Haywood Labor Unions

These Joe Hill lyrics describe the typical mentality of labor unions. In order to accomplish equality in the workforce they believed binding together was their best option. Labor Unions struggled to fight low wages, long hours, and unhealthy environments. They also wanted to establish women/child labor laws. In the arena of labor unions comes The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies). They took the views of labor unions one step farther, which made them one of the most “revered” and “reviled” unions prior to World War I.
In order to understand the importance of this labor union it is vital to look at some of the major events in their history. William Haywood was a former hard-rock miner who gave the keynote speech at the meeting

in 1905 amongst more than 200 socialists and trade unionists. Wobblies recruited from some of the most discriminated groups of people such as: unskilled, non-white, immigrant, women, and migrant workers. The I.W.W. was split into two different groups one believed in socialism the other were anarchists. The socialist group encouraged members to be involved in politics, which supported change within the system. Anarchists wanted direct action, which consisted of strikes and sabotage. (www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/e_iww.html)
The organization started with only six industrial workers meeting in Chicago in 1904 to attempt to establish a revolutionary working class organization. After meeting they knew they would need to recruit in order to make a big impact. Therefore, on January 2nd 1905 twenty three workers met again in Chicago on June 27th the same year and the “Continental Congress of the Working Class” officially established the IWW with the cooperation of multiple organizations. Violence began to occur in 1906. WFM members attempted to kill the governor of Colorado,Vincent St. John (IWW member) was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder on a restaurant owner, and a miners strike against wage cut broke out in Goldsfield, Nevada. In 1907-1911 strikes became more prevalent across the United States for instance the textile strike in Mapleville, Rhode Island, Lumber Workers Strike in Montana, and sawmill strike in Portland, Oregon. (www.iww.org) These are only a few examples.
From 1912-1915 strikes continued on a much larger scale. The growth in the number of members willing to participate in strikes made an impact. The Bread and Roses Strike consisted of 25,000 textile mill workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This strike called for IWW leadership. Two leaders were arrested for murder of striker Anna Lo Pizza during this time. The Wheatland Riots was a hop pickers strike against Durst Ranch in California. A gun battle in this strike resulted in indictment and conviction of IWW members Ford and Suhr sentenced to 15 years in prison. (www.iww.org) In 1915 Joe Hill, a union songwriter, was arrested on murder charges in Utah. He was executed by a firing squad, which named him a martyr of the movement.
All the events above have a common theme passion and violence.

This can be a fierce combination. Passion can be a good thing because it encourages people to fight for what they believe in. The trouble is that often individuals do not know the fine line between being civil or violent when they are trying to make a big impact. I believe the wobblies were revered by people who worked hard for a living, but could not take a stand without losing their jobs. Many of those people could not afford to lose their jobs because they would not be able to feed their families, but they had a high level of respect for the wobblies taking a stand. I also believe these workers respected the fact that the wobblies had the opportunity to actually make change happen for workers everywhere. I think they were reviled by the government and businesses owners because the radical actions the anarchists

took.
In 1919 membership had plummeted from 100,000 all the way to 30,000 members.

Today the I.W.W. members continue to advocate workers rights and free speech. The I.W.W. consists of writers, playwrights, historians, and filmmakers who still retain a vigorous press. (www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/golman/peopleevents/e_iww.html) I have a great respect for people who are brave enough to stand up to their opposition without knowing if they can truly win or not. On the contrary, I could not imagine carrying out the violent acts some of the IWW members did. In my opinion people expect violence in order to solve problems. Therefore, sometimes peoples minds can be far greater tops in the art of war. Unions could be useful today, but not any that carry out high levels of violence. I think that violence will only start a vicious cycle instead of resulting in

justice.
“You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”, my Nannie used to say. I think this is an appropriate idiom that fits how I believe the labor unions should approach their enemies. “Without unions, workers will lose many of the protections against abusive employers. Wages for all will be depressed, even as corporate profits soar.  The American Dream will be destroyed for millions.  And we will have a government of the corporations, by the already powerful, for the wealthy.” (Kenneth Bernstein) I agree with Mr. Bernstein about the importance of labor unions and the differences they try to make. I do not want to live in a world overrun by monopolies and people who are lead with deceit out of greed.