INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD,. a radical labor organization representing a theory of organization different from and opposed to that of crafts unionism, generally described as "industrial unionism." The organiza tion, familiarly known as the I. W. W., is of recent origin, having been organized in Chicago, in 1904, by Thomas J. Hag gerty and Clarence Smith, the former editor of the official organ of the Amer ican Labor Union, and the latter its sec retary-treasurer. In the following year a convention of the new organization was held, in Chicago, which was attended by delegates representing about 40,000 rank and file. The membership later in creased to about 50,000, but seems never to have grown beyond that strength.
The idea behind the I. W. W. is that labor should be organized into one broad organization, regardless of trades or crafts, with a low and uniform initiation fee. "One big union," is the slogan by which this principle is expressed. The contention of the leaders is that crafts organization leads to corruption and di vides labor into countless small groups, each with a separate and selfish interest. Aside from this, the I. W. W. has aims quite distinct from those of the crafts unions. While it seeks to raise the wages of its members, this is considered only an incidental object, the main pur pose being to form the basis of an in dustrial democracy, in which the workers shall take over control of industry and control it themselves, the workers of each industry running their own affairs.
Unlike the political socialist parties, how ever, the I. W. W. does not believe that this may be accomplished through polit ical action, but through "industrial ac tion." By this they mean that the cap italists will be finally ousted from con trol by continuous harrying on the part of the organized workers; by a continu ous succession of strikes and by various forms of sabotage, all to finally culmi nate in the great general strike which shall usher in the social revolution. In this respect the program of the I. NV. W. comes very close to the syndicalism of European countries.
Very few skilled workers have so far affiliated themselves with the I. NV. NV., the majority of its members being the poorer paid and unskilled workers in the textile industry, and that migratory class of workers popularly known as "hoboes," who follow the harvesting season in the W. from S. to N., and who, during the winter, are largely found in the lumber camps.
The I. W. W. has precipitated several large strikes, notably those in Lawrence, Mass., and that of the silk workers, in Paterson, N. J., in 1913. Its most prom inent leaders are Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, William Haywood, and Carlo Tresca.