Chapter 2
Anti-war Agitation
1917 – 1919
Ohio – Atlanta Prison
About this time we had a huge anti-war meeting addressed by the Rev. Edward Ellis Carr, a portly editor of a magazine along Christian Socialist lines. I introduced him. He told of the hundreds of Socialists in Cleveland who would refuse to register for the draft. He told of his disappointment with European Socialists who had turned pro-war, and that this was all the more reason why we of the U.S. should hold true to our ideals. A local Socialist lawyer, who was of the more conservative group, got up in the audience and opposed Rev. Carr, saying that the prospect of political victory for the party should not be damaged by our traitorous conduct, although he admitted that this war was a fraud the same as all others. Rev. Carr countered this disruption boldly by stating that he would die before he would support war in any way, and ended by calling upon all young men to refuse to register for the draft. As chairman I asked those of draft age to meet with me later, and the group was thus formed which actively put out anti-war and anti-draft propaganda.
I wrote up material for a leaflet and stickers to put on store fronts.
The sticker read:
YOUNG MEN
DON'T REGISTER FOR WAR !
It is better to go to jail than
The poster said:
YOUNG MEN
are you going to
REFUSE TO REGISTER
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