Changes

==History==

==History==

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 was founded in 1905 by radical labor leaders [["Big Bill" Haywood]], an avowed atheist<ref>J. Anthony Lukas, ''[https://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, ''[https://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>

==Direct action==

==Direct action==

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, ''[https://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 IWW's largest following reached 100,000 members, making its greatest impact when it seized control of a large textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. AFL union membership greatly outnumbered the active IWW contingent in Lawrence, but dramatic actions gave momentum to the IWW, much to the disgust of 'bread and butter' unionists. John Golden, president of the AFL United Textile Workers denounced the IWW action as "revolutionary" and "anarchistic" but failed to wrest the leadership of the strike away from the Wobblies. AFL President [[Samuel Gompers]] denounced the strike as a "class conscious industrial revolution ... a passing event that is not intended to be an organization for the protection of the immediate rights or promotion of the near future interests of the workers."  Radical historians have celebrated the strike. When the state government sent in the militia, the IWW sent in its top firebrands, Haywood, Italian anarchist Carlo Tresca, and his wife [[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]] later to become a top-echelon Communist. Finally, the strikers won a small pay increase and other meager demands. IWW membership swelled to 10,000 in the Lawrence textile mills, but the union proved unable to bargain on a routine basis for its members.

The IWW's largest following reached 100,000 members, making its greatest impact when it seized control of a large textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. AFL union membership greatly outnumbered the active IWW contingent in Lawrence, but dramatic actions gave momentum to the IWW, much to the disgust of 'bread and butter' unionists. John Golden, president of the AFL United Textile Workers denounced the IWW action as "revolutionary" and "anarchistic" but failed to wrest the leadership of the strike away from the Wobblies. AFL President [[Samuel Gompers]] denounced the strike as a "class conscious industrial revolution ... a passing event that is not intended to be an organization for the protection of the immediate rights or promotion of the near future interests of the workers."  Radical historians have celebrated the strike. When the state government sent in the militia, the IWW sent in its top firebrands, Haywood, Italian anarchist Carlo Tresca, and his wife [[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]] later to become a top-echelon Communist. Finally, the strikers won a small pay increase and other meager demands. IWW membership swelled to 10,000 in the Lawrence textile mills, but the union proved unable to bargain on a routine basis for its members.

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.

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, ''[https://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>

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.

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, ''[https://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.

==Legacy==

==Legacy==