no forests in the harvest country here, unless they were moved there recently, it seems hard to believe that sane men would waste time talking about forest fires, when the harvest was right there, and a good chance to burn a hole in John Farmer’s bankroll, by putting the unemployed in the jungles at work organizing for the shorter workday in the harvest fields.

Of course, all these plots and conspiracies, so assiduously manufactured by the mental prostitutes of the masters, are looked upon as so much bunk by those who understand the system and its workings. But John Farmer who, as Darrow says, “Never learns anything until everyone else has forgotten it”–in his naive simplicity, believes everything he reads in his morning, evening, or weekly papers. These fantastic creations of distorted brains are very real to John Farmer; and the result is of benefit to us. They instill into the minds of John Farmer a haunting, ever-present fear of the I.W.W. and its propaganda.

So, while the farmers are forming a secret organization to combat us, and are making dire threats as to what they will do to any I.W.W.’s caught by them, or to any slaves who may rebel and strike for better conditions, they are also endeavoring to placate the slaves with promises of good pay and better conditions. Already they have decided not to reduce the wages in the harvest fields this year, although they had previously decided in some sections to pay less wages, as there were so many men looking for work. But with the scattering of the sabotage stickers and the circulars of the A.W.O. giving the demands of the harvesters in Kansas, etc., and the sudden discovery of plots and conspiracies by imaginative cub reporters, the farmers became, terror-stricken, and decided that a reduction of wages would only give the I.W.W. a good argument for organization for higher pay; would create discontent among the harvest workers, and make them more susceptible to the I.W.W. propaganda. It might result in a tie-up of harvest operations at a crucial period. They therefore reconsidered their decision to reduce wages, and decided to pay the same wages as last year at least.

So, already, before the harvest has really commenced, the I.W.W., or the fear inspired by it, has succeeded in maintaining wages, in a year, too, when the harvest workers are more than abundant.

Reports we have received from the harvest centers, from various fellow workers, bear out the above statements. John Farmer is taking extraordinary measures to prevent “wobblies” from getting on the job. They are hiring homeguards and college boys wherever possible, and in Spokane some men have been sent out to the farmers bearing letters of reference from the mayor. The Government Labor Bureau asks everyone who goes there, if they are members of the I.W.W. (as if we would tell them). All these precautions are useless, as a wobbly in the harvest fields is a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He’s an I.W.W., and he isn’t; he’s a scissorbill and he isn’t; a kind of a Protean actor.

The farmers are also taking precautionary measures on the jobs. All threshing machines going out, to get insured must be all steel machines. They are not taking any chances on matches in the grain, they say; and I’ve been informed they are even talking about hiring watchmen to water their uncut grain.

The farmers of the Palouse have organized a secret organization (already over 200 strong) to combat the I.W.W. Altogether the farmers are bewildered and panic-stricken. The “reign of terror” they say we are trying to bring about, already exists in the minds of the farmers. We are the only dark cloud upon the horizon of prosperity and bumper crops, and like the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, we may yet be the storm that will sweep away unbearable conditions in the harvest fields, and elsewhere also.

Conditions are favorable for organization. Reports indicate the sentiment is strong for the A.W.O. and, although, we may not get all we go after this year, we will pave the way for a general invasion by the A.W.O. next harvest. The harvest will be late this year, owing to rain and cool weather. Harvesting has already been on for a week in the Walla-Walla country. The Big Bend country around Ritzville and Sprague and Connell has just commenced. In the Palouse harvesting operations will not be general for probably a week, maybe two weeks. Wages are from $2.50 up per day. Hours are about the same–ten hours shocking grain. What they will be in threshing, depends upon the men themselves. Until harvesting becomes general we cannot give full details. However, we are looking forward to see something accomplished in the harvest this year. United effort on the job will accomplish more in one day, than a hundred years of agitation in the jungles. Let us get on the job at any cost–yea, even though we be forced to act the part of a scissorbill.

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/1915/v06-w289-jul-24-1915-solidarity.pdf