[lbo-talk] Cast of "Reds"

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Sun Sep 9 17:54:50 PDT 2012


Point of information: I think Goldman was deported from the USA. She had never bothered to get citizenship after emigrating with her parents as far as I know and, she had been born in what was then the Czarist Empire. I think she actually chose to end up in revolutionary Russia; but of course, the Idea, was being violated on a daily basis there so, she left and began her attempt to get back to the USA.

Bill Haywood wasn't deported from the USA. He and the other members of the General Executive Board of the IWW were convicted under the Espionage Act in 1917. Haywood was also a member of the Socialist Party of America--left wing member of course, like Debs.

Anti-war activity had a higher price then, even under the Democrats. Case in point, Frank Little, also one of the convicted GEB members, was hanged from a trestle in Montana by reactionaries because of his support for an IWW strike at a local copper mine.

The Wobblies raised money for Bill's bail while the case was being appealed-- all the way up to the SCOTUS. Of course, the IWW lost the appeal in 1921 and the GEB members still alive were sentenced to lengthy jail terms and hefty fines. Haywood (having served a lengthy period time on trumped up murder charges before in his life) jumped his rather substantial bail, making it for the USSR. The year 1921 is important in this context as it was the year of the 10th Party Congress where a ban on internal factions in the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (Resolution No. 12) was agreed to. These factions included the Worker's Opposition (who supported syndicalism).

Lots of Wobs were unhappy about losing the bail money as it basically broke the organisation financially for a time. Morale was low, to say the least. While in the USSR, Haywood was made to swallow the 'boring from within' line which called on the IWW to disband and join the AFL. 'Dual unionism' just had to be opposed--an old line from the days of the Second International adopted for the Third International by Zinoviev and crew.

I don't think Bill was a happy camper. There is evidence of his opposition to the 'boring from within' and 'dual unionism' arguments somewhere in the archives; but I suppose living in Moscow was better than 20 years in the pen. In any case, he died seven years later and as has been noted, was buried in the Kremlin Wall, where Stalin's body was buried after having been removed from Lenin's tomb.

Mike B) *********************************************************************** Wobbly Times http://wobblytimes.blogspot.com/



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