T-Bone Slim

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American journalist (1880–1942)

title: "T-Bone Slim" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-american-journalists", "20th-century-american-poets", "20th-century-american-songwriters", "20th-century-american-male-writers", "american-surrealist-writers", "american-alternative-journalists", "american-writers-of-finnish-descent", "american-trade-unionists-of-finnish-descent", "industrial-workers-of-the-world-members", "hoboes", "songwriters-from-ohio", "journalists-from-ohio", "people-from-ashtabula,-ohio", "deaths-by-drowning-in-new-york-(state)", "burials-on-hart-island", "1880-births", "1942-deaths", "20th-century-american-male-journalists"] description: "American journalist (1880–1942)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Bone_Slim" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American journalist (1880–1942) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameT-Bone Slim
imageFile:T-Bone Slim.png
captionMatti Valentin Huhta (T-Bone Slim), c. 1902-12
birth_nameMatti Valentin Huhta
birth_dateFebruary 14, 1880
birth_placeAshtabula, Ohio
death_date
death_placeNew York City
occupation{{flatlist
spouseRosa Kotila
children4
::

| name = T-Bone Slim | image = File:T-Bone Slim.png | image_size = | caption = Matti Valentin Huhta (T-Bone Slim), c. 1902-12 | birth_name = Matti Valentin Huhta | birth_date = February 14, 1880 | birth_place = Ashtabula, Ohio | death_date =
| death_place = New York City | occupation = {{flatlist|

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, Finland. 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 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 but resigned after an editor "misquoted him and balled up his article" about an Industrial Workers of the World (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 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.

Death

On May 15, 1942 at 5:45 pm, a patrolman found a body floating near Pier 9 on the East River. 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 as T-Bone Slim, 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 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 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. 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. 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. In 2025 a new English language collection of Slim's work, The Popular Wobbly: Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim, was co-edited by Owen Clayton and Iain McIntyre, and published by University of Minnesota Press.

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, 1992 https://solidarity-us.org/atc/49/p4680/

References

:This article incorporates research by Jennifer Trask Ripley, using source material from the family and birth and death state archival records.

References

  1. Arlund, Matt. "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918".
  2. [http://www.iww.org/en/history/biography/TBoneSlim/1 T-Bone Slim: A Brief Biography] ''iww.org''. Retrieved: March 14, 2013.
  3. ''Juice Is Stranger Than Friction: Selected Writings Of T-Bone Slim'' edited by Franklin Rosemont, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1993.)
  4. (December 24, 1963). "Nicknames". Tri-City Herald.
  5. (May 28, 1921). "Old Resident Dies Suddenly at Hotel". Reno Gazette-Journal.
  6. (December 7, 1931). "Texas Children and Grandchildren Sell". The Daily Worker.
  7. (December 11, 1930). "Notice of Injunction". The Tampa Times.
  8. (14 February 1882). "T-Bone Slim".
  9. "T-Bone Slim: A Brief Biography of Matt Valentine Huhta | Industrial Workers of the World".
  10. [https://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2009/04/remembering-wobbly-surrealist.html Remembering A Wobbly Surrealist] ''readingthemaps.blogspot.com''. Retrieved: March 14, 2013.
  11. [http://www.folkarchive.de/wild2.html They Go Wild Over Me] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-06-12 ''folkarchive.de''. Retrieved: March 14, 2013.)
  12. [https://chomsky.info/20001210/ Noam Chomsky Interview] ''chomsky.info''. Retrieved: March 14, 2013.
  13. ''IWW Songbook'' 38th edition, (Chicago: Industrial Workers of the World, 2010.)
  14. ''Starving Amidst Too Much . . . '' by T-Bone Slim et al., (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 2005.)
  15. Stammeier, Jenni.. (2019). "Suomalaiset junapummit : kulkureita ja kerjäläisiä Amerikan raiteilla".
  16. [https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/09/04/wcl-e01-t-bone-slim-the-laureate-of-the-logging-camps/ Two photographs of T-Bone Slim] ''workingclasshistory.com''. Retrieved: September 30, 2019.
  17. [https://www.adlibris.com/fi/kirja/mielipuolipiteita-ja-muita-kirjoituksia-9789522680822 ''Mielipuolipiteitä yes muita kirjoituksia: selected writings of T-Bone Slim'' translated by Ville-Juhani Sutinen, (Turku, Finland: Savukeidas, 2013.)] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-05-03 ''adlibris.com''. Retrieved November 4, 2013.)
  18. "The Popular Wobbly : selected writings of T-Bone Slim".
  19. ''Dancin' In The Streets'' by Franklin Rosemont and Charles Radcliffe, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 2005.)

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20th-century-american-journalists20th-century-american-poets20th-century-american-songwriters20th-century-american-male-writersamerican-surrealist-writersamerican-alternative-journalistsamerican-writers-of-finnish-descentamerican-trade-unionists-of-finnish-descentindustrial-workers-of-the-world-membershoboessongwriters-from-ohiojournalists-from-ohiopeople-from-ashtabula,-ohiodeaths-by-drowning-in-new-york-(state)burials-on-hart-island1880-births1942-deaths20th-century-american-male-journalists