by Kornbluh, Joyce L. , Rosemont, Franklin, Thompson, Fred, Gross, Daniel
The Industrial Workers ask the workers young and old,
To organize against the shirkers, and depose those lords of gold,
Take from them what belongs to you, all the product of your toil,
To your class be ever true, reduce the hours you spin and toil.
Chorus
Unite in the Industrial Union for a shorter working day,
That the unemployed workers may get a chance to draw some pay.
Workers who are now a-tramping, seeking for a chance to work,
In the jungles now are camping, whilst our masters smile and smirk
O’er the sorrows of these workers, out of work, hungry and cold,
They call them hoboes, bums and shirkers, the breadline is their place, they’re told.
Chorus
But the call now resounding for a general eight-hour day,
Will give the workers they are hounding a chance for work and more pay.
6
Frank Brechler (dates unknown) may have been a pseudonym for another I.W.W. writer, possibly Joe Hill. These verses signed by Brechler appeared in the third edition of the I.W.W. songbook. An early edition of the songbook credits “The Preacher and the Slave” to Brechler, although it was later identified as a song by Joe Hill.
WORKERS, SHALL THE MASTERS RULE US?
By FRANK BRECHLER
(Tune: “Just Before the Battle, Mother”)
Workers, shall the masters rule us?
Shall we crouch beneath their hand;
Shall they own this earth and fool us
With that two-faced gospel band?
Shall these tyrants live in plenty
While we workers have to starve?
Yes, we slaves with stomachs empty,
Is there nothing we deserve?
Think of children working daily
In the sweat shops of this land,
While there’re strong men in this country
Without work, you understand.
Workers shall we change conditions
So that those things won’t exist?
Show the grafters their positions;
Let them know they’ll not be missed.
Workers, we must stick together;
We must join in one great band,
That’s the way to fight the masters
So that they’ll not rule this land.
Join the rank and don’t be shirkers,
Come now, slaves, what do you say?
Join the Industrial Workers,
Let us know your name today.
7
The following songs (nos. 7 and 8) appeared in Solidarity (June 29, 1912) under the headline, “Songs Sung by the Workers on the Lawrence Picket Line,” and are good examples of strike songs created to fit the situation. “In the Good Old Picket Line” is a parody of “In the Good Old Summer Time.” The music to the other song is not known.
“Mr. Lowe” was Arthur H. Lowe, manager of the Lancaster Mills Corporation and one of its large stockholders.
FEW OF THEM ARE SCABBING IT
Lawrence, Mass., Strike Song
Few of them are scabbing it, scabbing it, scabbing it,
Few of them are scabbing it, scabbing it, scabbing it,
Few scab weavers sneaking through the line,
They’re the ones Mr. Lowe will fine,
They sneak in and get their measly pay,
Let us pray, let us pray, let us pray—SAY—
Few of them are scabbing it, scabbing it, scabbing it,
Few of them are scabbing it, scabbing it, scabbing it,
Mr. Lowe says he will treat them well,
But after he’s used them, he’ll let them go to hell,
While the strikers cheerfully yell,
Few of them are scabbing it now.
8
IN THE GOOD OLD PICKET LINE
Lawrence, Mass., Strike Song
In the good old picket line, in the good old picket line,
The workers are from every place, from nearly every clime,
The Greeks and Poles are out so strong, and the Germans all the time,
But we want to see more Irish in the good old picket line.
In the good old picket line, in the good old picket line,
We’ll put Mr. Lowe in overalls and swear off drinking wine,
Then Gurley Flynn will be the boss,
Oh Gee, won’t that be fine,
The strikers will wear diamonds in the good old picket line.
9
Joe Hill’s song, “John Golden and the Lawrence Strike,” was a blast at the president of the A.F.L. Textile Workers Union, who had incurred the wrath of Wobblies by testifying against the I.W.W. in congressional hearings on the Lawrence strike. It was printed in the fifth edition of the I.W.W. songbook.
JOHN GOLDEN AND THE LAWRENCE STRIKE
By JOE HULL
(Tune: “A Little Talk With Jesus”)
In Lawrence, when the starving masses struck for more to eat
And wooden-headed Wood tried the strikers to defeat,
To Sammy Gompers wrote and asked him what he thought,
And this is the answer that the mailman brought:
Chorus:
A little talk-
A little talk with Golden
Makes it right, all right;
He’ll settle any strike,
If there’s coin enough in sight;
Just take him up to dine
And everything is fine—
A little talk with Golden
Makes it right, all right.
The preachers, cops and money-kings were working hand in hand,
The boys in blue, with stars and stripes were sent by Uncle Sam;
Still things were looking blue, ‘cause every striker knew
That weaving cloth with bayonets is hard to do.
John Golden had with Mr. Wood a private interview,
He told him how to bust up the “I double double U.”
He came out in a while and wore the Golden smile.
He said: “I’ve got all labor leaders skinned a mile.”
John Golden pulled a bogus strike with all his “pinks and stools.”
He thought the rest would follow like a bunch of crazy fools.
But to his great surprise the “foreigners” were wise
In one big solid union they were organized.
Chorus
That’s one time Golden did not
Make it right, all right;
In spite of all his schemes
The strikers won the fight.
When all the workers stand
United hand in hand,
The world with all its wealth
Shall be at their command.
10
This testimony of a teenage textile worker is from the Hearings on the Strike at Lawrence, Massachusetts, House Document No. 671, 62nd Congress, Second Session. Miss Teoli was one of a group of teenage textile workers who testified during the congressional hearings, March 2-7, 1912.
STATEMENT OF CAMELLA TEOLI
THE CHAIRMAN. Camella, how old are you?
MISS TEOLI. Fourteen years and eight months.
THE CHAIRMAN. Fourteen years and eight months?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. How many children are there in your family?
MISS TEOLI. Five.
THE CHAIRMAN. Where do you work?
MISS TEOLI. In the woolen mill.
THE CHAIRMAN. For the American Woolen Co.?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. What sort of work do you do?
MISS TEOLI. Twisting.
THE CHAIRMAN. You do twisting?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. How much do you get a week?
MISS TEOLI. $6.55.
THE CHAIRMAN. What is the smallest pay?
MISS TEOLI. $2.64.
THE CHAIRMAN. Do you have to pay anything for water?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE
CHAIRMAN. How much?
MISS TEOLI. 10 cents every two weeks.
THE CHAIRMAN. Do they hold back any of your pay?
MISS TEOLI. No.
THE CHAIRMAN. Have they ever held back any?
MISS TEOLI. One week’s pay.
THE CHAIRMAN. They have held back one week’s pay?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. Does your father work, and where?
MISS TEOLI. My father works in the Washington.
THE CHAIRMAN. The Washington Woolen Mill?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. How much pay does he get for a week’s work?
MISS TEOLI. $7.70.
THE CHAIRMAN. Does he always work a full week?
MISS TEOLI. No.
THE CHAIRMAN. Well, how often does it happen that he does not work a full week?
MISS TEOLI. He works in the winter a full week, and usually he don’t in the summer.
THE CHAIRMAN. In the winter he works a full week, and in the summer how much?
MISS TEOLI. Two or three days a week.
THE CHAIRMAN. What sort of work does he do?
MISS TEOLI. He is a comber.
THE CHAIRMAN. Now, did you ever get hurt in the mill?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. Can you tell the committee about that—how it happened and what it was?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. Tell us about it now, in your own way.
MISS TEOLI. Well, I used to go to school, and then a man came up to my house and asked my father why I didn’t go to work, so my father says I don’t know whether she is 13 or 14 years old. So, the man say you give me $4 and I will make the papers come from the old country saying you are 14. So, my father gave him the $4, and in one month came the papers that I was 14. I went to work, and about two weeks got hurt in my head.
THE CHAIRMAN. Now, how did you get hurt, and where were you hurt in the head; explain that to the committee?
MISS TEOLI. I got hurt in Washington.
THE CHAIRMAN. In the Washington Mill?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. What part of your head?
MISS TEOLI. My head.
THE CHAIRMAN. Well, how were you hurt?
MISS TEOLI. The machine pulled the scalp off.
THE CHAIRMAN. The machine pulled your scalp off?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. How long ago was that?
MISS TEOLI. A year ago, or about a year ago.
THE CHAIRMAN. Were you in the hospital after that?
MISS TEOLI. I was in the hospital seven months.
THE CHAIRMAN. Seven months?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. Did the company pay your bills while you were in the hospital?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. The company took care of you?
MISS TEOLI. The company only paid my bills; they didn’t give me anything else.
THE CHAIRMAN. They only paid your hospital bills; they did not give you any pay?
MISS TEOLI. No, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. But paid the doctors’ bills and hospital fees?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. LENROOT. They did not pay your wages?
MISS TEOLI. No, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. Did they arrest your father for having sent you to work for 14?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. What did they do with him after they arrested him?
MISS TEOLI. My father told this about the man he gave $4 to, and then they put him on again.
THE CHAIRMAN. Are you still being treated by the doctors for the scalp wound?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. How much longer do they tell you you will have to be treated?
MISS TEOLI. They don’t know.
THE CHAIRMAN. They do not know?
MISS TEOLI. No.
THE CHAIRMAN. Are you working now?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. How much are you getting?
MISS TEOLI. $6.55.
THE CHAIRMAN. Are you working in the same place where you were before you were hurt?
MISS TEOLI. NO.
THE CHAIRMAN. In another mill?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN. What mill?
MISS TEOLI. The Wood Mill.
THE CHAIRMAN. The what?
MISS TEOLI. The Wood Mill.
THE CHAIRMAN. Were you down at the station on Saturday, the 24th of February?
THE CHAIRMAN. I work in a town in Massachusetts, and I don’t know nothing about that.
THE CHAIRMAN. You do not know anything about that?
MISS TEOLI. NO, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. How long did you go to school?
MISS TEOLI. I left when I was in the sixth grade.
THE CHAIRMAN. You left when you were in the sixth grade?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN. And you have been working ever since, except while you were in the hospital?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. CAMPBELL. Do you know the man who came to your father and offered to get a certificate that you were 14 years of age?
MISS TEOLI. I know the man, but I have forgot him now.
MR. CAMPBELL. You know him, but you do not remember his name now?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. CAMPBELL. Do you know what he did; what his work was?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. CAMPBELL. Was he connected with any of the mills?
MISS TEOLI. I don’t know.
MR. CAMPBELL. Is he an Italian?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. CAMBELL. He knew your father well?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. CAMPBELL. Was he a friend of your father?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. CAMPBELL. Did he ever come about your house visiting there?
MISS TEOLI. I don’t know.
MR. CAMPBELL. I mean before he asked about your going to work in the mills?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. CAMPBELL. He used to come to your house and was a friend of the family?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. CAMPBELL. You are sure he was not connected or employed by some of the mills?
MISS TEOLI. I don’t know, I don’t think so.
MR. CAMPBELL. Do they go around in Lawrence there and find little girls and boys in the schools over 14 years of age and urge them to quit school and go to work in the mills?
MISS TEOLI. I don’t know.
MR. CAMPBELL. You don’t know anything about that?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. CAMPBELL. Do you know of any little girls besides yourself, who were asked to go to work as soon as they were 14?
MISS TEOLI. No, I don’t know; no.
MR. HARDWICK. Are you one of the strikers?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
Strikers’ children, Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1912.
Brown Brothers photo.
MR. HARDWICK. Did you agree to the strike before it was ordered; did they ask you anything about striking before you quit?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. But you joined them after they quit?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. HARDWICK. Why did you do that?
MISS TEOLI. Because I didn’t get enough to eat at home.
MR. HARDWICK. You did not get enough to eat at home?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. Why didn’t you propose a strike yourself, then?
MISS TEOLI. I did.
MR. HARDWICK. I thought you said you did not know anything about the strike until after it started. How about that? Did you know there was going to be a strike before they did strike?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. They did not consult with you about that?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You did not agree to strike?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You were not a party to it, to begin with?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. Was not the reason you went into it because you were afraid to go on with your work?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. HARDWICK. You say that was the reason?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. HARDWICK. Now, did you see any of the occurrences—any of the riots during this strike?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You did not see any of the women beaten, or anything like that?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You did not see anybody hurt or beaten or killed, or anything like that?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. Did you come down to the depot with the children who were trying to go away?
MISS TEOLI. I am only in the town in Massachusetts, and I don’t come down to the city.
MR. HARDWICK. So you did not see any of that?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You do not know anything about those things at all?
MISS TEOLI. No.
MR. HARDWICK. You struck after the balance had struck and were afraid to go on with your work?
MISS TEOLI. Yes.
MR. LENROOT. There is a high school in Lawrence, isn’t there?
MISS TEOLI. Yes, sir.
MR. LENROOT. And some of your friends—boys and girls—go to the high school?
MISS TEOLI. I don’t know.
MR. LENROOT. None that you know are going to the high school?
MISS TEOLI. No.
11
Arturo Giovannitti (1882–1959) was an Italian-born writer and orator who came to Lawrence early in the strike to take charge of strike relief. A former coal miner, bookkeeper, and teacher, the twenty-eight year old Giovannitti was a leader of the Italian Socialist Federation of North America and editor of II Proletario, a Socialist weekly. During his nine months in the Salem, Massachusetts, jail he wrote about a dozen poems which attracted immediate attention.
An article in Current Opinion (January 1913) noted of Giovannitti: “He has the soul of a great poet, the fervor of a prophet and, added to these, the courage and power of initiative that mark the man of action and the organizer of great crusades…. This jail experience of Giovannitti’s has given the world one of the greatest poems ever produced in the English language. It challenges comparison with the ‘Ballad of Reading Gaol’ by Wilde and is fully as vital and soul stirring as anything Whitman ever produced. ‘The Walker is more than a poem. It is a great human document.”
In Forum (October 14, 1913), critic Kenneth McGowan wrote: “The significant thing is that here we have a new sort of poet with a new sort of song…. He and his song are products of something that few Americans yet understand. We do not comprehend the problem of the unskilled just as we do not comprehend the I.W.W. that has come out of it. A poet has arisen to explain. … In ‘The Walker he has painted the prison as no man, not even Wilde, has done.”