Two articles and a poem from ‘Industrial Worker’, May 22, 1913, Spokane, Washington
The I.W.W. [Industrial Workers of the World] is a revolutionary labor union, industrial in its form, direct in its methods and open in avowing its ultimate purpose of overthrowing the wage system.
While better immediate conditions are fought for, they are merely incidental to the main object of building an organization that will serve to batter down the institutions of capitalism and to form the basis of production in the new social order.
The I.W.W. can never afford to gain in membership at the cost of sacrificed principles, or by appealing to the workers from the standpoint of immediate material benefits alone.
Our outward form may be imperfectly copied by other bodies. Our tactics may be applied partially by craft unions to gain a higher wage scale. But our spirit of revolt makes us stand out from those who acquiesce in the wage system and it marks us for the bitter hatred of the employing class.
The masters will be able to destroy our form in places; they will also find ways of forcing us to abandon any set tactics; but with the spirit of revolt they are powerless to cope.
The blacklist may break up a local union, but it fans the flames of discontent and makes fiery agitators of those who were inclined to merely theorize. The use of the militia, the injunction, or any of the forces at the command of the State will bring new rebels into being. The spirit of revolt is destined to grow until it permeates the working class and causes the downfall of capitalism.
The one thing that will keep the I.W.W. from degenerating is to foster the spirit of revolt against slavery of any kind.
Fan the Flames
If you are in the woods and find three men camped, one of whom has a good bed roll, one has one blanket, and the last has no blanket at all, you don’t need to stop and ask who will tend fire. The blanketless man will likely set fire to a dead tree and before morning the other two will be complaining about sparks in their blankets as the act is “too radical.” It is the propertyless worker who must keep the fire of revolt burning, let the sparks fall where they may.
— F. Н. С.
A Dream
By L. E. Drake
I dreamed one night a wondrous dream,
another world I saw
And it most marvellous did seem,
no government or law,
No kings or presidents were there,
no emperor or czars,
No despot waving sword in air,
no followers of Mars.
The people scarce did work at all,
abundantly seemed blest;
No menials there to cringe and crawl,
at tyranny’s behest;
The men and women eye to eye
did upright stand and look,
And no one could deceive or lie,
each mind an open book.
I strolled among the merry bands of children
on the green;
They danced and sang while holding hands,
a truly fairy scene.
An edifice imposing grand,
which crowned a low green hill,
Gave sweet music from a band
which made the heart-strings thrill.
Such splendor charmed me, and amazed,
delighted eye and mind.
And thus entranced I stood and gazed,
fresh wonders still did find;
What magic scenery was this,
what kindly fairy wand
That scattered broadcast perfect bliss?
I could not understand.
So simple was it when explained,
one scarce could realize
That other systems once obtained,
slave systems based on lies;
Slave systems that were overthrown
by causes in them bred;
The wage-slave system, be it known,
was numbered with the dead.
Experience did educate
for that which came to pass;
Themselves did they emancipate
— the mighty working class —
In mills and mines, on ships and farms,
all wealth did they create;
At last, in spite of false alarms,
they struck and felled the state.
A clanging discord broke the spell,
and woke me with a start;
It was the cook-house breakfast bell,
— my dreams and I must part.
As on the bench I sat and turned
my sodden flapjacks o’er,
All soda-speckled, black and burned,
I had my dream once more.
Also:
The Spirit of Revolt, by Peter Kropotkin (1885)
Abolition of Government, by Lizzie M. Swank (1886)
Value, Price and Profit, by Karl Marx (1898)
Japanese and Chinese Exclusion or Industrial Organization, Which?, by J. H. Walsh (1908)
Developments at Spokane, by J. H. Walsh (1908)
The IWW and Political Parties, by Vincent St. John (1910)
Away with Race Prejudice, by Caroline Nelson (1912)
Down with Race Prejudice, by Phineas Eastman (1912)
Queries and Replies, by Industrial Worker (1913)
The Yellow Peril, from Industrial Worker (1913)
The Deadly Parallel, by the Industrial Workers of the World (1917)
The Politician is Not My Shepherd, by Covington Hall (1933)
Ben Fletcher: Portrait of a black syndicalist, by Jeff Stein (1987)
The Struggle of Asian Immigrants / Industrial Workers of The World, by M.Gouldhawke (2002)
Land, Labour and Loss: A Story of Struggle & Survival at the Burrard Inlet, by Taté Walker (2015)
Mexican Workers in the IWW and the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM), by Devra Anne Weber (2016)
The IWW in Canada, by Mark Leier and Working Class History (2021)
Indigenous labour struggles, by M.Gouldhawke (2022)
Industrial Workers of the World
Mark Leier profile and book reviews at BC Bookworld
“When Debs in his dotage calls the I.W.W. ‘Anarchists’ he is not slandering us, but is giving high praise to the anarchists. Let’s see, didn’t the capitalists once call the socialists ‘Anarchists’? How times do change!”
Industrial Worker, May 15, 1913, Spokane, Washington
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