Recognized as one of the most revolutionary labor unions in America during the early twentieth-century by the general public and the federal government, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) separated themselves from the rest of the labor unions because of their success in executing general strikes and their brash appeal. The group advocated tactics which, the organization believed, would strengthen the country's labor movement, which included “dual unionism” and a stance against politically affiliated groups. During a period of poor labor conditions and inadequate income with long working hours the United States experienced a swell of labor unions that looked to change the status quo. The IWW fought for industrial workers as opposed to craft workers, which meant the organization consisted of those who were rejected from craft union groups such as immigrant as well as ethnic workers. The creation of the IWW was a response to the monopoly the American Federation of Labor (AFL) held over the rest of the labor unions. As one of its primary qualities, the IWW separated itself from the AFL and other labor groups by enforcing its “dual unionist” stance, which prohibited any IWW member from infiltrating said labor unions. Towards the end of World War I the Bolshevik Party inside Russia overthrew the Tsar and the provisional government during the Russian Revolution. The Bolsheviks then created a state in which the workers held control of the country. While the Communist ideology and the syndicalist beliefs of the IWW were not identical, leaders of the IWW saw the advantages of supporting Communism. However, the General Executive Board (GEB) of the IWW prohibited affiliation with the Communist Party, as the organization felt threatened by the party's attraction. Remaining firm in its stance as a “dual unionist” organization the IWW disassociated itself from the Communist Party. The inability for the GEB to compromise on tactics that could have potentially amalgamate the two groups shrank the organization. Former IWW members, such as Bill Haywood, William Z. Foster, and James P. Cannon left the IWW and joined the Communist Party with hopes of furthering America's labor movement. To better understand what life was like for labor activists in the early twentieth-century one has to see the progressions workers took to achieve their goals. In this case, “history from above,” represented by the three former IWW members already mentioned, (Haywood, Foster, and Cannon) shows how change was accomplished by the transition from one organization to another. The IWW was a change from previous labor groups in the 1900s and 1910s, but became stagnate as the organization refused to alternate the tactics it implemented. In order to establish a successful labor movement, collaboration was paramount, which, in turn, rejected the concept of “dual unionism.”

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This study builds upon the notion of a Wobbly 'sensibility' established by Salvatore Salemo and relates it to John Townsend's analysis of conflict between that group's adherents and western Progressives. The latter scholar, by concentrating on middle-class economic anxiety, failed to deal with the virtual unanimity of opposition to the IWW in western towns. Salerno's assertion that a 'sensibility' within the IWW was more binding than ideology raises the possibility that individuals and organizations of varying beliefs could be similarly united within a single cultural sphere with a directed purpose. Such an analysis can apply to factions of Progressivism and radical labor alike. The first chapter begins with a brief account of the historical context, origins, and organizational history of the IWW. This second section discusses the internal dynamic of the IWW, particularly the relationship between the leadership and rank-and-file. The third section briefly explicates the purpose of the thesis. The second chapter recounts important episodes of IWW activity that occurred on the West Coast concurrently with the strike in order to set the regional context of the conflict. The third chapter begins with a section discussing the development of Progressivism and urbanization in a national context and emphasizes cultural conflict. The second section is a brief survey of Progressive era Portland, Oregon. The third and fourth sections discuss the cultural repercussions of women entering industrial life on a mass scale. The chapter concludes with a brief demographic survey of cannery women. The fourth chapter is a chronological narrative of the strike, and is followed by a concluding fifth chapter of analysis. The first section suggests a Progressive 'sensibility' arrayed specifically against radical labor, while the next section discusses a radical 'sensibility' hostile to varying aspects of the cultural norms of Progressivism. The final section asserts the importance of analysis of cultural values, above even notions of class, in addition to economic analysis in order to obtain a more useful synthesis of Wobbly conflict than now exists.

Armistice Day 1919 was enthusiastically celebrated in Centralia, Washington. The Principle event of the day’s activities was a parade organized under the leadership of the newly formed American Legion. But the parade was to be more than the simple affirmation of the victory in France, it was to be a reaffirmation of the patriotism of the newly returned sailors and soldiers and their home-town supporters. Centralia was a troubled city in 1919. Organized labor of the most militant and extreme sort was challenging the oligopoly of the lumber trust. The Industrial Workers of the World had been successful in their strike of 1917 and had worked significant and widespread changes in the wage and work conditions then effective in the lumber camps of the pacific northwest. These “Wobblies” had established an office in Centralia which was a principle transit site for both the lumber camps working in the Cowlitz River foothills and the incredibly rich Grays’ Harbor district. Loggers bound in and out of this location had to stop over in Centralia where they were proselytized by the firey orators of the IWW. The Becker Committee affidavits give us a useful and unique resource for attempting to present the tragic events of November 11, 1919 in Centralia, Washington.

In 1913, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led a strike of silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey. Several New York intellectuals took advantage of Paterson's proximity to New York to witness and participate in the strike, eventually organizing the Paterson Pageant as a fundraiser to support the strikers. Directed by John Reed, the strikers told their own story in the dramatic form of the Pageant. The IWW and the Paterson Silk Strike inspired several writers to relate their experience of the strike and their participation in the Pageant in fictional works. Since labor and working-class experience is rarely a literary subject, the assertiveness of workers during a strike is portrayed as a catastrophic event that is difficult for middle-class writers to describe. The IWW's goal was a revolutionary restructuring of society into a worker-run co-operative and the strike was its chief weapon in achieving this end. Inspired by such a drastic challenge to the social order, writers use traditional social organizations--religion, nationality, and family--to structure their characters' or narrators' experience of the strike; but the strike also forces characters and narrators to re-examine these traditional institutions in regard to the class struggle. / English

So badly wounded that he had to be propped up in a chair to face the firing squad, James Connolly was executed by the British on May 10, 1916 in Dublin's infamous Kilmainham Jail. He had been one of the leaders of the abortive Easter 'Rising against English control of Ireland. This event in itself was sufficient to guarantee him a significant place in Irish history but Connolly had achieved prominence in other activities as well. Besides being a revolutionary nationalist he had been a Marxist and a labor leader, had founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party and had played a major role in the general strike in Dublin from August, 1913 through March, 1914. Altogether, it is not surprising that all the biographies of Connolly have concentrated on his role in Irish history and that little if any attention has been given to his significance in the history of American radicalism.

“The Proletarian Prometheus: Socialism, Ethnicity, and Revolution at the Lakehead, 1900-1935” is an analysis of the various socialist organizations operating at the Canadian Lakehead (comprised of the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario, now the present-day City of Thunder Bay, and their vicinity) during the first 35 years of the twentieth century. It contends that the circumstances and actions of Lakehead labour, especially those related to ideology, ethnicity, and personality, worked simultaneously to empower and to fetter workers in their struggles against the shackles of capitalism. The twentieth-century Lakehead never lacked for a population of enthusiastic, energetic and talented left-wingers. Yet, throughout this period the movement never truly solidified and took hold. Socialist organizations, organizers and organs came and went, leaving behind them an enduring legacy, yet paradoxically the sum of their efforts was cumulatively less than the immense sacrifices and energies they had poured into them. Between 1900 and 1935, the region's working-class politics was shaped by the interaction of ideas drawn from the much larger North Atlantic socialist world with the particularities of Lakehead society and culture. International frameworks of analysis and activism were of necessity reshaped and revised in a local context in which ethnic divisions complicated and even undermined the class identities upon which so many radical dreams and ambitions rested. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2007-12-14 20:26:40.652

The Centralia Tragedy of 1919 has been represented in numerous works over the course of the past 100 years. The vast majority of them concern the events of the day of the Tragedy, November 11, 1919, and whether a small group of Wobblies – members of a union group known as the International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) – opened fire on a group of parading American Legionnaires. This particular element, whether or not the Wobblies opened fire on the Legionnaires or the Legionnaires actually charged the hall where the Wobblies were staying, has generated significant concern in academic and popular literature since it occurred. This study is less concerned with the events of the day itself, accepting that the full truth might not ever be known. It is instead focused on the collective remembering of that event, and how those recollections splintered into several strands of memory in the nearly 96 years since. It categorizes those strands into three specific ones: the official memory framework, the Labor countermemory framework, and the academic framework. Each strand developed from early in the Tragedy’s history, starting with authors and adherents in the days after a 1920 trial. That trial, which declared the Wobblies guilty of the deaths of four Legionnaires while not holding anyone accountable for the lynching of Wobbly Wesley Everest, generated ample discord among Centralians. This lack of closure prompted the various aggrieved parties to produce books, pamphlets, speeches, protests and even a famed statue in Centralia's main park. Over time, the various perspectives congealed into the distinct strands of memory, which often flared up in conflict between 1930 and the present day.