Industrial workers of the World- "The Wobblies"

[barrywoodling]

The IWW was founded in 1905 by unions in North America concerned mainly at the time with industrial organising to prevent each trade union from being used against the others. The preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World is well worth quoting in full.

"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organise as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system.

We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thererby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers".

Barry Woodling

Nanista

[Barrywoodling]

Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Continued.

"These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organisation formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto "A fair day's wage for all fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organised, not only for every-day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organising industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old".

Barry Woodling

Nanista

[barrywoodling]

Henry Pelling in his book entitled "American Labour" has an interesting section on the origins of the IWW- "The Wobblies".

The delegates who met at Chicago in June, 1905 to found the IWW constituted all those elements of labour which were hostile to the domination of the American Federation of Labour within the labour movement. Eugene V Debs and his supporters represented a radical current within the Socialist Party of America which challenged conservative unionism. Daniel De Leon, the Socialist Labour Party and the Socialist Trade and Labour Alliance were bitterly opposed to the A.F. of L. The Western Federation of Miners joined the IWW as did the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (consisting mainly of immigrants who were members of the British union of the same name and who had been expelled from the A.F. of L. ).

The objective of the IWW was to unite the workers in one centralised organisation (one Big Union) wihtout distinction of trade, skill , race or ethnic origin. Membership fees and subscriptions were to be kept to a minimum so that no one would be excluded on the grounds of poverty. There was to be a division on industrial lines, and 13 departments of the IWW were set up to include all the possible occupations. The IWW executive board was empowered to call any section of the organisation out on strike. There were differences of opinion re the efficacy of political action versus industrial work. Although a clause endorsing political action was passed by the delegates this was to lead to a later split in the organisation.

To be continued.

Barry Woodling
Nanista

[barrywoodling]

The IWW was very different to the A.F. of L. It was a centralised body compared to the national union autonomy of the latter. It was organised on industrial lines which transcended the craft basis of the A. F. of L unions. It was also a low dues union.


The IWW however was bedevilled by factionalism. At the 2nd convention of the Union in 1906 De Leon and his supporters defeated the Western Federation of Miners who opposed political action. The WFM therefore left the union as did Debs and several other socialists. 2 leaders of the WFM however stayed within the IWW Big Bill Haywood and Vincent St John. The IWW therefore comprised both the De Leonites and the western "hoboes" who followed St John. In 1908 St John was successful in forcing De Leon out of the organisation and to abolish the clause which supported political action. De Leon then set up a rival IWW in Detroit retaining the political clause but it never achieved any significance.

St John was secretary-treasurer from 1908 to 1915 and the Chicago IWW mobilised migratory workers in the West and unskilled immigrant workers in the East. Many farm workers and lumber workers joined the union in the west and engaged in bitter and violent labour conflicts. The IWW engaged in a "free speech" campaign which Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman participated in. In the East the IWW provided an effective leadership for immigrant workers particularly in the textile factories who were neglected by the conservative A. F. of L. union- the United Textile Workers. There were major strikes at Patterson New Jersey and Lawrence Massachusetts where 30.000 textle workers won an important victory over wages and conditions under the leadership of Joseph J Ettor and Bill Haywood.

The Wobblies openly advocated sabotage ( a word derived from the French syndicalists - sabot was a shoe that was thrown into machines to damage them). Haywood was a member of the National Executive of the Socialist Party and was removed from office by national referendum of the party for his advocacy of violence.

Barry Woodling
Northern Anarchist Network

[Barrywoodling]

By 1914 Debs who had substantial sympathy for the IWW was finally convinced that it "stands for anarchy" and advocated a fresh start in revolutionary unionism based upon the 2 miners unions the Western Federation of Miners and the United Mine Workers. By 1915 the membership of the union was apparently around about 15,000 which was a fraction of that of the A.F. of L.

The IWW was a protest against the A.F. of L.s claim to speak for a working class which consisted mainly of unskilled workers whether indigenous or immigrant. Some of the IWW leaders were influenced by syndicalist ideas although in many ways it was a result of the American environment. The songs of Joe Hill who was executed in 1915 after being convicted of murder belong now to the tradition of American folklore as indeed do those of Woody Guthrie who road the railroads as a "hobo".

The IWW suffered terribly from oppression and persecution as "un-American" during the !st World War and afterwards.

The British Isles IWW can be contacted at British Isles Regional Organising Committee, P.O. Box 74, Brighton, United Kingdom BN1 4ZQ. [e-mail]. Their web site is www.iww.org.uk.

Barry Woodling
Northern Anarchist Network

[barrywoodling]

The IWW introduced into the struggle a sense of humour, a sense of poetry and songs. Most of the songs were written to traditional or popular tunes. There are a good selection in IWW songs, to fan the flames of discontent, July 1990.

Perhaps the most famous wobbly songster was Joe Hill.
His songs all in the IWW songbook include:- There is Power in the Union, Workers of the World Awaken (marching song dedicated to all class conscious workers everywhere),Its a Long Way Down To The Soupline, Where the Faser River Flows (written whilst Joe was on strike picket at the Fraser River Strike Camp, British Columbia 1912), Casy Jones- the Union Scab, The Rebel Girl and the Preacher and the Slave.

Joe Hill was born Joel Hillstrom and migrated to America in 1901 from Sweden. He joined the IWW in 1911 and was a migrant worker and IWW organiser between 1911-1914. In 1914 Joe Hill was framed on a murder charge and sentenced to death. Despite a world wide campaign to free him he was shot by firing squad on 19th November 1915. He wrote to Big Bill Haywood of the IWW on the eve of his execution. "Dont waste time mourning, organise". Haywood replied "Goodbye Joe. You will live in the hearts of the working class. Your songs will be sung wherever workers toil. Barry Woodling, NAN.