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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 were Pennsylvania State Troopers John L. Williams and John Curtis Smith.<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 were Pennsylvania State Troopers John L. Williams and John Curtis Smith.<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 never had a large following, making its greatest impact when it seized control of a large textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. The AFL unions greatly outnumbered the small IWW contingent in Lawrence, but dramatic actions gave momentum to the IWW, much to the disgust of regular 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]]. Finally, the strikers won a small pay increase. IWW membership swelled to 10,000, but the union proved unable to bargain on a routine basis for its members. The IWW is most famous for the execution of IWW member Joe Hill. As Brewton recounts:

The IWW never had a large following, making its greatest impact when it seized control of a large textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. The AFL unions greatly outnumbered the small IWW contingent in Lawrence, but dramatic actions gave momentum to the IWW, much to the disgust of regular 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]]. Finally, the strikers won a small pay increase. IWW membership swelled to 10,000, but the union proved unable to bargain on a routine basis for its members.

 

The IWW is most famous for the execution of IWW member Joe Hill. As Brewton recounts:

{{cquote|In 1914 Salt Lake City former policeman John Morrison and his son Arling were shot dead by gunmen as they were closing their small grocery store for the night.  Before being shot to death, Arling managed to fire the store’s pistol at the intruders.

{{cquote|In 1914 Salt Lake City former policeman John Morrison and his son Arling were shot dead by gunmen as they were closing their small grocery store for the night.  Before being shot to death, Arling managed to fire the store’s pistol at the intruders.