Smith, Vern Papers, 1890-1934
Collection Number: 5172
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Vern Smith Papers, 1890-1934
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5172
Abstract:
Fragment of the files of an editor of The Industrial Pioneer. Includes reports, manuscripts
and clippings concerning the I.W.W. and labor unrest, particularly in the 1920s.
Creator:
Smith, Vern
Quanitities:
0.5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
Vern Smith was an editor of The Industrial Pioneer, a publication of the Industrial
Workers of the World (I.W.W.).
Established in Chicago in 1905 by sponsors of socialism and the remnants of 19th century
labor unions, including the Knights of Labor, the radical Western Federation of Miners
and the American Labor Union, the Industrial Worers of the World (IWW), or "Wobblies",
evolved into a radical industrial union which waged campaigns for improved working
conditions, wages and hours of work, as well as workers' control in mines, mills,
lumber camps and factories.
Fragment of the files of an editor of THE INDUSTRIAL PIONEER. Includes reports, manuscripts
and clippings concerning the IWW and labor unrest, particularly in the 1920s.
Includes report (originals and carbons) of Vern Smith to the general convention of
the IWW (1924) on the status of newspapers,,, questions on the revolutionary nature
of the IWW, the question of pacifism, an appeal for workers to go to California, the
question of boycotts, and injuring the California capitalists by withdrawing buying
power in limited localities; report on change of editors of INDUSTRIAL SOLIDARITY
(the weekly official organ of the IWW); list of Council members appointed by people's
commissars, and officials of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1935); charges
brought against Vern Smith for deliberately violating the policy of the IWW by printing
"undesirable articles" in THE INDUSTRIAL PIONEER; copy of the organization program
for the IWW; report (1924) to the general convention of the IWW by the business manager
of INDUSTRIAL SOLIDARITY and THE INDUSTRIAL PIONEER; report of the Ballot Committee
(1925); and Gordon Cascaden's communication to the IWW General Convention (1925).
Also includes a statement of IWW principles; affidavit of two miners (members of
the United Mine Workers and the National Miners Union) (1931) before the State of
New York; typed mss. By Smith, "The Worker's Prospects in the USSR" (1934), and "Beginnings
of Revolutionary Political Action in USA"; typed ms. "The I.W.W. Since the World War"
(n.d.); LA VIE OUVRIERE (23 July 1926); and "The Situation of the I.W.W." (extracted
from a report of Earl Browder to the executives of R.I.L.U.; copy of facts and statistics
extracted from various sources regarding farm products prices to farmers and on the
market (1929); and a copy of the introduction to the minutes of the 1899 International
Workingmen's Congress, by Wilhelm Liebknecht.
Also, loose sheets (copies) from typed mss. of outline on years 1928-1931, the "third
period", with reference to unification of the Communist Party and its growing influence,
the Agricultural Workers Industrial League, criminal syndicalism prosecution in California,
the Illinois general strike (1929), the National Textile Workers' Union, the New Bedford
strike (1928), the Gastonia strike (1929), imperialism, war danger, terrorism and
suppression of the militant press. Also scrapbook regarding the IWW and clippings
from THE DAILY WORKER (1924-1925).
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Vern Smith Papers #5172. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives,
Cornell University Library.
Names:
Agricultural Workers Industrial League
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. Ladies Society. Grand Lodge.
Communist Party of the United States of America
Industrial Workers of the World
National Miners' Union
National Textile Workers' Union
United Mine Workers of America.
Browder, Earl, 1891-1973.
Cascaden, Gordon
Smith, Vern, 1892-
Subjects:
Anarchists--United States.
Criminal syndicalism--California.
Freedom of the press--United States.
General Strike, Illinois, 1929.
Labor--Soviet Union.
Working class--Soviet Union.
Labor movement--Soviet Union.
Press, Labor--United States.
Syndicalism--United States.
Loray Mill Strike, 1929.
Textile Workers' Strike, Gastonia, N.C., 1929.
Textile Workers' Strike, New Bedford, Mass., 1923.
Labor unions and communism
Journalists.
Trade-unions. Agricultural workers. United States.
Trade-unions. Textile workers. United States.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Scrapbook
|
1924-1925 |
Scope and Contents
News clippings on the IWW
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Personal papers [folder 1 of 3]
|
1924-1926 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Personal papers [folder 2 of 3]
|
1923-1932 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Personal papers [folder 3 of 3]
|
1890-1934 |