Poetry

"The Red Feast", One the many poems written by John Mihelic.

Socialists tended to be very much against war. Socialism in America was gaining prominence around the time of the First World War. War was seen as something created by the elite class in which members of the laboring class of the world would be pitted against eachother. We see these feelings in language like "Ah, slaves, you fight your masters' battles well".

"The Rubaiyat of a Harvest Stiff", One of many poems written by John Mihelic.

This poem appears to be about an employer, a "tight-wad boss" who is mocking his laborers. The "Sabo-Cat" refers to a black cat, which was an IWW symbol, and is now associated with Anarcho-Syndicalism. A "Rubaiyat" is a collection of "Ruba'i", a form of Persian poetry.

Two more poems by John Mihelic, "The Prawblem Sawlver", and "Joe Hill".

The "Prawblem Sawlvar" appears to be critical of a some power broker who is not as much of a hard line socialist as the writer would like. "His pink fingers are SO pretty" is obviously a reference to how he does not do hard labor.

Joe Hill was a Swedish immigrant who was a labor activist and artist. He was accused of murder in 1914 and executed the following year. Hill has become something of an idolm for the labor movements in America, and is celebrated in this poem.

Two more poems in the Mihelic Collection "The Warrier and the Beast" and "Hey! Polly"

"The Warrior and the Beast" makes reference to the Mexican Revolution (1910-approx 1929).  The author speaks to the driving force of the rebellion and how should a revolutionary die, they live on in memory to inspire fellow revolutionaries.  "Guerrero" is referenced as an individual as well as a movement, the word "guerrero" means warrior in Spanish and a "Guerrero" is a term with a couple of meanings to the people of Mexico.  In Spanish the word "Guerrero" means war-like, or warrior as the author notes.

"Hey Polly" is a satirization of the American song Yankee Doodle, and mocks how politicians claim to stand for labor rights and tell people to elect them and not take on the issues themselves. At the end of the day, the politician is but "a bag of wind thats's swollen up to bursting." The Socialists and Communists in the early twentieth century were very active in Chicago, and the nick name "the windy city" is inspired by the political wind bags.