Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW

by Peter Cole (Editor), David Struthers (Editor), Kenyon Zimmer (Editor)

Overview

Founded in 1905, Chicago’s Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union unlike any other. With members affectionately called “Wobblies” and an evolutionary and internationalist philosophy and tactics, it rapidly grew across the world. Considering the history of the IWW from an international perspective for the first time, Wobblies of the World brings together a group of leading scholars to present a lively collection of accounts from thirteen diverse countries, revealing a fascinating story of anarchism, syndicalism, and socialism.
 
Drawing on many important figures of the movement—Har Dayal, James Larkin, William D. “Big Bill” Haywood, Enrique Flores Magón, and more—the contributors describe how the IWW and its ideals spread, exploring the crucial role the IWW played in industries such as shipping, mining, and agriculture. Ultimately, the book illuminates Wobblie methods of organizing, forms of expression, practices, and transnational issues, offering a fascinating alternative history of the group. 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745399607
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	01/15/2018
Series:	Wildcat
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Peter Cole is professor of history at Western Illinois University and the author of Wobblies on the Waterfront. David M. Struthers is a historian of race and transnational radical organizer based in Copenhagen. Kenyon Zimmer is assistant professor of history at the University of Texas and the author of Immigrants Against the State.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
 
Part I: Transnational Influences on the IWW
1 “A Cosmopolitan Crowd”: Transnational Anarchists, the IWW, and the American Radical Press
2 Sabotage, the IWW, and Repression: How the American Reinterpretation of a French Concept Gave Rise to a New International Conception of Sabotage
3 Living Social Dynamite: Early Twentieth-Century IWW-South Asia Connections
4 IWW Internationalism and Interracial Organizing in the Southwestern United States
5 Spanish Anarchists and Maritime Workers in the IWW
 
Part II: The IWW in the Wider World
6 The IWW and the Dilemmas of Labor Internationalism
7 The IWW in Tampico: Anarchism, Internationalism, and Solidarity Unionism in a Mexican Port
8 The Wobblies of the North Woods: Finnish Labor Radicalism and the IWW in Northern Ontario
9 “We Must Do Away with Radical Prejudice and Imaginary Boundary Lines”: British Columbia’s Wobblies before the First World War
10 Wobblies Down Under: The IWW in Australia
11 Ki Nga Kaimahi Maori (“To All Maori Workers”): The New Zealand IWW and the Maori
12 Patrick Hodgens Hickey and the IWW: A Transnational Relationship
13 “The Cause of the Workers Who Are Fighting in Spain IS Yours”: The Marine Transport Workers and the Spanish Civil War
14 Edith Frenette: A Transnational Radical Life
 
Part III: Beyond the Union: The IWW’s Influence and Legacies
15 Jim Larkin, James Connolly, and the Dublin Lockout of 1913: The Transnational Path of Global Syndicalism
16 Tom Barker and Revolutionary Europe
17 P.J. Welinder and “American Syndicalism” in Interwar Sweden
18 “All Workers Regardless of Craft, Race Or Color”: The First Wave of IWW Activity and Influence in South Africa
19 Tramp, Tramp, Tramp: The Songs of Joe Hill Around the World
 

Editorial Reviews

"A splendid project and a vitally important contribution to the understanding of labor as a social movement, within but also beyond the limits of contracts and sustained organization. In our century, the lessons of the IWW loom larger than they have for generations."

co-editor of Wobblies! Paul Buhle

Convincing proof that the Wob message is universal, and the stamp of Wob greatness remains.” 

Truthout

"A splendid project and a vitally important contribution to the understanding of labor as a social movement, within but also beyond the limits of contracts and sustained organization. In our century, the lessons of the IWW loom larger than they have for generations."-- "Paul Buhle, co-editor of Wobblies!"

"As a second-generation member of the IWW, I am delighted to see this outstanding collection of essays on the Wobblies, their achievements, and their substantial impact despite severe repression."--Noam Chomsky

"Although there is no shortage of books about the history of the IWW, they mostly tell the story of a North American union and revolutionary movement. But naming themselves the Industrial Workers of the World was no mere rhetorical flourish. The globalism implied in their name is fleshed out in [this] new book." -- "In These Times"

"Convincing proof that the Wob message is universal, and the stamp of Wob greatness remains." -- "Truthout"

"In the face of attacks on workers around the world and diminishing union power, these essays provide inspiration and even guidance for the creation and sustenance of a multiracial and multinational working-class movement of men and women, struggling to contest the depredations of global capital and to 'build a new world in the shell of the old.'"-- "Against the Current"

From the Publisher

As a second-generation member of the IWW, I am delighted to see this outstanding collection of essays on the Wobblies, their achievements, and their substantial impact despite severe repression.

Noam Chomsky

Although there is no shortage of books about the history of the IWW, they mostly tell the story of a North American union and revolutionary movement. But naming themselves the Industrial Workers of the World was no mere rhetorical flourish. The globalism implied in their name is fleshed out in [this] new book.” 

In These Times

In the face of attacks on workers around the world and diminishing union power, these essays provide inspiration and even guidance for the creation and sustenance of a multiracial and multinational working-class movement of men and women, struggling to contest the depredations of global capital and to ‘build a new world in the shell of the old.’

Against the Current