IWW timber workers

By Ralph Chaplin - ca 1915
Tune: "Darling Nelly Gray"

In the gloom of mighty cities
Mid the roar of whirling wheels
We are toiling on like chattel slaves of old,
And our masters hope to keep us
Ever thus beneath their heels,
And to coin our very life blood into gold.

By Joe Glazer -1929

[Verse 1]
50000 lumberjacks, fifty thousand packs
50000 dirty rolls of blankets on their backs
50000 minds made up to strike and strike like men
For fifty years they've packed a bed, but never will again

[Chorus]
"Such a lot of devils" -- that's what the papers say --
"They've gone on strike for shorter hours and some increase in pay:
They left the camps, the lazy tramps, they all walked out as one;
They say they'll win the strike or put the bosses on the bum."

The Outgrown - By Ernie Crook

Like an ox in modern traffic
Like a sword in modern fray
Or a scythe in modern harvest
Is our scheme of buy and pay
Own and borrow, get and corner
Trade and barter, hire and loan
Taking interest, rent, and profits
While our Brothers sigh and moan
Millions idle, robots taking
Jobs from living, mortal men

In the year of 1912 I heard Eugene V. Debs predict the victory of Socialism over the forces of Capitalism. I believed it then-and I believe it now (in 1966)-more than ever before.

Radicals generally, have given up the fight for Socialism mainly because of a lot of false notions as to the invincibility of Capitalism. They see the continuing almost uninterrupted boom conditions prevailing since [World] War II. Some of them seem to think that the theory of Marx-Lenin is outdated. Events will soon prove them wrong, and Marx-Lenin correct.

One more article from the Lumberjack News of Eureka California. This one was written in 1962.

At a time when part of the US Navy is hovering ominously in Santa Domingo waters to "prevent a leftist takeover" it might be well here to review briefly just how DID the US get Hawaii? It is a sordid story, but factual and written in a book called "Imperial Washington" by a former US Senator, one R. F. Pettigrow (senator of South Dakota in 1893). We just take excerpts to save space.

Now for another editorial from the Redwood Ripsaw of June 1965.

The last issue went over better than ever. Many comments received such as "bold" forthright, and no few letters, all of them favorable. One letter said in part, "The best and clearest explanation of imperialism I have ever read. Send me twenty copies."

Born in 1899 in the Upper Peninsula Michigan town of Baraga, in the copper country. Son of a Saginaw-Bay City lumberjack and Grandson of a Civil War veteran. Went to work as a "swamper" in a logging camp for Weyerhauser Timber Company near Cloquet, Minnesota in November of 1914.

And now for a few excerpts from the Redwood Ripsaw originated by the author in Davenport, California. This paper started with 200 copies monthly and one year later had reached a circulation of 1,700 copies.

Auto Billiards

It was a sultry night just before the battle of the wilderness at Shiloh in the Civil War. Camp fires were springing up in both armies. Both sides were getting set for the battle the next day. An occasional sentries challenge could be heard on both sides.

Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges unveiled yesterday a do-it-yourself kit for those who want to try their hand at economic forecasting. While the man didn't exactly specify just what was in the kit, we can use our imagination a bit here. Perhaps it's a miniature cardboard horse with a removable tail, a blind fold, and a set of rules. The blind fold is or you, Mr. business man-not the horse.