Ralph Chaplin - Revision history

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[[Image:Raplh-chaplin-circa-1910.jpg|thumb|left|250|]]

'''Ralph Hosea Chaplin''' (1887—1961) became a [[labour movement|labor]] [[activist]], when at the age of seven, he saw a worker shot dead during the [[Pullman strike]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. He had moved with his family from Ames County, Kansas to Chicago in 1893. During a time in [[Mexico]] he was influenced by hearing of the execution squads established by [[Porfirio Diaz]], and became a supporter of [[Emiliano Zapata]]. On his return, he began work in various [[trade union|union]] positions, most of which were very poorly paid. Some of Chaplin's early artwork was done for the International Socialist Review and other Charles H. Kerr publications.
[[Image:Ralph_Chaplin_IWW_booklet.jpg|150 px|thumb|left|Chaplin's IWW membership booklet]]
For two years Chaplin worked in the strike committee with [[Mary Harris Jones|Mother Jones]] for the bloody [[Kanawha County, West Virginia]] strike of [[coal]] miners in 1912-13. These influences led him to write a number of labor oriented poems, one of which became the words for the oft-sung union anthem, "[[Solidarity Forever]]".

Chaplin then became active in the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (the I.W.W., or "Wobblies") and became editor of its eastern U.S. publication ''Solidarity''. In 1917 Chaplin and some 100 other Wobblies were rounded up, convicted, and jailed under the [[Espionage Act]] for conspiring to hinder the [[conscription|draft]] and encourage [[desertion]]. He served four years of a 20-year sentence for this.

Although he continued to work for labor rights after his release from prison, Chaplin was very disillusioned by the aftermath of the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]]
However, he was also not pleased by the course of [[New Deal]] liberalism. Chaplin maintained his involvement with the I.W.W., serving in Chicago as editor of its newspaper, the Industrial Worker, from 1932 to 1936. He became active in the cause of preventing [[Communism|Communist]] infiltration in American unions.

Eventually Chaplin settled in [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], [[Washington]], where he edited the local labor publication. From 1949 until his death he was curator of manuscripts for the Washington State Historical Society.
[[Image:Sabcat2.svg|150px|thumb|Ralph Chaplin created the image of a [[black cat]] in a fighting stance, the [[Industrial Workers of the World|IWW]]'s symbol of [[sabotage]].]]
He is credited with designing the now widely used anarcho-syndicalist image, the [[anarchist symbolism#Black cat|black cat]]. As its stance suggests, the cat is meant to suggest wildcat strikes and radical unionism.

==References==
*Ralph Chaplin, ''Wobbly: The Rough-and-Tumble Story of an American Radical'' (The University of Chicago Press, 1948).
*Ralph Chaplin, "Confessions of a Radical," two-part article in ''Empire Magazine'' of the ''Denver Post'', Feb. 17, 1957, pp. 12-13, and Feb. 24, 1957, pp. 10-11.
*Ralph Chaplin, "Why I Wrote Solidarity Forever," ''American West'', vol. 5, no. 1 (January 1968), 18-27, 73.
{{wikipedia}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshs/research/finding_aids.htm] provides finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaplin, Ralph}}
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World members]]
[[Category:American poets]]
[[Category:American songwriters]]

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	'''Ralph Hosea Chaplin''' (1887—1961) became a [[labour movement\|labor]] [[activist]], when at the age of seven, he saw a worker shot dead during the [[Pullman strike]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. He had moved with his family from Ames County, Kansas to Chicago in 1893. During a time in [[Mexico]] he was influenced by hearing of the execution squads established by [[Porfirio Diaz]], and became a supporter of [[Emiliano Zapata]]. On his return, he began work in various [[trade union\|union]] positions, most of which were very poorly paid. Some of Chaplin's early artwork was done for the International Socialist Review and other Charles H. Kerr publications.		'''Ralph Hosea Chaplin''' (1887—1961) became a [[labour movement\|labor]] [[activist]], when at the age of seven, he saw a worker shot dead during the [[Pullman strike]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. He had moved with his family from Ames County, Kansas to Chicago in 1893. During a time in [[Mexico]] he was influenced by hearing of the execution squads established by [[Porfirio Diaz]], and became a supporter of [[Emiliano Zapata]]. On his return, he began work in various [[trade union\|union]] positions, most of which were very poorly paid. Some of Chaplin's early artwork was done for the International Socialist Review and other Charles H. Kerr publications.

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 ==References==
 *Ralph Chaplin, ''Wobbly: The Rough-and-Tumble Story of an American Radical'' (The University of Chicago Press, 1948).
 *Ralph Chaplin, "Confessions of a Radical," two-part article in ''Empire Magazine'' of the ''Denver Post'', Feb. 17, 1957, pp. 12-13, and Feb. 24, 1957, pp. 10-11.
 *Ralph Chaplin, "Why I Wrote Solidarity Forever," ''American West'', vol. 5, no. 1 (January 1968), 18-27, 73.
-{{wikipedia}}
 == External links ==
 * [http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshs/research/finding_aids.htm] provides finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS)