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86-544: As a member organization of the IWW, the AWO embraced a variety of tactics in order to organize workers. While the AWO resolved to prohibit street speaking and soap boxing – a common method by which the parent organization communicated its more radical message to workers – soapboxing was practiced by AWO delegates, and met with considerable success. The AWO developed the roving delegate system for member sign-up and dues collection, which

172-523: A 'spirit and vocabulary' [the IWW] permeates to a large extent enormous masses of workers..." Wobbly activists were those workers who not only reacted to economic forces, but who spent a considerable amount of time thinking, debating, and educating their co-workers about the impact of such forces upon society. John Reed observed, "Wherever, in the West, there is an IWW local, you will find an intellectual center ...

258-480: A Red Card, proof of membership to the IWW, from all other riders. If a hobo could not produce a membership card, the field delegates forced the rider to purchase a card or get off the train. By doing so, the AWO hoped to create an "800 mile picket line" along the wheat belt ensuring the IWW controlled all harvest jobs. They were also organizers at the workplace and presented grievances to the ranch foremen and farmers; holding full organizer's responsibilities, delegates had

344-755: A cartoonist for The Industrial Worker, a weekly newspaper published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). His most famous work was Mr. Block . On November 7, 1912, Mr. Block first appeared in the Industrial Worker , a newspaper owned by the IWW, and the comic strip was also published in Solidarity for three years. According to historian Franklin Rosemont, IWW cartoonists like Riebe did not profit from their comics. Twenty-four of

430-525: A few compelling concerns which united all. Nearly all who attended acknowledged an "irrepressible conflict" between capital and labor. Nearly all could be described as adherents of industrial unionism, as opposed to the craft unionism of the American Federation of Labor. Acknowledging the common practice of AFL craft unions crossing each other's picket lines, the IWW adopted the WFM's description of

516-512: A final solution of the labor problem – an emancipation from strikes, injunctions and bull-pens. IWW co-founders Father Thomas J. Hagerty and William Trautmann continued promoting these two essential goals in their 1911 pamphlet, One Big Union . The IWW needed to "combine the wage-workers in such a way that it can most successfully fight the battles and protect the interests of the workers of today in their struggles for fewer hours of toil, more wages and better conditions," and it also "must offer

602-692: A final solution of the labor problem—an emancipation from strikes, injunctions, bull-pens, and scabbing of one against the other." Historian Daniel R. Fusfeld referred to the conflicting labor philosophies held by the AFL and its rivals as job-consciousness (the AFL), and class-consciousness (organizations such as the Knights of Labor and the IWW). These philosophies resulted in oppositional alignment in regards to government. In Taking Care of Business , Paul Buhle wrote that

688-668: A large donation to the IWW's Work People's College in Duluth, Minnesota"(Sellars). However, because of the frightening split in Wobbly ranks in 1924, the AWIU experienced a steep decline in its members. The AWIU eventually fell as a result of the rise of new technologies. These technologies eventually drove the majority of harvest workers out of labor. The last annual convention (the 21st) was held in Seattle in 1929. Industrial Workers of

774-405: A man "devoid of class-consciousness" who blindly believes that America is the land of opportunity, hard work pays off, and the boss looks out for the employee. However, in each strip, Riebe has Mr. Block faced with setback after setback. He gets laid off from his job because the company has been overproducing goods, gets abused by the police, is sent to jail, among other things. Often, Riebe depicts

860-528: A peculiar amalgam of Marxism and Darwinism, anarchism and syndicalism—all overlaid with a singularly American patina. However, Dubofsky also identifies American traditions "dating back to the era of Jefferson and Jackson" from which the Wobblies derived inspiration, particularly the concepts of a society divided into " producers and nonproducers , productive classes and parasites." Paul Brissenden likewise stated that, "[t]he main ideas of I.W.W.-ism—certainly of

946-450: A place where men read philosophy, economics, the latest plays, novels; where art and poetry are discussed, and international politics." The IWW printed hundreds of thousands of leaflets, promoted Industrial Education Clubs, and organized Propaganda Leagues. Stickered slogans, referred to as " silent agitators ", were printed by the million, and made available by the thousand. IWW libraries in union halls made available to any worker not only

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1032-405: A real revolution. Dubofsky believes, however, that IWW ideology was compatible with Syndicalism. The New International Year Book for 1912 observed that, "the Industrial Workers of the World would place an industry in the hands of its workers, as would socialism; it would organize society without any government, as would anarchism; and it would bring about a social revolution by direct action of

1118-455: A union philosophy that was common a century ago, in which unjust labor laws are challenged directly by union actions, rather than accepted as a framework within which the union must operate. By 1912, after a number of defections and splits, the IWW numbered some twenty-five thousand, much smaller than many of its rival unions. But the IWW's influence was already outsized. The Congressional Commission on Industrial Relations noted in 1916 that "as

1204-478: A wide variety of union experiences and traditions to consider. In coming together as an organization, then, it is perhaps not surprising that the clash of ideas among IWW members resulted in passionate debate and an eventual winnowing of philosophies over several decades of evolution. Where did initial inspirations for the Wobbly philosophy come from? Historian Melvyn Dubofsky is worth quoting at length: Wobblies ... took their basic concepts from others: from Marx

1290-723: Is best remembered for his comics series Mr. Block . He immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century from Germany , and not much is known about his early and later life. However, it is known that he worked for the Spokane Industrial Worker in 1912, and until 1922, IWW publications issued his work. For at least a decade, Riebe helped the IWW, and it is assumed he lived in Minneapolis and possibly later in Chicago. Ernest Riebe worked as

1376-728: Is directly opposed to the political Socialism of America. It is the declaration of the Syndicalists that the new social order will not be dependent on political action or a political state, but it will be an industrial commonwealth in which all governmental functions as we know them to-day will have ceased to exist, and in which each industry will be controlled by the workers in it without external interference." Marot further notes that such classifications (Socialist or Syndicalist) are important to theorists, but not so important to organized labor itself. Labor historian Philip S. Foner observed in 1997 that "virtually every scholar" who has studied

1462-494: Is still used by the IWW. Within two years, the AWO had achieved a membership of a hundred thousand. Members of the American Socialist Party were the founders of the labor organization Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW was found on June 27, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois. A group of radicals held a conference and their primary goals were to overthrow the wage system and get rid of capitalism which gave

1548-403: The Industrial Worker included Ernest Riebe 's cartoon whose character "Mr. Block" was controlled by employers who used race and ethnic backgrounds to divide workers. The cartoon was addressed toward several ethnicities and exposed the strategies employers used to obtain the most production for the little pay. In an earlier example of multiracial organizing among IWW agricultural workers was in

1634-657: The 1890s pointed the way toward either socialism, or industrial unionism in order to maintain organized labor's momentum. Yet Samuel Gompers , leader of the American Federation of Labor , opposed both courses of action. He and John Mitchell, head of the United Mine Workers , joined an alliance of conservative union leaders and liberal business men in forming the National Civic Federation (NCF). That organization's critics on

1720-514: The 1905 convention were essentially a compromise which papered over these, and other differences. Furthermore, while the SLP viewed organized labor as a mere adjunct to Socialist Labor Party politics, the Socialist Party was divided over whether the AFL, or the new IWW should be the proper vehicle to carry the labor banner of socialism. As a result, many Socialists actually opposed the IWW from

1806-523: The 1913 Wheatland Hop-Fields Riot in Wheatland, California. Ralph Durst and his brother, owners of a large farm and ranch, refused to address the complaints of their agricultural workers who presented a list of demands to them. In response to their refusal and firing of the leading IWW members, Wobblies met that same night and included speakers who spoke in German, Greek, Italian, Arabic, and Spanish to

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1892-416: The AFL (at the perceived cost of class solidarity) was just one aspect of the differing union philosophies, it was a significant one. The formation of the Industrial Workers of the World was in many ways a direct response to the conservatism of the AFL, and its perceived failure to respond to the needs of western miners, lumbermen, and others. However, the political question would likewise play a central role in

1978-494: The AFL (forerunner of the AFL–CIO ) concerning the best ways to organize workers, and how to best improve the society in which they toiled. The AFL had one guiding principle—"pure and simple trade unionism", often summarized with the slogan " a fair day's pay for a fair day's work ." The IWW embraced two guiding principles, fighting like the AFL for better wages, hours, and conditions, but also promoting an eventual, permanent solution to

2064-411: The AFL as the "American Separation of Labor." In addition to the limitations of organizing by craft, the IWW criticized the AFL for emphasizing common interests between labor and capital, and for organizing only elite workers rather than acknowledging the needs of the entire working class. The AFL was bitterly attacked by speakers who organized the conference, such that many would have been pleased if

2150-429: The AFL identified with, and made accommodations for the benefit of government, the IWW was ardently opposed to what it viewed as capitalist wars. World War I saw "Charles Schwab of Bethlehem Steel heralding the day when labor would rule the world and Samuel Gompers edging rapidly toward the businessman's creed of maximum production..." The IWW opposed the war effort. Big Bill Haywood described in his autobiography how

2236-470: The AFL thus became more conservative, the IWW saw itself as a revolutionary organization dedicated to the "Abolition of the wage system." While the AFL's Mitchell and Gompers nurtured their alliance with the Democrats, the IWW changed its Constitution in 1908 to prohibit just such alliances. The 1908 Constitution states, "to the end of promoting industrial unity and of securing necessary discipline within

2322-542: The AFL-affiliated United Mine Workers President John Mitchell declared in 1903, "The trade union movement in this country can make progress only by identifying itself with the state." ... [Meanwhile, the] new National Civic Federation (which was supported by the AFL) ... sought to promote labor peace (on the terms of the employers, critics claimed) and to make class consciousness and class struggle obsolete. While

2408-563: The AFL. The IWW organized many who were "left out" of American society, including "timber beasts, hobo harvesters, itinerant construction workers, exploited eastern and southern European immigrants, racially excluded African Americans, Mexicans, and Asian Americans." Due to feelings of alienation and impotence, these workers embraced radical theories aimed at disrupting and replacing the established social order. The IWW maintained low initiation fees and dues, allowed universal transfer of union cards, and disdained apprenticeships in order to attract

2494-406: The AFL. Staughton Lynd described the IWW as "devoting itself to struggles around demands, rather than negotiating contracts." Paul Buhle lauds the idealism and creativity of the IWW, while asserting that "the AFL could not claim a single cultural contribution of note." Melvyn Dubofsky described the AFL "[growing] fat while neglecting millions of laborers doomed to lives of misery and want", and

2580-633: The AWIU coincided in the midst of the Red Scare and World War One, the AWIU's membership still continued to grow reaching 25,000 members by 1921. The AWIU eventually became the biggest financial contributor to the Industrial Workers of the World. "Nearly $ 85,000 of the money the AWIU had raised in 1922 [$ 135,055 total] went to support strikes in Oregon and California; and harvesters had also provided defense funds for Wobblies in Centralia, Washington, and made

2666-501: The AWO, but not many recruits stayed with the union due to the migrant nature. The AWO did not restrict membership to a particular race or ethnicity, as did craft unions. The AWO built solidarity among its members by emphasizing the shared exploitation in the fields and living quarters. The Wobbly press's attempted to build solidarity by drawing on the similar working conditions among white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American workers. Conscious of employer's use of race to divide workers,

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2752-445: The AWO. Field delegates carried materials such as: union application materials, union membership dues books, dues stamps, and Wobbly literature necessary to recruit agricultural workers. Compensation for field delegates was based on commission per new member so it was an incentive to recruit as many new members as possible. To recruit members to the AWO, field delegates sometimes freight trains in and around harvest areas and demand to see

2838-512: The European anarcho-syndicalist movement and the I.W.W. differ considerably in more than one particular. This was made inevitable by reason of the fact that the I.W.W. was the result of a later and more mature period of industrial development. This accounts for the fact that European Syndicalism, unlike the I.W.W., is not organized into One Big Union on the basis of perfectly co-ordinated, centralized industrial departments . It also accounts for

2924-473: The I.W.W.-ism of the first few years after 1905—were of American origin, not French, as is commonly supposed. Wobblies sought to familiarize theoretical terminology for a worker audience of varied educative experience. A proletarian became a prole , and a plutocrat was a plute . Bill Haywood, in particular, had the ability to translate complex economic theories into simple ideas that resonated with working people. He would frequently preface his speeches with

3010-473: The IWW an opportunity to begin a European syndicalist style program of " boring from within " the AFL, the IWW rejected it. Foner concludes, therefore, that the IWW did not inherit its philosophy of revolutionary industrial unionism from French Syndicalism. However, he does also note similarities. Foner believes that IWW members did learn about the organization's kinship with European syndicalist organizations through Wobbly publications, and thereby largely accepted

3096-462: The IWW considers it to be a type of syndicalist organization. Yet he likewise notes key differences. For example, while European syndicalists operate within mainstream unions, the IWW has always displayed an antagonism toward, and disdain for existing craft based trade unions in the United States. This has led the IWW to embrace the concept of dual unionism . When William Z. Foster offered

3182-464: The IWW issued stickers, which the IWW called silent agitators , to propagandize against the war. The stickers declared, "Don't be a soldier, be a man. Join the I.W.W. and fight on the job for yourself and your class ." The IWW's opposition to the war led to enmity and, reportedly, behind the scenes attacks from the AFL's Samuel Gompers. In 1919, the year after the end of the war, the AFL seemed to have second thoughts, concluding that works committees of

3268-473: The IWW offering to do what the AFL declined to do by giving hope to those neglected. Yet Dubofsky believed he saw a contradiction between the IWW's goal of a better society, and the desires of its individual members for an improved life. As workers managed to improve their own lives, he theorized, they would have less interest in an improved society. And, the IWW was up against "flexible and sophisticated adversaries..." Those adversaries, as often as not, included

3354-652: The IWW their platform. Members of the IWW were commonly known as wobblies who advocated for socialism, and did not discriminate based on race or gender. William D. Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, and Daniel De Leon were the founders and leading heads behind the IWW. These founders and the IWW were against the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and was the only labor group who opposed World War I. The IWW consisted of unskilled workers who represented farm workers and miners who demanded higher wages and better working conditions. The IWW did not discriminate on class and welcomed workers from all groups such as women, minorities, immigrants, and

3440-419: The IWW's history through 1917, Foner (who, as a Marxist historian favored political action) noted that while most Wobblies disdained the ballot, several IWW leaders, individual members, and even entire locals did not necessarily reject politics, and some even participated in election campaigns. While offering skepticism about their accomplishing anything worthwhile, Solidarity nonetheless commented that there

3526-414: The IWW, Gompers commented that "[t]he mountain labored and brought forth a mouse, and a very silly little mouse at that... historians will record the Chicago [founding of the IWW] as the most vapid and ridiculous in the annals of those who presume to speak in the name of labor..." Gompers warned all AFL affiliates not to cooperate with IWW members, and told AFL members not to support IWW strikes. Permission

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3612-592: The WFM Haywood fought for raising wages and wanted to ban children workers from working in the mines. Eventually Haywood became the secretary-treasurer of the WFM, and in 1901 he joined the American Socialist Party. Eugene V. Debs was an activist in the Trade Union Movement and eventually became the national secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. Daniel De Leon was a Marxist who

3698-499: The World philosophy and tactics The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union of wage workers which was formed in Chicago in 1905 by militant unionists and their supporters due to anger over the conservatism, philosophy, and craft-based structure of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Throughout the early part of the 20th century, the philosophy and tactics of the IWW were frequently in direct conflict with those of

3784-578: The World, the question of whether unionized workers could secure significant change by political actions of their unions had been in contention for some decades. The question had split the National Labor Union in 1872. It created divisions between the membership and the leadership of the Knights of Labor , with the leaders favoring various political agendas including Greenbackism, socialism, and land reform. Labor historian Joseph Rayback believed that significant losses for organized labor in

3870-509: The ability to call a strike against a farmer if the farmer did not address grievances. Field delegates had direct contact with other agricultural workers and were able to experience the working conditions at the field level; direct communication with both workers and ranch foremen, including farmers, allowed for negotiation of wages and delegates would not accept jobs that paid under the union scale of $ 3 per day. The delegate system effectively recruited new members and established multiple locals of

3956-650: The book consists of original illustrations and captions by Riebe, and the other half contains a reproduction of the Constitution of the Soviet Union . The booklet was written in a tongue-in-cheek manner to show the merits of Bolshevism. It also ridiculed the values of the bourgeois and showed that the complaints of the middle class were unwarranted because the Bolsheviks were trying to end World War I and trying to get fair treatment across classes, specifically

4042-446: The cause of changing the economic system, frequently describing Wobblyism as "socialism with its working clothes on." Yet Haywood was embraced only by the left wing of the Socialist Party, and was eventually ejected from the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee by the conservative wing. Generally speaking, American Socialists were interested in acceptance and gradual reform. Wobblies were more cynical about capitalism, and wanted

4128-409: The class-based concept of One Big Union . The IWW was formed by militant unionists, socialists, anarchists, and other labor radicals who believed that the great mass of workers are exploited by, and are in an economic struggle with, an employing class. The IWW employed a great diversity of tactics aimed at organizing all workers as a class, seeking greater economic justice on the job and, ultimately,

4214-407: The concepts of labor value, commodity value, surplus value, and class struggle; from Darwin the idea of organic evolution and the struggle for survival as a paradigm for social evolution and the survival of the fittest class; from Bakunin and the anarchists the "propaganda of the deed" * and the idea of direct action; and from Sorel the notion of the "militant minority." Hence, IWW beliefs became

4300-574: The crowd in order to gain the most supporters among the group of workers. The decline of the Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union (AWIU) the mid 1920s was also influenced by the inability to adapt to the rapidly changing demographics of farmworkers in the West Coast. Asians and Latinos composed a large part of the workforce; the AWIU struggled to incorporate strategies that united a culturally and socially diverse workforce. During

4386-410: The deed '." Taft and Ross likewise appear to disagree with Dubofsky, stating in more general terms, "violence in labor disputes was seldom inspired by the doctrine of 'propaganda by the deed,' whose self-defeating nature convinced many of its exponents of its fallacy." The difference may depend upon how 'propaganda of the deed' is defined. By the time of the 1905 founding of the Industrial Workers of

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4472-531: The deletion of a political clause from the Preamble in 1908 is only half the story; in 1911 the IWW rejected an amendment to the Preamble that referred to "the futility of political action." In other words, the ban on political involvement only went so far (presumably, banning any political or anti-political alliances in the name of the union ), and the balance of the IWW's membership saw nothing to be gained by outright hostility toward political action. Writing of

4558-447: The doctrines of syndicalism, especially after Bill Haywood brought back some ideas about syndicalist tactics from his 1910 visit to Europe. Conlin suggested in 1969 that those who wish to understand the true nature of the IWW should discontinue referring to the IWW as syndicalist. He makes several points: the IWW did not like the term syndicalism; the revolutionary industrial unionism of the IWW had "distinctly different origins" than did

4644-601: The emergence of the Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO) that focused on recruiting farmers in the Western United States and Canada to join one big union. This new organization demanded: The harvest workers stated that if these requirements were met then they would in return perform their best work. To organize the wheat harvest in the west, the Agricultural Workers Organization used two successful tactics: job delegate and on

4730-688: The employers as manipulators of the workers. For instance, in one comic strip, the employer speaks individually with the mixed race employees and makes them work hard by pitting the workers against each other. Another piece of work was the Crimes of the Bolsheviki: Dedicated to the Interests of the International Proletariat. Riebe wrote and illustrated the forty-seven page booklet, which was published in 1919. Half of

4816-496: The fact that the form of the I.W.W. is designed to serve not only as a powerful combative force in the everyday class struggle, but also as the structure of the new society both as regards production and administration. Ernest Riebe Ernest Riebe was a German-American cartoonist and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who was known for the slapstick humor he used in his comic strips. He

4902-566: The farmers in the area did not want the AWO taking over their town. Eventually, the harvest workers in Yakima Valley went on strike to demand better wages, but the strike was soon halted once local law enforcement became involved. By 1917 the Agricultural Workers Organization had close to 20,000 members. In this same year the AWO was renamed the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (AWIU). Even though

4988-402: The federation (although not necessarily its constituent unions) would simply cease to exist. Samuel Gompers responded by declaring that the IWW's organizers were "trying to divert, pervert, and disrupt the labor movement of the country," describing them as "pirates" and "kangaroos." Calling the AFL outdated was "inexcusably ignorant and maliciously false," said Gompers. Referring to the birth of

5074-419: The gap, acting as general secretary of the IWW, and as an officer of the Socialist Party. A fractious former hard rock miner, Haywood would tease audiences by telling them, "I'm a two gun man from the West, you know." After a moment to build the suspense, he would thrust hands into pockets, extracting a red IWW card with one hand, and a red Socialist card with the other. Haywood considered both ideologies vital to

5160-405: The internal disputes, and in the eventual evolution of the IWW itself. At its opening convention , the Industrial Workers of the World exhibited a "spirit of unity." Although nearly all of the delegates were committed to some form of Socialist politics, there were some significant philosophical differences just under the surface. Western Federation of Miners members and other union veterans wanted

5246-447: The job strike. For the job delegate tactic, the IWW assigned members to work the fields and assist farmers with the harvest. The on the job strike tactic was threatening member withdrawal of productive efficiency to win over employer demands. These two highly successful tactics resulted in the Agricultural Workers Organization's ability to organize thousands of individuals in the agricultural, lumber, construction, and oil industries. The AWO

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5332-587: The left believed that its goals were to suppress sympathy strikes, and to replace traditional expressions of working class solidarity with binding national trade agreements and arbitration of disputes. By 1905, the NLU was history, and the Knights of Labor mostly a memory. Mitchell and Gompers of the AFL were beginning to build an alliance with the Democratic Party. While the focus upon political alliance by

5418-407: The lower strata of working society. As a result of the splits and de facto purges, the IWW distilled a core set of beliefs and practices. It eschewed political entanglements for revolutionary industrial unionism. the Wobblies of the IWW sought to "comprehend the nature and dynamics of capitalist society and through increased knowledge, as well as revolutionary activism, to develop a better system for

5504-459: The manifesto that the workers should own and operate their own tools, and that they alone should enjoy the fruits of their labor, would mean, according to American Socialists, that all workers, through a political state, or regulated by it, would operate, own, and enjoy collectively all tools and the product of industry. [...] But [the Preamble], interpreted by the leaders of the Industrial Workers,

5590-480: The most efficient way to reach the goals of IWW, but De Leon and Debs believed they could achieve their goals though the Trade Union Movement and Socialist Party. This disagreement caused De Leon and Debs to leave behind the IWW which caused the wobblies to split into two different groups. William D. Haywood was a part of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and was the main founder and of the IWW. In

5676-420: The needs of the workers, but in order to lead, that person must also be an educated worker. IWW publications seemed to enjoy reporting on "the amazement shown by college professors who heard Wobbly speakers deliver talks upon a wide variety of subjects and reveal a remarkable understanding of complex economic and social questions." By the time of the organization's founding in 1905, inquisitive workers already had

5762-495: The organization and functioning of the American economy." Labor Historian Melvyn Dubofsky has written that the IWW held "an instinctive distaste for the world as it was, as well as hope for the creation of a completely new world." Yet in addition to a belief in eventual revolution, the IWW "constantly sought opportunities to improve the immediate circumstances of its members." Marxist Labor Historian Philip S. Foner identifies

5848-412: The organization's publications, but also practical topics about machinery and production, as well as classic works of scientists, theoreticians, and philosophers. Knowledge and experience were likewise shared—new members were sometimes invited to chair meetings, not just to share the experience, but to initiate them into the community. Wobblies believed not only that it took a working person to understand

5934-475: The organization, the I. W. W. refuses all alliances, direct or indirect, with existing political parties or anti-political sects..." This language is essentially unchanged in the 2011 IWW Constitution. The prohibition on alliances with "anti-political sects" is noteworthy. According to Verity Burgmann and others, the Chicago IWW was "non-political" rather than "anti-political." Joseph R. Conlin believes

6020-409: The outset. The early IWW experienced numerous divisions and splits during the period from 1905 to approximately 1930. It also suffered repression by business and government entities during this period. These experiences had a profound effect on the philosophy and tactics of the organization that survived. In spite of the varied philosophies of the participants at the first IWW convention, there were

6106-411: The overthrow of the wage system which they believe is most responsible for keeping workers in subjugation. Such tactics are generally described as direct action , which is distinguished from other types of reform efforts such as electoral politics. IWW members believe that change accomplished via politics depends upon appeal to members of a ruling class who derive benefit from the subservient quiescence of

6192-627: The participation of the two Socialist parties, the Socialist Labor Party (SLP) and the Socialist Party , in spite of longstanding animosity between these two political organizations. However, the veteran labor activists did not wish to commit to any particular political party. Nonetheless, some of the Socialists in both camps assumed that an endorsement would be forthcoming. The IWW Constitution and Preamble resulting from

6278-449: The problems of strikes, injunctions, bull pens, and union scabbing . The AFL and the IWW (whose members are referred to as Wobblies) had very different ideas about the ideal union structure. While the AFL primarily organized workers into their respective crafts , the IWW was created as an industrial union , placing all workers in a factory, mine, mill, or other place of business into the same industrial organization. The IWW also promotes

6364-503: The same points in the manifesto which called the labor activists to the founding conference in 1905. On the back of each manifesto was printed a declaration of the two requirements for any labor organization to properly represent the workers: First – It must combine the wage workers in such a way that it can most successfully fight the battles and protect the interests of the working people of to-day in their struggles for fewer hours, more wages and better conditions. Secondly – It must offer

6450-551: The statement, "Tonight I am going to speak on the class struggle and I am going to make it so plain that even a lawyer can understand it." The Marxian concept of surplus value , Haywood conveyed simply as "unpaid labor." He distilled the voluminous work of Karl Marx into a simple observation, "If one man has a dollar he didn't work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn't get." Philip S. Foner disagreed with Dubofsky on this one point, stating, "[t]he I.W.W. did not, as did many, if not all, anarchists, advocate ' propaganda of

6536-554: The strips were compiled into America’s first radical comic book in 1913, and it was advertised by the IWW press. Riebe’s comic strips were anti-racist, and during the early 1920s, he and other similar cartoonists were criticized by the Ku Klux Klan , American Legion , and white-supremacist preachers and politicians. Through the comic strip, Riebe assailed the AFL , the Socialist Party , and bourgeois values. He portrayed Mr. Block as

6622-528: The summer of 1916, farm workers in Washington State campaigned to establish the Agricultural Workers Organization in Washington's Yakima Valley. With many AWO leaders residing in the region already, the IWW sent out AWO leaders to reach out to the independent farmers in the valley. The Agricultural Workers Organization's plan was to convince the harvest workers to join their union. However, most of

6708-470: The syndicalism of Europe; and, there were key differences between the philosophy of the Wobblies, and that of the syndicalists. Ralph Chaplin , IWW editor of Solidarity and later, of the Industrial Worker , appears to have made similar points to those made by Joseph Conlin. Chaplin wrote, In spite of certain misleading surface similarities, which are unduly stressed by shallow observers,

6794-419: The unemployed. Youth groups were even encouraged by the IWW and followed in their steps by organizing their own unions. They referred to themselves as "Junior Wobblies". At the beginning of the IWW there were three main founders and leaders. These three founders include William D. Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, and Daniel De Leon who were all a part of the Socialist Party. Haywood believed strikes and boycotts were

6880-411: The war years were "a snare and a cooptation plan." Unfortunately by this time, many IWW leaders had been deported or were in prison for the IWW's anti-war pronouncements. Melvyn Dubofsky notes that Wobbly ideology and Socialist party doctrine both opposed capitalism and advocated something better, but beyond that, they "conflicted more than they agreed." For nearly a decade, Bill Haywood tried to bridge

6966-550: The workers, as would syndicalism. Nevertheless, it claims to be distinct from all three." While noting general conformance in the language of IWW and Socialist doctrines, Helen Marot clarified in 1914, "It is the interpretation of the [IWW] preamble by individual members of the organization which has attached the Industrial Workers of the World to the Syndicalist rather than to the Socialist movement. The declaration in

7052-451: The working class. While other unions (such as the CIO ) adopted form and tactics—notably, industrial unionism and the sit down strike—which were developed or pioneered by the IWW, labor laws passed by legislatures have sought to steadily erode the range and diversity of methods employed by all labor organizations. Confronted with such obstacles, militant IWW members tend to believe in a return to

7138-548: Was a part of the Knights of Labor. De Leon was an editor for the Social Labor Party, and was extremely opposed to capitalism and wanted to overthrow it. Through the Socialist Party these three men gathered and formed the IWW. On April 15, 1915, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) all gathered in Kansas City, MO in attempt to form an organization directed towards harvest workers. This conference led to

7224-557: Was granted to cross IWW picket lines. Although the AFL had offered some support to the Western Federation of Miners in the aftermath of the Colorado Labor Wars , that assistance was discontinued because of WFM affiliation with the IWW. A number of AFL affiliates—machinists, carpenters, hat makers, leatherworkers, and others—decreed that any individual with an IWW card would not be allowed to work in their industries. The IWW fought for workers' rights somewhat differently from

7310-694: Was known for being able to bring in new members to the union while also improving working conditions for the harvest workers. Many of the workers employed at these industries faced harsh conditions that made collective action necessary for survival. Harsh conditions included, lice infested camps, long hours, intense heat, and earnings of $ 2.50 a day. Agricultural Workers Organization's Secretary-Treasurer Walter Nef designated two types of delegates, field delegates (or walking delegates) and stationary delegates, who organized in main wheat belt towns without continuous migration. Field delegates were agricultural workers who recruited new members and acted as representatives of

7396-406: Was room for such members in the industrial union movement, since individual members had a right to differing views. Elaborating on this circumstance, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn wrote in the Industrial Worker , A working man may be an anarchist or a socialist, a Catholic or a Protestant, a republican or a democrat, but subscribing to the Preamble of the I.W.W. he is eligible for membership. While

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