The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-08-26
George Vandeveer, Noted Attorney for
the |. w. w., viii Defend A. S.
Embree in This City

then must be boring from within
Under Embrees leadership the l. w
Nv under various names stealthily
penetrated the rival labor bodies of
Butte
"When ] came into Butte the fruit
of this new plan had already been
borne The city was tied mp complete
ly by a general strike and. although
the l. W. w. membership was but a
handful compared to the total number
of strikers involved, Embree and the
I. W. w dominated the situation at
every point
"They were clever enough not to
call it an l. w. w. strike. 1t was a
strike of the Soldiers. Sailors and
Workers Council Under the camou-
rage of that name the l. w. w. had
gained a control which Is years of di-
rect agitation had never gained for
them This Soldiers, Sailors and
Workers Council was a delegate body.
Some 30 A. f. of l.. and Independent
labor organizations were represented
in it, in addition TO the l. w. W. and
they were represented fairly in pro-
portion to their membership. Yet the
little L. w. w. controlled the council
with an iron grip.
ION my first visit to the council the
situation was revealed to me at
glance. In the chair 1 recognized Eel
low Worker A., but when the roll was
called. Fellow Worker A responded
as a delegate. not of the l. W. w, but
of the Brotherhood of Carpenters.
Near me, l saw Fellow Workers b. and
c. When Fellow Worker ID. arose to
make "a motion the chairman announc-
ed the delegate from the Butte Mine
Workers Onion, and there was Eel
low Worker y. vOicing the sentiments
OF the Machinists' Union and Fellow
Worker y. speaking in rich Irish
brogue for the Butte Sim Fein club
Such surprising unanimity of opin-
ion was never seen outside of Gilbert
and Sullivan's Mikado
"Embree's talk was simple. As if
by previous arrangement, all the mo-
tons were offered by these supposed
delegates of other unions. Embree,
for the l. w. w, would rise and defer
entally support them and they would
go through without a dissenting voice.
These motions all reeked of l. W.
W-ism. Every move of the strike was
made in rigid conformity with the
HOyle of the /. w. W. Had the strike
been as frankly l. w. W-led as the
Lawrence strike or the Paterson af-
fair, it could not have followed the
nf
more religiously.
THE l. w w. had brought about
this situation by scattering it's agents
Though all the labor bodies of Butte
and building up 'Wobbly machines. 1t
is not difficult to capture a labor
union. A dozen strong men acting as
a unit in every business meeting ar
ranging in advance to nominate each
other for every Office and committee
ship will soon find the majority inno-
emily following them. The majority
n labor bodies is never organized or
1t sways unthinkngly be-
lind any group who seem to have
mind and a program and who make
hOwing of strength
IN Butte the l. W. w element had 4
asily captured most of the unions =
lad put through the project of organ =
zing a Soldiers. Sailors and Workers =
'ouncil. and had then had themselves @
lected delegates to that council. I'm d
er this council camouflage the /. w. o
V. leaders had made themselves mas o
ers of the prestige. membership and c.
-easuries of two thirds of the A. f. -
{ L. unions of Butte. Could an out >,
nd-out l. w. W-ism have gained
lem any more advantages?
"All this had been done with to-
II l. w. w membership of not more .
IAN 500, and half of these were Fin
ish. They had captured 10000 work -
IS and had bent these 10000 to an
obedience Such was
he victory that Embree won in Butte. -
nd it became the model for the One
ig Union movement which is now .,
king hold in all the labor organiza- =.
ons"