The Co-operative news. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1917-1918, 1918-01-10
THE |. W. W. SPIRIT

article held the customary opinion
of the ordinary bourgeois in regard
I othe |. w. w. organization and its
members. Rough necks, law break
ers, trouble makers and anarchists,
etc While | conceded the members
of that organization had real and
well-founded grievance against the
employing class, still they were en-
ployng bull headed, malicious and
vllanous tactics in fighting those
evils and to join that organization
would be like jumping from the fry
ing pan into the fire, or choosing
the greater for the lesser evil. How
that idea has been gradually dissi-
pated from my mind and how a
better and more rational idea has
taken it's place, will be the purpose
of this article stated as briefly as
possible. ! have long konwn of the
hard conditions under which the lum-
Der jacks of this country have been
working The hard board and fifty
straw hunks, the long hours of work
at one of the hardest and most dan
erous occupations in the world, un-
sanitary camps crowded to their
fullest capacity, cook houses and
food which would put to shame a
bunch of Digger Indians, and the
terrible all around conditions under
which the timber workers had to
contend with from one years end to
another. Under these conditions
something had to happen, 1t was
enevitable, SO along comes the
J.. W. w. organization in the form
of delegates. What these men had
to contend with from the start, the
sacrifices they had to make, the
abuse and calumny they had to
stand can never be fully told by
any one short of a genius. But
through it all they had but one
thing to say and that was, workers
Of the world-organize and unite in
enc big union. The big lumber
aarons and bankers, the petty bour-
'is business element, followed and
- a'ld by their iick-spittie satellites,
the subsidized press and pulpit,
abused and villified them, and hatch
ed up every foul lie their evil minds
could conceive of, but through it all
they stayed on the job and organized
their fellow workers. They had to
pass through the Everett massacre,
the midnight lynching-they graced
with their presence every Jail, rock.
pile and bull-pen in the Northwest.
They have had to run the gauntlet
with barred, bleeding bodies while
drunken thugs and hired hoodlums
have beaten on their naked skins
with whips and loaded clubs, yet
through it all they emerged with this
message still on their lips to their
fellow working men-UNITE. Not
revenge, but the light of a great
principle is shining in their eyes.
With heads erect and with deter
limitation written In every line of
their faces, they are moving in
solid formation to the consumation
of that purpose. Now, in regard
to the individual members, the rank
and file of that organization. Dur
ing this strike have come in con-
tact with hundreds of l. w. w.
members. l have yet to see a
single one of them under the influ-
ence of liquor, disorderly or violat-
ing the law in any way l have
heard them preach a doctrine of nom
resistance strangely similar to the
same doctrint taught by the Man of
Gallilee two thousand years ago. l
have seen them go to Jail with a
smile on their face and emerge with
no bitterness or rancor in their
hearts, but more determined than
ever to organize their class in one
Big Union. II is the uncomfortable
spirit which cannot be crushed but
energies from every contest strong
ers than it was before. can see
a great change coming over the
people in their attitude towards this
organization. While they once fear
ed and hated 1.-THE more intelligent
now respect and to a certain extent
admire it. The reaction has set in.
The kept press with its lies and
foul abuse has had it's dirty day.
Our citizens see hundreds of these
maligned lumber jacks in their
midst. Heads up, sober, we'll man.
nered and law abiding working men
who pay for every thing they get
and attend strictly to their our bust
ness-who after such an object les
son as this could ever again believe
the filthy lies of a soiled and pros
tituted press? An organization
permeated with the spirit of in
dividual self sacrifice for the com
/ Il