CONVENTION
Industrial Workers of the World
SECOND DAY
Wednesday, June 28
AFTERNOON SESSION
The convention was called to order at 2 M.
THE CHAIRMAN: When the convention adjourned the status of delegates was under discussion. Delegate Hagerty has the floor.
DEL. T. J. HAGERTY: I wish to call the attention of those who have been discussing this question of representation to the paragraph in the call for this convention which sets forth in ummistakable terms the conditions upon which representation in this gathering is to be based, to wit: “Representation in the convention shall be based upon the number of workers whom the delegate represents. No delegate, however, shall be given representation in the convention on the numerica... (From: Marxists.org.) Building Construction
A Handbook of the Industry
ISSUED BY
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION WORKERS’ INDUSTRIAL UNION No. 330 OF THE I. W. W.
PUBLISHED BY
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
1001 WEST MADISON STREET, CHICAGO, ILL.
Printed by Printing and Publishing Workers Industrial Union, No. 450, I. W. W.
Transcriber’s Introduction
"Industrial Communism"
The
term "Industrial Communism" used in this pamphlet requires some
explanotion. When the pamphlet was published, in or around 1924, the
term "communism" did not have the specific meaning it has acquired
since then. The bloody career of the totalit... (From: Marxists.org.) PREFACE
THIS
HANDBOOK for the coal-mining industry is issued by the Industrial
Workers of the World for the Coal-Mine Workers’ Industrial Union No.
220, of the I. W. W.
It is the opinion of the above
organization that the main thing which separates the workers from
control over and possession of the industries is their industrial
ignorance. They may be mechanics and experts in their particular lines,
but very few of them have that general grasp of all the facts
pertaining to their industry which is indispensable in an age when the
burning question is the taking over and the running of the industries
by the organized workers. The first actual attempts in this line in
Russia in the early stages of the revolution collaps... (From: Marxists.org.) Sooner or later, in whatever industry you are engaged, your employer will come to you and suggest a contract. He always makes it look good to start with. If you have been working for him by the day, the management will flatter you by telling you that your work is satisfactory, and that you can have a little plot of ground, or one of the machines all to yourself, and you can work early or late, fast or slow, just as you like. "You will be your own boss," says the employer, "you are to be a business man just like myself, and we will have a business arrangement, a contract."
There is the "gyppo" system in the woods. When a clothing worker takes out a contract, they call it sweat shop work, and a construction worker knows that "station" ... (From: Marxists.org.) MADE IN U. S. A.
CUT DOWN THE HOURS OF WORK!
You
work for a living? Did you ever notice how very much work the boss
wants you to do for that living? Every time there is the slightest
excuse, he increases the hours of labor. One excuse seems to be as good
as another. If there is a big demand for products, he wants you to work
overtime to get the stuff out; while if there is a slack market, the
employer suggests that you put in an extra hour or so to cheapen the
cost of production. He claims that he can’t afford to pay you the wages
you have been getting unless you make more profit for him.
If
a new process is installed, he wants you to work overtime in order to
pay for putting it in; and if the process saves labor, h... (From: Marxists.org.) CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN
Delegates’ Work and Organization Bookkeeping
Authorized by the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Issued by the
Work People’s College
BOX 39, MORGAN PARK STATION DULUTH, MINN.
PREAMBLE OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
The
working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can
be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of
working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all
the good things of life.
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until
the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the
earth and the machinery of production... (From: Marxists.org.) An Economic Interpretation of the Job IN THE following pages the reader must be aware that, wherever a worker’s activity has been selected for the purpose of illustration, both the worker and his process typify the working class and social production; for the exploitation of wage labor is the exploitation of one class by another class—the working class by the capitalist class—and is not necessarily the exploitation of the individual worker by his employer. Unless we understand this the class struggle is only a meaningless phrase.
The Interdependence of Labor
When in this booklet a worker or a working group is referred to, as producing some article or commodity, it is necessary to understand that such reference... (From: Marxists.org.) EDUCATION AND SYSTEM: THE BASIS OF ORGANIZATION
Industrial Workers of the World (1924)
See a digital image of the original pamphlet in Michigan State University's American Radicalism collection.
Understanding
Organization means getting together with a common understanding and a common end in view, and working systematically for the attainment of that end. For the workers to organize effectively, they must have a correct understanding of their position in society and of the conditions under which they live and work. If they fail to understand these things, they will either not organize at all or will organize in an ineffective manner. The effectiveness of their organization depends on the correctness of their understan... (From: Marxists.org.) [1925]
Published By the
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
1001 W. Madison St., Chicago, Ill.
[Inside front cover]
Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There
can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of
working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all
the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the
workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth
and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system.
We
find that the centering of management of the industries into fewer and
fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cop... (From: Marxists.org.) Preface
In
publishing this Catechism, the object sought has been to stimulate a
desire for knowledge of American labor history. Labor progress we
believe to be predicated upon a wider and deeper knowledge than is
prevalent among the workers at the present time.
This pamphlet
is only an outline which it requires a study of American unionism to
fill in. It is our hope that those who read this book will carry their
investigations further afield. But, even as it is, this catechism fills
a long felt want. It will help acquaint those who read it with some
things they should know. The works from which this condensation is made
are beyond the means of the average worker. They are available at the
public libraries, but so few of the... (From: Marxists.org.) The History of the I. W. W.
A Discussion of its Main Features
By a Group of Workmen
PRICE TEN CENTS
Published by the
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
1001 W. MADISON ST. CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A.
Printed by Printing and Publishing Workers Industrial Union, No. 450, I. W. W.
PREAMBLE OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
OF THE WORLD
The
working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can
be no peace so long as hunger and want are foun (From: Marxists.org.) THE I. W. W. AND
POLITICAL
PARTIES
We
are in receipt of many inquiries relative to the position of the
I. W. W. and political action. One fellow worker wants to
know, "How is this revolutionary body going to express itself
politically?" and "if it is going to hop through the industrial world
on one leg?"
A little investigation will prove to any worker
that while the workers are divided on the industrial field, it is not
possible to unite them on any other field to advance a working class
program.
Further investigation will prove that with the
working class divided on the industrial field, unity anywhere else—if
it could be brought about—would be without results. The workers would
be withou... (From: Marxists.org.) I. W. W. MANUAL of INSTRUCTION for JOB DELEGATES
(Published by the General Recruiting Union, ca. 1943)
Transcriber’s
note: This booklet was printed cheaply and is full of errors of
spelling, grammar, and typography, which I have not corrected. I have
carefully checked the following transcript against my photocopy of the
original in the I. W. W. Archives at Wayne State University and am
reasonably confident that all errors in this HTML version are in the
original. I have cleaned up the pictures considerably, but some could
not be made entirely legible.—J. D. C.
HOW TO GET CREDENTIALS
Credentials
making you a duly authorized official delegate for the Industrial
Workers of the Wor... (From: Marxists.org.) INTRODUCTION
This is the fifth revised and abridged edition of the booklet formerly known as, "The I. W. W. in Theory and Practice."
First published in 1920, to date over 50,000 copies of it have been
sold. It has been translated into eight languages. Chapters have
appeared in weekly labor papers in many parts of the world. [The first
edition was written by Justus Ebert, whose comments in this edition are marked "J. E."—Transcriber]
In as simple language as possible, it aims to tell, in contrast to the C. I. O., just what the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the I. W. W., is.
Briefly
stated the I. W. W. believes that the workers should organize
according to industry, instead of trade or craft. In this wa... (From: Marxists.org.) THE I. W. W. — What It Is And What It Is Not
CHAPTER 1.
Misconceptions
Almost
every person has heard or read of the organization called the
Industrial Workers of the World, commonly known as "The
I. W. W." Most of these people have heard or read what the
I. W. W. is not, and consequently have misconceptions
regarding this organization, its policy, functions and aims. Being
unacquainted with this labor union, they judge it by its reputation.
Now, the character of the I. W. W. and its reputation are two
entirely different things. Its character is what its membership makes
it, while its reputation is what its enemies have represented it to be.
Lying Capitalist Propaganda
Its
enemies are the ... (From: THE I. W. W. — What It Is And What It Is Not.) "Jersey Justice" at Work
The appeal now pending in the case of Frederick Sumner Boyd, convicted in Paterson, N. J., on September 30, of the charge of "advocating destruction of private property" (sabotage), is one of great importance to the working class and to every individual in America. Boyd told the striking silk workers in Paterson that if starvation forced them back to the slavery and growing degradation from which they had revolted, if their strike were lost, if the hunger of their children broke their power of resistance, they should use sabotage in the mills and in the dyeshops. Boyd was arrested, tried and convicted on two indictments, receiving a sentence of not less than one year and not more than seven years at ha... (From: Marxists.org.) Social relations are the reflex of the grouping of industrial
possessions. The owners of all resources and means of wealth form a
class by themselves; the owners of labor power, as their only
possession in the market, another. Political, judicial, educational and
other institutions only mirror the prevailing system of ownership in
the resources and means of production
One class—the capitalist class—owns and controls the social
necessaries, to wit: the economic resources of the world. That class,
for its own protection and perpetuation in power, subjects all
institutions to its own interests. On the other hand, there is a
class—the working class—which is eventually to change the whole
system of owner... (From: Marxists.org.) The following manifesto, issued by the Central Executive Committee of the Third International to the American I.W.W. in January of this year, should receive the careful attention of all ex-I.W.W. men and Industrial Unionists in Australia. It will be noticed that the view of those who hold that the industrial organization is all-sufficient to accomplish a social and economic revolution is not shared by the Third International. Certainly the experience of Russia would indicate the necessity of something more than the industrial weapon for combating the internal and external machinations of the capitalist class during the transition period towards a Communist social order; but the view that the Industrial Union shall ultimately be the unit of ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published by the
Industrial Workers of the World 2422 N. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
(1934)
THE PREAMBLE OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
The
working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can
be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of
working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all
the good things of life.
Between these two classes a struggle
must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take
possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish
the wage system.
We find that the centering of management of
the industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable
to cope wi... (From: Marxists.org.) LISTEN, RAILS!
Every click of the rails is singing to you,
"Get more, get more, get more !"
Every exhaust of every engine is saying,
"You can do it, you can do it, you can do it !"
And the deep-throated wampus says:
"Organize, Organize, Organ-i-i-ze!"
Published by
Industrial Workers of the World
2422 N. Halsted St. Chicago 14, Ill.
THE PREAMBLE
OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
The
working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can
be no peace so long a (From: Marxists.org.)
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