The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Industrial Workers of the World during the World War I Era
344
The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Industrial Workers of the World during the World War I Era
344Hardcover
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Overview
The Industrial Workers of the World—or "Wobblies," as they were known—included legendary figures from U.S. labor history. Joe Hill, "Big Bill" Haywood, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn have become a part of American popular folklore. In this book, author Eric T. Chester shows just how dynamic a force the IWW was during its heyday during World War I, and how determined the federal government was to crush this union—a campaign of repression that remains unique in U.S. history. This work utilizes a wide array of archival sources, many of them never used before, thereby giving readers a clearer view and better understanding of what actually happened.
The book leads with an examination of the three key events in the history of the IWW: the Wheatfield, CA, confrontation; the Bisbee, AZ, deportation; and the strike of copper miners in Butte, MT. The second part of the book deconstructs the IWW's responses to World War I, the coordinated attack by the federal government upon the union, and how the union unraveled under this attack.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781440833014 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publication date: | 08/26/2014 |
| Pages: | 344 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 The Wheatland Incident and Its Repercussions 1
2 The Bisbee Deportation 29
3 Confrontation in Butte 65
4 The IWW and World War I 117
5 Countering the IWW 133
6 Destroying the IWW 159
7 Aftermath: The IWW Disintegrates 203
Conclusion 227
Chronology 233
Profiles 241
Notes 249
Bibliographic Essay 297
Bibliography 303
Index 311
What People are Saying About This
"Using official Justice Department and Military Intelligence files as well as IWW records that had been unavailable to previous scholars of the IWW, owing to federal government document classification policies, Eric Chester proves beyond doubt that President Woodrow Wilson and his Justice Department—assisted by the U.S. military and its intelligence services—worked assiduously to put the IWW out of business. Chester's description of the anti-subversive crusade by federal authorities during World War I and their linking of domestic radicals with violence or terrorism proves yet again how government uses its legal authority to crush and punish dissenters and mavericks. The counter-subversive tactics that are today part of our ‘war on terror' as well as the policies implemented by the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA are, as Chester shows, practices with a long history in the U.S."
"This deeply researched study offers an incisive analysis of the success of the IWW in organizing during World War I and of the relentless campaign of corporate and federal authorities to destroy it. Chester has established a new watermark for historical understanding of the IWW."
"Eric Chester's important book establishes that the IWW's revolutionary vision was embraced by large numbers of American workers, and that the union was building a strong presence in vital industries. The government's brutal campaign of repression was driven by its deep fear of working-class rebellion and by the employers' determination to crush the union while they still could."
"Eric Chester's illuminating book on the Industrial Workers of the Worlds cuts through the mythology on the left and right to portray the IWW as a powerful, radical trade union movement dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism. Chester demonstrates both the impressive successes of the IWW's organization of miners during World War I and the extraordinary repression unleashed by the liberal Wilson Administration that ultimately decimated the IWW. This book should be read by those who wish to understand how radical movements in the United States can flourish and how such movements need to be defended by all who are dedicated to protecting the full use of our civil liberties."
"Eric Chester's book gives us a much-needed reminder of the government-backed destruction of the most radical working-class organization in U.S. history—an organization whose class-wide organizing across lines of occupation, race, and gender is a potent perspective for the renewed class struggle today."
"Based on prodigious research in primary and secondary sources, Eric Chester has provided a much-needed new look at the Wobblies. He smartly constructs a context in time (the Wobblies' second decade) and space (key sites of struggle, such as Butte, Bisbee, and Seattle) in order to 'go beneath the surface mythology' and probe 'the IWW as it really was.' His probing reveals an organization which, at the height of its militancy and energy, was wracked by internal conflicts over ideology, strategy, and tactics; and under sustained attack from employers and the government, who proved to be ruthless, powerful opponents. Chester demonstrates that, at critical moments, these opponents knew how to take advantage of the Wobblies' internal conflicts. And they did, with disastrous consequences for the IWW. For today's activists who feel drawn to this labor organization, certainly an audience Chester has in mind, The Wobblies in their Heyday offers a cautionary tale, even as it recounts heroic, principled struggles. For scholars, this book offers a carefully composed and richly detailed account that challenges the dominant narratives provided by older studies."