N.Z. I.W.W. Circular.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 76, 23 August 1912, Page 3

N.Z. I.W.W. Circular.

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD. Fellow-workers, —The members of the I.W.W. Local, 175, Auokland. wish to call your attention to the case of J.

Ettor and A. Giovannitti, in order to obtain a united protest from the workers of. New Zealand against the attempt of tho textile employers of America to jail or electrocute these innocent men, in order to intimidate and prevent organising in future. Briofly, these are tbo particulars: On January 13, without warning, the textile employers, Mass., U.S.A., cut down the wages of thousands of operators. Dumbfounded, they struck, not only against this, but also against the vilest conditions. They came out spontaneously as an. unorganised mob, only a' small proportion being organised in small craft unions. The local I WAV., following their usual plan, organised them as an industry instead of into several different unions, and after a strenuous battle, in which the I.WAV, strained every nervo to prevent violence, and in which the employers used contemptible tactics, the One Big Union won a great victory, affecting over 300,000 workers. The textile interests employed thugs and gun-men, the scum of the shims, to mix with the strikers and cause trouble, so as to create an excuse to call on the police and militia to shoot at and demoralise tho workers and so break the strike. The organisers frustrated these attempts by harmonising the 17 different nationalities of strikers, and established a strong spirit of voluntary discipline and self-restraint. A slight disturbance, however, caused an excited policeman to fire his revolver, and a woman was fatally hit. J. Ettor was miles away from the spot, but he and others were arrested, and the "vested interests" want to jail these men, coerce and electrocute them by means oi packed juries and corrupt judges, on a legal theory which, if allowed to go unchallenged, • will strike a heavy blow at the right to organise. The theory is this: A strike occurred, Ettor and Giovannitti were organisers, being 1 organisers they were the cause of a strike, and being "accessories before the fact" of a woman's death must be executed. Ettor did not arrive in Lawrence until some days after the strike had started. Only those knowing tho inhuman methods of some American employers and professional strike-break-ers, and the corrupt legal machinery of the country, can realise the position of these men. Meetings of protest are being held all over America, and unionists in England and elsewhere are sending their protests in. It is up to us in New Zealand not to treat this as "nothing to do with its," but—in keeping with the growing spirit of international solidarity—to send a strong protest, so we suggest the passing of the following or of a similar resolution - .— "That this meeting of of New Zealand protests in the name, of Freedom and Justice against the dastardly attempts to victimise J. Ettor and others whose worst crime is loyalty to their fellow-workers in time of trouble."

All statements in this circular can be amply verified. Resolutions of protest, and money collected for the defence fund, can lie sent to this branch, and will be immediately forwarded to headquarters in America and duly acknowledged in The Maoiumni> Worker. Do not be influenced by factional feeling or prejudice; your protest may

turn the scale in favor of these men, who risked imprisonment and death in the interests of the workers. Write without delay.—Yours fraternally, C. T. REEVE, Sec.-Treas. Qneeu's Buildings, Wellcsley street, Auckland.