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Founded in 1905 in Chicago by Big Bill Haywood, Mother Jones, Ralph Chaplin, and other prominent labor leaders, the Industrial Workers of the World was formed in direct opposition to the American Federation of Labor's craft-based organization. The inclusive Wobblies supported industrial unionism and welcomed all who labored, including women, immigrants, and African Americans.
The I.W.W. holds a special place in Chicago labor, free speech, and printing history. Founded in the city and with strong links to the labor radicalism of the Haymarket era, the union made its international headquarters in Chicago all through its most active years (1905-1940) and for several decades beyond. From 1905 through the 1930s the I.W.W. was also a significant Chicago printer and publisher. Its printing facility in the large I.W.W. building at 1001 West Madison Street produced large quantities of union literature. A later print shop at 3333 West Belmont, though smaller, also had an impressive output.
I.W.W. materials are extremely rare and hard to find, even in libraries. The sad truth is that many publications and records were destroyed in the prolonged "Red Scare" during and after World War I. In Chicago, federal agents raided the Wobbly headquarters and seized practically all of the union's records. Around the country, union halls were wrecked and literature burned. This destruction persisted during the McCarthy era when many of the children and grandchildren of old Wobblies, out of fear, threw out potentially subversive publications and memorabilia that their parents and grandparents had saved for years.
The Newberry I.W.W. collection is remarkable one. It was assembled over a period of forty-plus years by Chicagoans Franklin and Penelope Rosemont. They purchased some items at various Chicago-area second-hand bookstores, particularly Jerry Nedwick's store on South Wabash in the early 1960s, and at the I.W.W.'s Solidarity Bookshop, which opened later in the decade. However, the bulk of the collection was given to them by old-time Wobblies.
The I.W.W. Organization
Junior Wobblies Union Charter, ca. 1927.
Junior Wobblies Union. Membership card, undated.
Proceedings of the First Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World, Founded at Chicago, June 27-July 8, 1905.
New York: Labor News Company, 1905.
Medlelmskort Världens Industriarbetare I.W.W. Skandinaviska Administrationen Stockholm, Sverige.
Blank Swedish membership booklet.
Withdrawal Card. Industrial Workers of the World. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1905.
Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo Administración: Libreta Oficial del Miembro.
Spanish membership booklet belonging to Joaquin Vinas, 1921.
Constitution and By-Laws of Industrial Workers of the World, Adopted Chicago 1905. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1905.
Membership Book of the Industrial Workers of the World. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1905.
Industrial Workers of the World Official Membership Book. Issued by authority of the General Executive Board of the I.W.W. Booklet belonging to James Elliott, Local # 178, Fresno, California, 1913.
Recruiting the Rank and File
Collection of "Silent Agitators," ca. 1920s-1930s.
Don't Throw Craps! Join the I.W.W. Los Angeles: I.W.W., ca. 1945.
Industrial Workers of the World: I.W.W. Universal Label One Big Union, ca. 1910.
Collection of I.W.W. Lapel Buttons and Pins, ca. 1910-1935.
Songs and Songwriters
Joe Hill. Don't Take My Papa Away from Me: Song-Picture from the War. Chicago: I.W.W., c. 1916.
Sånger Av Joe Hill (Josef Hillström). Stockholm, I.W.W., 1924.
I.W.W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent. 18th edition. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1920.
In Memoriam Joe Hill: Murdered by the authorities of the State of Utah, Nov. 19, 1915.
West Side Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois, November 25, 1915.
I.W.W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent. 17th edition. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1920.
Songs of the Workers On the Road, In the Jungles, and In the Shops. 15th edition. Chicago: I.W.W., 1919.
Joe Hill. The Rebel Girl. Ithaca, N.Y.: Glad Day Press, c. 1915. by Wm. D. Haywood (later reprint).
I.W.W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent. 19th edition. Chicago: I.W.W., 1923.
In Memoriam Joseph Hillstrom...Funeral Exercises will be held on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day, 1915.
Joe Hill's Last Will Nov. 19, 1935: "Don't Mourn But Organize," ca. 1920.
Pamphlets and Periodicals
The One Big Union Monthly. Chicago: I.W.W., June, 1920.
William D. Haywood. The General Strike. New York: Buccafori Defense Committee Shoe Workers Union No. 168, 1911.
Joseph J. Ettor. Industrial Unionism: The Road to Freedom. Chicago: I.W.W. Publishing Bureau, ca. 1913.
The Vapauteem: Road to Freedom (Finnish). Duluth, Minn.: Workers Socialist Publishing Company, December 1932.
Daniel De Leon. Sozialistische Rekonstruktion der Gesellschaft: Das Industrielle Votum.
Detroit, Mich.: Workers International Industrial Union, 1920.
Ralph Chaplin. The Centralia Conspiracy: The True Story of One of the Greatest Judicial Outrages of Modern Times.
3rd edition, revised. Chicago: General Defense Committee, c. 1924.
Eugene Debs. From Capitalism to the Industrial Commonwealth. Chicago: I.W.W., 1908.
Mary E. Marcy. Shop Talks on Economics. Chicago: I.W.W., ca. 1920.
Industrial Pioneer. Chicago: I.W.W., May 1921.
Bèrmunkás Naptár (Hungarian). Cleveland: I.W.W., 1933.