Happy 100 IWW

The Industrial Workers of the World better known as the Wobblies turn 100 this year. Big Bill Haywood opened up the convention with the following words:

"Fellow workers...this is the Continental Congress of the working class. We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class from the slave bondage of capitalism".

This was the union movement of the people. Unlike the AFL which was very exclusionary in its membership, the Wobblies were all inclusive, seeking all workers to organize together into one large union. It didn't make sense then, and it doesn't make sense now to have workers split up into so many different unions. This is evident in the current strife in the AFL-CIO membership. It wasn't that long ago that the UBC (the union I belong to) left that AFL-CIO and now more unions are threatening to leave. The following from the IWW web page sums it up quite well:

Nicknamed the Wobblies, the IWW sought to recruit unskilled and exploited immigrants, people of color, women and migrant farm workers who were excluded from craft unions of skilled
workers organized by the AFL. Seeking to build the "One
Big Union" across industrial lines, the IWW enthusiastically promoted the concept of working class solidarity by adopting the motto "An injury to One is an Injury to All", and the revolutionary tactics of direct action - which included sit down strikes, chain picketing, flying pickets, car caravans, and other organizing inovations. IWW organizing stretched from coast to coast - in factories, mills, mines, logging camps, agricultural fields, and shipping docks across the continent. Confronted with brutal attacks from both employers and the State, including the the murder of Wobbly activists [ 1 2 3 ] the union led "free
speech" fights to defend the right of workers everywhere to organize, speak out and dissent. The IWW's vocal opposition to WWI also led to the arrest and imprisonment of 165 IWW organizers. In the decades that followed, the Wobblies continued to organize among marginalized workers - frequently ignored
by mainstream business unions - and their vision of a militant, radical and democratic labor movement continues to inspire new organizing efforts to this day. An IWW Chronology

Anarchist in structure and ideology the Wobblies believe an organized work force would render the state obsolete. They were always a thorn in the side of the business unions, like the AFL, because they completely rejected the capitalist ideology. On the one hand we had the business unions which essentially sought to counter capitalist power through a monopoly in labor. The average worker as only marginally better off under the union bosses who were often just as exploititive as their capitalist slave masters. On the other hand, we had the Wobblies a radical union aimed at organizing all workers under one large umbrella and abolishing the wage system. Murdered, beaten, silenced, and ignored, they have struggled on now for a century fighting for working people everywhere.

There is a traveling Wobblies exhibition. Check the website IWW.org for more information. You can also find a lot of great information on organizing and what the Wobblies are all about. Less than 8% of American workers are organized right now according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If we include public employees that number jumps to about 12%. Dismal numbers to say the least. And the results are evident to anybody paying attention: stagnating and declining wages, worsening job conditions, and more and more work for less and less pay. If there is one great cause you can support it is the IWW. Happy Birthday Wobblies!

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