The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") were a militant labor union seeking to organize unskilled workers. San Diegans were uneasy because the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had recently occurred, and the border with Mexico was nearby. San Diego, as did many local governments, passed ordinances against any kind of public demonstration. In 1912, Wobblies came to challenge the San Diego ordinances by getting arrested in significant numbers, and filling the city jail. But private vigilante groups, apparently working in cooperation with the police, took the Wobblies out of town and beat them up.