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Industrial Workers of the World

"IWW" redirects here. For other uses of the acronym, see IWW (disambiguation).
"Wobbly" redirects here. For other uses, see Wobbly (disambiguation).

IWW
Industrial Workers of the World
FoundedJune 27, 1905 (1905-06-27)[1][2]
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois, U.S.
Location
  • International
Members
Increase c.12,300[a]
Key people
§ Notable members
PublicationIndustrial Worker
Websiteiww.org

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain.[5] Its ideology combines general unionism with industrial unionism, as it is a general union, subdivided between the various industries which employ its members. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism", with ties to socialist,[6] syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements.

In the 1910s and early 1920s, the IWW achieved many of its short-term goals, particularly in the American West, and cut across traditional guild and union lines to organize workers in a variety of trades and industries. At their peak in August 1917, IWW membership was estimated at more than 150,000, with active wings in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.[7] However, the extremely high rate of IWW membership turnover during this era (estimated at 133% between 1905 and 1915) makes it difficult for historians to state membership totals with any certainty, as workers tended to join the IWW in large numbers for relatively short periods (e.g., during labor strikes and periods of generalized economic distress).[8][9]

Membership declined dramatically in the late 1910s and 1920s. There were conflicts with other labor groups, particularly the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which regarded the IWW as too radical, while the IWW regarded the AFL as too conservative and opposed their decision to divide workers on the basis of their trades.[10] Membership also declined due to government crackdowns on radical, anarchist, and socialist groups during the First Red Scare after World War I. In Canada, the IWW was outlawed by the federal government by an Order in Council on September 24, 1918.[11]

Likely the most decisive factor in the decline in IWW membership and influence was a 1924 schism in the organization, from which the IWW never fully recovered.[10][12] During the 1950s, the IWW faced near-extinction due to persecution under the Second Red Scare,[13] although the union would later experience a resurgence in the context of the New Left in the 1960s and 1970s.[14]

The IWW promotes the concept of "One Big Union", and contends that all workers should be united as a social class to supplant capitalism and wage labor with industrial democracy.[15] It is known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, through which workers elect their own managers[16] and other forms of grassroots democracy (self-management) are implemented. The IWW does not require its members to work in a represented workplace,[17] nor does it exclude membership in another labor union.[18]

  1. ^ "IWW Chronology (1904–1911)". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  2. ^ "Minutes of the IWW Founding Convention". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  3. ^ "070-232 (LM2) 06/30/2021". olmsapps.dol.gov. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  4. ^ "Form AR21 Trade Union and Labour Relations (consolidation) Act 1992" (PDF). UK Government Certification Office.
  5. ^ "What is the Origin of the Term Wobbly?". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  6. ^ Caro-Morente, Jaime. "The political culture of the IWW in its first 20 years". Industrial Worker. Vol. 114, no. 1780/3 (Summer 2017 ed.). Archived from the original on June 19, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  7. ^ Chester, Eric Thomas (2014). The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Industrial Workers of the World during the World War I Era. ABC-CLIO. p. xii. ISBN 9781440833021. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  8. ^ "IWW membership peaked at around 100,000 in the mid-1910s. This number is, however, somewhat misleading in regard to overall union reach and activity. Between 1905 and 1915, for example, the IWW’s turnover rate in membership was an astonishing 133 percent. It is, therefore, entirely possible that more than one million Americans aligned with the IWW at various times. That said, the IWW never claimed more than 5 percent of the entire American working population at any one time". Johnathan Foster (2017). "International Workers of the World"; pp. 260-262 in Jeffrey A. Johnson (ed.). Reforming America: A Thematic Encyclopedia and Document Collection of The Progressive Era. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC, ISBN 978-1-4408-3720-3
  9. ^ Brissenden, Paul Frederick (1920). The I.W.W.: A Study of American Syndicalism. Vol. 83 (2nd ed.). Columbia University.
  10. ^ a b Saros, Daniel E. (2009). Labor, Industry, and Regulation During the Progressive Era. Routledge. ISBN 9781135842338. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  11. ^ "Item: 1918-2384". November 25, 2016. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  12. ^ Renshaw, Patrick (1967). The Wobblies: The Story of the IWW and Syndicalism in the United States. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. p. 286. ISBN 9781566632737. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  13. ^ "IWW Chronology (1946–1971)". IWW.org. Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  14. ^ "IWW Organizing in the 1970s". IWW.org. Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  15. ^ "Preamble to the IWW Constitution". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  16. ^ Parker, Martin; Fournier, Valérie; Reedy, Patrick (August 2007). The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Organization. Zed Books. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-84277-333-8. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  17. ^ "(1) I am a student, a retired worker, and/or I am unemployed; can I still be an IWW member?". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on October 15, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  18. ^ "(2) I am a member of another union; can I still I join the IWW?". Industrial Workers of the World. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2018.


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