The Red Scare in Park Square (episode 172)

Draft riots are nothing new in Boston. A 1970 protest at Northeastern University over the draft and the Vietnam War devolved into a riot. In 1863, the North End was torn by a draft riot that ended with the militia firing a cannon at a crowd of mostly Irish-American men, women, and children.  We even covered a violent 1747 riot in which Bostonians resisted forced impressment into the Royal Navy. What all those incidents have in common, though, is that the rioters were opposed to the draft. The riot on July 1, 1917 was different. In that case, rioters supported the draft and focused their violence on antiwar protesters.


The Red Scare in Park Square

Boston Book Club

French sociologist Sylvie Tissot’s book Good Neighbors: Gentrifying Diversity in Boston’s South End ruffled a lot of feathers when it was published in 2015. She was accused of using her position at Harvard and French accent to ingratiate herself with the wealthy residents of the South End. They opened up to Tissot about their experiences in the neighborhood, then felt betrayed by her portrayal of their relationships with marginalized communities. Here’s how the publisher describes the book:

Does gentrification destroy diversity? Or does it thrive on it? Boston’s South End, a legendary working-class neighborhood with the largest Victorian brick row house district in the United States and a celebrated reputation for diversity, has become in recent years a flashpoint for the problems of gentrification. It has born witness to the kind of rapid transformation leading to pitched battles over the class and race politics throughout the country and indeed the contemporary world.

This subtle study of a storied urban neighborhood reveals the way that upper-middle-class newcomers have positioned themselves as champions of diversity, and how their mobilization around this key concept has reordered class divisions rather than abolished them.

Upcoming Event

As part of Black History Month at Boston Public Library, Dr. Kelley Carter Jackson of Wellesley College will be presenting on her recent book Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence.  Published in 2019, Jackson’s book explores the tension within the abolitionist movement between (often white) activists who were committed to nonviolence, and a rising tide of Black radicals who believed that it was time to take freedom rather than waiting for it to be given.  Here’s how the BPL website describes the event:

In honor of Black history month, join us for a meaningful experience with Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson. Her new book, Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence (University of Pennsylvania Press), examines the conditions that led some black abolitionists to believe slavery might only be abolished by violent force. In Force and Freedom, Carter Jackson provides the first historical analysis exclusively focused on the tactical use of violence among antebellum black activists. Go beyond the honorable politics of moral suasion and the romanticism of the Underground Railroad and into an exploration of the agonizing decisions, strategies, and actions of the black abolitionists who, though lacking an official political voice, were nevertheless responsible for instigating monumental social and political change.

The talk begins at 6pm on February 25 at the Copley branch, admission is free, and registration is not required.  Copies of the book will be offered for sale by Trident booksellers at the event, and Dr. Jackson will be on hand to sign them.

Dr. Rebecca Crumpler’s Headstone

Long-time listeners may recall episode 18, in which we discussed the incredible life of Dr Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first black female medical doctor trained in the United States, who graduated in 1864 from the New England Female Medical College in Boston. Dr. Crumpler and her husband Arthur Crumpler are buried in an unmarked grave at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park. The Friends of the Hyde Park Library and the Hyde Park Historical Society are currently raising $5,000 for a simple gravestone to honor these two remarkable individuals.  Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

Transcript

Music

Jake:
[0:04] Welcome Toe Hub history, where we go far beyond the Freedom Trail to share a favorite stories from the history of Boston. The Hub of the universe.
This is Episode 1 72 The Red Scare in Park Square. Hi, I’m Jake.
Whenever I have trouble coming up with the topic for the week’s podcast, there’s always a riot somewhere in Boston’s history that I could look to this week, I’m gonna be talking about a draft riot that took place in Boston in 1917.
It was neither the first nor the less draft riots in our fair city.
A 1970 protests at Northeastern University over the draft in the Vietnam War devolved into a riot all the way back.
In 18 63 the North End was torn by a draft riot that ended with the militia firing a cannon at a crowd of mostly Irish American men, women and Children.
We’ve even covered a violent 17 47 riot in which Bostonians resisted forced impress mint into the Royal navy.
What all those incidents have in common, though, is that the rioters were opposed to the draft.
The riot on July 1st, 1917 was different In that case, rioters supported the draft and focused their violence on anti war protesters.
But before we talk about the 1917 draft riot, it’s time for this week’s Boston Book Club selection and our upcoming historical event.

[1:26] My pick for the Boston Book Club this week is taken from a nifty list of the 10 best books of the 20 tens put out by the BPL at the end of last year.
French sociologist Sylvie to SOS book Good Neighbors Gentrifying Diversity in Boston South End ruffled a lot of feathers when was published in 2015.
Here’s how the publisher describes the book. Does gentrification destroy diversity, or does it thrive on it?
Boston’s South End, a legendary working class neighborhood with the largest Victorian brick rowhouse district in the United States and a celebrated reputation for diversity, has become in recent years. Ah, flash point for the problems of gentrification.
It is born witness to the kind of rapid transformation leading to pitched battles over the class and race politics throughout the country and, indeed, the contemporary world.
This subtle study of a storied urban neighborhood reveals the ways that upper middle class newcomers have positioned themselves as champions of diversity and how their mobilization around this key concept has reordered class divisions rather than abolish them.

[2:32] A review in the Journal of Contemporary Sociology describes how wealthy residents in the south end opened up to two so about their experiences in the neighborhood, but then felt betrayed by her portrayal of their relationships with marginalized communities.
Drawing on an extended ethnography of Boston South End, too, so focuses on the gentry, even if her political sympathies are quite explicitly with the displaced and or marginalized populations in the new urban hierarchy.
Thus, the book’s objective is not only to explain the metamorphosis of the inner city, but also the emergence of a specific group within the privileged classes.
A shoeing caricature, if not the occasional damning judgment, too.
So deftly and persuasively shows how place is dialectic Lee implicated in the formation of status group identity, charting the terms of an emergent brand of elite liberalism. And it’s now dominant watchword of diversity.
A French sociologist based in Paris, too, so began our Boston research in 2000 for while holding a temporary affiliation at Harvard University.
This pedigree informs the research both practically and conceptually, as an asset in gaining access, while also providing a sometimes jaundiced outsiders.
I so adds a sophisticated account of place based amenities in the active inculcation and performance of cultural capital,
capturing the nuances of boundary maintenance in the context of diverse urban milieu and an emergent strain of upper class liberalism.

[4:01] We’ll include a link to purchase the book that upset so many members of the South in community and this week’s show notes.

[4:08] And for our upcoming event this weekend, featuring a talk at the Copley Square branch of the BPL.
On Tuesday, February 25th Dr Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley College will be presenting on her recent book, Force in Freedom.
Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence as part of the library’s Black History Month.
Siris, published in 2019. Jackson’s book explores the tension within the abolitionist movement between the often white activists who are committed to Nonviolence,
and a rising tide of black radicals who believe that it was time to take freedom rather than waiting for it to be given.
Here’s how the BPL website describes the event in honor of Black History Month.
Join us for a meaningful experience with Dr Kelly Carter Jackson.
Her new book, Forcing Freedom, examines the conditions that lead some black abolitionists to believe slavery might only be abolished by violent force enforcing freedom.
Carter Jackson provides the first historical analysis exclusively focused on the tactical use of violence among antebellum black activists.
Go beyond the honorable politics of moral suasion and the romanticism of the Underground Railroad and into an exploration of the agonizing decisions, strategies and actions of the black abolitionists who,
the lacking an official political voice, were nevertheless responsible for instigating monumental social and political change.

[5:31] The talk begins at six PM Admission is free and registration is not required.
Copies of the book will be offered for sale by Trident booksellers at the event, and Dr Carter Jackson will be on hand to sign them.

[5:45] Speaking of Black History Month, there’s a bonus event that I’d like to mention this week.
On April 18th Little far in the future, the Hyde Park Historical Society will representing about Dr Rebecca Crumpler at the High Park Library way back in Episode 18.
In this podcasts First Black History Month, we profiled Dr Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler.
Dr. Crumpler was born in Delaware, raised in Pennsylvania and educated in Massachusetts, attending first the West Newton English and classical school and later the New England Female Medical College in Boston.
In 18 64 she became the first African American woman to earn the title Dr Ess of Medicine.

[6:30] After the Civil War, she moved to Virginia with her second husband, Arthur Crumpler, where she provided medical care for the large population of African Americans who had until recently been enslaved and remained deeply impoverished at the time.
She later practiced in Boston before retiring to what was then the independent town of Hyde Park.
Arthur was an interesting figure in his own right. He was enslaved from birth in Virginia, used the outbreak of the Civil Wars cover to escape to freedom.
Then he worked for the Union Army before finally making its way to Boston and meeting Rebecca.
After Dr Complete died in 18 95 Arthur went to night school for three years to learn how to read and write.
At 74 years old, he was proud to finally be able to read the newspapers and take comfort from the Bible without assistance.
He passed away in 1910.

[7:22] Both Arthur and Dr Rebecca Lee Crumpler are buried in Fairview Cemetery, the local neighborhood cemetery here in Hyde Park.
At the time we profiled Doctor Crumpler in 2017 I put it out.
What a shame. It is that the first African American woman to become a doctor and a self emancipated slave who worked for union victory and became a man of faith in letters were buried without a headstone to recognize them.
Well, I’m happy to announce that the friends, the Hyde Park Library and the Hyde Park Historical Society are working to rectify that situation.
They’re trying to raise $5000 to purchase and dedicate a headstone for the krump alors, and your donation would make a big difference.
They can accept donations via check or PayPal at friends, HP Library dot or GE.
Well, like the information about how to donate as well as the details of the force and Freedom talk and this week’s show notes at Hub history dot com slash 172 and now it’s time for this week’s main topic.

[8:24] By the time the parade reached the corner of Tremont in school streets across from King’s Chapel, it was probably about 3:30 p.m.
On July 1st 1917 The column of Depending on Who’s count you believe somewhere between 2500 and 8000 marchers was led by an American flag.
The group of union organizer’s peace activists and political radicals carried banners questioning the wisdom and morality of the newly implemented military draft and advocating for peace.
Suddenly, a mob appeared from a side street. About 1300 men, roughly 1/3 of whom were uniformed members of the U. S. Army and Navy, marched in their own columns directly at the peace parade.
Associated Press reports would describe the mob as self organized squads of uniformed soldiers and sailors,
making it clear that although the military men were in uniform and quickly organized themselves into formation, they were not acting under orders from the military chain of command.
The two groups met head on in Tremont Street, and the uniformed mob marched headlong through the center of the peace parade, grabbing protest signs and knocking martyrs to the ground.
A group of women from the original parade sought shelter in the entrance to the Cambridge subway, while, as the globe put it for nearly 15 minutes, several 100 men engaged in a general fistfight until police broke up the gathering.

[9:49] Reporting in the July 2nd edition of the Globe makes it clear that although most of the violence and provocation came from one side of the clash, most of the arrests occurred on the other side.
In fact, federal agents were reported to have prevented the Boston police from arresting anyone involved in breaking up the parade.

[10:07] Had it not been for the fact that just such an occurrence was fully anticipated by the federal Department of Justice agents, the violence would without doubt of mounted to much more serious proportions.
They were in control of the combined police and Secret Service forces and held the mob in leash without letting the mob know it.
There may have been 50 or 500 Secret service agents of the crowd.
Their activity is not to be recorded, but here and there all through the afternoon, one or another could be seen taking a younger old man in tow.
Frequently, these were turned over to the Boston police. Often, they had failed to produce draft registration cards.
Early in the first scrapping David Aid to bonus of 4 15 Columbus have was hit over the head by a policeman’s club, he says just after he had seized a flag from a Socialist special agent.
Schmidt of the Department of Justice whispered to the patrolman, and a bonus was released to find his way to the Haymarket Square relief station, where his head was bandaged.

[11:08] The whole thing started at about 2:45 p.m. On a Sunday, a crowd of peace activists gathered outside the state Socialist Party headquarters at Park Square and began organizing themselves into four divisions.
There were party members from Boston proper, Roxbury, Maldon, Grove Hole and Southie.
There were groups are identified his Lithuanian, Italian, Jewish, Estonian and lettuce. Sure, Latvian, along with the self identified Socialists.
There are also members of the labor movement, including a small detachment of Wobblies from the Industrial Workers of the World and other groups from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and the United Hebrew Trades.

[11:49] The plan was to march from Park Square Toe Elliot Street, which is now Stuart Street,
than up Tremont Street, along the common turn onto Cambridge Street and eventually Charles Street, making a full lap around Beacon Hill and bringing Charles Street back past the common to Park Square.
Mayor James Michael Curley had issued their parade permit, as well as permits for the Boston Socialist Club, the Boston Socialist Party and the Boston Rationalist Society to hold a rally on the common.
After the parade was over, behind the American flag at the head of the column, there were many other flags and placards and evidence among the paraders.
Most of them carried small piece flags, rectangles of red cloth with a white circle in the middle.
Many carried neatly hand lettered signs with slogans like We demand peace or If this is a popular war, why conscription?
Some of them were more inflammatory, like We are not pacifists. We believe in war on our true enemy.
Capitalism or Russia has a six hour work day. Why not America?
By all reports, the biggest banner of all was carried by at least 10 men and followed right behind the American flag, saying, Workers of the world unite, You have nothing to lose but your chains and the world to gain.

[13:07] That one caught the eye of some passing soldiers, the first draft since the Civil War gone into effect on June 5th.
And there were now recruiting tents all along Boston Common, adding to the volume of military personnel already station at the Navy Yard and the many smaller facilities around the city.
Some of the passing soldiers went to Boston Common, gathered up their friends and came back.
Socialist spokesman James O’Neill later described the first confrontation between the Socialist group and a growing crowd of angry soldiers.
Our parade formed in an orderly manner in Park Square.
Before leaving the square, a band of 25 or more sailors and soldiers paraded in the square, making suggestive remarks, which were calculated to arouse the resentment of the marchers and to test the degree of tolerance of the few policemen present.

[14:00] A few strong words from the police got the loosely organized group of military men to disperse, and the parade began a few minutes later.
Is the parade past the recruiting tents on the common along Tremont Street, a group of soldiers began marching down the street toward them, threatening to collide head on again. The police got out in front again. The soldiers were convinced to disperse.
Then the parade approach, School Street and all hell broke loose.

[14:28] After the clash at School Street, the parade collapsed into bedlam and violence, and leaders of the Marsh decided to fall back to Boston Common.
Their permits said that they could assemble on the Commons baseball fields to listen to a series of speakers.
However, five minutes after they arrived, Boston Police Superintendent Michael Crowley announced that the permit for their rally was revoked, and he ordered the crowd to disperse.
Unfortunately, the uniformed mob also decided to check out the speakers on the common.
The next day’s Globe reported from Tremont Street. The crowd flowed into the common like a flood.
Finally congregating on the baseball field where the Socialists were to speak at the planned meeting, tried to make themselves heard, but the people would not settle down.
They sped around and around, not unlike cattle, rushing to all the numerous fights and tussles over the banners and signs, all of which were torn to bits at last and trampled underfoot,
except the American flag, which the military men appropriated and carried at the head of their columns.

[15:28] Groups of soldiers charged any of the speakers who dared continue their addresses, forcing them to see their diocese.
With the exception of one.
The Globe noted that the mob approached the president of the Boston Rationalist Societies. He was speaking, but his talk was so incomprehensible that he was left unmolested.

[15:49] Fights continues. The marchers began to trickle out of the comment.
One large band of soldiers climbed up the soldiers and sailors monument.
Another went on an impromptu parade to Park Square, carrying all the banners that captured from the Socialists. And yet 1/3 decided to keep tabs on the concert that was being performed on the common completely unrelated to the day’s other activities.
In his book, Manufacturing Hysteria, J. Feldman says.
Adding a bizarre, surrealistic touch to the bedlam was the customary Sunday concert on Parkman Bandstand, which started up and continued even as the continuous pandemonium raged.
Soon, the men in military uniforms had taken over the management of the concert, instructing the orchestra which songs to play and commanding. The assembled listeners on winded off their hats as an ad hoc vigilance committee made sure they complied.
The coverage in the next day’s Globe included this detail. Down across the slope, the band was starting to play Dixie and Hats. Off came the cry from 100 throats again.
A man more than 60 years old was trying to tell Officer prim pus that the racing back and forth on the common by mobs was disorderly, and he neglected to do office hat to Dixie.
Take off that brown fedora, Mr yelled a young man in civilian clothes, or we’ll take it off for you.

[17:10] According to the report, the cop yelled out to leave the old man alone and then let him away from the trouble.
It was surprising to me to read news reports that civilians were threatened with violence if they left their hats on while the band played Dixie.
Barely 50 years after the Civil War, soldiers stationed in the union stronghold of Boston considered the de facto national anthem of the Confederate enemy a patriotic song requiring hats to be taken off.
That’s proof enough for me that the neo Confederate lost cause narrative had won the war for hearts and minds. By 1917.

[17:46] Not satisfied with the havoc they’d already caused. Someone in the uniformed mob had the bright idea to rush to the Socialist Party headquarters.
14 Park Square was an ordinary looking both front brownstone, four stories tall plus an attic.
There was a tire shop on the first floor, a print shop on the second, and the Socialist Party worked out of the third story.
Somebody in the mob kick down the door and a figure in a Marine Corps uniform soon appeared on the third floor window.
He played the national anthem on a bugle, and members of the crowd below sang along with him.
As he finished, the crowd charged up the stairs, and soon everything inside, the offices began sailing out the windows, reams of paper, printing presses, tables and chairs, telephones, lamps and Maur in the streets.
Outside, somebody lit a bonfire, and the socialist parties, furniture and papers were fed into it.

[18:41] As the mob ransacked Socialist Party headquarters in Park Square, James O’Neill called the Boston Police Department for assistance, but their arrival was less than helpful.
He later told The Boston Globe how they took their sweet time responding to his call a call sent by me to police headquarters brought seven or eight policemen. About 10 minutes later, they walked leisurely across Boylston Street into the square.
While papers were flying from the windows.
They did not increase their pace, nor did another group of four or five that approached a few minutes later.
Not only did the police response slowly, they did little to disperse the crowd upon their arrival.
Instead, O’Neill claimed that the police mostly just stood around and watched as the crowd looted the offices.
Pictures taken during the sack of Socialist headquarters show crumpled paper showering down outside like a snowstorm or a ticker tape parade.

[19:37] Coverage in the July 2nd evening edition of the Globe uncovered a deliberate order by police Superintendent Crowley not to use the bpd to restrain the rioting soldiers and sailors.
The Boston police had large reserves ready to be called from Legrain Street Station, and the secret servicemen were present in and around the common in large numbers.
The question was how to handle the inevitable rioting that was to follow.
And the result of the conference apparently was an agreement between Superintendent Crowley and the Secret Service that worse trouble than ever would ensue if the policemen attempted to arrest men in Army Navy Air National Guard uniforms who are leading the onslaught on the Socialists.
As a result, most of the police reserves were kept in the station all the afternoon, waiting for a hurry call That didn’t come.
The alternative to police protection, which was decided upon, was this evidently that the Navy should be called upon to send out armed blue jackets who could reasonably be expected to be more effective in the restraining.
The spirits of uncommanded navy and army men than the policeman would be a blue jacket is an enlisted sailor holds a rank below that of Chief Petty officer what’s also referred to simply as a seaman.

[20:52] The evening edition continues with the description of their eventual arrival on the scene.
Things had quieted down and hundreds were turning homeward when suddenly the first detachment of organized troops of the afternoon the first to show guns came briskly across the common, trying to find out where the disturbance waas,
over and Park Square, they went on.
The incident command told a Boston police sergeant that he was there to handle the situation.
He tried to find out where the disturbing element Waas.
Only a few 100 were in the square when the reservists arrived, but thousands followed them from the common and choked the square.
The instant promptly ordered his men to fix their bayonets, and the crowd was pushed back.
By this time, the police had completely faded into the background, leaving the reservists in control,
one police sergeant suggested to the reservist officer in command, and if he would only lead his men out of the square again, the crowd would follow them and leave the place comparatively peaceful again.

[21:53] But the incident was not taking suggestions from any police officer anymore than from the Department of Justice men.
He got in communication with his superior Commonwealth Pierre, and was told to come back to the ship.
Their parks square visit had lasted about an hour, so the naval force didn’t exactly have the intended effect.
According to one report, there are about 500 people left in Park Square. When the sailors showed up, however, washing the contention of armed sailors marched through the streets and across the common.
Several 1000 people got curious and follow them to Park Square, where they stayed and gawked until the Blue jackets left again.

[22:32] The inaction of the Boston police and the Justice Department’s apparent defense of the rioting Armed Forces personnel led to conspiracy theories that were embraced by everyone from wild eyed, radical Socialists toe Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.
Many believe that the mob had been tacitly sanctioned by the DOJ is a way to crack down on dissent.
O’Neill, the Socialist Party spokesman, denied that his group was engaged in any behaviors the Justice Department should be interested in investigating.
No suggestion was offered or discussed it any time to interfere with recruiting or to oppose the enforcement of the conscription act that we favor its repeal.
We have never harbored the absurd illusion attributed to us of stopping the war.
We know this is beyond our power, but we did and do hope that by mobilizing opinion in favor of peace, we may be of some service in Hasting, the peace conference that must sometime meet and thus saved many lives that will otherwise be sacrificed.
We also had in mind the preservation of democratic institutions which Warren militarism always threaten.

[23:39] It wasn’t an era that was friendly to dissenting opinions. After the draft went into effect on June 5th President Woodrow Wilson signed a new espionage act just 10 days later.
It had a provision which prohibited conveying information with intent to interfere with the cooperation or success of the armed forces of the United States.
The U. S Department of Justice was charged with enforcing the law, which it chose to interpret incredibly broadly.
Certainly, the DOJ agents in the crowd seem to be interested in far more than just draft dodging.
An Associated Press article that random papers all over the country said that agents of the federal Department of Justice, under the direction of Assistant District Attorney Goldberg, arrested a number of persons who are alleged to have made unpatriotic remarks.

[24:30] That same AP article appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, usually running under headlines written by local editors.
It’s interesting to see what different headlines reveal about the attitudes around the country at the time.

[24:44] The daily bonanza of Tune Open Nevada took a just the facts ma’am approach.
Running the story under a headline stating Socialist Demonstration is broken up in Boston, The Richmond Times said.
Hundreds of fights mark peace Parade of Boston Socialists in Abilene, Kansas, The Weekly Reflector went with the straightforward Soldiers Break Up Peace Parade and Macon, Mississippi, the Beacon said.
Big Piece Parade Is Cause of Riot The Lincoln County Times of Idaho crowed.
Soldiers, mob Socialists, the Intelligence or of Wheeling West Virginia ran a Page one headline that may have let a small amount of bias creep in, saying,
wearers of Uncle Sam’s khaki breakup Socialist Peace demonstration at Boston, Unpatriotic parade banners stirred up the ire of Boston ese.
Perhaps the best headline I stumbled across was from the pioneer of I Diderot Alaska, which made the paper’s editorial position perfectly clear.
Uncle Sam’s fighters wreak their vengeance upon disloyal socialists.

[25:53] Today we’re getting used to the idea that Americans of different political opinions living entirely separate media ecos fears where they consume news through a heavily partisan lens.

[26:04] The same could be said of the media landscape in 1917 with reporting on the riot heavily influenced by the political stance of each news out, for example, The Herald of Essex County, Vermont, lamented,
This was the most disgraceful affair, and the sailors, soldiers, Marines and guardsmen taking part, disgraced the uniform they wear and brought reproach to the service and shamed all true American hearts.
These are not representative of the manhood we’re sending into the Army, but a scum class that, unfortunately got in and bring shame to honest citizens.
However much we may differ from the Socialists in their principles, they are entitled to the same freedom and protection as we are and should have those rights up to the point of demarcation, of upholding the law and order and inciting riots.
The Boston Socialists were within their rights and held permits for this public meeting and parade.
The riot on Sunday was a black mark against American sailors and soldiers and repudiated by all loyal and fair minded Americans at the other end of the spectrum and editorial in The Indianapolis News was purely celebratory tea.
What happened is no doubt just what should have happened. The soldiers are to be congratulated on having broken up the parade’s, destroyed the banners and burn their literature without any casualties.

[27:25] In Pensacola, Florida, an editorial in the July 19th Journal made it clear that any dissent should be considered disloyalty to the flag and that the mob was therefore justified.

[27:37] In Boston, Socialists tried to hold what they called a pro peace meeting, but what was, in reality, an anti American demonstration?
They carried red flags, symbol of anarchy and banners with such inscriptions as Liberty Loan, a first mortgage on labor.
They made unpatriotic remarks about the United States. It was incipient disloyalty.
The demonstration was broken up by a number of American boys and khaki. You constituted themselves into an impromptu committee of the whole and nip the scheme in the bud.
Easygoing people that they are Americans cannot be warned too often of the danger. Germany’s intrigue is as active as ever.
Germany has thousands of agents in this country, and the Socialists, the emergency P Sir’s the I W W.
And the freak organizations that substitute for single loyalty and directness of conduct.
The theories which weaken unnatural minds effect are there indirect allies.

[28:37] In the Washington D. C suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, where political protest was common even in 1917 a straight news piece in the Gazette began.
Anti conscription Demonstrations in Boston Brings Attack in the Streets It was a bad day for socialism and socialists. In Boston yesterday, their parade, an anti conscription demonstration, was broken up, a za result of a number of riots centering on Boston Common.

[29:03] The evening farmer of Bridgeport, Connecticut, took a unique stance, basically arguing that if the Socialists in Boston were good Socialists, they would have been pro war.

[29:15] Socialism has for one of its tenants that war is a class affair by which the working class invariably suffers more than it gains.
Hence, Socialists have usually been opposed to war.
The present war promises to bring the working classes of the world more beneficial reforms. And they’ve gained in 100 years before.
So dominant of the reasons why war should go on, that the Socialists of Russia have decided to fight,
at the very time when the Boston Socialists were parading for peace, the Russian army, commanded by Socialists and directed by a Socialist government, was shedding the blood of class conscious workers in the cause of democracy.
By what claim of worth our knowledge to American Socialists. Oppose war and adjust victory when their brother in Europe far more numerous, more intelligent and more successful are fighting for liberty.
By the same token, those who interfered by force with the Boston demonstration were in error.
For If the’s Socialists are mistaken, their brethren are on the right side, and these will be.
Nor was the red flag, an occasion for a demonstration that is the flag of Russia.
And Russia is an ally of the United States, and Russian blood is being shed with American blood.

[30:29] And since German Americans faced unprecedented discrimination and harassment is the war began, at least unprecedented for white people?
It might be funny to hear this coverage in The Tribune of Omaha, Nebraska.
Millet. So Dutton Matar Sin in Boston. The next Besser is two to Manhattan, having an engrossing Siegel ronin.
We have a nine part fun in Hobart. Defund Frieden’s demonstrating the guitar gun warden roughly translated.
The droll paragraph says militia soldiers and sailors in Boston who had nothing better to do have achieved a giant victory.
They have captured a few flags. They were carried by peace demonstrators.

[31:15] Even here in Boston, opinion was split. Was the riot and attack on filthy reds bent on undermining America’s armed forces?
Or was it a disgrace that betrayed the values there’s forces were fighting for in the first place?

[31:29] Ese Conrad, the pastor of Park Street Church, weighed in with a sermon on the very evening of the riot.

[31:37] The men and khaki did right in rushing into the Socialists ranks and seizing the red banners, as well as an invading their socialist headquarters and throwing out their contents.
One of the janitors of this church lighted the fire, and I am tempted to promote him to the office of assistant pastor.
This is no time for dealing timidly with the incipient rebellion.
No time for soldiers and sailors who may soon be in the trenches to receive insult from those who are anarchists. Heart.
It is no time to talk in any weak fashion, but to support the administration as long as it is trying to put down tyranny.
It is no time to allow those who have no regard for God or man to have their way with the line of freedom and unbridled speech.
When a man talks down his country’s flag, there is a limit to free speech.
It is time to deal firmly with great howling mob, even though it be represented as a parade on Boston Common.

[32:32] Staking the polar opposite claim, the Boston Journal wondered instead, who would deal firmly with howling mob that represented itself as uniformed members of the armed forces.
The only punishment thus far meted out to the soldiers and sailors who took part last Sunday in the Prussian izing of Boston Common is the decision by high military authority that enlisted men shall have read to them the regulations regarding their conduct in civil communities.
UN. Offending civilian men and women were bruised and robbed. An office situated on a public street in a taxpaying building was looted and its contents destroyed.
And the People’s Park was a rioting ground for a group of men in uniform.
Surely even the extreme type of military mind, which has no room for the ordinary processes of civilian thought, does not expect that the uniform Congar away with last Sunday’s history.
What is Washington going to do about it?

[33:27] As the unrest in Boston made national headlines, Secretary of War Newton Baker was forced to respond.
It has come to my knowledge that a few men wearing uniforms have taken it upon themselves to disturb public meetings and interfere with the rights of assembly and free speech.
They have, of course, no authority for such behavior and no excuse.
Whatever the patriotic motives on which they may believe themselves to be acting, the fact is that they are breaking the law.
But they’re wearing the American uniform mix such rowdyism all the more intolerable.

[34:01] Despite the comments of the secretary of war and despite every eyewitness report saying that the rioters were led and inspired by soldiers, sailors and Marines General Clarence Ransom Edwards, who commanded the military department of the Northeast,
I was pretty sure that none of his troops were involved.
The evening edition of the Globe for July 2nd, says General Edwards statement, was in part as follows,
as regards the trouble yesterday that is positively under the jurisdiction of the municipal and state authorities, and it would be presumption in me to interfere or suggest anything.
I am always ready, however, to aid the authorities in any way I can.
If any federal regulars or militiamen in the Federal service ever interfere with any legitimate expression of public opinion, I will deal with them peremptorily.
General Edwards further expressed his opinion that none of the men in the federal service had any part in the melee.

[34:58] The day after the parade in riot General Edwards, Governor Samuel McCall and Mayor Curley met at the State House.
McCall spoke to the press to denounce the violence without endorsing the socialist cause, saying, Well, I am far from being a socialist.
The way to defeat their doctrines is not illegally to invade their headquarters, destroy their property and break up their parades.
I’m of the opinion that the part played by the soldiers and sailors has been exaggerated.
But at the same time it was very unfortunate that men wearing the uniform of the United States took any part in such a disturbance.
In doing so, they violated the first essential of military and naval discipline, and I know their participation is strongly disapproved by the commanding Army and Navy officers.

[35:46] That wishy washy denunciation wasn’t enough for Socialist spokesman James O’Neill, who was quoted in the July 3rd Globe demanding more meaningful punishment of the rioters.
In view of all this, how is it that of those arrested, not a single soldier sailor was among them?
A soldier or sailor has no more rights in a public demonstration than any civilian.
And when these boys assaulted men and women in the streets and invaded our premises, a blow was struck in the civil rights of every citizen of the Commonwealth.
If nothing is done by either the city or federal authorities to punish the guilty parties, sanction will have been given to terrorism, and mobs will usurp the police powers of the city and all free discussion.
An assemblage will be a memory if irresponsible boys, Or do you surf the police powers of the city and state than civil liberty is a mockery and free discussion ally?

[36:38] An Associated Press article reflected the frustration of other Socialist leaders as they saw the uniformed mob going unpunished.

[36:47] George E. Rower, representing the Workmen’s Council of Greater Boston, sent today to Governor McCall and commanded William R.
Rush of the Navy yard formal requests that they turn over to the civil authorities, the sailors, Marines and National Guardsmen who took part in the street disturbances last Sunday.
In making the request, Mr Rower said that if officials were unable to identify the persons involved, he would be glad to loan them a massive evidence which would without the slightest question, clearly point out those responsible.

[37:20] Mayor Curly faced intense criticism because he’d been on vacation in the Berkshires when the riot occurred.
He was also under fire for approving the Socialist parade permit in the first place.
His defense hung in a free speech platform while hinting at a conspiracy between the DOJ and the military.

[37:38] I believe that a great mistake was made in breaking up the Socialist demonstration Sunday.
It certainly looks as though the affair had been prearranged. I know that there’s been intense feeling against the activities of the Socialists in certain quarters of this city,
but I am a firm believer in the right of free speech and if the Socialists or anybody else asked me for a permit to parade or to speak on the common it sometime in the future, I certainly shall grant it,
when the time comes when free speech, that is the truth becomes treason, America shall cease to be a democracy.
I have been several times requested to prevent the Socialists from speaking on the common.
A few weeks ago, a State Street banker called on me for that purpose.
He suggested that some of the remarks of the Socialists might be treasonable and that their literature was certainly such.
I told him that I would never move to prevent free speech, that in a republic it was a CZ important as the right of a free and unmuzzled press.
I pointed out to him that the federal courts were instituted to care for such cases and that if he knew of any treason, I would be glad to refer the matter to the Department of Justice.
Later, other persons asked that I prohibit the circulation of socialist literature. I referred that matter to the United States District Attorney.

[38:56] That position’s somewhat ironic, since about three years later, Mayor Curly would take a stand against the K K K flat out, banning their rallies in Boston, despite protests from the A, c. L U and other civil liberties organizations.
In that case, he would argue for limits on free speech, saying the clan cannot expect to shelter itself behind the right to Denys and the guarantees that repudiates,
You can hear more about Mayor Curly’s crusade to ban the clan and episode 1 48,
back in 1917.
Curly also used the opportunity of the State House meeting to take a swipe at a political rival, Storrow Drive namesake James J. Storro.
At the time, fellow Democrats, Storrow was the city council president.
He was seen as being friendly to the labor movement, and he was very clearly interested in taking Curley’s job one day, along with this defensive free speech, Carly through some shade storro.
On Saturday, a man called upon Superintendent of Police Crowley, representing that he was the mayor of the city. In my absence, he asked the superintendent to prevent the Socialist from carrying their banners of protests or the red flags.

[40:08] Of course, the City Council president was the acting mayor in Carly’s absence.
With this simple statement, Curly both diminished. Oh, Rose importance and undermined. His reputation is being labor friendly.
What a consummate politician.

[40:23] Three weeks after their parade was cut short by a violent attack, the Workmen’s Council of Greater Boston, one of the Socialist umbrella organizations, announced that they would hold a second rally on the common.
The decision made headlines around the country, with many newspaper writers wondering whether the violence would be repeated.
Here in Boston, some of the headlines wondered whether the rally would be permitted to proceed it all on July 21st that even the event that Globe carried a brief article about the upcoming rally, including a statement by Mayor Curly.

[40:56] Free speech, said, The mayor is one of our most sacred institutions.
Mary Dyer gave up her life under Governor Endicott for that very thing, and almost on the same spot on which these people wish to hold their meeting.
It does not seem to me that I ought to interfere with it.
He has notified Superintendent Crowley of the police Department, and the latter has assured him that he will provide adequate protection.
No UN toward demonstration is expected. Owing to the fact that there will be no parade, Federal authorities will probably have stenographers present to take down anything that may be considered of a treasonable nature, and the provost guard will be present.
Also, when that second rally was held on July 22nd Boston was in the grip of a deadly heat wave with temperatures topping 92 degrees.
2 45 year old men were found dead from heat stroke, one on Washington Street and one in newspaper row.
2 18 year old friends were treated and released a Boston City hospital after collapsing while walking together at Roxbury Crossing.
Perhaps it was because that severe heat kept the rowdy element at bay.
Or maybe it was because the second rally was a tamer affair, but no disturbances were reported on the comment.
50 police officers in a provost, guard of 100 soldiers and sailors were on hand to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.
But the Globe noted that they had nothing to do except stand with the 5000 other wilting persons and listen to the three labor and socialist speakers.

[42:25] Estimates of the number of rioters in July 1st 1917 range from 10 to 20,000 dwarfing most of the other riots in Boston history.
So why don’t we remember the 1917 riot the way we do the 18 63 draft riots of the 17 47 impress mint riot, even the 2001 Super Bowl riots, for that matter?
Well, for one thing, nobody was killed in 1917 and the only property damage was done to a deeply unpopular group who held unpopular opinions.
But perhaps most importantly, the Boston riots were quickly pushed off the front pages by a terrible event.
The very next day, after months of tension centered on the labor movement, racist violence swept East ST Louis, Illinois.
On July 2nd, 1917 thousands of white rioters burned the black section of town, shooting African Americans as they ran from the flames.
The n double a C p. A. Estimated that up to 200 people were killed and 6000 were left homeless that the violence in East ST Louis was on an entirely different scale, and the riot in Boston didn’t have the same racist component.
Many journalists try to connect the two incidents.
An editorial in Vermont’s Bennington Banner said the anti Socialist riots in Boston and the anti Negro riots in East ST Louis are not very creditable toe a nation that claims to be trying to make the world safe for democracy.

[43:52] The foundations of democracy or free speech, free labor and free assemblage.
To attack these is to strike a blow in favor of autocracy and oppression.
It is not laws and constitutions that bring liberty and freedom to the world, but popular education and the right of the individual toe work out his own destiny.
UN minister Unimpressed So long as he does not interfere with the rights of others until some treasonable act is committed or suggested until some public or private wrong is done, are undertaken.
No true friend of the United States, no servant of popular freedom, no child of true democracy should permit himself to strike a blow.
To take the law into one’s own hands. To enforce one’s own partisanship is a crime against the liberty of a free people, noted pacifist Reverend John Haynes.
Homes also tied the riots in Boston and East ST Louis together, Holmes was a molten native, had gone to Harvard Divinity School and now preached in New York City’s Unitarian Church of the Messiah.
The New York Sun quoted the ceremony preached on July 22nd 1917.

[44:58] If America is to make the world safe for democracy, it must itself be made and kept in viably. Safe for democracy Is America democratic and such wise that she can talk about democracy, toe other people’s or fight for it and foreign fields?
What about a political system that denies the right of franchise to 1/2 the population?
What about a social system that outlaws that Negro from equality and brings down upon him atrocities in East ST Louis to rival the atrocities in Belgium?
Is America safe for democracy? While these things last more alarming? Still are the assaults on democracy now being made it home in the very name of that war now being fought for democracy abroad?
Men are constantly being arrested for exercising the right of free speech, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Newspapers and magazines are being arbitrarily suppressed in violation of the constitutional privilege of a free press.

[45:52] A group of socialists in Boston. Granted permission by the mayor to parade and to hold a meeting on the historic Boston Common are set upon by soldiers and sailors.
Their persons assaulted, their offices burglarized and their property destroyed.
Is this democracy? Is America safe for democracy? The answer is playing.
And yet there are those who see nothing dangerous in this situation, either to the present war or to the peace which must follow upon this war,
waving all pacifist considerations for the moment and speaking holy from the military standpoint, one thing should be certain,
that this war can never be fought to a successful conclusion until the people are safeguarded at home in the exercise of these elementary rights of democracy, for the perpetuation of which abroad they’re asked to fight and to die.
I do not often find myself in agreement with Colonel Roosevelt, meaning Teddy Roosevelt, but he spoke as a true American when he said recently in reference to the East ST Louis massacre.
Before we speak of justice for others, it behoove us to do justice within our own household.

[46:59] It’ll be nice to say that Boston’s conscription riot was the worst or even the last attempt to stop out unpopular opinions that occurred during the Great War.
But that’s unfortunately not the case Tune and a Hub History Episode 35 Toe.
Learn how the director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was detained and eventually deported simply because he thought that opening every orchestra performance with The Star Spangled Banner was in poor taste.

[47:27] Toe. Learn more about the Socialist Parade and Pro draft Riot of 1917.
Check out this week’s show notes at hub history dot com slash 172 We’ll have photos of the Socialist headquarters in Park Square before and during the riot,
pictures of the Blue jackets fixing bayonets and of the uniformed mob setting fires in Park Square.
I’ll also linked to all the news stories I quoted from a swell as a few others that didn’t quite fit the narrative.
If you recall our episode about the regicide Sze, who fled to Boston after sentencing King Charles, the first to death,
or our episode about the 16 89 uprising in Boston against Governor and Rose, you may remember a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called The Great Champion,
Hawthorne builds on a true story about the regicide.
Richard Gough, who is famous as a swordsman during King Philip’s, were in 16 75 golf emerged from hiding and rallied the defense of Hadley, Mass. Against an attack and his story.
Hawthorne transports the old swordsman to Boston, having him rally the resistance against the Redmond Andro since 16 89.

[48:35] In the show notes a link to a newer version of The great Champion, created in the late 19 thirties or perhaps early 19 forties.
It was written by William James Itis, a former child prodigy who graduated from Harvard at age 16.
He was a committed pacifist, socialist and opponent of the Great War, and in his version of the great champion, an old man appears in the windows of the Socialist Party office in Park Square to inspire the anti war protesters outside.
Read it alongside Hawthorne’s original for a real kick.
And, of course, I link to information about our upcoming event and good neighbors, this week’s Boston Book Club pick.

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