The Everett Massacre: A history of the class struggle in the lumber industrySmith, Walker C.
History
The Everett Massacre: A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry
Smith, Walker C.
Industrial Workers of the World; Lumbering -- Washington (State); Lumbermen -- Washington (State)
"When we first entered the jail, true to the principles of the I. W. W.,
we proceeded to organize ourselves for the betterment of our condition.
A 'grub' committee, a sanitary committee and a floor committee were
appointed. Certain rules and regulations were adopted. By the end of the
week, instead of a growling, fighting crowd of men, such as one would
expect to find where seventy-four men were thrown together, there was an
orderly bunch of real I. W. W.'s, who got up at a certain hour every
morning, and all of whose actions were part of a prearranged routine.
Even tho every man of the seventy-four was talking as loudly as he could
a few seconds before ten p. m., the instant the town clock struck ten
all was hushed. If a sentence was unfinished, it remained unfinished
until the following day.
"When the jailer came to the door, instead of seventy-four men crowding
up and all trying to talk at once, three men stepped forward and
conversed with him. Our conduct was astonishing to the jail officials.
One of the jailers remarked that he had certainly been given a wrong
impression of the I. W. W. by McRae. He said, 'this bunch is sure
different from what I heard they were. You fellows are all right.' The
answer was simply: 'Organization.' Instead of a cursing, swearing,
fighting mob of seventy-four men, such as sheriff McRae would like to
have had us, we were entirely the opposite.
"Time has not hung heavy on our hands. One scarcely notices the length
of the days. Educational meetings are frequent and discussions are
constantly in order. Our imprisonment has been a matter of experience.
We will all be better able to talk Industrial Unionism than when we
entered the jail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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