The IWW, or Industrial Workers of the World, was founded in Chicago in 1905, in part as a response to the traditional craft based structure of organizations like the American Federation of Labor, which organized laborers into unions according to their respective trades. If you go to their website today you’ll note that the IWW still proudly promotes itself as “one big union”, that is one union for all workers, united by class struggle.
Dr. Peter Cole is a professor of history at Western Illinois University and a researcher specializing in the history of social movements. He’s also the author of several books, and was co-editor of Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW.
Books & Readings From Our Guest:
Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia
“MLK’s radical vision was rooted in a long history of Black unionism,” Washington Post, April 4, 2021
“Black-led, antiracist unionism: Ben Fletcher and the IWW,” Global Labour Column, Global Labour University, No. 369, February 2021.
“Wobblies—A new history of a radical union that profoundly impacted Southern African politics,” co-authored with Lucien van der Walt, Africa Is A Country, October 21, 2017.
