Matti Valentin Huhta (February 14, 1880 – May 15, 1942), better known by his pen name T-Bone Slim, was a Finnish-American humorist, poet, songwriter,
hobo
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps, and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; a bum neither travels nor works.
Et ...
, and
labor activist, who played a prominent role in the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
[T-Bone Slim: A Brief Biography](_blank)
''iww.org''. Retrieved: March 14, 2013.[''Juice Is Stranger Than Friction: Selected Writings Of T-Bone Slim'' edited by Franklin Rosemont, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1993.)]
Nickname
''T-Bone Slim'' was a relatively frequent nickname. In addition to Matti Huhta, the nickname ''T-Bone Slim'' was also used by the miner William Vann, the labor organizer Al W. McBride, and various other unidentified individuals, often transients.
Life
Huhta was born in
Ashtabula, Ohio, to Matti and Johanna Huhta,
Finnish immigrants from
Kälviä
Kälviä () is a former municipality of Finland. Kälviä was consolidated with the city of Kokkola on 1 January 2009.
It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The former municipality ...
,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. In 1902, he married Rosa Kotila of Ashtabula, with whom he had four children. The marriage ended when the children were young, and he left
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
in 1912, having no further contact with Rosa or the children.
Huhta worked briefly as a reporter for the daily
''News-Tribune'' in
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...
but resigned after an editor "misquoted him and balled up his article" about an
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW) mass meeting. According to one account, this was when he joined the IWW or "Wobblies", as they are sometimes called.
Huhta contributed numerous articles and songs to IWW publications over a period of twenty years and was widely regarded as one of the union's finest writers. He was a regular columnist for ''
Industrial Solidarity'' and later wrote for the ''
Industrial Worker
The ''Industrial Worker'', "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism", is the magazine of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, a.k.a., "Wobblies"). It is now released quarterly. The publication was printed and edited by union labor, ...
'' and ''
Industrialisti''.
In addition to his writing, Huhta supported himself in various ways. His experience working on docks and barges around the country had by the mid-1930s garnered him a position as barge captain in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Death
On May 15, 1942 at 5:45 pm, a patrolman found a body floating near Pier 9 on the
East River
The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...
. The body had been in the water for about four days, and showed no obvious signs of external injury. The case was ruled a drowning, and police speculated that the person had been drunk, fallen in the water, and drowned. The body was identified, but the records do not state who identified it. The body was not claimed, and was buried in a pauper's grave on
Hart Island.
Legacy
Following his death, T-Bone Slim became a source of inspiration for the emerging
American surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
movement, and during the 1960s there was renewed interest in his songs when they were sung by activists during the
Civil Rights Movement. In an interview,
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
cited T-Bone Slim as one of his favorite Wobbly singers.
A number of T-Bone Slim's songs can be found in the ''
Little Red Songbook
image:wobbly boy.jpg, 180px, The ''Little Red Songbook''The ''Little Red Songbook'' is a collection of songs related to the international trade union the Industrial Workers of the World first published in 1909. Its self-declared purpose is to "fa ...
''. Among the best known are "
The Popular Wobbly", "Mysteries Of A Hobo's Life", and "The Lumberjack's Prayer". First published by the IWW in 1909, the songbook has never gone out of print. The IWW brought out the 38th edition in 2010 and the
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company has other works by T-Bone Slim in its catalog.
[''Starving Amidst Too Much . . . '' by T-Bone Slim et al., (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 2005.)] For a long time, there were no known photographs of T-Bone Slim, but the cartoon sketch at the head of his column was said to have been a good likeness.
However, in 2019 photos of him resurfaced.
The first Finnish translation of T-Bone Slim's writings was published in 2013.
Selected works
*''IWW Songbook'' 1920
*''Power of These Two Hands'' 1922
*''Starving Amidst Too Much'' 1923
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."
*''"Tear Gas:'' the most effective agent used by employers to persuade their employees that the interests of capital and labor are identical."
*Only the poor break laws—the rich evade them.
[''Juice Is Stranger Than Friction:''
''Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim''
Franklin Rosemont, editor. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 199]
/ref>
See also
* Wesley Everest
* Joe Hill
* Frank Little
* Utah Phillips
References
:''This article incorporates research by Jennifer Trask Ripley, using source material from the family and birth and death state archival records.''
External links
Little Red Songbook
Images
Sketch of T-Bone Slim from his newspaper column
''Juice Is Stranger Than Friction'' 1993
''Starving Amidst Too Much'' 2005
''Mielipuolipiteitä yes muita kirjoituksia'' 2013
Lyrics
''Harvest Land'' (possibly written by T-Bone Slim)
''The Lumberjack's Prayer''
Videos
*
*
*
Streaming audio
''Beulah Land'' (Harvest Land)
''Just Before The Battle, Mother'' (I'm Too Old To Be A Scab)
''My Sunny Tennessee'' (I Wanna Free Miss Liberty)
The Internet Archive
T-Bone Slim
Songs of the Wobblies
Newberry Library
Franklin Rosement/T-Bone Slim Research Collection
a
the Newberry Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slim, T-Bone
1880 births
1942 deaths
American alternative journalists
American male journalists
American people of Finnish descent
20th-century American poets
Hoboes
Industrial Workers of the World members
People from Ashtabula, Ohio
Songwriters from Ohio
Journalists from Ohio
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American surrealist writers
Deaths by drowning in New York (state)
Burials on Hart Island
American trade unionists of Finnish descent
20th-century American songwriters