The Price Of Sticking To Your Beliefs

"Nowadays everyone seems to recognize and to be shocked at the insult and injury perpetrated against the IWW, the Socialist, and the conscientious objectors early in the century (1900). It was different to know it then. Our family was not only isolated for our stand against the war, but we were shot at, our books were rifled and burned in our front yard on Dayton Avenue in St. Paul, rocks with obscene messages were thrown through our windows. Organizers for the Non-Partisan League were beaten and tarred and feathered. Tar is very hard to get off. I spent days with victims of beatings trying to get the tar off the skin without taking the skin as well. Minnesota had a vigilante committee, a stat fascist organization with unlimited powers and headed by Governor Burnquist; it was called the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety."

Meridel Le Sueur
The Ancient People