LSTU 398 - Topics in Labor Studies: Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World (known as the IWW or <em>the Wobblies</em>) represented an alternative to the conservative and legalistic tradition in US trade unions. Organized in 1905, it spearheaded labor organization among workers left out of the craft-unionist American Federation of Labor. Before it was effectively destroyed as a labor union due to extreme repression during the First World War, the IWW brought labor organization to sectors as diverse as northwestern lumberjacks, California migrants, Eastern immigrant textile workers, and African American dock workers. Although its peak years ended around 1920 (it still exists as an organization) it “spirit” remains. Not only is the anthem of the US labor movement “Solidarity Forever” an IWW song, the IWW influenced the organization of the CIO unions during the 1930s, and the United Farm Workers Union in the 1960s.