Industrial Workers of the World

views updated

Industrial Workers of the World

United States 1905

Synopsis

At the turn of the twentieth century American laborers had been generally unionized by organizations such as the Knights of Labor and smaller organizations. The most formidable union was the 25-year-old American Federation of Labor (AFL), but it still excluded many workers from membership. Typical working conditions, particularly in industrial workplaces, were poor and dangerous. Unskilled workers, often seen as interchangeable, replaceable commodities, were at peril.

The goal of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was to organize all United States workers into "one big union." Unlike other unions of the day, this union's creators did not care about race, gender, or ethnic background. What they wanted was an end to capitalism with just, equitable working conditions for all working-class people. The IWW also espoused concepts that were alien in blue-collar America, chiefly an eight-hour work day and a 40-hour week.

The creation of the IWW set into motion a vocal debate about the value of work and workers in the United States. It also drew attention to the importance of marginalized workers—African Americans, new immigrants, women, and unskilled laborers—in the national economy.

Timeline

1885: Indian National Congress is established. In the years that follow, the party will take the helm of India's independence movement.
1890: U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act, which in the years that follow will be used to break up large monopolies.
1895: Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière show the world's first motion picture—Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory—at a café in Paris.
1898: United States defeats Spain in the three-month Spanish-American War. As a result, Cuba gains it independence, and the United States purchases Puerto Rico and the Philippines from Spain for $20 million.
1901: U.S. President William McKinley is assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.
1903: Russia's Social Democratic Party splits into two factions: the moderate Mensheviks and the hard-line Bolsheviks. Despite their names, which in Russian mean "minority" and "majority," respectively, Mensheviks actually outnumber Bolsheviks.
1904: Russo-Japanese War, which lasts into 1905 and results in a resounding Japanese victory, begins. In Russia, the war is followed by the Revolution of 1905, which marks the beginning of the end of czarist rule; meanwhile, Japan is poised to become the first major non-western power of modern times.
1905: Russian Revolution of 1905 occurs. Following the "bloody Sunday" riots before the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in January, revolution spreads throughout Russia, in some places spurred on by newly formed workers' councils, or soviets. Among the most memorable incidents of the revolt is the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. Suppressed by the czar, the revolution brings an end to liberal reforms, and thus sets the stage for the larger revolution of 1917.
1905: Albert Einstein presents his special theory of relativity.
1905: In the industrial Ruhr region in Germany, 200,000 miners go on strike.
1909: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded by W. E. B. Du Bois and a number of other prominent black and white intellectuals in New York City.
1914: On the Western Front, the first battles of the Marne and Ypres establish a line that will more or less hold for the next four years. Exuberance is still high on both sides, but will dissipate as thousands of German, French, and British soldiers sacrifice their lives in battles over a few miles of barbed wire and mud. The Eastern Front is a different story: a German victory over Russia at Tannenberg in August sets the stage for a war in which Russia will enjoy little success, and will eventually descend into chaos that paves the way for the 1917 revolutions.

Event and Its Context

Alternative to AFL Sought

At its founding, the IWW was one of three key labor organizations. The others were the AFL and the Socialist Party of America. Those who were ignored by the AFL—such as immigrants, minorities, and unskilled workers, and those disenchanted with the organization—typically gravitated to either the Socialist Party or IWW. The socialists were a political party rather than a labor union, but labor was one of the party's key platforms.

A significant contrast existed between the unionism of the AFL and that proposed by the IWW. The AFL was keen on organizing skilled workers by their specific craft. The IWW accepted all workers and planned to organize them by industry. The IWW fomented subversion of capitalism, whereas the AFL worked within the capitalist system.

A prime reason for the formation of "one big union" was to overcome the fragmentation caused by the divisions of trades into smaller unions. The IWW, in one of its informational pamphlets, gave the example of 56 unions in the 1903 Chicago packing house industry alone. The IWW advocated one single union for workers, not fragmented by craft, race, or gender. As a result, the IWW openly accepted workers who had been snubbed by the AFL. The AFL also represented only about 5 percent of American workers. Among those industries targeted by early IWW organizers were mining, timber, and shipping industries.

Another factor that contributed to the genesis of the IWW was that there had been no solidarity among existing radical groups. William "Big Bill" Haywood was the head of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), which had survived the violent Colorado mine strikes. It was in that bloody string of confrontations that the idea of creating a single large union was born. Haywood thought there had to be a way to unite disenfranchised radicals from various active organizations in the United States. He saw it as an opportunity to unite not just those who promoted trade unionism, but politicians and activists as well. Others agreed with him.

The Continental Congress of the Working Class

Acting on a 1904 mandate from the WFM, Haywood contacted various radical leaders to ask for their support in the creation of a single union. Also in 1904 six labor leaders gathered in Chicago to discuss how to launch a new, progressive union movement based in that city. At this meeting, they decided to invite 30 different prominent radicals—including socialists and reformers—to meet in Chicago on 2 January 1905.

The agenda of this "secret conference" was "to discuss ways and means of uniting the working people of America on correct revolutionary principles." The 20 participants created an Industrial Union Manifesto. They extended an invitation to those who supported the concepts outlined in the document and who were intent on realizing them to join them for another meeting Chicago in June. Their hope was to create a new labor organization.

Brand's Hall in Chicago was the meeting place on 27 June 1905 for an estimated 200 delegates who had responded to the invitation. Attendees at the founding meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World held vastly differing viewpoints. The crowd consisted predominantly of socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists. Noted labor historian Melvyn A. Dubofsky called the gathering "a weird congregation of individuals and organizations." Workers from Haywood's WFM, in fact, formed the core of the gathering, which was attended by representatives of about 43 other labor organizations.

Haywood called the gathering "the Continental Congress of the working-class." In his opening address, he said the meeting would serve "to confederate the workers of this country into a working-class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working-class from the slave bondage of capitalism." Haywood articulated the aims of the new organization as granting the working class possession of "economic power, the means of life, in control of the machinery of production and distribution, without regard to the capitalist masters." The IWW preamble is often viewed less as a charter for a union than as a call for class warfare. It clearly stated that workers and employers had no common ground.

On the speakers' platform with Haywood were Eugene Debs, leader of the Socialist Party, Daniel De Leon, a Marxist considered by some the father of Industrial Unionism, and Mother Mary Jones, an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America. Other speakers at the conference who were key in founding the IWW were Lucy Parsons, an anarchist widow, and Father Thomas Hagerty, a Catholic priest friendly to labor. The delegates elected Charles O. Sherman, from the WFM, as the first IWW president. The Chicago meeting lasted until 8 July 1905.

In a 10 July 1905 address in Minneapolis, De Leon called the creation of the IWW "an epoch in the annals of the labor movement of America … a turning point in the history of the land." The text of this address—"The Preamble of the I.W.W.," which explained the organization and its ideals—was later reissued as a pamphlet under the title "Socialist Reconstruction of Society." Haywood reportedly wrote De Leon and lauded the content as "clear and convincing. I wish that a copy of it could be placed in the hands of every man and woman of the working class in this country."

One important principle of the IWW was direct action. Often, this is interpreted as going hand-in-hand with violence. However, direct action is worker-initiated, unmediated negotiation. As defined in early IWW literature, "The worker on the job shall tell the boss when and where he shall work, how long and for what wages and under what conditions." In addition to direct action, the tools IWW members commonly used to educate and encourage workers to rally against employers included propaganda that the organization published in pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines. They also instigated boycotts and strikes.

Women and the IWW

At this time there were indeed women working in a variety of professions. Women were commonly employed as teachers and in the textile mills, laundry operations, and other factories throughout the United States. Despite this, the AFL did not allow women in its ranks. Mother Jones, one of the prime forces in the creation of the IWW, was certainly familiar with the plight of working women.

Jones gathered and organized women to participate in mining strikes. She frequently went into workplaces to record conditions as well as to organize. She once observed women working in breweries as being "condemned to slave daily in the wash-room in wet shoes and wet clothes, surrounded with foulmouthed, brutal foremen." Jones noted the prevalence of rheumatism and consumption among women workers, and the overbearing power of the foreman over the workers' minute-to-minute activities, including time allotted to bathroom breaks. The women, many of whom had no parents or other support system, often had to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves on a weekly salary of three dollars.

Mother Jones's presence on the dais at the 1905 convention was no mistake, nor was that of Parsons. The IWW was the first union to discuss housework and to recognize that women had jobs both inside and outside the home. The IWW was also the first union to organize domestics and sex workers. One of its earliest organizing efforts was in the textile industry. An estimated half of that industry's workers were women. Parsons edited The Liberator, an IWW paper, which enabled her to publicize issues of importance to women. Considered radical at the time, these positions included supporting a woman's right to divorce and to gain access to birth control. In addition to advocating for women, Parsons also lobbied for inclusion of Mexican migrant workers and other minorities in the IWW.

Politics Divides Philosophy

The IWW would become known as an anarchist-syndicalist trade union. Syndicalism encompasses both politics and economics. Its adherents believe that workers should control the means and processes of production and like anarchists believe in the abolishment of any form of state. Syndicalists advocate direct industrial action. The IWW was formed by leaders with diverse and often conflicting radical opinions, which from its inception contributed to problems and ultimately to its demise. One need only look at the IWW leadership to see how diverse the ideologies within the group must have been: Haywood espoused syndicalism, De Leon was a Marxist, Mother Jones was a staunch trade unionist, Lucy Parsons advocated anarchism, and Debs insisted on nonviolence.

Even in the 1900s, Americans thought of anarchism and socialism as synonymous. As explained by Stewart Bird, "Wobblies,"—as the union members were known—"were attracted to those anarchist currents that stress non-authoritarian structures such as cooperatives, collectives, federations, innovative schools, and decentralized industrial unions. They were hostile to more individualistic anarchists with whom they often had bitter disputes. They also came to a total rejection of Marxism-Leninism."

The primary ideological division was between Marxists and the anarchists and syndicalists. The Marxists were typically involved in either the Socialist Party of America or the Socialist Labor Party. Because its members held common views and they were founded the same year, the Socialist Party was closely allied with the IWW. Some of the leading socialists within the United States were keen on affecting change from within the AFL rather than a new organization. Neither organization, however, sent formal representatives to the founding convention.

In 1906 there was conflict about how politics fit into the union platform. There were those who thought democracy would trump direct action in bringing about meaningful change. There was also a core within the union, however, that thought direct action could be the "embryo of the new society and the revolutionary instrument for achieving it," according to Patrick Renshaw. The goal was to instigate strikes that would eventually escalate into a single, national general strike that would topple capitalism. The IWW majority was vociferously opposed to political action, which engendered controversy. The first point of contention between the Socialist Labor Party and the IWW surfaced in 1906 when the IWW started advocating the deletion of political rhetoric from the organization's preamble.

The political infighting and ideological differences may be moot, as Renshaw observed, "mainly because the Wobblies failed in their revolutionary aims." At the time, the key debate was which faction would prevail within the union. The question was one of political power: If there was to be revolution in the United States, who would lead it? Given world events—notably the coming revolution in Russia—it was reasonable for those within either the SLP or IWW to believe that united workers might be able to affect sweeping societal changes. They hoped they might be able to bring about a revolution against capitalists in the United States.

By 1908 politics were considered no longer essential to the union agenda. Because De Leon espoused Marxism and advocated political action, he and his supporters were essentially expelled from the IWW in 1908. At the 1908 convention De Leon was not seated as a delegate. He and those allied with him walked out. The union transformed into essentially a militant union that was known for prounion propaganda distributed through lectures, debates, newsletters, newspapers, and pamphlets, and for agitating strikes. Later in its existence, Samuel Gompers, then president of the AFL, was among those who spoke openly against the union by decrying the IWW as "destructive in theory and practice." While this infighting persisted, precious little organizing occurred.

The IWW suffered even from its nicknames. There are numerous explanations as to how the term wobblies originated. Among the most plausible is that it was derived from the wobble saw. The union was often incorrectly called the International Workers of the World. Wits played on the acronym to create derogatory monikers such as "I Won't Work" or "I Want Whiskey."

The IWW also inspired numerous writers who portrayed the union favorably. Upton Sinclair is thought to have been the first to do so in a play called Singing Jailbirds. Among others who wrote about the IWW were John Dos Passos, Eugene O'Neill, Theodore Dreiser, and William Carlos Williams.

The IWW typically had an estimated 150,000 members at any given time, although numbers would swell appreciably during strikes. Estimates run as high as one million workers who were members at some time between 1905 and 1915. The IWW called approximately 150 strikes during its heyday. Although the union did organize in other parts of the world, it was strongest in the United States. IWW organizers happily courted workers typically snubbed by the AFL. The IWW had its greatest successes within agriculture and textile industry.

Key Players

Debs, Eugene Victor (1855-1926): A life-long unionist, Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was an official in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF) and the American Railway Union (ARU) before helping to found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He became a Socialist Party presidential candidate. Debs left the union because its values clashed with his. He espoused nonviolence. Debs was later seen as a dangerous wildcard and was feared by union leaders.

Hagerty, Father Thomas J.: A Catholic priest friendly to labor, Hagerty was one of the IWW founders who wrote the union's preamble. He was editor of the Voice of Labor, the publication of the American Labor Union. He has been described as "a big black-bearded scholarly man." He worked as an organizer during a six-year leave from his church duties.

Haywood, William Dudley (1869-1928): Haywood was a labor leader and radical who was best known for his part in the founding of the IWW. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and became a miner and union member as a teen. He was first involved with the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). His experiences in the Colorado mine strikes between 1903 and 1905 reinforced his belief that it was essential for the future of working people in the United States to form a single national union. After the 1905 convention, Haywood became the country's best-known labor radical.

Jones, Mother Mary Harris (1830-1930): Born in Cork, Ireland, Jones immigrated in 1838 to Toronto. She was a dressmaker, wife, and mother. After the deaths of her husband and children in a yellow fever epidemic, she started a career as a labor organizer among the miners. She was present at the founding of the IWW but later distanced herself from the organization, perhaps because she found the Wobblies too radical.

Parsons, Lucy González (1853-1942): Although much of her early life is not well known, Lucy González married Albert Parsons in 1871. Upon moving to Chicago, they both became active in politics including the Workingmen's Party (WPUSA) and Socialist Labor Party. Widowed by her husband's execution in 1887 following the Haymarket Riots, Parsons was an anarchist who was instrumental in the founding the IWW.

Bibliography

Books

Bird, Stewart, Dan Georgakas, and Deborah Shaffer. Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW.Chicago: Lake View Press, 1985.

De Leon, Daniel. Socialist Reconstruction of Society. New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1912..

Dubofsky, Melvyn A. Big Bill Haywood. New York: St.Martin's Press, 1987.

Murolo, Priscilla and A. B. Chitty. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated History of Labor in the United States. New York: The New Press, 2001.

Murray, R. Emmet. The Lexicon of Labor. New York: The New Press, 1998.

Renshaw, Patrick. The Wobblies: The Story of Syndicalism in the United States. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1967.

Taft, Philip. Organized Labor in American History. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964.

Periodicals

IWW. One Big Union of the I.W.W. (pamphlet) Chicago:International Workers of the World, (n.d.).

Other

"Eugene V. Debs: A Union Leader." Eugene V. Debs Foundation Web Site [cited 7 August 2002]. <http://www.eugenevdebs.com/pages/uleadr.html#>.

LeFevre, William. "In the Shadow of I.W.W." Wayne State University, Walter P. Reuther Library. 2001 [cited 7 August 2002]. <http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/exhibits/iww.html>.

Industrial Workers of the World Web Site [cited 7 August2002]. <http://www.iww.org>.

—Linda Dailey Paulson

St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide: Major Events in Labor History and Their Impact