An excerpt of an interview with Utah Phillips in 2003. He talks about the origins of the IWW, the labor movement, corporate fascism and the US with a comparison to the rise of the Nazis.
Worth a listen.
"The long memory is the most radical idea in America..."
#Fascism #Resist #History #IWW #Wobblies #Labor #Union #Socialism #Anarchism #Organize #Solidarity #US
Today in Labor History March 15, 1877: Ben Fletcher, African-American IWW organizer was born on this date in Philadelphia. Fletcher organized longshoremen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He joined the Wobblies (IWW) in 1912, became secretary of the IWW District Council in 1913. He also co-founded the interracial Local 8 in 1913. At that time, roughly one-third of the dockers on the Philadelphia waterfront were black. Another 33% were Irish. And about 33% were Polish and Lithuanian. Prior to the IWW organizing drive, the employers routinely pitted black workers against white, and Polish against Irish. The IWW was one of the only unions of the era that organized workers into the same locals, regardless of race or ethnicity. The IWW Dockers struck in Philadelphia on May 13, 1913. 10,000 Wobblies participated. They were protesting poor wages and dangerous working conditions. By May 28, they had won a ten-hour workday and time-and-a-half pay for overtime. However, the strike also launched one of the most successful anti-racist, anti-capitalist unions in the country: IWW Local 8. By 1916, thanks in large part to Fletcher’s organizing skill, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW. And the union maintained control of the Philly waterfront for about a decade. After the 1913 strike, Fletcher traveled up and down the east coast organizing dockers. However, he was nearly lynched in Norfolk, Virginia in 1917. At that time, roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. Most had been rejected from other unions because of their skin color. In 1918, the state arrested him, sentencing him to ten years for the crime of organizing workers during wartime. He served three years.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #BenFletcher #racism #AfricanAmerican #lynching #prison #union #strike #wobblies #longshore #philadelphia #BlackMastodon
IWW delegation to the 2025 Union Co op symposium in #Cincinnati. #Pittsburgh and DC General Membership Branches formed a delegation of #Wobblies organizing in the cooperative space, both as the Agricultural Organizing Workers Committee and with #IWW food industry workers to head to the recent Union-Co-op Symposium, hosted by Co-op Cincy.
https://industrialworker.org/report-back-the-2025-union-co-op-symposium/
Delegation’s Report
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQYHZHassya2B1DT_BI6y-95gokXXfSeoX7xh0MM2PA/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.gcdq1imoaw0q
Fold up your guns
Run while you can
Look out, here comes the union man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBwI9KKjlj4
Remembering Joe Hill
The legendary Wobbly and songwriter, executed 110 years ago, was celebrated worldwide for his resilience and humourm.
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD
Beardy Star Stuff 🌹🏴🇵🇸
MikeDunnAuthor
Cascadia-PNW
Peter Riley
AJ Sadauskas
Stoking the Fire