W.W. leaders in taking advantage of the fears, the
ignorance, the inflammability of the workers, and in creating a
"terrorism which impregnated the whole city for days." Lawrence
became a symbol. It stood for the American factory town; for
municipal indifference and social neglect, for heterogeneity in
population, for the tinder pile awaiting the incendiary match.
At Little Falls, New York, a strike occurred in the textile mills
in October, 1912, as a result of a reduction of wages due to a
fifty-four hour law. No organization was responsible for the
strike, but no sooner had the operatives walked out than here
also the I.W.W. appeared. The leaders ordered every striker to do
something which would involve arrest in order to choke the local
jail and the courts. The state authorities investigating the
situation reported that "all of those on strike were foreigners
and few, if any, could speak or understand the English language,
complete control of the strike being in the hands of the I.W.W."
In February, 1913, about 15,000 employees in the rubber works at
Akron, Ohio, struck. The introduction of machinery into the
manufacture of automobile tires caused a reduction in the
piecework rate in certain shops. One of the companies posted a
notice on the 10th of February that this reduction would take
effect immediately. No time was given for conference, and it was
this sudden arbitrary act which precipitated all the discontent
lurking for a long time in the background; and the employees
walked out.
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