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Industrial  Workers
of  the  World
Labor  Union  Movement

         Before World War I, labor conditions in the U.S. and elsewhere were universally appalling. The Haymarket Massacre of 1886 was but one of many bloody battles between labor and the 'robber barons' of the era.

         Unhappy with the slow progress toward reform of Samuel Gompers and his American Federation of Labor, a committee of unionists in Chicago IL called for a "Continental Congress of the Working Class", which formed the Industrial Workers of the World - the I.W.W. - on 27 June 1905. William D. 'Big Bill' Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners presided, and speakers included U.S. presidential candidate [of the Socialist Party] Eugene V. Debs.

         In December 1905, former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg was killed by a bomb planted at his home. Denver police arrested Haywood and others, and shipped them to Boise, Idaho for trial. Clarence Darrow's brilliant defense resulted in a 'not guilty' verdict, and Haywood walked away a free man, though grown more militant from his long incarceration. Strike failures in Cripple Creek CO and elsewhere soon broke the W.F.M. and Haywood joined battle with the more-aggressive I.W.W.
         The philosophy of the I.W.W. union was radical, encompassing 'syndicalism' and bordering on anarchism. Each new member was given a union card and "The Little Red Songbook" which had the words 'To Fan the Flames of Discontent' on the cover. The union grew rapidly, especially among immigrants disillusioned with visions of a better life in America, and fostered strikes and other actions across the country. The more famous events of the time include Goldfield NV strikes in 1906, the American Locomotive strike of 1911, the Lawrence MA 'Bread and Roses' textile strike of 1912, and the Patterson Silk Strike and a strike in Akron Ohio, both in 1913.
         Galvanized by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City on 25 March 1911, crusading journalists and authors such as Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis, Upton Sinclair & Frank Norris galvanized public opinion, earning from the establishment the derisive term 'muckrackers'. Laws to improve working conditions were enacted, but only after great and violent struggle against the industrial monopolies of the time.

         By 1915, 'Big Bill' Haywood was head of the I.W.W. His speeches against the frame-up of labor martyr Joe Hill {see below} roused the public but could not stop Joe Hill's execution in November 1915. At its peak, the union had 3 million members, but nationalization of many industries and new federal anti-labor laws during World War I restricted union activity.

         Nonetheless, strike actions continued: the Everett [WA] Massacre in 1916, the Bisbee AZ copper strike of 1917, the Centralia [WA] Massacre of 1919. Haywood was convicted of sedition for calling a strike during wartime; released on bail during the appeals process and in ill health, he fled to Russia, where he helped the bolsheviks with their revolution, alongside fellow American John Reed. The 'Red Scare' raids of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in 1920 rounded up thousands of 'alien radical' I.W.W. members (and others), and the majority of foreign-born prisoners were deported.

         But the I.W.W. continued its work. When Upton Sinclair was arrested for reading the U.S. Bill of Rights to an assembly of striking I.W.W. dockworkers at Liberty Hill in San Pedro CA in 1923, it was front page news. A coal strike in Colorado led to the Columbine Massacre of 1927. The I.W.W. unionized many of those unemployed as a result of the Stock Market Crash, and supported striking coal miners in Harlan County KY in 1930. Strikers halted work on Boulder Dam in 1931.

         In 1949, the I.W.W. was added to the U.S. Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations, and the union nearly went out of existence in the Fifties. By the Seventies, the I.W.W. was growing again, lending support to the United Farm Workers led by Cesar Chavez. In 1973, I.W.W.'s existing national groups were replaced with Regional Organizing Committees. I.W.W. expanded to include environmentalists, with Earth First! Local #1 in Willits CA; members Judi Bari & Darryl Cherney were injured in a notorious car-bombing in 1990. I.W.W. moved its headquarters from Chicago to San Francisco in 1991. Activity increased in United Kingdom, Russia, Finland and Australia. I.W.W. headquarters moved again, from San Francisco CA to Philadelphia PA.

         While the I.W.W. was born of necessity, and instilled with the courage of its founders, the 'cause' has foundered on the collectivist mindset, based on powerless theories of syndicalism {see below), and membership has deteriorated to a mere 1200.

        Joel Emanuel Hägglund was born in Gävle, Sweden on 7 Oct 1879. He emigrated to the U.S. in October 1902 with his brother Paul. They soon parted company and Joel wandered the country, apparently working any and every low-paying, thankless labor job possible. During this time, he changed his name to Joseph Hillstrom, and soon after joining the I.W.W. in San Pedro, California in 1910, he changed it again to just Joe Hill.
        The 'bosses' passed laws making union speeches illegal, so Joe began writing songs that captured the plight of the working class and the fighting spirit of his fellow unionists. The union movement grew and the bosses across North America and around the world became increasingly angry and afraid. While legend has Joe Hill participating in virtually every frontline I.W.W. job action – logistically impossible – the truth was that he did little else but write songs and lead protests and serve jail time on trumped-up charges.
        While visiting with Swedish friends in Utah, Joe was arrested for the murder of a shopkeeper, on circumstantial evidence; the I.W.W. held that the accusation was retaliation by the 'copper bosses' for Joe's union activity. Joe handled his own defense – badly, as if he wanted to be a martyr; he was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. Despite appeals by the Swedish government, the American Federation of Labor, President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, and tens of thousands of supporters throughout the world, he was executed by firing squad on 19 October 1915.
        Joe's last telegram from jail included a phrase that lives after him: "Don't waste time mourning – Organize!" His funeral in Chicago attracted 30,000 mourners. Nearly 75 years later, a packet of his ashes was discovered in the U.S. National Archives and returned to the Chicago headquarters of the I.W.W.

        William D. Haywood was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1869. His early life was hard: losing his father at three, losing an eye at nine, working in the mines at fifteen. In 1896, he joined the Western Federation of Miners in Idaho, and served as secretary & president of his local; in 1900 he was elected to the national General Executive Board. Bitter conflicts between labor and 'bosses' in Colorado convinced Bill that 'one big union' was a necessity. He presided at the creation of the I.W.W. in Chicago in 1905, which put him in the spotlight as one of the nation's best-known labor radicals.

         In December 1905, former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg was killed by a bomb planted at his home. Police arrested Haywood and others in Denver CO, and shipped them to Boise, Idaho for trial. Haywood was the first to go to trial, in what was billed as 'The Trial of the Century'. Acclaimed attorney Clarence Darrow's brilliant defense resulted in a 'not guilty' verdict, and Haywood walked away a free man, though grown more militant from his long incarceration. Haywood broke with the W.F.M. and joined the Socialist Party, where he was soon forced out for being too aggressive.

         By 1915, 'Big Bill' Haywood was head of the I.W.W. His speeches against the frame-up of labor martyr Joe Hill [see above] roused the public but could not stop Joe Hill's execution in November 1915. Nonetheless, strike actions continued. In 1918, Haywood and a hundred others were rounded up and summarily convicted of espionage and sedition [for calling a strike during wartime]. Released on bail in 1921 during the appeals process – and in ill health – he fled to Russia, where he helped the bolsheviks with their revolution, alongside fellow American John Reed. He died in Moscow in 1928; half his ashes were buried in the wall of the Kremlin beside John Reed, the remainder was sent to Chicago.