100 years ago in Spokane: Wobblies strike undermined by authorities

The Spokane Daily Chronicle reported that the Wobblies’ general strike was “a big fizzle.”

The paper said “not one man” quit the region’s harvest fields. The Spokesman-Review reported that the call for a strike in fields, mines and lumber camps had “elicited virtually no response from any district in the Northwest.”

The Spokesman-Review called it an “uneventful day” in the mines and camps. Soldiers had been sent to guard mines, power plants and railroads, but they reported no confrontations.

The leaders of the strike – James Rowan and about 26 other men – had been arrested the day before in a raid on the Industrial Workers of the World headquarters in Spokane.

“Strike headquarters was closed and instead of workers disseminating strike literature and haranguing the passing throng, guardsmen in the federal service patrolled the sidewalk with fixed bayonets,” said the paper.

The arrested Wobblies remained in jail and no formal charges had been filed. However, the paper speculated that Rowan could be “court-martialed for demanding in his strike call the release of I.W.W. members being held by military authorities as alleged alien enemies and draft shirkers.” The U.S. attorney said Rowan could be charged with conspiracy to give aid and comfort to the enemy.