T-Bone Slim
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Matti Valentine Huhta (c.1890? - May 11?, 1942), better known by his pen name T-Bone Slim, was a humourist, poet, songwriter, hobo and labour activist in the Industrial Workers of the World.
Very little is known of his early life or his death. He was born in Ashtabula, Ohio to Finnish working-class immigrants sometime before the turn of the century, married at a young age, and left the area around 1910, travelling around the United States as a migrant worker, at which point he became a member of the I.W.W.
Huhta was employed for a period as a reporter for the daily News-Telegram in Duluth, Minnesota, but quit after an editor "misquoted him and balled up his article"[1] about an I.W.W. mass meeting. He later contributed numerous articles and songs to the I.W.W. press and is widely regarded as one of the union's finest columnists and songwriters. He was a regular columnist for Industrial Solidarity and, later, for the Industrial Worker and Industrialisti until his death in 1942 in New York City, where he died under mysterious circumstances.
T-Bone Slim's best known works include "The Popular Wobbly", "The Mysteries of a Hobo's Life", and "The Lumberjack's Prayer". Later, his work would become a source of inspiration for the emerging American surrealist movement and many of his songs were revived during the American Civil Rights movement.
In an interview with David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky cites T-Bone Slim as one of his favourite "Wobbly Singers".[2]
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[edit] Quotes
- "Wherever you find injustice, the proper form of politeness is attack."
- "Always keep yourself fit to serve mankind. Watch yourself, do not watch the boss. Never exhaust yourself—there is nothing more disgusting than a man staggering home from work “dog-tired,” helplessly falling into a chair to have his child remove his shoes; then grabbing a hasty feverish supper; saying good-night to his family and rolling into bed half-washed, to repeat the same thing three hundred and twelve times per-year, or until sickness puts a stop to his mad career." (From "Recipes for Health" in "Starving Amidst Too Much")
- "Tear Gas: The most effective agent used by employers to persuade their employees that the interests of capital and labour are identical." (From "Dancin' in the Streets: Anarchists, IWWs, Surrealists, Situationists & Provos in the 1960s)
[edit] References
- ^ Rosemont 2006 p.234
- ^ ZNet Commentary
