Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, having much in common with anarcho-syndicalist unions, but also many differences. It contends that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the profit system abolished. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshall the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict and government repression. Today it numbers about 1,000 members world-wide, but with a recent renewal of organizing activity membership appears to be rising again.

Government repression

The effectiveness of the IWW's non-violent tactics sparked violent reaction by government, company management, and mobs of "respectable citizens". In 1914, Joe Hill (Joel Hägglund) was accused of murder and, despite only circumstantial evidence, was executed by the state of Utah in 1915. Frank Little, another senior IWW member, was lynched in Butte, Montana. In 1916 at Everett, Washington a drunken mob of deputized businessmen led by Sheriff Donald McRae attacked Wobblies on the steamer VERONA, killing at least five union members (six more were never accounted for and probably were lost in Puget Sound). Two members of the mob were killed, probably by their own side's cross-fire.

Related Topics:
1914 - Joe Hill - 1915 - Frank Little - Butte, Montana - 1916 - Everett, Washington

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Many IWW members opposed the United States participation in World War I, but the organization took no official position on the conflict. Regardless, the employing class and the U.S. Government were able to turn public opinion against the IWW, because of the IWW's refusal to support World War I. This led to vigilante mobs attacking the IWW in many places, including Centralia, Washington in November 1919, where IWW member and army veteran, Wesley Everest, was killed by a lynch mob.

Related Topics:
World War I - Centralia, Washington - 1919 - Wesley Everest

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The government used World War I as an opportunity to crush the IWW. An IWW newspaper, the Industrial Worker, wrote just before the declaration of war: "Capitalists of America, we will fight against you, not for you! There is not a power in the world that can make the working class fight if they refuse." Upon the U.S. declaration of war, however, the organization ceased all anti-war activity and propaganda. In September 1917, U.S. Department of Justice agents made simultaneous raids on forty-eight IWW meeting halls across the country. In 1917, one hundred and sixty-five IWW leaders were arrested for conspiring to hinder the draft, encourage desertion, and intimidate others in connection with labor disputes, under the new Espionage Act; one hundred and one went on trial before Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1918.

Related Topics:
Industrial Worker - 1917 - Department of Justice - Espionage Act - Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis - 1918

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All of them were convicted–even some who had not been members of the union for years–and sentenced to prison terms of up to twenty years. Released on bail, Haywood fled to the Soviet Union where he remained until his death. Communist Party promises to reimburse those who had staked Haywood's bond went unfulfilled.

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After the war the repression continued. Members of the IWW were harassed and prosecuted under various State and federal laws and the 1920 Palmer Raids singled out the foreign-born members of the organization. By the mid-1920s membership was already declining due to government repression and it decreased again substantially during a contentious organizational schism in 1924 when the organization split between the "Westerners" and the "Easterners" over a number of issues, including the role of the General Administration (often oversimplified as a struggle between "centralists" and "decentralists") and attempts by the Communist Party to dominate the organization. By 1930 membership was down to around 10,000.

Related Topics:
1920 - Palmer Raids - 1920s - 1924 - 1930

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