Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology
Language: English
Pages: 447
ISBN: 1604864834
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), commonly known as the Wobblies, were among the most well-respected and largest unions in the United States in the early 20th century. Having organized the first major automobile industry strike as well as major coalfield and transit workers strikes, the IWW has a history of being a fierce advocate for the worker. Long before most other unions, IWW welcomed women, African-Americans, and immigrants into their ranks, making the Wobblies among the most progressive organizations of the era. As the only comprehensive history of the IWW, this chronicle anthologizes nearly every important document and essay in the Wobblies' rich history. The impact of the IWW has reverberated through the history of unions and organized labor, and this is their story.
Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior
The Victorians and the Stuart Heritage: Interpretations of a Discordant Past
The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
could visit the world and I desired coming here for that purpose. I have no grudge against this country. I have no grudge against the American flag. I have no grudge against your patriotism…. I ask the District Attorney, who speaks about the New England tradition, what he means by that—if he means the New England traditions of this same town where they used to burn the witches at the stake, or if he means the New England traditions of those men who refused to be any longer under the iron heel of
his back to slave ten hours a day for six months more.”1 Faced with the intractable attitudes of the lumber operators toward unionism, living a remote group life when working, and “on the rods” between jobs, the concept of the One Big Union made sense to the lumberjack. Often the I.W.W. hall in the lumber region trading town or city was his only home. “He has one tie to bind him to his fellow man,” wrote Rexford Tugwell, “the red card of the Wobbly.”2 The I.W.W. started organizing in the lumber
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hot cakes. Four new members are secured for the Tacoma local. Having finished our work here, we are ready for a start toward Seattle. On arrival in the yards, we find a “train ready.” We are off, but on arrival at Meaker Junction, we find a walk in store for us of eight miles, in order to catch a train that will land us in Seattle in time for a propaganda meeting. The eight miles is undergoing repair work, and the Italians are on strike, so you can imagine what a beautiful roadbed we have to
songs, the sit-down and the stay-in strikes, the thousand-mile picketline and other strategies that the IWW developed. Flexibility and innovation have always been the hallmarks of this union. These are matters of more than historical interest. Keeping workers in different countries from being used against each other in peace or in war-that old hope of the IWW has become the supreme but neglected imperative of the labor movement today. As multinational corporations shift jobs across continents