Iww

[PC LOAD LETTER]

How does RevLeft view the IWW?

Is it worth joining?

Is it worth joining in the staunchly anti-union southeast?

[Paulappaul]

I have had a mixed experience with the IWW. There like any union I guess, a part of the "labor movement" - which means, you win some, you lose some, must the time you'll lose some. In time like now, building the big union doesn't seem like the most important task for the working class.

[Yuppie Grinder]

I've only heard positively about them on RevLeft.

[wunderbar]

There's many IWW members on Revleft, myself included. Check their directory (http://www.iww.org/en/branches/US) to see if there's any branches around where you live.

[Le Socialiste]

I personally think it's worth joining, if only for the experience and the ability to connect with others within the broader movement. I admire the IWW for its stance against endorsing and/or supporting any party, as well as their history in the class struggle. I'm thinking about joining when I move to Berkeley next year. If there's a branch near you, and you think the organization suits you - go for it! :)

[o well this is ok I guess]

Welp IWW general thread.
So there's some IWW guys staying at the local occupy camp. And I gotta say, they really make their presence known.
They brought a red and black and set it up in a tree, then surrounded it with IWW signs. Then they surrounded their tent in IWW signs.

[Paulappaul]

I personally think it's worth joining, if only for the experience and the ability to connect with others within the broader movement. I admire the IWW for its stance against endorsing and/or supporting any party, as well as their history in the class struggle. I'm thinking about joining when I move to Berkeley next year. If there's a branch near you, and you think the organization suits you - go for it! :)

I agree they are good to join for connecting with people. Honestly though you could say that about any organisation.

The fact they never endorsed any political organization kinda led to their downfall though.

[citizen of industry]

They emphasize direct workplace action. Some of their attempts to organize service workers are original and you gotta give them credit for going where other unions don't want to go. IWW's How to Fire Your Boss - A Direct Guide to Worker's Action is a great read for any unionist and gets you thinking about creative things to do in the workplace. If and when I go back to the US I'd probably choose IWW if I was going to try and organize my workplace.

[Le Socialiste]

I agree they are good to join for connecting with people. Honestly though you could say that about any organisation.

I meant forming connections with those of like mind.


The fact they never endorsed any political organization kinda led to their downfall though.

How so?

[eyeheartlenin]

Do other unions still try to organize workers in non-union industries, at this late date? It's been over a decade since people at my former workplace were able to persuade a representative of a conventional union even to come talk to us. If organizing drives are being led by other unions, I would be interested to know about that, because I haven't heard of any. And the Wobbly political stance is superb: "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.... Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system ..." (from the back of the IWW membership card). How cool is that!

Where I live, the anarchists of the IWW (and any worker is welcome in the union) are, far and away, the best leftists in town, the competition being the ISO and Workers World. The Wobs here are trying to organize against foreclosures. From where I sit, what the IWW does is admirable. (No wonder Lenin wanted them in the Comintern!)

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I just wanted to confirm that they're as genuine as they seem. I'll likely join here soon.

Thanks, everyone! :)

[Paulappaul]

How so?

Unlike the French Syndicalist movement which thrived because it was directly backed by the state, the IWW abandoned the Socialist Labor Party which lost it thousands of militants, divided the movement and led the Union to easy state persecution. The Deleonist Platform was workers' unity under the ballot box as to make trade union work for easy and to fight communist persecution from the inside out.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

The fact they never endorsed any political organization kinda led to their downfall though.
Would it have helped if they endorsed the Socialist Party? Wait a second... How about the Communist Party? Oh whoops... How about the Socialist Labor Party? My bad... See where I'm going with this?

Unlike the French Syndicalist movement which thrived because it was directly backed by the state, the IWW abandoned the Socialist Labor Party which lost it thousands of militants, divided the movement and led the Union to easy state persecution. The Deleonist Platform was workers' unity under the ballot box as to make trade union work for easy and to fight communist persecution from the inside out.
The French Syndicalist movement was dead by the time the IWW was gaining prominence. Abandoning the SLP may have lost it thousands of members, but it quickly made up for it, whereas the SLP declined severely downhill continuously. The union wasn't "easy state persecution" because it abandoned SLP, it was because of different reasons. I really doubt the SLP could of somehow saved it from the Red Scare.
If it makes any difference, the IWW continues to inspire to this day and is experiencing growth not seen in other U.S. leftist groups. The SLP is dead and gone, simply a memory to the small handful who study the late 19th/early 20th century U.S. socialist movement.
I usually don't make sectarian posts like this, but sometimes you're just asking for it, from how you post, Paulapaul. It gets rather tiring.

[Paulappaul]

Would it have helped if they endorsed the Socialist Party? Wait a second... How about the Communist Party? Oh whoops... How about the Socialist Labor Party? My bad... See where I'm going with this?No


The French Syndicalist movement was dead by the time the IWW was gaining prominence."Prominence" aka 100,000 workers. For an International Union that is frankly pathetic, when the national union of many countries could claim many hundreds of thousands of workers in the early 20th century i.e. German and French Syndicalism. For the later, its success depended on the very system it sought to destroy - the French Liberal State. National Support in the pre - 1909 years meant that Strikes were victorious and state subsidy had the union levy low membership contributions meaning that more people joined the Union.


The union wasn't "easy state persecution" because it abandoned SLP, it was because of different reasons. I really doubt the SLP could of somehow saved it from the Red Scare.Hmm so if the SLP, or another Political Organisation for that matter held political power the Red Scare would have still happened? If Alexander Palmer or Oliver Holmes weren't in office, it would have happened?


Abandoning the SLP may have lost it thousands of members, but it quickly made up for it, whereas the SLP declined severely downhill continuously.Losing thousands of members (upward to about 5,000+ and many sympathizers - the tens of thousands with the SLP, SP, etc.) meant a few things. For one it meant some of the IWW's most experienced militants left and it meant huge divisions in class struggle (particularly in Chicago and Detroit). Imagine the power of the IWW if it had cut the crap and stayed with its Political currents?


If it makes any difference, the IWW continues to inspire to this day and is experiencing growth not seen in other U.S. leftist groups. I am a part of the IWW and a number of other organizations. I can send you my fucking card. Its "growth" is paralleled by every Left Group and by every Union. Infact the three tend have cross - membership as the Left is drawn together by its historical conditions.


he SLP is dead and gone, simply a memory to the small handful who study the late 19th/early 20th century U.S. socialist movement.I agree, I never said otherwise.


I usually don't make sectarian posts like this, but sometimes you're just asking for it, from how you post, Paulapaul. It gets rather tiring. Don't be a shithead

[Tablo]

I like the politics of IWW. I have heard some bad shit about them before, but whatever the case, I generally like them a lot more than a lot of leftists groups in the US. At least they take a fucking labor stance. More than I can say for half of the 'Marxist' groups in the nation.