Organize (Joe Hill)

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in 1905. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism", with ties to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements. The IWW promotes the concept of "One Big Union", and contends that all workers should be united as a social class to supplant capitalism and wage labor with industrial democracy. It is known for the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy, in which workers elect their own managers and other forms of grassroots democracy and self-management are implemented. The I…   Read more

Syndicalism is a current in the labor movement to establish local, worker-based organizations and advance the demands and rights of workers through strikes. Major syndicalist organizations include the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the General Confederation of Labor in France, the National Confederation of Labour in Spain, the Italian Syndicalist Union, the Free Workers' Union of Germany, and the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation. A number of syndicalist organizations were and still are to this day linked in the International Workers' Association.

Syndicalists advocate direct action, including working to rule, passive resistance, sabotage, and strikes, p…   Read more

Joe Hill was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He rose in the IWW organization and traveled widely, organizing workers under the IWW banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. His most famous songs include "There Is Power in a Union", "The Preacher and the Slave" (in which he coined the phrase "pie in the sky"), "The Tramp", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones the Union Scab", which express the harsh and combative life of itinerant workers and call for workers to organize their efforts to improve working conditions.