|
Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, July 20, 1919
|
|
|
|
|
| Title | Labor spy report by Agent #106 to Broussais Beck, July 20, 1919 |
| Author | Unknown |
| Date of Publication | 1919 |
| Notes | In this report to Broussais Beck on July 20th, 1919, "Agent #106" describes an open air protest meeting at 4th and Virginia, which was organized by the Workmens Soldiers & Sailors Council. The meeting is designed to protest the "allies" intervention in Russia and Hungary. The gathered crowd consists mostly of Russians holding banners, one of which reads "Long Live the Soviets" -- a police sergeant demanded that particular banner be rolled up, and the Russians reluctantly comply. The speaker is Walker C. Smith, who urges the crowd to take action locally before concerning itself with revolutions elsewhere in the world. Smith rejects the idea that voting can lead to a solution, and insists that the workers focus on organizing themselves to use economic power to change Seattle. After a collection of funds for propaganda work, a Russian worker named Williams reads the crowd a letter from Vladivostok. The letter charges that the allied soldiers in Russia are working with Kolchak and Munikoff, "murderers of Russian workers", and asks the workers of the world to unite to stop these murders. Williams points out the banners, and asks the crowd to march with them down 2nd Avenue so that others will read them: about 400 agree to follow him, and parade away. |
| Contextual Notes | Broussais Coman Beck (1886-1936) was a prominent Seattle businessman and rowing enthusiast. He was educated at the University of Washington and at Yale, graduating from the latter university in 1911. He returned to Seattle later in the 1910s to work as the store manager for the Bon Marche. In the wake of the Seattle general strike of 1919, Beck paid spies to infiltrate the labor movement in Seattle, and received frequent reports from his agents (often accompanied by clippings or ephemera relating to labor organizations) in 1919 and 1920. Due to the information acquired through these reports, the Bon Marche was centrally important to the alliance of Seattle employers who organized against labor, a group called the Associated Industries of Seattle -- and, consequently, the Bon Marche became the target of increased pressure and boycotts by organized labor in this time period. |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Beck, Broussais C., 1886-1936; Labor movement--Washington (State)--Seattle; Labor unions--Washington (State)--Seattle; Business intelligence--Washington (State)--Seattle; Union busting--Washington (State)--Seattle; Industrial Workers of the World; Smith, Walker C. |
| Geographic Coverage | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital ID Number | PNW00867 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or inquire about permissions contact: photos@u.washington.edu. |
| Digital Collection | Pacific Northwest Historical Documents
|
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division. |
| Repository Collection | Broussais C. Beck papers. Accession No. 0155-001. Box 1/9 |
| Object Type | Typescript
|
| Physical Description | 1 leaf; 28 x 21.5 cm. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original text or image at 150 dpi saved in TIFF format, resized and enhanced using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm software's JPEG2000 Extension. 2011. |
| Restrictions | For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Reproduction & Use page: http://content.lib.washington.edu/sc-use.html |
|
|
|
|
|
