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[[Image:Iww-kill.JPG|thumb|350px|this 1912 IWW cartoon calls for murdering the capitalists]]The '''Industrial Workers of the World''' (IWW), nicknamed the "Wobblies"  is a far-left revolutionary<ref>[http://www.iww.org/culture/official/abc.shtml The ABC's of Revolutionary Unionism], Industrial Workers of the World</ref> [[labor union]] in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Germany, and the UK. Its goals are to create "one big union" and destroy capitalism. It practices dual unionism, which challenges the established unions like the [[AFL]] unions. In the past, the AFL and the Communist Party worked to destroy the IWW.

[[Image:Iww-kill.JPG|thumb|350px|this 1912 IWW cartoon calls for murdering the capitalists]]The '''Industrial Workers of the World''' (IWW), nicknamed the "Wobblies"  is a far-left revolutionary<ref>[http://www.iww.org/culture/official/abc.shtml The ABC's of Revolutionary Unionism], Industrial Workers of the World</ref> [[labor union]] in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Germany, and the UK. Its goals are to create "one big union" and destroy capitalism. It practices dual unionism, which challenges the established unions like the [[AFL]] unions. In the past, the AFL and the Communist Party worked to destroy the IWW.

Today, the radical un-patriotic IWW still attempts to undermine American businesses by agitating their employees around grievances.  For example, in New York City and elsewhere, IWW agitators have successfully created a "union" of Starbucks employees in an effort to bring the Starbucks company to its knees.  Additionally, open-border pro-Mexican IWW's have caused trouble for  Jimmy John's sandwich company.  Having started a Jimmy John's workers "union" in Minneapolis, IWWs insist on attacking Jimmy John's for its support of conservative values, such as Arizona's courageous new law against illegals.  

Today, the radical un-patriotic IWW still attempts to undermine American businesses by agitating their employees around grievances.  For example, in New York City and elsewhere, IWW agitators have successfully created a "union" of Starbucks employees in an effort to bring the Starbucks company to its knees.  Additionally, open-border pro-Mexican IWW's have caused trouble for  Jimmy John's sandwich company.  Having started a Jimmy John's workers "union" in Minneapolis, IWWs insist on attacking Jimmy John's for its support of conservative values, such as Arizona's courageous new law against illegals.  

The 1909 strike against the Pressed Steel Car Company of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, attracted the attention of the IWW, which had a policy of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood."<ref>Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=MKzorg2128cC La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience]'' (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) ISBN 0060924411, p. 295</ref> According to Thomas Brewton, a [http://www.worldviewtimes.com/bio.php/authorid-100/Thomas-E-Brewton staff writer] for the [http://www.nmatv.com/ New Media Alliance], "The IWW delivered on that threat by murdering half a dozen members of the state constabulary."<ref>Thomas E. Brewton, [http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/weblog_printerFriendly/621/ IWW - Organized Crime in the Labor Market], The View From 1776</ref> Among those killed in the strike violence were Pennsylvania State Troopers John L. Williams and John Curtis Smith and dozens of immigrant strikers.<ref>Marylynne Pitz, "[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09228/990709-51.stm Pressed Steel Car strike in McKees Rocks Reaches Centennial Anniversary]," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', August 16, 2009</ref>

The 1909 strike against the Pressed Steel Car Company of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, attracted the attention of the IWW, which had a policy of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood."<ref>Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=MKzorg2128cC La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience]'' (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) ISBN 0060924411, p. 295</ref> According to Thomas Brewton, a [http://www.worldviewtimes.com/bio.php/authorid-100/Thomas-E-Brewton staff writer] for the [http://www.nmatv.com/ New Media Alliance], "The IWW delivered on that threat by murdering half a dozen members of the state constabulary."<ref>Thomas E. Brewton, [http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/weblog_printerFriendly/621/ IWW - Organized Crime in the Labor Market], The View From 1776</ref> Among those killed in the strike violence were Pennsylvania State Troopers John L. Williams and John Curtis Smith and dozens of immigrant strikers.<ref>Marylynne Pitz, "[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09228/990709-51.stm Pressed Steel Car strike in McKees Rocks Reaches Centennial Anniversary]," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', August 16, 2009</ref>

An hour and a half after the murders, Dr. Frank McHugh was awakened at his home by IWW member Joe Hill, who had a gunshot wound in his chest.  As he was being treated, a revolver slipped from his pocket to the floor.  Hearing about the Morrison murders the next day, Dr. McHugh alerted the police.  Joe Hill was arrested, convicted, and executed for the murders.<ref>Thomas E. Brewton, [http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/weblog_printerFriendly/621/ IWW - Organized Crime in the Labor Market], The View From 1776</ref>}}

An hour and a half after the murders, Dr. Frank McHugh was awakened at his home by IWW member Joe Hill, who had a gunshot wound in his chest.  As he was being treated, a revolver slipped from his pocket to the floor.  Hearing about the Morrison murders the next day, Dr. McHugh alerted the police.  Joe Hill was arrested, convicted, and executed for the murders.<ref>Thomas E. Brewton, [http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/weblog_printerFriendly/621/ IWW - Organized Crime in the Labor Market], The View From 1776</ref>}}

 

In 1916, in Everett, Washington, IWW members organized a strike in the lumber-shipping port activities.  The local sheriff, seeking to disband the strikers in accordance with existing law, ran into the same violent street tactics by armed IWW members that had occurred in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.  In the armed assault by the IWW a deputy sheriff and a lumber company official were murdered and 24 non-union workers were wounded. Strongest among miners and lumberjacks in the far west, the IWW lost its next big strike, in Patterson, New Jersey, in 1916, and membership fell to 400 radicals.

In 1916, in Everett, Washington, IWW members organized a strike in the lumber-shipping port activities.  The local sheriff, seeking to disband the strikers in accordance with existing law, ran into the same violent street tactics by armed IWW members that had occurred in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.  In the armed assault by the IWW a deputy sheriff and a lumber company official were murdered and 24 non-union workers were wounded. Strongest among miners and lumberjacks in the far west, the IWW lost its next big strike, in Patterson, New Jersey, in 1916, and membership fell to 400 radicals.

[[Image:American-cities-125.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Bombing of the Federal building, Chicago, moments after [[#refNARAcities|95 Wobblies]] were convicted there, 1918. ''Source: National Archives and Records Administration'']]During World War I, the IWW tried to sabotage the U.S. war effort. All leading Wobblies were arrested by the [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilson Administration]] under the [[Sedition Act of 1918]] and went to prison. Moments after the sentencing of [[#refNARAcities|95 Wobbies]] (including Haywood) at the Chicago Federal Building in 1918, a bomb ripped through the building, killing four.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9502E2DB1439E13ABC4D53DFBF668383609EDE IWW Bomb Kills Four in Chicago]," ''The New York Times'', September 5, 1918; Charles Howard McCormick, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Vcvhrdr6drgC Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers]'' (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2005) ISBN 0761831320, pp. 31-31</ref> Out on appeal in 1921, Haywood fled to [[Moscow]], where he became a trusted adviser to the [[Bolshevik]] government.<ref>Douglas Linder (2003), [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haywood/HAY_BHAY.HTM William D. Haywood], Famous Trials (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref>

During World War I, the IWW tried to sabotage the U.S. war effort. All leading Wobblies were arrested by the [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilson Administration]] under the [[Sedition Act of 1918]] and went to prison. Moments after the sentencing of [[#refNARAcities|95 Wobbies]] (including Haywood) at the Chicago Federal Building in 1918, a bomb ripped through the building, killing four.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9502E2DB1439E13ABC4D53DFBF668383609EDE IWW Bomb Kills Four in Chicago]," ''The New York Times'', September 5, 1918; Charles Howard McCormick, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Vcvhrdr6drgC Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers]'' (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2005) ISBN 0761831320, pp. 31-31</ref> Out on appeal in 1921, Haywood fled to [[Moscow]], where he became a trusted adviser to the [[Bolshevik]] government.<ref>Douglas Linder (2003), [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haywood/HAY_BHAY.HTM William D. Haywood], Famous Trials (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref>

 

The IWW remains an icon of the far left, who admire its bitter, often violent opposition to capitalism and its rejection of American ideals. In contrary to traditional American values, IWWs are known for their open support of radical extremists such as Earth First, Mumia Abu Jamal, homosexuals, lesbians, and transvestites, convicted criminals, Black Panthers, Mexican re-conquistas, Leonard Peltier, Judi Bari, Palestinian extremists, radical Jewish Communists, and atheists of all stripes. Current IWW poster children include members such as anarchist "professor" Noam Chomsky, UFC "Fighter" Jeff Monson, and left wing rock "musician" Tom Morello.  

That year, after the [[Bolsheviks]] brutally<ref>Scott Zenkatsu Parker, ''[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mhuey/ Pravda o Kronshtadte]'' ("The Truth about Kronstadt"), ed. Mary Huey (University of Michigan)</ref> crushed<ref>"[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B05EED8133CE533A25752C1A9659C946095D6CF Bolsheviki Crush Moscow Uprising]," ''The New York Times'', March 11, 1921</ref> a wave of strikes,<ref>Michael C. Hickey, [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=23572 A Social Contract and No Socialism], H-Russia Discussion Network (April, 2009), H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online), Michigan State University</ref> Haywood betrayed the workers, saying, "every genuine labor union in the United States ought to affiliate with the International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions with its central bureau at Moscow."<ref>Max Eastman, "[http://www.marxists.org/archive/eastman/1921/bill-haywood.htm Bill Haywood, Communist]," ''The Liberator'', April, 1921;</ref> (The ICTIU was the phony "union" created and controlled by the [[Kremlin]] to suppress workers' rights in the [[Soviet Union]].)<ref>''[http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/093/699.htm Профессиональные союзы СССР]'' (The trade unions of the USSR), cultinfo.ru; cf. Israel Getzler, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qK3m05CQhT4C Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 0521894425, p. 233</ref> The union had its lowest membership in 1960, but anti-American anarchist-communists have revived the union since the 1990s. Commies still dominate the modern IWW but anarchist punk rock youth have brought a new resurgence, making the violent IWW grow considerably in recent years.

==History==

==Legacy==

The IWW was founded in 1905 by radical labor leaders [["Big Bill" Haywood]], an avowed atheist<ref>J. Anthony Lukas, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=d07IME-ezzQC Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America]'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998) ISBN 0684846179, p. 236</ref> and later Communist.<ref>Jamie H. Cockfield, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LkiUgn3MTmEC Black Lebeda: The Russian Famine Diary of ARA Kazan District Supervisor J. Rives Childs, 1921-1923]'' (Mercer University Press, 2006), ISBN 088146015X, p. 91, fn. 50</ref> Other founding members include [[Mary Harris Jones|Mother Jones]], [[Eugene V. Debs]], [[Daniel De Leon]], [[Thomas J. Hagerty]], [[Lucy Parsons]], [[William Trautmann]], [[Vincent Saint John]], and [[Ralph Chaplin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/Siitonen2005 |title=The IWW - Its First 100 Years |work=Industrial Workers of the World |date=2005 }}</ref>

The IWW remains an icon of the far left, who admire its bitter, often violent opposition to capitalism and its rejection of American ideals. In contrary to traditional American values, IWWs are known for their open support of radical extremists such as Earth First, Mumia Abu Jamal, homosexuals, lesbians, and transvestites, convicted criminals, Black Panthers, Mexican re-conquistas, Leonard Peltier, Judi Bari, Palestinian extremists, radical Jewish Communists, and atheists of all stripes.  Current IWW poster children include members such as anarchist "professor" Noam Chomsky, UFC "Fighter" Jeff Monson, and left wing rock "musician" Tom Morello.

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

* Dubofsky, Melvyn. ''We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World''  (abridged ed. 2000) [http://www.amazon.com/We-Shall-Be-All-Industrial/dp/0252069056/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232228839&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]

* Dubofsky, Melvyn. ''We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World''  (abridged ed. 2000) [http://www.amazon.com/We-Shall-Be-All-Industrial/dp/0252069056/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232228839&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]

==External links==

==External links==

* [http://www.iww.org/en/culture IWW homepage]

* [http://www.iww.org/en/culture IWW homepage]

[[Category:Labor Unions]]

[[Category:Labor Unions]]

[[Category:Progressive Era]]

[[Category:Progressive Era]]

[[Category:Socialism]]

[[Category:Socialism]]