INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD, THE, commonly known as the I.W.W., a revolutionary labour union organization which played in the early loth century a considera ble part in American and world labour history. It was founded in July I9o5 at Chicago, Ill., as a result of a conference of Social ists and trade union leaders, of whom the most outstanding were E. V. Debs (q.v.), William D. Haywood, Daniel DeLeon, W. E. Trautmann, Vincent St. John and the Rev. T. J. Hagerty, who provided the first organizational plan of the union (known by Samuel Gompers' derisive nickname of "Father Hagerty's wheel of fortune") . All workers of every trade were to be accepted by the union which was, and is, subdivided into industrial sections (29 in number in 1928), craft unions not being allowed. The basis of the organization was explained in its well-known preamble. "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. . . . 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." (This phrasing was adopted in 1908, a previous reference to political action being deleted, as a result of a struggle in which the syndicalist element thrust out the followers of DeLeon.) The organization was bitterly opposed to the Ameri can Federation of Labor (q.v.) on the ground of its alleged supine ness in defending its members, its toleration of inter-union craft quarrels, and the anti-revolutionary attitude of its president, Samuel Gompers (q.v.).
Its chief strength, originally, lay in the Western Federation of Miners, which withdrew in 1907 on the unseating by the I.W.W. of President Sherman, its nominee. Since that time its strength has varied very greatly; the figures of paid-up membership in 1906 were 6o,000 and in 35,000, but these figures give no reliable indication of its strength. Since the defection of the miners, the I.W.W. membership has become more and more pre dominant among the nomadic workers (partly foreign born) such as lumber-men, long-shoremen and "hoboes," for whom the American Federation of Labor made no provision. This class of worker rarely pays dues, except on the occasion of first taking out an I.W.W. ticket. Of the innumerable strikes directed by the I.W.W. the Lawrence, Mass., strike of was the most famous and first brought the organization into prominence. Some 30,000 textile operatives were involved and for the first time large bodies of non-English-speaking workers were led together to ultimate victory; their spirits being kept up partly by the use of the I.W.W. "red book" songs, of a coarse but vigorous char acter, which have since travelled across the world. In addition, many "free speech fights" were undertaken, e.g., in 1909 at Mis soula, Mont., Spokane, Wash., Newcastle, Pa., and later more important struggles at Paterson, N.J., Aberdeen, S.D., Old Forge, Pa., San Pedro, Calif., etc. These were mostly cases in which the municipalities objected to I.W.W. propaganda and arrested the "wobbly" (the slang name for I.W.W.) speakers, the I.W.W. replying by providing a continuous stream of speakers "until the jails burst." Over 5,000 "wobblier" have been in prison. Else where, especially in the western States, the history of the I.W.W. has been violent and sanguinary. The facts which led, for example, to the shooting of the organizer and poet, Joe Hill, in Utah, are greatly disputed; the murder of organizer Frank Little in Butte, Mont., has been dealt with in a Federal enquiry. (See the Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of Labor.) In some of the States attempts were made to drive the I.W.W. out of existence.
After the World War, the general attack on "red" organiza tions, together with a quarrel with the Communist International (q.v.) gravely weakened the I.W.W. A large number of States have passed "criminal syndicalism" laws, mostly held constitu tional on appeal to the Supreme Court, with the object of sup pressing the I.W.W. altogether. A mass trial of over ioo prominent I.W.W. members at Chicago in Aug. 1918 resulted in a number of heavy sentences. The less important position of the I.W.W. after the war may have been due to the immigration laws which cut off the influx of unskilled labor, its most fruitful source of recruits. But whatever the cause, its influence dwindled until by 1930 it had ceased to be of social consequence.
See P. F. Brissenden, History of the I.W.W., Columbia university Studies lxxxiii. (192o) with bibl. ; V. G. Childe, How Labour Governs in Australia, ch. x.–xi. (1923). See also SYNDICALISM, SABOTAGE and DIRECT ACTION.