birth_date: 1905-06-27 00:00:00
avg_rating: 4.44
name: The Industrial Workers of the World
about: The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati. At its 1923 peak it claimed over 100,000 members in good standing &amp; could marshal the support of many more. Membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict. Today it's actively organizing &amp; numbers about 2,000 worldwide. Membership doesn't require that one work in a represented workplace, nor does it exclude membership other unions. The IWW contends that all workers should be united as a class &amp; the wage system should be abolished. They may be best known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, in which workers elect recallable delegates, &amp; other norms of grassroots democracy (self-management) ar The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati. At its 1923 peak it claimed over 100,000 members in good standing &amp; could marshal the support of many more. Membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict. Today it's actively organizing &amp; numbers about 2,000 worldwide. Membership doesn't require that one work in a represented workplace, nor does it exclude membership other unions. The IWW contends that all workers should be united as a class &amp; the wage system should be abolished. They may be best known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, in which workers elect recallable delegates, &amp; other norms of grassroots democracy (self-management) are implemented. The IWW was founded in Chicago at a convention of 200 socialists, anarchists &amp; radical trade unionists from all over the USA (notably the Western Federation of Miners) who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Theconvention, which took place on 6/27/05, was then referred to as the "Industrial Congress" or the "Industrial Union Convention"—it would later be known as the 1st Annual Convention of the IWW. It's considered one of the most important events in the history of the labor movement. Its 1st organizers included Wm D. (Big Bill) Haywood, Daniel DeLeon, Eugene Victor Debs, Thomas J. Hagerty, Lucy Parsons, "Mother" Mary Harris Jones, Frank Bohn, Wm Trautmann, Vincent St John, Ralph Chaplin &amp; many others. Notable members of the Industrial Workers of the World have included Helen Keller; Joe Hill; Ralph Chaplin; Tom Morello; Ricardo Flores Magon; James P. Cannon; James Connolly; Jim Larkin; Paul Mattick; David Dellinger; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn; Sam Dolgoff, Monty Miller; Indian Nationalist Lala Hardayal; Frank Little; ACLU founder Roger Nash Baldwin; Harry Bridges; Buddhist beat poet Gary Snyder; Australian poets Harry Hooton &amp; Lesbia Harford; anthropologist David Graeber; graphic artist Carlos Cortez; counterculture icon Kenneth Rexroth; Surrealist Franklin Rosemont; Rosie Kane &amp; Carolyn Leckie, former Members of the Scottish Parliament; Judi Bari; folk musicians Utah Phillips &amp; David Rovics; mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson; Finnish folk music legend Hiski Salomaa; US Green Party politician James M. Branum; Teacher Saul Fleider; Catholic Workers Dorothy Day &amp; Ammon Hennacy; nuclear engineer Susanna Johnson; and Noam Chomsky. The former lieutenant governor of Colorado, David C. Coates was a labor militant, &amp; was present at the founding convention. ...more