History of the IWW

The first meeting to plan the IWW was held in Chicago, USA in 1904. One year later it was officially founded in Chicago, Illinois. A convention was held of 200 socialists, anarchists, Marxists (primarily members of the Socialist Party of America and Socialist Labor Party of America), and radical trade unionists from all over the United States (mainly the Western Federation of Miners) who strongly opposed the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The IWW opposed the American Federation of Labor’s acceptance of capitalism and its refusal to include unskilled workers in craft unions.

The Wobblies, as they were informally known, differed from other union movements of the time by promotion of industrial unionism, as opposed to the craft unionism of the American Federation of Labor. The IWW emphasized rank-and-file organization, as opposed to empowering leaders who would bargain with employers on behalf of workers. The early IWW chapters consistently refused to sign contracts, which they believed would restrict workers’ abilities to aid each other when called upon. Though never developed in any detail, Wobblies envisioned the general strike as the means by which the wage system would be overthrown and a new economic system ushered in, one which emphasized people over profit, cooperation over competition.

Following the first world war the IWW was also joined by European workers, first in Germany and then followed by the British isles (WISERA). WISERA gew a lot from 2003 on and passed the 1500 members in 2016. The Dutch chapter started in 2020 and will be the first IWW chapter in the Netherlands ever.

The IWW has a long history of standing up for the worker and having solidarity with the proletariat. Through organising, striking, picketing and writing about the proletariat struggle, The IWW will be by your side!

If you wanna learn more you can read: https://archive.iww.org/history/