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On this day, July 25, 1913, Jack Law and Jack Allen arrived
in Minot, ND and set up headquarters across from the local Salvation Army.
As organizers for the International Workers of the World, better known
as the Wobblies, they had been invited into the community by J.M. Near
of the Iconoclast; Minot’s socialist newspaper. Near had been pushing
for a group of local contractors to unionize.
Law and Allen immediately set about organizing what they referred to as
the “wage slaves”, urging the construction workers to go on
strike and demand double pay. They used demonstrations, public speeches
and hymns rewritten into political songs to attract attention. To the
patriotic cadences of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, they
sang “Solidarity forever, for the Union makes us strong.”
Pro-business supporters in the community feared being forced to pay wages
that would close them down. The Salvation Army opposed the violent and
disruptive methods employed by the Wobblies. The general public viewed
the Wobblies as anarchists, capable of violence. It was only a matter
of time before confrontation would break out.
On August 10, the Minot city police arrested Jack Law and others who had
gathered to hear him speak. Unbeknownst to the crowd, the city had quietly
passed a ban on public speaking and blocking the street. As the police
and fifty special officers hauled more and more of the crowd off to jail,
other IWW workers continued to mount the soap box until they too were
hauled off to jail. The Local Socialist did not totally support IWW methods
or views, but the Wobblies’ Constitutional rights of free speech
should be protected regardless. They too, joined the demonstrations. They
too were hauled off to jail.
The city jail was small so the Socialists were kept inside the jail building.
They sang socialist songs prompting the police to turn up the heat until
both sides relented. The IWW workers were held in a hastily constructed
bullpen outside the jail. They too sang late into the night. The fire
department was called to hose them down but that failed to quell the singing,
so the police brought in large rocks and sledge hammers. The IWW workers
were told to reduce the rock in exchange for food and water. Most resisted.
News of the arrests spread quickly and IWW reinforcements from Michigan,
Minnesota and Montana poured daily off the trains. Public demonstrations
continued as did the arrests. Eventually, the stockyard along the Great
Northern had to be converted into a temporary jail to house the overflow.
After two weeks, the cities resources had been stretched to the breaking
point. In the end, the free speech demonstrations ended with a compromise.
The prisoners would be released if they ended the street meetings. The
Local Socialist, as a result of this incidence, split into left and right
wings which marked an end to its political power in Minot.
Written by Christina Campbell
Sources:
Timbrook, Mark, Prepare to Meet Your God: A History of Minot, (Minot,
ND: Ward County Historical Society, privately printed; 2006)
http://www.minotlibrary.org/minot_history_through_slides1900-1920.htm
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