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 organized laborers were only a part of the concern of the
conference. Over ninety per cent of those gainfully occupied are
unorganized. It was, of course, realized that outside of all
unions stood the overwhelming majority of all workingmen, and, as
Daniel DeLeon put it, these men did not "propose to go into these
organizations run by the Organized Scabbery, because they had burned
their fingers thus enough. The organization of the future has to be
built of the men who are now unorganized--that is, the overwhelming
majority of the working men in the nation."[94]
Thus it was really hoped that much could and would be done by
workingmen in the existent unions, without breaking away from these
local unions. These latter must be pried away from the A. F. of L.,
but not themselves destroyed. By all means let us "bore from within"
as far as that can be done; also when we can bore no longer, let us
hammer from without and pound together new bodies from out the great
unorganized mass. This, in brief, was the position of most of the
industrialists. However, not all would yet go this far. Even among the
Socialist leaders a note of dissent was heard expressing the belief
that to "bore from within" was the only revolutionary method not
absolutely suicidal.[95] Just what fate awaited these January ideas was
to some extent revealed in the proceedings of the June convention.
The convention called in accordance with the Manifesto of the January
conference met two hundred strong in Chicago on Tuesday, June 27, 1905.
This gathering was first referred to as the "Industrial Congress" or
the "Industrial Union Convention," but since before adjournment it had
organized itself as the Industrial Workers of the World, it is referred
to as the First Annual Convention of the I. W. W. It was a gathering
remarkable and epoch-making in more ways than one, and therefore the
story of its activities is essential, not only to an understanding of
the subsequent career of the organization, but as a fundamental chapter
in the whole history of industrial unionism. The discussions and
resolutions of the assembly and the final type of organization which
grew out of them can be understood only in the light thrown on them
by a study of the composition of this revolutionary group of men. Its
occupational, structural, and doctrinal character should each be taken
into account.
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of this group of two hundred
radicals was the bewildering range of occupations represented. The
variety of different trades represented and the varying "quality"
levels exhibited in the organization here gathered to sink all
differences and become as one, were astonishingly great. The following
list of the different organizations represented at the convention
reveals at least forty distinct trades or occupations:
Bakers and Confectioners Union No. 48, Montreal.[A]
United Mine Workers No. 171.[A]
United Mine Workers, Pittsburg, Kans.[A]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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