Wobblies

"One Big Union."

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a national industrial union, was formed in Brand's Hall on the North Side of Chicago on 27 June 1905. Leading union officials—including William "Big Bill" Haywood, Eugene Debs, Charles Moyer, Mother Jones, Father Thomas Hagerty, and Daniel De Leon—hoped to accomplish on a national scale what the Western Federation of Miners had done in the West for mining labor. Though the Western Federation of Miners was the largest constituency, other prominent unions that played a role in the IWW formation were the American Labor Union and the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance. The founding convention, borrowing its symbolism from the American Revolution, was called "The Continental Congress of the Working Class," and Haywood was named chairman. In his opening remarks Haywood incorporated classic Marxist economic theory that became central to the IWW doctrine: "The aims and...

[The entire page is 955 words long]

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