The Day I Was A Wobbly |
It was not the usual dedicationceremony. Neither the mayor, the governor, a senator, nor any other prominentpolitician attended. The honored speakers on this occasion were the descendantsof those on the other side of the "Centralia Massacre," a tragedywhich took place in Centralia, Washington during a parade to celebrate thefirst anniversary of the end of World War One.
The crowd who gathered together in Centralia on Saturday,December 13, 1997, came as witnesses at the dedication of a new mural tohonor Nathan Wesley Everest and other "Wobblies." The mural isan addition to the many historic murals located in downtown Centralia, andwas financed by the small donations of many individuals and labor organizations.It is hoped that creating this mural would bring a healing to the eventsof November 11, 1919.
Everest was a member of the I.W.W., the Industrial Workersof the World (known as the Wobblies), and had worked as a logger and sawmillworker since he was seventeen. On November 11, 1919, he was pulled fromthe Centralia jail, beaten, mutilated, and hanged from a bridge at the edgeof town. No one who participated in the lynching was ever brought to justice,and no one served a day in jail.
Labor conditions in the lumber industry at the turn of thecentury were appalling at the work sites as well as in the camps. Fellinghuge old-growth timber was dangerous enough, but there was no first aidor any other kind of medical assistance for the injuries that commonly occurred.Logging crews of fourteen or more men were bunked in one shack with littleor no ventilation and no sanitation. The men had to provide their own bedroll.When new men came in with bedrolls infected with lice, everyone got thelice.
The Wobblies protested the working and living conditions,and attempted to organize the workers. They met with fierce opposition fromthe owners; they were vilified in the press; and they also met frequentlywith vigilante beatings, or worse.
On November 11, 1919, the American Legion in Centralia sponsoreda parade to celebrate the first anniversary of the Armistice. The paradewas routed (intentionally, it was believed) to pass the I.W.W. union hall.The union hall was attacked. (The I.W.W.'s first union hall was also attackedin May of 1918.) When the union hall was stormed in the confrontation of1919, four American Legion members were killed, and eleven I.W.W. memberswent to jail. Everest had escaped from the melee but was captured and jailed.The other Wobblies went to prison and served several years for the crimeof defending their ideals and their union hall.
One of the Wobblies imprisoned at the time was Eugene Barnett.He was sentenced to twenty-five to forty years, and he served over thirteenyears before being released. His daughter, Esther Barnett, described herfather's life. He first went to work in the coal mines when he was eightyears old, and then at the age of sixteen migrated West to homestead. Heworked in the mines and became involved in the fight to improve labor conditionsfor working people.
The nephew of Nathan Wesley Everest attended the dedicationceremony and spoke of his family's memories of the uncle who died beforehe was born. The mural's artist, Mike Alewitz, is an internationally knownmuralist and labor activist. He gave a powerful and moving speech and saidthat any funds due him for the mural would be donated to help in legal coststo get two men out of jail who were believed to be falsely accused and framed.
The dedication went off smoothly with no hitch. There hadbeen some fear of trouble because hate calls had been made against the mural.The mural is set high on the front of Centralia Square, a building ownedby John Regan. His strong sense of justice moved him to donate the spacefor the project. The mural looks down upon the park and the monument honoringthe four young American Legion members killed in the confrontation in 1919.
An interesting fact came to life for this author, somethingthat he did not know. The Wobblies are not dead, but still live. The I.W.W.'smany dedicated members still strongly believe that in the middle of militaryconflicts the engineers and workers of one country should not kill engineersand workers in other countries to protect the interests of big oil companiesand big international corporations. In support of these ideas, many of theparticipants and witnesses at the dedication ceremony raised a clenchedfist to honor those stand-up pioneers of change to improve the labor conditionsof working folks. It was an emotional moment and I, too, raised my fistto honor that dead knight of labor, who had also served in the Great War.So, at least on that day, I was a wobbly.
The day ended with a gathering at the local carpenter's hall.Everyone was welcomed to the food, the music, and comradeship. There wereno speeches but memories were shared to celebrate the lives of those, likeNathan Wesley Everest and others, who died or went to jail for their beliefsin the basic dignity of workers everywhere.
J. Glenn Evans has written two books of poetry, WindowIn The Sky and Seattle Poems; local community histories, PikePlace Market, North Bend-Snoqualmie, Renton, GigHarbor, Bothell; a history of Sweden, Swedes-From WhenceThey Came; and a biography, Levant Thompson. He is poetryeditor and publisher of PoetsWest Literary Journal and directorof the PoetsWest Reading Series conducted at the Frye Art Museum.