Germans -- United States; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- Germany
Further light upon “the enclosed _aide mémoire_ ... in pursuance of
his proposals to arrange for strikes in the Bethlehem Schwab steel
and munitions war factory,” is gained by the following quotations
from the enclosure mentioned by Dumba in his letter to Burian.
The enclosure was an outline of a scheme for fomenting strikes,
submitted to Dumba by William Warm, the Editor of _Szabodsog_ [in
English, _Freedom_.]
In my opinion we must start a very strong agitation on this
question in the _Freedom_ (_Szabodsog_) a leading organ, with
respect to the Bethlehem works and the conditions there. This
can be done in two ways, and both must be utilized. In the first
place, a regular daily section must be devoted to the conditions
obtaining there and a campaign must be regularly conducted
against those indescribably degrading conditions. The _Freedom_
has already done something similar in the recent past, when the
strike movement began at Bridgeport. It must naturally take the
form of strong, deliberate, decided, and courageous action.
Secondly, the writer of these lines would begin a labour novel in
that newspaper much on the lines of Upton Sinclair’s celebrated
story, and this might be published in other local Hungarian,
Slovak, and German newspapers also. Here we arrive at the point
that naturally we shall also require other newspapers. The
American _Magyar Nepszava_ (Word of the People) will undoubtedly
be compelled willingly or unwillingly to follow the movement
initiated by the _Freedom_ (_Szabodsog_), for it will be pleasing
to the entire Hungarian element in America, and an absolute
patriotic act to which that open journal (the _Nepszava_) could
not adopt a hostile attitude....
In the interest of successful action at Bethlehem and the
Middle West, besides the _Szabodsog_, the _Nepszava_, the new
daily paper of Pittsburg must be set in motion, and those of
Bridgeport, Youngtown District, etc., also two Slovak papers.
Under these circumstances, the first necessity is money. To
Bethlehem must be sent as many reliable Hungarian and German
workmen as I can lay my hands on who will join the factories
and begin their work in secret among their fellow workmen. For
this purpose, I have my men Turners in Steelwork. We must send
an organizer, who in the interests of the Union will begin the
business in his own way. We must also send so-called “soap-box”
orators who will know, and so to start a useful agitation. We
shall want money for popular meetings and possibly for organizing
picnics. In general, the same applies to the Middle West. I am
thinking of Pittsburg and Cleveland in the first instance, as to
which I could give details only if I were to return and spend at
least a few days there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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