INTRODUCTION TO THE WOBBLIES


THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD (I.W.W.)

Every worker is an industrial worker, whether that industry be
steel, health care, tourism or education.  If you earn your living
by working with you hands or mind, then you're welcome to join
the I.W.W.

The Wobblies (as members of the I.W.W. are known) have historically
organized those workers that the A.F.L. had shunned.  In the early
days that meant blacks, immigrants, women and unskilled laborers.
Today we find the I.W.W. organizing office workers, environmental
canvassers, housewives and prisoners, as well as the homeless and
unemployed.

Can the I.W.W. help me improve the working conditions or wages at
my current job?

That depends on you.  The I.W.W. does not provide an all-knowing
leadership or hefty treasury to fight your battles for you.  But
if you're willing to organize on the job-site by talking with
your co-workers about the issues that matter to them, then you
can count on your fellow workers in the I.W.W. to lend their full
support to your struggle.

In 1909, when Wobblies in Spokane were being thrown in jail for
speaking on street corners, hundreds more came west on boxcars
to help them.  In the first of a series of "Free Speech Fights",
Wobblies took turns speaking and being arrested, packing the
jails and courts, until they won the right to speak in public.  It's
their fierce commitment to social justice that makes "worker
solidarity" in the I.W.W. a force to be reckoned with.

What is the relationship of the I.W.W. and mainstream labor unions?

For many decades, the leadership of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. has worked
hand in hand with the capitalists to squelch rank and file
militancy.  Their overriding concern has been "industrial harmony,"
not social justice, and so they fail to question the most basic
assumptions of capitalist production.

While regular trade unions split workers up into their respective
skills, allowing one craft union to cross the picketline of another,
the I.W.W. believes in one big union, organized along industrial
lines.  If, for instance, the nurses go on strike, they should
be able to count on the support of the doctors, janitors,
pharmacists, and clerical workers in their hospital.

Many Wobblies also belong to trade unions where they work.  Here
they often agitate for more rank and file democracy.  The I.W.W.
does not believe in signing away the right to strike, nor does
it recognize the authority of the courts to impose injunctions
against labor.  While the I.W.W. is happy to do strike support
for other unions when necessary, we also try to keep our sights
on the bigger prize ahead.

But didn't the I.W.W. die out?  Are its ideas still relevant?


The I.W.W. was nearly crushed in the early '20's by some of the
fiercest repression ever unleashed by big business and the U.S.
government.  Because the I.W.W. had strongholds in industries
that were critical to the First World War effort, and because
they refused to sign no-strike pledges, the Wobblies were
branded "pro-Kaiser" and relentlessly persecuted.

The world economy has changed a lot since the days when the I.W.W.
controlled great sections of the logging, mining and agricultural
industries.  Today, while mainstream labor tries desperately
to hold its ground against the union-busting fostered during the
Reagan/Bush era, vast new sectors of the economy have opened up
that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. would never dream of organizing.

Whether they be fast-food workers, word processors, or micro-
chip assemblers, today's non-union wage workers need the I.W.W.
even more than their predecessors.  Winning the eight-hour day
was not enough.  We must redefine the very meaning of work
itself, and find ways to redistribute society's wealth for
the benefit of all.

Does the I.W.W. support any political party?

The I.W.W. is a labor union, not a political party.  We believe
that economic justice must be achieved through economic struggle,
whether it be with our boss or landlord.  The institutions of
government have always proven themselves to be the allies of
capital, so we do not wait for our freedom from wage-slavery to
be legislated.

The I.W.W. has successfully resisted attempts by various "left"
parties to make the union a mere adjunct to their political
ambitions.  By refusing to endorse one party or another, the
I.W.W. has avoided the sectarian feuding that can easily destroy
a group.

Nonetheless, many of the founders of the I.W.W. were also active
in socialist politics.  Eugene Debs and Big Bill Haywood are the
best-known examples.  Some Wobblies consider themselves anarchists
and shun all electoral activity.  Others are simply militant
unionists who would disavow all labels.  Our commitment to
worker control and the abolition of capitalism makes us a "left"
organization more by default than intention.

What is direct action?

The labor movement has been most successful when it relied on the
direct intervention of the workers to obtain their demands.
Rather than allowing professional negotiators to speak for them,
Wobblies have engaged in those tactics which they could control
themselves--strikes, slow downs, work to rule--what we call
sabotage.

Sabotage in this context does not mean arson and dynamite.  It's
more properly defined as, "the conscious withdrawal of efficiency."
Staying at your workstation but reducing your production by half
will bring the bosses to their knees quicker than a whole team of
negotiators.

The I.W.W. has never advocated violence.  By fighting for justice
with non-violent tactics, the I.W.W. has often won the support of an
initially mistrustful public.

What is a general strike?

A general strike is when all workers in all industries go on strike
at the same time.  It may be for a limited time and have limited
demands, in which case it has the largely symbolic value of
illustrating the important point that the world doesn't function
without the workers' cooperation or indeed, their labor.

THE GENERAL STRIKE, however, is a mythological, revolutionary moment
in the future when all the workers of the world seize control of
their respective industries, and begin reorganizning their
workplaces to meet their own needs rather than those of their
bosses.  Needless to say, it will take a well educated and highly
organized working class to pull this off, and it's toward this end
that the I.W.W. dedicates itself.

What about feminism and the I.W.W.?

Women have been active in the I.W.W. since its inception.  Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn, one of the I.W.W.'s best known early agitators, once
said that, "The I.W.W. has been accused of pushing the women to the
front.  This is not true.  Rather, the women have not been kept in
back, and so they have naturally moved to the front."

Much of the work that has traditionally been done by women was not
recognized as such by the male-run business unions.  The I.W.W.
supports the right of homemakers, sex-industry workers, and other
women to organize for better conditions and wages just like other
male workers.

What about the I.W.W. and militarism?

Every war has its losers and winners, but countries have nothing to
do with it.  The ruling class inevitably makes a tidy profit from
war, while the working class loses its flesh and blood on the
frontlines.  Worker solidarity does not recognize national
boundaries, but instead unites against a common class enemy.  The
surest way to stop a war is by refusing to participate in it, which
is why the I.W.W. believes it's important to educate workers in the
armed forces and so-called "defense industries" about where their
real self-interest lies.

How about the environment?

Rainforest destruction, chemical spills, and acid rain are just a
few examples of how dangerous it can be to put profit before people.
Government regulation and public outcry can at best slow down
regulation and public outcry can at best slow down the destruction
of our planet, not reverse it.

But if the workers in all polluting industries were to withdraw
their labor, the poison factories could be shut down in a matter of
weeks.  The workers themselves must decide whether what they produce
is socially useful and necessary or not.

So, why not become a Wobbly?

I want to become a Wobbly.  I'am a worker and not an employer.

Name______________________________________________________

ADDRESS___________________________________________________

Dues are $3.00 for incomes of $0-800 a month, $9.00 for $800-$1,700
per month, and $12.00 for those making more than $1,700 per month.
Initiation is the equivalent of one month's dues.
Included  with  your  membership  is  a   subscription   to   the
"Industrial  Worker",  the  Wobbly monthly newspaper; the General
Organizational Bulletin,  totally  unedited  letters,  proposals,
activities  you  send  in,  along  with your fellow workers.  The
G.O.B., as it's known,comes out in  monthly  increments.   You'll
also be receiving a copy of the I.W.W. constitution which is, can
be  and  will  be  amended  to  wishes of the general membership.
Lastly, you'll receive your red card and union button.  There was
a time in the U.S.A. when it was nigh on to impossible  to  hitch  a
free ride on a freight train without one.
For more information:

You can phone us in the U.S.A. at (415) 863-9627 or 863-WOBS.
You can e-mail us at iww@igc.apc.org
Our snail mail address is:
I.W.W.
1095 Market St. Suite 204
San Francisco
California 94103
U.S.A.

