Snohomish Workers Call for General Strike
A mass meeting in Snohomish resolves to strike on the day of the McNamara brothers' trial to protest their 'kidnapping' and the abuses of the master class.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
SNOHOMISH, Wash., May 28th.—Under the auspices of the Snohomish Local No. 315, W. F. of A., a mass meeting was held at which the following resolution of protest against the illegal and unwarranted kidnapping of the McNamara Brothers was unanimously adopted: Whereas, our fellow workers, John J. and James B. McNamara have been kidnapped, and Whereas, in the case of these fellow workers, the master class have seen fit to suspend all so-called rights, therefore, be it Resolved: That we wage workers of Snohomish, Wash., in a mass meeting assembled, endorse the idea of a general strike on the day the trial starts; and be it further Resolved: That we call upon all wage workers to hold meetings and prepare to answer the challenge of the master class by a general suspension of work on that day. Andy Raynor, Chairman.
“In the case of these fellow workers, the master class have seen fit to suspend all so-called rights.”
The 1911 McNamara trial was a national flashpoint for labor activism, fueled by the conviction that the state was overstepping to crush union leaders. This Snohomish resolution captures the radical fervor that defined regional politics during the early twentieth-century labor movement, a stark reminder of how far local communities were willing to go to challenge corporate power.
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