The IWW, or the Wobblies, is a nominally international, but effectively American, union movement headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having much in common with anarcho-syndicalist unions, but also many differences. It believes that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the profit system abolished. In the early twentieth century it was large and thriving.

 
"There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life."

The IWW was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States (mainly the Western Federation of Miners) who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labour.

Its first leaders included Big Bill Haywood, Daniel De Leon, Eugene V. Debs, Thomas J Haggerty, Lucy Parsons, Mary Harris Jones commonly known as "Mother Jones", William Trautmann, Vincent Saint John, Ralph Chaplin, and many others. The IWW was differentiated by its promotion of industrial unionism (often confused with syndicalism), the acceptance of all skilled and unskilled workers and of immigrant workers. Many of its early members were first- and second-generation immigrants, some rising to prominence in the leadership like Carlo Tresca, Joe Hill and Mary Jones.

Its goal was to promote worker solidarity against the employing classes. From the current Preamble to the IWW Constitution:

"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. … Instead of the conservative motto, 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work', we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wage system'."

The Wobblies differed from other union movements of the time by emphasizing rank-and-file organization as opposed to empowering leaders who would bargain with employers on behalf of workers. They were one of the few unions to welcome all workers including women, foreigners and black workers. Wobblies were condemned by politicians and the Press who saw them as a threat to the status quo. Factory owners would employ both non-violent (sending in Salvation Army bands to drown out speakers) and violent means to disrupt Wobbly meetings. Wobblies were often arrested and sometimes killed for making public speeches, and this persecution only inspired a further militancy among its members. Wobbly organizing was considered to be one of the largest examples of anarcho-syndicalism in action in the United States.

The origin of the nickname "Wobbly" is unclear. Some believe it refers to a tool known as a "wobble saw", while others believe it is derived from an immigrant's mispronunciation of "IWW" as "eye-wobble-you-wobble-you". In any case, the nickname has existed since the union's early days and is still used today.

In recent years, the IWW has been involved in many labor struggles and free speech fights, including Redwood Summer, and the picket of the Neptune Jade in the port of Oakland in late 1997. IWW members built their own Internet server from spare parts and ran it out of a member's bedroom for two years before moving it to its current home in a San Francisco office. The IWW now has an entire network of Internet servers located around the world, maintains its own internet domain, and uses its online presence to organize new members as well as educate people about the IWW's colorful past.

IWW organizing drives in the 1990s included a major campaign against Borders Books in 1996, a strike at the Lincoln Park Mini Mall in Seattle that same year, organized drives at Wherehouse Music, Keystone Job Corps, the community organization ACORN, various homeless and youth centers in Portland, Oregon, and recycling shops in Berkeley, California. IWW members have been active in the building trades, marine transport, ship yards, high tech industry, hotels and restaurants, public interest organizations, schools and universities, recycling centers, railroads, bike messengers, and lumber yards.

The IWW has stepped in several times to help workers fight against mainstream unions, including saw mill workers in Fort Bragg in California in 1989, concession stand workers in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s, and most recently at shipyards along the Mississippi River.

In 2004, an IWW union was organized in a New York City Starbucks, a company notorious for its refusal to allow workers to form unions. In September of 2004, IWW organized truck drivers in Stockton walked off their jobs and went on a strike. Nearly all demands were met.

Current membership is believed to be about 1,000 with most members in the United States, but many also located in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Sierra Leone, and Sweden. – from Wikipedia


Please add your comments on this or any other story in this week's edition of Straight Goods in the Straight Goods Cyber Forum