The I. W. W.: A Study of American SyndicalismBrissenden, Paul F. (Paul Frederick)
History
The I. W. W.: A Study of American Syndicalism
Brissenden, Paul F. (Paul Frederick)
Industrial Workers of the World; Syndicalism
The fourth convention did very little of importance except to split
the organization very decisively, if discursively, on the rock of
"politics." A few unimportant constitutional changes were made[438] and
the following officers elected: General Secretary-Treasurer, Vincent
St. John; General Organizer, Wm. E. Trautmann; General Executive
Board, Fellow Workers Cole, Miller, Ettor, Whitehead and Gains.[439]
The records and property of the organization remained with the St.
John-Trautmann faction,[440] which will be referred to in the following
pages as the Industrial Workers of the World, or simply by the three
letters, "I. W. W."
Whether or not the St. John contingent was now legitimately entitled
to be recognized as the Industrial Workers of the World is a question
which will be discussed in another place. Whether they were usurpers
or not, they held and retained control of the offices and property of
the organization. The Socialist Labor or DeLeon contingent faced the
situation as best they could. These "_bona fide_ industrial unionists
rallied," says one of their number, "and held a convention in Paterson,
N. J., and elected a new set of general officers and a new General
Executive Board."[441]
On November 5, 1908, [reads an official announcement] a
conference assembled in Paterson, N. J., of delegates sent
by the locals that remained true to the principles of the
Industrial Workers of the World. They attended to the
interrupted work of the general organization, electing a
General Executive Board and other officials, and attended to
such other work as the organization required for its growth and
progress.[442]
At this rump convention, "credentials were read for twenty-one
delegates from locals of Philadelphia, Boston, Bridgeport, Brooklyn,
and Paterson, of which [number] eighteen were present...."[443] This
Paterson conference was virtually a meeting of the two District
Councils of New York City and Paterson and a handful of Eastern
locals. The delegates declared the proceedings of the Chicago
convention illegal and naïvely read the "anarchist usurpers" out of
the organization. "The pirates in Chicago," says Rudolph Katz in his
later reminiscences, "were repudiated by the I. W. W. organizations
generally." He adds that only three issues of the _Industrial Union
Bulletin_ (official organ of the St. John faction) appeared "after that
packed 'convention' had done its deadly work."[444]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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