Stephanus Fabijanovic

San Francisco, Nov. 8, 1933 

Dear friends:

On this day we have surrendered to the flames our Stephanus. On the night of October 28th-29th he suffered a stroke which paralysed his left side. On Tuesday he was brought to the hospital, where his brave life companion was given hope of his recovery, since control over the affected muscles seemed gradually to come back. Full of life, on Friday he was advising his comrade not to forget to bring him his shoes as he was intent upon going to a meeting the next day at the home of Comrade Jaffe. Later the same night another haemorrhage flooded his brain, and he lapsed into a coma from which he was never more to waken, passing away at 6 o’clock Monday morning.

The comrades came in good numbers to the funeral hall, Comrade Downing speaking for organized labor, Slovak for the outcasts and as mere man. At the crematory Slovak spoke once more, followed by old faithful Bell who tendered parting greeting on behalf of the ever dwindling number of the old guard. Our comrade leaves a courageous companion, and he will remain unforgotten in the memory and in the hearts of the comrades of all lands. His manuscripts, a gigantic work of toil of a never resting bee of labor, will, after awhile, find repose in the Labadie Library of Ann Arbor University, where students and workers of a future time of greater thoroughness in sociological studies than afforded by our present days of superficiality and speed, may use them as valuable material.

Stephanus Fabijanovic, your all-loving, warm heart has ceased its beat; your burning brain, thirsty for knowledge, heavy as a storm-cloud flashed with lightning, has had to surrender against its will. A bold, unconquered and uncompromising pioneer and prospector in freedom’s cause has ascended through the flames to imperishable light.

Slovak

From Freedom (New York) December 1933

[His life companion was Minnie Fabijanovic; Their papers at the Labadie are listed at: https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-scl-ams0021 ]