“Stickerettes” in early FBI Case Files

A few years ago, I had temporary free access one weekend to Fold3.com and quickly took some screen shots of early documents that contained the word “stickerettes” created by the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). Most documents looked like detailed inventory lists, but at the time, I didn’t save the bibliographic citations. In my ongoing research on the history of stickerettes, however, I came across the screen shots again and decided to track down more information. Here is what I’m learning.

Most of the documents are reports made after the U.S. Department of Justice raided hundreds of I.W.W. offices across the country on and after September 5, 1917. According to Steven Parfitt, [On this date], “agents of the Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with local law enforcement, raided every office of the I.W.W. across the United States within the space of twenty four hours, with possibly the widest-ranging search warrant in U.S. history. They took five tons of material from the national headquarters of the I.W.W. in Chicago alone, and took tons more from 48 local offices and the homes of leading Wobblies (I.W.W. members). Federal agents seized everything from office furniture to paper clips. The District Attorney for Detroit complained to Thomas Gregory, Attorney General from 1914 to 1919, that it ‘became necessary to procure wagons to haul the stuff’ removed from the home of only one Wobbly, Herman Richter.”

Be sure to check out the link above for more information about the raids and most importantly, why they occurred.

The federal raids led to the arrest of 166 Wobbly officers, including its leader, William “Bill” Haywood, and the Solidarity editor and stickerette artist, Ralph Chaplin. Parfitt writes, “While the lawyers put together their case, the Bureau of Investigation directed Special Agent George N. Murdock to arrange and classify the great mass of material captured in September. Murdock’s work must rank as one of the great bureaucratic triumphs of the FBI’s history. He drew up lists, arranged in alphabetical order, of all the newspapers, stickers and pamphlets captured during the raids. He compiled a dossier on each individual defendant, using seized correspondence, and listed and annotated the wide range of minute books, mailing lists, convention proceedings, account books and financial statements taken by federal agents.”

The federal indictments against the Haywood, Chaplin, and others included specific references to stickerettes, which I’ll write about in my next post.

Fold3.com Documents – In Fold3.com, twelve pages of documents in FBI Case Files, 1908-1922 list stickerettes.

From the Fold3.com website:

Summary: These case files cover important investigations by an agency of the US government later known as the FBI, called the Bureau of Investigation. They include tales of espionage during World War I, case files for German aliens who were politically suspect…, and reports dealing with alleged violations of Federal laws….

Description: Today, the FBI is famously known throughout the world as the chief investigative unit of the United States government. It operates as a division of the Department of Justice to “protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.”

When it was first conceived in 1908, the department had no name. It was referred to as a “special agent force” or a “corps of special agents.” It was officially designated as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) on March 16, 1909. Only later, in 1935, less than two years after the end of prohibition, did it become the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI.

The case files in this publication group are from the early days of the Bureau of Investigation. They cover changes in interstate commerce and foreign affairs during the Progressive Era of President Theodore Roosevelt. When the United States entered World War I, agents investigated espionage, sabotage, and other threats to a nation in wartime… [emphasis mine].

Case files in the BOI series are divided into four distinct groups. [Author note – I’m only listing two relevant groups here in relation to stickerettes.]

Miscellaneous Files, 1908-22: Files are arranged by file numbers, corresponding to dates on which investigations were initiated. They contain investigative reports, correspondence, and memos dealing with alleged violations of federal laws.

Old German Files, 1915-20: By far the largest group of files, these are investigative records relating to German aliens who were politically suspect before and during World War I, more specifically, in the period 1915-20. Case numbers for these files begin with #8000- and comprise nearly 400,000 records….

Three FBI Case Files Examples

Example #1: Page 2 above is from the series “Old German Files, 1909-21” and appears to be a report written on November 17, 1917 about Harry Winston and labeled “I.W.W. and Probable German Matter.” The report was filed by Billups Harris on November 17, 1917, in Baltimore, Maryland. Here is the text:

Information was received that Posters or stickerettes headed “Sabotage” and “Solidarity” bearing I.W.W. legends were found at the Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point, and Mr. Lyons, private detective for the Bethlehem Steel Co., came to the office with two of his men who had seen Harry Winston paste these posters up. I requested him to bring Winston to this office, and he claimed he was Swiss but the only thing he has to show this is a labor card stating that he is from Switzerland.

Winston’s effects were searched at his rooming house at Sparrows Point by us and his effects brought to this office in which were a number of stickerettes like the ones pasted up in the Bethlehem Steel Co. property. The witnesses who saw Winston paste the stickerettes up in the Bethlehem Steel property are W. G. Welling and G. H. Kelly, both available through Lyons, special detective of the Bethlehem Steel. Some of these stickerettes also bore “The I.W.W. is coming. Join the one big union”. Others were “Slow Down, the hours are long and pay is small, so take your time and buck them all.” Those headed “Sabotage” bear what purports, I suppose, to be the seal of I.W.W. underneath and on the bottom “Labor’s Winning Weapon, in hoc signo vinces.” The stickerettes are about three inches long and two inches wide. Most of them are in red and black ink with red backgrounds.

Instructions are requested from the Department as to what statute under which action can be brought against this man in the event he can show that he is not an alien enemy and cannot be held in that connection. He is being held now as an alien enemy. It is of course likely that he can show he is Swiss as he claims.

Example #2: Page 39 above is from “Bureau Section Files, 1909-21” and is an inventory list of stickerettes. Here is the text:

180 stickerettes with inscription at top “THE I.W.W. IS COMING.” At the bottom is the inscription “JOIN THE ONE BIG UNION”. In the center is a picture of a man with arm upraised. The upper part of the stickerette has a red background and the lower part white.

180 stickerettes with the inscription at the top “LINE UP”, in the center the inscription “JOIN THE I.W.W.” AND at the bottom the inscription “WE WANT NO SCABS AROUND” The lettering is in red on a black background at top and bottom and a white background in center.

180 stickerettes with the inscription at the bottom, “THE GREATEST THING ON EARTH”, above which is a large picture of the I.W.W. emblem. The emblem is red and black on a background of white.

180 stickerettes with the inscription “INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM” at the top. In the center is a red flag with the inscription “ABOLITION OF THE WAGE SYSTEM” in white letters. Below this is the inscription “JOIN THE I.W.W. FOR FREEDOM FROM WAGE SLAVERY.” “For INFORMATION ADDRESS I.W.W. 1001 W. MADISON ST. CHICAGO ILL. U.S.A.”

180 stickerettes with inscription I.W.W. “WHAT WE STAND FOR” at the top. Under this are 5 circles, each bearing an inscription. On the first circle are the words “MORE WAGES” at the top and the words “GOOD PAY OR BUM WORK” at the bottom.

In the second circle are the words “BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS” at the top and the words “SHOP DEMOCRACY” at the bottom. In the third circle are the words “SHORTER HOURS” at the top and the words….

The report was filed by Geo. H. Hudson on January 4, 1918, in Fresno, California.

Example #3: Page 102 above from “Bureau Section Files, 1909-21” and lists at the bottom “7 pks. Stickerettes, 15 kinds already described” seized in a raid at Los Angeles from a trunk “supposed to be the property of Secretary H. Stredwick of the San Pedro Local of the I.W.W….” The report was filed by Geo. H. Hudson on January 21, 1918, in Fresno, California.

NOTE: The stickerettes featured above are more recent versions of those same designs from the 1917s and 1918s.