Frank
Little was
born in 1880. Little is known about his family background but he told
friends that he had "Indian blood". He joined the Industrial
Workers of the World in 1906 and took part in the free
speech campaigns in Missoula, Fresno and Spokane and was involved
in organizing lumberjacks, metal miners and oil field workers into
trade unions. On one occasion he was sentenced
to 30 days imprisonment for reading the Declaration of Independence
on a street corner.
In 1910 Little successfully organize unskilled fruit workers in the
San Joaquin Valley. This brought him to the attention of the national
leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World
and by 1916 was a member of the party's General Executive Board.
Little was a strong opponent of the USA becoming involved in the First
World War. The leader of the party, William
Haywood shared Little's opinions, but this was a minority view
in the party. When the USA joined the war in April, 1917, Ralph
Chaplin, the editor of the trade union journal, Solidarity,
claimed that opposing the draft would destroy the IWW.
Little refused to back down on this issue and argued that: "the
IWW is opposed to all wars, and we must use all our power to prevent
the workers from joining the army."
In the summer of 1917, Little was helping organize workers in the
metal mines of Montana. This included leading a strike of miners working
for the Anaconda Company. In the early hours of 1st August, 1917,
six masked men broke into Little's hotel room. He was beaten up, tied
by the rope to a car, and dragged out of town, where he was lynched.
A note: "First and last warning" was pinned to his chest.
No serious attempt was made by the police to catch Little's murderers.
It is not known if he was killed for his anti-war views or his trade
union activities.
Copper Trust to the Press: "It's all right, pal; just tell
them he was a traitor." Solidarity
(11th August, 1917)
(1)
The
Appeal
to Reason
journal reported on attempts
by Frank Little to recruit members for the Industrial
Workers of the World
in California (11th February, 1911)
There
are about one hundred I.W.W. men in jail now with different charges,
but all are arrested for the same offense. Only a few of the I.W.W.
men have been tried. Some of the best speakers were tried and convicted
of vagrancy, by juries of business men. Four of them got six months
apiece, although they proved that they were not vagrants. Many of
the boys have been imprisoned for fifty-one days, today, without trial.
This happened not in Russia, but in sunny California. Frank Little
was arrested on the charge of vagrancy.
Frank Little was arrested on the charge of vagrancy. Frank is one
of the 94 I.W.W. men confined in a bull pen, 47 x 28 feet. The officers
of the state board of health say that there is air enough in the pen
for 5 men. Most of the men confined in the bull pen have been out
in the open air only once or twice since they were arrested. A good
many of the men have been in there 53 days today.
(2) Viola Gilbert Snell, To Frank Little (Solidarity,
25th August, 1917)
Traitor and demagogue,
Wanton breeder of discontent -
That is what they call you -
Those cowards, who condemn sabotage
But hide themselves
Not only behind masks and cloaks
But behind all the armoured positions
Of property and prejudice and the law.
Staunch friend and comrade,
Soldier of solidarity -
Like some bitter magic
The tale of your tragic death
Has spread throughout the land,
And from a thousand minds
Has torn the last shreds of doubt
Concerning Might and Right.
Young and virile and strong -
Like grim sentinels they stand
Awaiting each opportunity
To break another
Of slavery's chains.
For whatever stroke is needed.
They are preparing.
So shall you be avenged.
(3)
Arthuro
Giovannitti, Hanged at Midnight (Solidarity,
2nd September, 1917)
Six men drove up to his house at midnight, and woke the poor woman
who kept it,
And asked her: "Where is the man who spoke against war and insulted
the army?"
And the old woman took fear of the men and the hour, and showed them
the room where he slept,
And when they made sure it was he whom they wanted, they dragged him
from his bed with blows, tho' he was willing to walk,
And they fastened his hands on his back, and they drove him across
the black night,
And there was no moon and no star and not any visible thing, and even
the faces of the men were eaten with the leprosy of the dark, for
they were masked with black shame,
And nothing showed in the gloom save the glow of his eyes and the
flame of his soul that scorched the face of Death.
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