 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Follow
the Fire in the Hole script and accompanying images to examine
events that led to the rise of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.)
and Joe Hill's trial and execution in Utah; 1905-1915.
Narrator:
In 1905 a handful of the nation's most radical political and labor figures met in Chicago. Featuring "Big" Bill Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners and Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist party, the group aimed to ignite a grassroots fire that would sweep the nation and burn down a system they viewed as evil.
The industrial workers
of the world – the I.W.W., also known by their nickname of wobblies– would
prove to be the most radical and militant movement in the nation's labor history.
Fresh from his acquittal on murder charges in Idaho, Bill Haywood soon became
a driving force for the Wobblies. Convinced that the Western Federation of
Miners was not the answer, Haywood wanted the I.W.W. to represent all workers
in one big union. . .and have that union clash head-on with the centers of
power in America.
"They were very militant, very radical. And they honestly believed they could build a new society within the shell of the old society. And that's what they intended to do. And they intended to do it with the most uneducated, the most recent immigrants. The most unskilled people. So it was a very revolutionary approach."
Narrator:
The I.W.W. organized confrontational strikes. . .and staged free speech campaigns that flooded cities with wobbly speakers who attacked big business, government and the existing social order.
Thomas Alexander/History Professor:
"They were perceived as a threat to the status quo. They were perceived as anarchists. They were perceived as people who are not adverse to using violence to achieve their ends."
Narrator:
Never large in numbers, the I.W.W. was soon perceived as a dangerous crowd of terrorists dedicated to destroying the nation. Government and business leaders said the rules of civil society did not apply when dealing with the wobblies:
San Diego Union:
"Hanging is none too good for them, and they would be much better off dead. They are absolutely useless in the human economy. They are the waste material of creation, and should be drained off in the sewer of oblivion to rot like any other excrement." -- The San Diego Union
Narrator:
As a new decade dawned in 1910, the nation's labor wars dramatically escalated. Hundreds of strikes -- large and small -- tore at the nation. The anti-union Los Angeles Times was bombed, and two union organizers would eventually plead guilty to planting the dynamite that killed twenty workers. The I.W.W. orchestrated strikes in the East. Both labor and management claimed to be fighting for justice. Both sides claimed to be carrying forward the banner of America's promise.
The entire world seemed to teeter on the brink of destruction. In Europe riots challenged the traditional monarchies. On the American border, revolution in Mexico spilled over, with peasants under Pancho Villa fighting their government, and ransacking the town of Colombus, New Mexico. Federal troops were called out.
The future was anything but certain.
"Workers of the world, awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights. All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites."
Narrator:
The songs of Joe Hill came to symbolize the industrial workers of the world. . .and symbolize what many viewed as a life and death struggle for the future of the nation. Swedish immigrant Joe Hill, his name shortened from Hillstrom, wrote songs to mobilize the masses to action.
Gibbs Smith:
"He was dealing with a bunch of people who couldn't even speak the language. And how do you organize people and get them to do something in unison if you can't communicate? And the songs were one way to do that."
"His songs are very direct, they're very easy. They're repetitive at some times. He uses popular tunes of the day and hymn tunes which are easy to sing. He takes music and makes it the instrument of convincing people ideologically that they need to belong to the union. And its very direct."
Joe Hill:
"Shall you kneel in deep submission, from your cradle to your grave? Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?"
Sillito:
"Well that's pretty straight forward stuff. That's not great poetry and that may not be great art, but boy it pretty well gives you the ideological version of the I.W.W.'s account of early twentieth century corporate capitalism."
Narrator:
Joe Hill came to Utah in 1913. The state was still recovering from a violent confrontation between copper miners and the Utah copper company in Bingham Canyon near Salt Lake City. Why Hill came to Utah was never answered. But he would not leave alive. On the night of January 14th, 1914, two men entered a Salt Lake City grocery store. Grocer John Morrison, a former city police officer, and his son were murdered in the shootout. Police reported one of the masked gunmen had been wounded.
Gibbs Smith:
Joe Hill is shot the same night as the Morrison murder. He's shot in the chest. He gets on a streetcar, he goes to a Murray doctor whose name is McHugh, Dr. McHugh for treatment of his wound. McHugh reads the paper the next morning, reads about the murder of the Morrisons, and calls police and says ‘look I treated a guy last night that had a gunshot wound. Check him out.'"
Narrator:
When he is arrested,
Hill claims he was shot by a man in an argument over a woman–but refuses to
identify them.
At his trial, Hill refused to testify and refused to cooperate with his volunteer
attorneys...a fact the prosecutor drove home in his closing argument:
Leatherwood:
"If you were an innocent man when asked for an explanation of your wound why in God's name did you not tell the story and clear your name from the stain upon it? Because you were a guilty man, and you couldn't tell a story that could be corroborated. That's why."
Sillito:
"Well, your sitting on the jury and this prosecuting attorney is a pretty good attorney, and you say to yourself, ‘Well, you know, maybe that's true. Why in the world won't he tell us what happened?'"
Narrator:
Convicted of the murders, Hill waited on Utah's death row to face a firing squad. And as he waited, Joe Hill became a rallying cry for the I.W.W.
Emma Little:
"Another crime is about to be perpetrated by the capitalist class against the workers. Our song bird is about to be executed–before he has a chance to sing for us the glorious songs of freedom. Will we permit him to be executed? Only we can prevent his execution. We demand his life. . .and we are going to enforce our demands." — Emma B. Little
Narrator:
Thousands of letters poured into the office of Utah governor William spry, urging him to block the execution. Spry offered hill a chance to offer any evidence that might give Utah a reason to save his life. Again, Hill refused to cooperate.
Ronald Yengich/Attorney:
". . .and there comes a time where in my opinion Hill decides that he will be the martyr for the labor movement."
Narrator:
When wobbly leader "Big" Bill Haywood offered to bankroll an appeal of his conviction to the supreme court, Hill refused the offer.
Joe Hill:
"July 28, 1915. To William D. Haywood. Dear fellow worker, There is no reason to be sentimental about it, Bill. We cannot afford to let the whole organization go bankrupt over one individual. Yours for industrial freedom." -- Joe Hill
Narrator:
But letters of protest and the pleadings of Sweden's minister to the United States convinced president Woodrow Wilson to take the unusual step of intervening in a state criminal case.
Woodrow Wilson:
"I respectfully ask if it would not be possible to postpone the execution of Joseph Hillstrom until the Swedish minister has an opportunity to present his view of the case to your excellency." -- Woodrow Wilson
Narrator:
Spry reluctantly delayed the execution. But when Hill's supporters failed to offer evidence, only their claims of hill's innocence, spry restored an execution date for November 19th, 1915. In a final telegram to "Big" Bill Haywood, Joe Hill crafted a rallying cry for the I.W.W. . .and managed to slip in a comment about a final resting place.
Joe Hill:
"Goodbye Bill. I die like a true rebel. Don't waste time mourning– organize! It is a hundred miles from here to Wyoming. Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line for burial? I don't want to be caught dead in Utah." -- Joe Hill
Narrator:
In a final interview from his cell, hill refused an invitation to confess to the crime:
Hill:
"I die with a clear conscience. I die fighting. . .not like some coward. But mark my words. The day of my vindication is coming."
Narrator:
Hill's body was rushed from the prison for a required autopsy. Each member of the firing squad received a twenty dollar gold piece. The Wobblies brought Hill's body to Chicago for a funeral. More than thirty thousand people turned out. For the legal system in Utah, Joseph Hillstrom was a convicted murderer sent to a just punishment. For the Wobblies, Joe Hill was a martyr whose name would be invoked in labor struggles for the next fifty years. Consistent with his final request, the ashes of Joe Hill were scattered in every state. . .except Utah.
The execution of one man had triggered international protests. But the killing of women and children would shock the nation.
