In my 2012 novel, I imagine a very old Helen Schloss telling her
story in Moscow in the late 1960s. She meets a young American from
Little Falls, New York and describes the great strike she helped to
lead in his home town a half century earlier. (
The Red Nurse is available at Amazon Kindle for $2.99 and the paperback is $9.99 at
Amazon.)
Additional posts on
that strike can be found on this site at:
M. Helen Schloss
After Little Falls, Helen Schloss continued to join the labor battles
and in 1918 went to Russia as part of an organized effort to provide
medical relief to the millions suffering from war, famine and
disease. Her trail ends there, and I have never been able to find any
record of Helen Schloss after that time.
Strike supporters at Paterson
After the Little Falls strike was settled by state mediators in
January 1913, Helen evidently went directly to the silk workers
strike in Paterson New Jersey, which began in March of that year. Her
IWW comrades Big Bill Haywood and Carlo Tresca, who had been at
Little Falls, were major organizers at Paterson, as was Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn, with whom Helen had been arrested in 1904 in New York.
At Paterson, Flynn was arrested for a speech in which she called for
uniting workers across racial boundaries, and it is probable that
Helen was among the 1800 workers and organizers arrested by the
police.
Warren Beatty as John Reed in "Reds"
A huge mass meeting of supporters was held at Madison Square Garden in nearby
New York, featuring a
pageant organized by John Reed and Mabel Dodge.
The strike, and Reed's role in it, were dramatized in Warren Beatty's
1981 film, Reds. The strike, however, was a failure, and ended in
July.
In 1914 Helen Schloss was at the strikers camp in Ludlow, Colorado
when the Colorado National Guard attacked the tent colony, massacring
two dozen men, women and children. The workers fired back over the
next ten days, leading to more deaths on both sides.
The Guardsmen and hired thugs fought on behalf of the
Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and two smaller
mining firms. Although the miners lost the battle, subsequent federal
laws on child labor and the eight hour day were probably due, in
part, to the 1915 report on the strike by the House Committee on
Mines and Mining.
Mother Jones with strikers' children at Ludlow
We know that Helen was a witness to these tragic events because a
letter from her was read at a meeting in New York, hosted by the
legendary Mother Jones.
Excerpt from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
May 14, 1914:
Helen
Schloss Writes Colorado Strike Story
Miss
Helen Schloss is a trained nurse who has been active as a suffrage
organizer in this borough in behalf of the Woman Suffrage Party. She
was sent to Colorado by the Brooklyn Committee for the Relief of
Wives and Children of Colorado Strikers to organize a relief station
at Trinidad. Mrs. Frank H. Cothren, Mrs. Herbert Warbasse and James
P. Warbasse are especially active on this committee. This is the
story of conditions as Miss Schloss heard it from the strikers:
by
Helen Schloss
There
has been a strike in the State of Colorado, since last September, and
if memory serves rightly, there have been strikes ever since the
mines began operating.
Mines
are unsafe, and hundreds of men are being killed in them every year.
Water is scare in this part of the country, and coal dust is very
plentiful. When a sufficient amount of coal dust has gathered in the
air there is an explosion and many lives are snuffed out. When the
operators are asked why they do not sprinkle the mines, they answered
that the country lacks sufficient water.
The
present strike has been in progress, in a peaceful manner, since
September. There was no trouble of any moment till April 20. The
militiamen were in the field to protect the mines, and incidentally
to break the backbone of the strike.
The
militia men had nothing to do, but to have a good time. So for just a
little pastime, they started with Ludlow. Ludlow
had 1200 inhabitants, with over 100 tents. The Ludlow people were
about twelve nationalities in that small colony. They had parties and
feasts, the women had plenty of time to go visiting, and to gossip.
The men hung around, laughed and sang. There was nothing to do but
wait until the strike was settled. The militiamen had work to do, and
that was to break the strike.
Long
before April 20, the tents of the strikers were searched. Trunks were
ransacked, floors torn up, and there seemed to have been brooding a
general feeling of hatred for the militia. While
the militia searched the tents, they usually had a machine gun on top
of the hill. Be it known that Ludlow is sitting in a valley. The
militia were stationed on the hills. This gave them a good chance to
watch the doings of the strikers.
Militia
Fires on Camp of Women and Children.
Monday
morning, April 20, at 10 a. m. the Ludlow people heard an
explosion, and rushing out to the tent doors, they saw the machine
guns in full blast, firing down upon them. Under
almost every tent was a large cave. The women and children scrambled
into them, while the men grabbed their rifles and ammunition, and
went up on the hill to fight.
The
women and children who were in the caves tell horrible stories. The
firing from the hills kept up all day, until 3 o'clock the next
morning. No one knew whether his companions were alive or not. No one
knew whether they would ever see his friends again. The rumbling kept
up on the hill.
One
young woman [Pearl Jolly] who had some training as a nurse, put Red
Cross on her breast, and carrying a white flag, went from cave to
cave with food, and drink for the women and children. She was fired
at from all directions, and it is a great wonder that she lives to
tell the tale. The heel was shot off one of her shoes. One
time when she ran into one of the tents, to get some food, so many
shots followed her through the canvass that she had to lie still on
the floor for hours. A dresser in the tent was shot to pieces.
It
is said that the explosive bullets that were used set the tents on
fire. The tents began to burn towards evening, and the fires kept up
all night. The women and children fled from the caves, to the nearest
ranch, and as they were running , shots followed them. The firing
became so insistent that the people had to flee from the ranch. The
militia looted the house, and left a note on a blank check, saying
"this will teach you a lesson not to harbor strikers next time,"
signed with the initials of the Baldwin gunmen.
On
going through the ruined tent colony, one was struck with the
terrible amount f bullets lying everywhere. Everything had been
riddled. The
stoves that might have been used after going through the fire were
full of holes, where the bullets struck. Barns, sheds and everything
in sight was destroyed. It was a ghastly sight to walk through the
ruined colony, with the frames of the bedsteads standing out like
ghosts amid the ruins.
We
stopped near the cave, where eleven children and two women were
smothered alive. Big, strong men stood at this cave, in silence, with
bowed head. We slid down the gruesome hole, and I gave it a sort of
rough measurements and found it 5 feet high, 7 feet wide and 9 feet
long. A little high chair and a baby's gocart were still there.
The
Red Cross party that went to Ludlow to recover the dead were arrested
and detained for a little while. At first they received permission to
pass, but later on General Chase told them he had received word they
could not pass. Later this same general became abusive and called the
minister choice names. The
Red Cross party recovered the eleven children and two women, but it
is said that there are a great many bodies still missing, which are
not accounted for.
Grocery
Store Looted by the Militiamen
About
one mile away there is a grocery store, which is run in opposition to
the company store. A visit to this store convinces one that
destructive demons had been there. Flour and cereals were spilt all
over the floor. The cash register was broken open, canned stuff
opened and spilled, fixtures destroyed and windows broken. hundreds
of dollars worth of damage was done.
Upstairs
there was a rooming house, and the woman who ran this has lost
everything. Never in my life have I witnessed such a state of
affairs. The floor was strewn with papers, drawers were ransacked,
bureaus, tables and chairs broken, mattresses destroyed, glasses
broken. All the good things had been taken away. The poor people did
not even have a chair to sit on. Unmentionable outrages were
committed in this house. The poor woman sits on the floor on the torn
mattress, with her hands up to her head in a state of terror. The
reason this house was destroyed was because one leader, who was the
strikers' best fighter, used to room there at one time.
Louis
the Greek was killed. He fought at the front all day. When the
moaning of the women and children became too terrible, this big
strong man went on the hill through the storm of bullets to beg them
to stop firing. He was hit with a gun over the head, and knocked
senseless, and then shot through the head with an explosive bullet.
He was found at the foot of the hill with an old pair of shoes on.
Before he was shot he had new shoes. His gold watch and chain were
gone. One of the militia boasted that he traded shoes with dead
Louie.
After
the terrible Ludlow massacre, the fighting began. Women and children
were brought to Trinidad by the wagon load, the children fairly
naked. For five nights and days the work kept up. The men went to the
firing line, and the women stayed up all night cooking and sending
shifts of men into battle. What a bloody war it was for five days!
Those Greek men fought wonderfully. They fought against hundreds of
machine guns. The strikers had a small force. They had little
ammunition, but they fought bravely. A great many are soldiers from
the old countries. The mixture of nationalities proved a great help
in time of war, for it seemed that each nationality had something to
offer and suggest against the "Tin Wollies," as they called
them.
A
few days later there was another battle. The strikers fought at
Walsenburg. Fire was set to some houses, men were killed, and there
was a bloody war; but the women and children were protected.
Peace
has been restored in the community, the strikers are looking forward
to a settlement. All strikers have been disarmed, and all mines
guards are supposed to be disarmed.
The
only solution of this problem is to close the mines, and as long as
there will be strikebreakers in the mines there will be hatred, and
hence more bloodshed.
Conditions
among the miners are very pitiful, indeed, especially the Ludlow
survivors. They are being fitted out as fast as possible, but there
is still a great need. The strike benefits are $3 a week. One dollar
extra is allowed for the wife, and 50 cents for the children. Babies
are coming very fast, too. Since I started the work we have had two
newcomers, and a dozen more are expected.
The
strikers ask for their own check man. They wanted someone
representing the workers to act a a check man to weigh the coal and
offered to pay him. This was denied. If they became too persistent
they were kicked out and blacklisted.
Miners
say that the scales of the owners differ from the standard scales of
the United States.
When
the strike was declared, the company wagons came, went into homes and
hauled out all furniture, leaving the people in the streets. They
then sought shelter in tents with what results I have described
above.
The
Ludlow massacre shows the intention of the mine owners. It shows that
Colorado does not belong to the free United States, and it show that
because there are thousands and thousands of miles of empty space,
that because life is crude and uncivilized in the great canyons, the
greedy are taking advantage of this, and using every method to gain
their end.
Strikers' children at Ludlow - possibly with Helen Schloss
Colorado National Guard en route to massacre
Armed Strikers
I
can find no record of Helen's activities over the next three years.
Perhaps, she was radicalized even further by what she saw at Ludlow.
Or perhaps she was sickened by the violence, and turned toward
pacifism. What is known is that the Socialist Party and the IWW, with
whom she had fought at Little Falls and elsewhere, was targeted for
destruction by the Wilson administration. The US declaration of war
against Germany served as a cover for a nationwide crackdown on labor
organizers. The 1917 Espionage Act (which has been employed so
heavily by the Obama administration against whistle blowers) was the
legal justification for the arrest of socialist leader Eugene V.
Debs, Bill Haywood and many others.
Whatever
her political views after Ludlow, Helen joined with the Quakers in a
mission to Russia while war still raged in Europe. The last record I
can find of her is in the Friends Intelligencer of June, 1918:
"Robert
R. Tatlock, leader of the Friends Mission in Russia, will sail July 5
for Yokohoma on his way back to Russia. He is taking back with him
two nurses who are native born Russians naturalized in this country.
Their names are Helen Schloss and Ruth Hoffman, both of New York
City. Their speaking knowledge of Russian and their training and
experience will make them a very valuable addition to our staff of
workers."
I
am hopeful that readers may be able to provide more information on
Helen Schloss after she left the United States. Perhaps she lost her
life to disease or violence in Russia. Perhaps she returned to the
U.S. and gave up her early radicalism. Or perhaps, as I imagine in
The Red Nurse, she fell in love with Leon Trotsky and managed to survive
the purges of Stalin, and the Nazi holocaust. I can be contacted at
wildernesshill@gmail.com.
Although Joe Hill is said to have written this song for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, it could as easily apply to the brave Helen Schloss. Here's a link to Hazel Dickens' version of the The Rebel Girl
Thanks to the researcher who posts as JayeRaye, who called my
attention to the account of Helen Schloss in the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle. His ongoing series on labor history, Hellraisers Journal, can be found at Daily Kos.
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