An editorial from Solidarity’s Ben Williams in written in the aftermath of the Lexington Ave. explosion. On July 4, 1914 Quebec-born Arthur Caron along with fellow revolutionary anarchists Charles Berg and Carl Hanson were killed in an explosion at their 1626 Lexington Avenue apartment in New York City. Along with them, an uninvolved tenant, Marie Chavez, was also killed and twenty people were injured. Said to be a premature detonation of dynamite meant to assassinate John D. Rockefeller in retribution for the Ludlow Massacre of twenty strikers and their families, including 12 children, three months before, the event split the left with many, including in the I.W.W., of which the three were members or associates, distancing themselves in the aftermath.

‘A Word Regarding Violence’ by B.H. Williams from Solidarity. Vol. 5 No. 236. July 18, 1914.

SOLIDARITY this week has a number of articles bearing upon the question of violence in relation to the I.W.W. and to the labor movement generally. In the press and among the spokesmen of the capitalist class, as well as among many Socialist and craft union mouthpieces, the I.W.W. is usually and persistently referred to as the very incarnation of violence. The absurd lengths to which these spokesmen of the ruling class will go, are well caricatured by “J.E.,” in the article following this one. Although none of these scribblers has so far been able to place a finger on a single act of UNPROVOKED violence committed by any portion of the I.W.W. membership, the fact remains that they have conjured up a frightful monster before the overwrought imagination of our “lords and masters” and have actually made the impression of “I.W.W. violence” stick in the latters’ minds. We doubt very much, however, if the same fear has been engendered in the minds of any considerable portion of the working class–which is the object sought after by the capitalist writers.

For the last-named reason, we are of the opinion that the sensation-mongers have unwittingly performed a great service for the I.W.W. They have put the “terror” in the right place–in the hearts of our masters, whose guilty consciences help to accentuate their fear. Far be it from us to wish to remove that terror! On the contrary, if we could do anything to accentuate it, we would do it gladly. Why shouldn’t we–in view of a Ludlow, a Calumet, and a thousand and one incidents of capitalist terrorism the past few months. Why, then, in view of the inherent viciousness of the parasite class, should we or any other worker apologize for any retaliatory deeds of violence committed by workingmen or women? We know that the working class, if anything, is TOO peaceable under the circumstances; too long-suffering; too prone to avoid retaliation–not through cowardice, but from sheer good nature. But even a cow, peacefully browsing in the pasture, will strike at the bloodthirsty flies which irritate it. That is why we emphasize the phrase, “UNPROVOKED violence,” in the first paragraph above. Neither the I.W.W. nor any other body of workers are inciters to violence; they are INCITED to violent retaliation, at times, by capitalist oppression. No official preachments; no formulas of “civilized conduct” will avail to prevent these incidents. They are unavoidable in the class struggle.

The capitalist class, like all other parasites, is by nature bloodthirsty. Fattening from the body of the working class, it naturally resents being disturbed at its feast or driven from its blood-pasture. It becomes vicious when irritated. It is ready to starve, blacklist, club, shoot, jail or hang individuals or groups of workers, as examples to the rest to remain docile under the blood-letting. The capitalist class has done all these things and more to the working class. The masters’ record is one continuous narrative of deeds of violence against the slaves. And the latter have for the most part all these years allowed their bones to be picked clean, with only an occasional attempt to “swat the flies.” There is evidence, comparatively recent, of a change of attitude among a portion of the working class. Some workers nowadays even go so far as to express the opinion that the parasite capitalist is a distinct species of the genus Homo, and will have to be completely exterminated before peace can be established in the new society toward which the revolutionary labor movement is tending. Frankly, we do not share that view; the capitalist is a variation of the human species, that will disappear with the changed environment following the merging of all humanity into producers. Meanwhile he exists, in all his viciousness, and self-preservation demands that he be fought with all the intelligence at the command of the militant working class. If the terrorism already engendered in the parasite’s heart will help, so much the better. Let us keep it up.

Meanwhile, to the working class, we suggest that individual or group retaliation is not sufficient. We know that such individual or group retaliation will take place, and we are not inclined to apologize for or worry over it. BUT TO REMOVE THE PARASITE CLASS, OR WHAT IS MORE TO THE POINT, TO REMOVE PARASITISM FOREVER, THE WORKING CLASS MUST ORGANIZE A NEW SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT, out of the materials already at hand, ONE BIG UNION, whose immediate purpose is to check the ravages of the parasites as it goes along, and whose ultimate aim is to make common property (for common use only) of the land and the instruments of production, will prove to be the all-sufficient instrument for the emancipation of the producers from parasitism. Meanwhile, in our opinion, dogmatic pronouncements against “working class violence” may do more harm than good. Let the upholders of bloodthirsty capitalism rave; we are fully able to defend our actions!

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/1914/v05-w236-jul-18-1914-solidarity.pdf