The legislative investigating committee reported
"there was practically no organization existing among the rubber
employees when the strike began. A small local of the Industrial
Workers of the World comprised of between fifteen and fifty
members had been formed . . . . Simultaneously with the beginning
of the strike, organizers of the I.W.W. appeared on the ground
inviting and urging the striking employees to unite with their
organization." Many of these testified before the public
authorities that they had not joined because they believed in the
preachings of the organization but because "they hoped through
collective action to increase their wages and improve their
conditions of employment." The tactics of the strike leaders soon
alienated the public, which had at first been inclined towards
the strikers, and acts of violence led to the organization of a
vigilance committee of one thousand citizens which warned the
leaders to leave town.
In February, 1913, some 25,000 workers in the silk mills of
Paterson, New Jersey, struck, and here again the I.W.W. repeated
its maneuvers. Sympathetic meetings took place in New York and
other cities. Daily "experience meetings" were held in Paterson
and all sorts of devices were invented to maintain the fervor of
the strikers. The leaders threatened to make Paterson a "howling
wilderness," an "industrial graveyard," and "to wipe it off the
map." This threat naturally arrayed the citizens against the
strikers, over one thousand of whom were lodged in jail before
the outbreak was over.
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