100 Years of Workers’ Struggles: Commemorating the Centenary of the Founding of IWW
Thursday, June 23 – Sunday, June 26, 2005,
Chicago, Illinois

Delegates from across the United States and Canada gathered in Chicago in June 1905 to launch a new labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World. In the years that followed, the IWW revolutionized the labor movement, organizing workers who the traditional craft unions had written off and creating a form of direct action, rank-and-file militant unionism that inspired workers around the world even as it led terrified employers to unleash a savage wave of repression.Today, while the mainstream labor movement seems headed to oblivion, workers are reclaiming and reinventing earlier modes of struggle. Workers’ centers, solidarity unionism, and the contemporary resurgence of the IWW demonstrate that workers continue to resist exploitation, and to struggle for control over their working lives.

We are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the IWW with a number of events over the weekend of June 23-24.

Thursday, June 23: Benerit Concert for the IWW, featuring Utah Philips & John McCutcheon.
8:30pm, doors open at 8
$25 in Advance (at the Hot House), $25 at the door
(21 & Over unless accompanied by a legal guardian)
Hot House 31 E. Balbo Ave

Friday, June 24: Centennial Dinner
Svithiod Hall, at 5518 W. Lawrence. Eats at 6:00pm, Program at 7:00pm. We are asking for a $10 cover charge. Seating is extremely limited. Contact Jenny Ohlson at 773-505-2331 to reserve your place.

Saturday, June 25-26 (daytime): IWW Centenary Conference: The Once and Future Labor Movement and Alternative Forms of Worker Organizing.

The first day of this two-day conference will focus on how the IWW and its ideas have inspired, and continue to inspire, a wide array of social movements. The second day will focus on alternative forms of worker organizing as workers grapple with globalization, contracting-out and other aspects of the new economy in the face of an increasingly hostile labor law regime.
For information contact 215-222-1905 or centenary (at) iww.org

Saturday, June 25 (evening): IWW Centenary Concert, featuring Mark Ross, The Citizens Band, Rebel Voices, Larry Long, Anne Feeney, Charlie King with Len Wallace, and a special guest appearance by Utah Philips.
8:00pm, Bradley Center, 941 W. Lawrence (at Sheridan).
Tickets $20, $15 for members of any union, are available at New World Resources Center, 1300 N. Western Ave. or from Jenny Ohlson 773-505-2331.
More info: www.iww100.org/