Industrial Worker

INDUSTRIAL WORKER
O f f i c i a l n e w s p a p e r oF T h e I n d u s t r i a l Wo r k e r s o f t h e Wo r l d
J a n u a r y/ F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5 # 1 7 7 1 V o l . 1 1 2 N o . 1
$2/ 2/ 2
Prisoner Letters:
The Centennial
Wobblies Keep Up The Austerity, Tax Deals,
And Massive Protests Crime And
Commemoration Of
Fight In Scotland
7 Punishment
3
5 In Belgium
Joe Hill
11
Anti-Police Brutality Protest Shakes Things Up At The Mall Of America

By X378436
On Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, a protest
organized by Black Lives Matter Minneapolis aiming to shut down the Mall of America took place. The demonstration was part
of the ongoing movement against police
brutality and structural racism in police
departments nationwide. Thousands of
protesters crowded into the rotunda of the
largest shopping mall in North America
with banners proclaiming solidarity with
Ferguson and black lives matter. Chants
of Hands up, don't shoot! and No justice, no peace, no racist police! echoed
through the mall and sometimes got loud
enough to shake the windows. Protesters
who showed up a little late were greeted
by members of the Bloomington Police
Department dressed in head-to-toe riot
gear and plainclothes mall security guards.
Several members of the Twin Cities IWW
were present and a few were arrested when
they tried to break through these police

lines set up to block protesters access to
the rotunda and the other half of the mall.
An entire section of the mall was entirely
shut down, with all the shops closed. Many
food court workers walked off their jobs
and stood with their hands up while still
wearing their Auntie Annes Pretzels or
Dairy Queen uniforms. Employees at the
animal-friendly cosmetics shop, Lush,
stood outside their store with their hands
up in solidarity with the protesters. Many
employees who were trapped inside their
shops by the barricades that mall security
guards set up stood by the shop windows
looking out at the protests and raised their
fists in support.
For a few hours, the Mall of America
was partially shut down and the people
who worked there seemed totally fine with
it, and even supportive in some cases.
Lush workers walk out of the store in solidarity with Black
Continued on 6 Lives Matter at the Mall of America on Dec. 20, 2014.
Photo: Nick Kozel
Strange Encounters: World Meeting Of Popular Movements In Vatican City
Brazil, I found myself at the

Salesian orders complex, a
seemingly vast, gated area
surrounded by gardens
with peacocks wandering
around, just outside the
city of Rome, from Monday,
Oct. 27 to Wednesday, Oct.
29, 2014.
In front of the main
conference space, all organizations could display
materials. I added some
IWW swag. Amongst the
materials on offer there
Photo: Monika Vykoukal were Italian translations of
Meeting of popular movements.
the writings of imprisoned
By Monika Vykoukal
Attending a three-day meeting on Partiya Karkern Kurdistani (PKK, or
poverty, capitalism, and workers struggles Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah
organized at the Vatican was not some- calan, which set the tone for a journey of
thing I thought Id experience as a member discovery into a world of people we might
of the IWW. Yet, since we were invited to have more in common with than we perattend this three-day gathering through haps like to admit.
In their invitation, the organizers,
contacts made with Confederacion de los
Trabajadores de la Economia Popular CTPE and MST, as well as the Pontifical
(CTPE) in Argentina and Movimiento de Council for Justice and Peace and the
Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra (MST) in Pontifical Academies of Sciences, laid out
Industrial Worker
PO Box 180195
Chicago, IL 60618, USA
ISSN 0019-8870
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals Postage
PAID
Chicago, IL
and additional
mailing offices
their aims for the meeting. These included

consideration of the social thoughts of the
Pope and the relationship between popular
movements and the Church, and also an
analysis of growing social inequalities,
and, as stated in the invitation, popular
alternatives to address the problems [of]
Financial Capitalism (...) in order to build
a global society based on social justice out
of the workers contexts.
The meeting brought together approximately 150 people from around the
world, with many in particular involved in
the organizations Via Campesina, Shack
Dwellers International, Christian labor organizations, as well as clergy from the Justice and Peace Council, and organizations
of informal, precarious workersin particular in recycling and garbage collection.
The meeting was organized around five
key topics: housing, work, land, violence,
and the environment. As described in the
introduction by one of the organizers,
Juan Grabois, co-founder of the Excluded
Workers Movement (MTE) and the CTEP
(Argentina), the meeting was organized
with a methodology defined as the action
approach of see-hear-discern. The first

day would thus be dedicated to analysis of
the global situation of working people and
capitalism, and the second day to hearing,
with speeches by the Pope, Evo Morales,
the President of Bolivia, and a range of
other speakers. The third day would then
be the day to develop collective action.
Monday morning started with panel
discussions on land, work, and housing,
with time for five people to put forward additional short statements and questions after each panel. The perspective of the first
speaker on land, Pancha Rodriguez from
Via Campesina in Chile, set the common
tone for those that followed. Introduced by
the panel chair as a fighter and feminist,
she spoke of solidarity, caring for Mother
Earth, and the ongoing expropriation and
concentration of land and natural resources by the unbridled progress of capitalism,
where states, other organizations, and the
Church itself have accepted that common
good is taken away from them (by the interests of multinational corporations). She
continued that the ongoing expropriation
Continued on 6
Windsor Wobblies Build Street Solidarity
At this point they called themselves the

By X353319
For the last year-and-a-half, the IWW Street Solidarity Committee.
We would check in with people, help
in Windsor, Ontario, has been working on
a campaign to organize panhandlers and each other get in touch with people on the
buskers in the downtown core
street and get them in touch
with our organizers if there
of this border city. The campaign started out as the Windwere any problems, he said.
sor Street Solidarity Committee
Through their organizers on
the streets and the patrols, they
and in late 2014 expanded to
form the Windsor Panhandlers
managed to recruit a handful of
members who added numbers
and Buskers Union.
In late November 2014
to their committee.
I had the pleasure of sitting
Eventually we started
Graphic: Windsor IWW
down with Fellow Worker
dealing a bit with the police;
(FW) Richard from the Windsor General if there was a problem with a member we
Membership Branch (GMB) and one of would talk to the member and then the
the main organizers in the Windsor Pan- police, and then if a local business comhandler and Buskers Union. He explained plained, we would speak to the business.
how the campaign started: At first we Then we would try and work out a deal
really just did what were basically patrols where the buskers and panhandlers could
with branch members around downtown.
Continued on 6
Page 2 Industrial Worker January/February 2015
Introducing The 2015-2016 Industrial Worker Co-Editors
Letters Welcome!
Send your letters to: [email protected] with

Letter in the subject.
Mailing Address:
Industrial Worker, P.O. Box 180195,
Chicago, IL 60618, United States.
Get the Word Out!

IWW members, branches, job shops and
other affiliated bodies can get the word
out about their project, event, campaign
or protest each month in the Industrial
Worker. Send announcements to iw@
iww.org. Much appreciated donations for
the following sizes should be sent to:
IWW GHQ, Post Office Box 180195,
Chicago, IL 60618, United States.
$12 for 1 tall, 1 column wide
$40 for 4 by 2 columns
$90 for a quarter page
Organization
Education
Emancipation
Official newspaper of the
Industrial Workers
of the World
Post Office Box 180195

Chicago, IL 60618 USA
773.728.0996 [email protected]
www.iww.org
General Secretary-Treasurer:
Randall L. Jamrok
General Executive Board:
K. Maria Parrotta, Michael White,
D.J. Alperovitz, Drake Hoffmaster
Michael MoonDog Garcia
Jimi Del Duca, Elliot Hughes
Editors:
Diane Krauthamer & Nicki Meier
[email protected]
Graphic Designer:
Diane Krauthamer
Proofreaders:
Maria Rodriguez Gil,
Joel Gosse, Jonathan D. Beasley,
Don Sawyer, Neil Parthun,
Skylaar Amann, David Feldmann,
Chris Heffner, Billy OConnor
Printer:
Globe Direct/Boston Globe Media
Millbury, MA
Next deadline is
February 6, 2015
U.S. IW mailing address:
IW, Post Office Box 180195,

Chicago, IL 60618,
United States
ISSN 0019-8870
Periodicals postage
paid Chicago, IL.
Postmaster: Send address
changes to IW, Post Office Box
180195, Chicago, IL 60618 USA
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Individual Subscriptions: $18
International Subscriptions: $30
Library/Institution Subs: $30/year
Union dues includes subscription.
Published monthly with the exception of February and August.
Articles not so designated do
not reflect the IWWs
official position.
Press Date: January 12, 2015
for IWW General Headquarters (GHQ),

various branches and committees of the
IWW and for fellow workers projects
unrelated to the union for the last yearand-a-half. Additionally, Nicki has years
of experience writing for a number of
non-profit projects.
Diane Krauthamer has served as the
primary IW editor for the last six years and
is committed to continuing her work for at
least another two! In addition to editing
the paper, she has been active in various
labor media projects for nearly a decade,
including her work in communications for
a range of business unions in the United
States, and most recently a freelance reporter for Labor Notes and a volunteer
radio segment producer for the Heartland
Labor Forum, based in Kansas City. She
has a strong proficiency in graphic design,
newspaper layout, proofreading, writing,
and a command of the English language.
Diane holds a Master of Arts degree in
Media Studies from the New School in
New York City, and a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Journalism/Media Studies and
Political Science from Rutgers University
in New Jersey.
We look forward to two years of
IWW directory
Industrial Worker
The Voice of Revolutionary
Industrial Unionism
Greetings fellow Wobblies and Industrial Worker readers! After being elected
into this position following the IWW
2014 Fall Referendum, we are excited to
announce that we are now co-editors of
the Industrial Worker (IW), the official
newspaper of the IWW, for the coming
2015-2016 term.
Our commitment as editors will be
the continued publication of high-quality
and unique content that sets the IW apart
from all other labor publications. Since
there are two of us, we will work together
to double the power of the paperby not
only maintaining the quality of the existing
publication, but also developing its online
presence and subscription base through an
extensive overhaul of the current format.
Allow us to introduce ourselves: Nicki
Meier is an experienced media professional and a committed Wobbly. In addition to a solid year of proofreading and
regularly contributing articles and graphics to the IW, she has more than five years
of experience in graphic design, including
experience creating logos, t-shirt designs,
and promotional materials for various
organizations, events, and projects. She
has helped with editing and design work
Asia
Taiwan
Taiwan IWW: c/o David Temple, 4 Floor, No. 3, Ln. 67,
Shujing St., Beitun Dist., Taichung City 40641 Taiwan.
098-937-7029. [email protected]
Australia
New South Wales

Sydney GMB: [email protected]. Laura, del.,
[email protected]
Newcastle: [email protected]
Woolongong: [email protected]
Lismore: [email protected]
Queensland
Brisbane: P.O. Box 5842, West End, Qld 4101. Asger, del.,
[email protected]
South Australia
Adelaide: [email protected], www.wobbliesSA.
org. Jesse, del., 0432 130 082
Victoria
Melbourne: P.O. Box 145, Moreland, VIC 3058. [email protected], www.iwwmelbourne.
wordpress.com. Loki, del., lachlan.campbell.type@
gmail.com
Geelong: [email protected]
Canada
IWW Canadian Regional Organizing Committee (CANROC): c/o Toronto GMB, P.O. Box 45 Toronto P, Toronto ON,
M5S 2S6. [email protected]
Alberta
Edmonton GMB: P.O. Box 4197, T6E 4T2. edmontongmb@
iww.org, edmonton.iww.ca.
British Columbia
Red Lion Press: [email protected]
Vancouver GMB: 204-2274 York Ave., V6K 1C6.
604-732-9613. [email protected]. www.
vancouveriww.com
Vancouver Island GMB: Box 297 St. A, Nanaimo BC, V9R
5K9. [email protected]. http://vanislewobs.wordpress.
com
Manitoba
Winnipeg GMB: IWW, c/o WORC, P.O. Box 1, R3C 2G1.
204-299-5042, [email protected]
New Brunswick
Fredericton: frederictoniww.wordpress.com
Ontario
Ottawa-Outaouais GMB & GDC Local 6: 1106 Wellington
St., P.O. Box 36042, Ottawa, K1Y 4V3. [email protected],
[email protected]
Ottawa Panhandlers Union: Raymond Loomer, interim
delegate, [email protected]
Peterborough: c/o PCAP, 393 Water St. #17, K9H 3L7,
705-749-9694. Sean Carleton, del., 705-775-0663,
[email protected]
Toronto GMB: P.O. Box 45, Toronto P, M5S 2S6. 647-7414998. [email protected]. www.torontoiww.org
Windsor GMB: c/o WWAC, 328 Pelissier St., N9A 4K7.
519-564-8036. [email protected]. http://windsoriww.wordpress.com
Qubec
Montreal GMB: cp 60124, Montral, QC, H2J 4E1. 514268-3394. [email protected]
Europe
European Regional Administration (ERA): P.O. Box 7593

,Glasgow, G42 2EX. www.iww.org.uk
ERA Organisation Contacts
Central England Organiser: Russ Spring, central@iww.
org.uk
Communications Department: communications@iww.
org.uk
Cymru/Wales Organiser: Peter Davies [email protected]
East of Scotland Organiser: Dek Keenan, eastscotland@
iww.org.uk
Legal Officer: Tawanda Nyabango
London Regional Organiser: Tawanda Nyabango
Membership Administrator: Rob Stirling, membership@
iww.org.uk
Merchandise Committee: [email protected]
Northern Regional Organiser: Northern Regional Organising Committee, [email protected]
Norwich Bar and Hospitality Workers IUB 640: [email protected]
Organising and Bargaining Support Department:
[email protected]
Research and Survey Department: [email protected]
Secretary: Frank Syratt, [email protected]
Southern England Organiser: Nick Ballard, south@iww.
org.uk
Tech Committee: [email protected]
Training Department: [email protected]
Treasurer: Matt Tucker, [email protected]
West of Scotland Organiser: Keith Millar, westscotland@
iww.org.uk
Womens Officer: Marion Hersh, [email protected]
ERA Branches
Clydeside GMB: [email protected]
Cymru/Wales GMB: [email protected]
Edinburgh GMB: [email protected]
Tyne & Wear GMB: [email protected]
Bradford GMB: [email protected]
Leeds GMB: [email protected]

Manchester GMB: [email protected]
Sheffield GMB: IWW Office, SYAC, 120 Wicker, Sheffield
S3 8JD. [email protected]
Nottingham GMB: [email protected]
West Midlands GMB: [email protected]
Bristol GMB: [email protected]
Reading GMB: [email protected]
London GMB: [email protected]
Belgium
Belgium IWW: IWW Belgi/Belgique, Sint-Bavoplein 7,
2530 Boechout, Belgium. [email protected]
German Language Area
IWW German Language Area Regional Organizing
Committee (GLAMROC): IWW, Haberweg 19, 61352 Bad
Homburg, Germany. www.wobblies.de
Austria (Wien): [email protected], wien@wobblies.
at. http://wobblies.at. www.facebook.com/pages/IWWWien/381153168710911
Berlin: Offenes Treffen jeden 2.Montag im Monat im Cafe
Commune, Reichenberger Str.157, 10999 Berlin, 18 Uhr.
(U-Bahnhof Kottbusser Tor). Postadresse: IWW Berlin, c/o
Rotes Antiquariat, Rungestr. 20, 10179 Berlin, Germany.
[email protected].
Bremen: [email protected]. iwwbremen.
blogsport.de
Cologne/Koeln GMB: c/o Allerweltshaus, Koernerstr.
77-79, 50823 Koeln, Germany. [email protected].
www.iwwcologne.wordpress.com
Frankfurt a.M. GMB: [email protected], http://
Frankfurt.Wobblies.de
Hamburg-Waterkant: [email protected]
Kassel: [email protected]. www.wobblies-kassel.
de
Munich: [email protected]
Rostock: [email protected]. iww-rostock.net
Switzerland: [email protected]
Greece
Greece IWW: [email protected]
Anarpsy - Mental Health Services IU610 Clinic: anarpsy@
espiv.net
Iceland: Heimssamband Verkaflks / IWW Iceland,
Reykjavkurakademunni 516, Hringbraut 121,107
Reykjavk
Lithuania: [email protected]
Netherlands: [email protected]
Norway IWW: 004793656014. post@iwwnorge.
org. http://www.iwwnorge.org, www.facebook.com/
iwwnorge. Twitter: @IWWnorge
United States
Alabama
Mobile: Jimmy Broadhead, del., P.O. Box 160073, 36616.
[email protected]
Tuscaloosa: Gerald Lunn. 205-245-4622. geraldlunn@
gmail.com
Alaska
Fairbanks GMB: P. O. Box 80101, 99708. Chris White, del.,
907-457-2543, [email protected]. Facebook: IWW
Fairbanks
Arizona
Phoenix GMB: P.O. Box 7126, 85011-7126. 623-3361062. [email protected]. www.facebook.com/iww.
phoenix
Four Corners (AZ, CO, NM, UT): 970-903-8721, 4corners@
iww.org
Arkansas
Fayetteville: P.O. Box 283, 72702. 479-200-1859.
[email protected]
California
Los Angeles GMB: 323-374-3499. [email protected]
Sacramento IWW: [email protected]
San Diego IWW: 619-630-5537, [email protected]
San Francisco Bay Area GMB: (Curbside and Buyback IU
670 Recycling Shops; Stonemountain Fabrics Job Shop
and IU 410 Garment and Textile Workers Industrial
Organizing Committee; Shattuck Cinemas; Embarcadero
Cinemas) P.O. Box 11412, Berkeley, 94712. 510-8450540. [email protected]
San Francisco IUB 660: 2940 16th Street, Suite 216, San
Francisco, 94103. 415-985-4499. [email protected].
IU 520 Marine Transport Workers: Steve Ongerth, del.,
[email protected]
Evergreen Printing: 2412 Palmetto Street, Oakland
94602. 510-482-4547. [email protected]
San Jose: [email protected], www.facebook.
com/SJSV.IWW
Colorado
Denver GMB: c/o Hughes, 7700 E. 29th Avenue, Unit 107,
80238. 303-355-2032. [email protected]
Connecticut
Connecticut: John W., del., 914-258-0941. Johnw7813@
yahoo.com
DC
Washington DC GMB: P.O. Box 1303, 20013. 202-6309620. [email protected]. www.dciww.org, www.
facebook.com/dciww
Florida
Daytona Beach: 386-316-8745. DaytonaBeachIWW@
gmx.com. www.facebook.com/pages/Daytona-BeachIWW/133648520173882
Graphic: Walter P. Reuther Library
A 1961 issue of the Industrial Worker.
working with YOU in continuing the

long-standing tradition of publishing our
beloved newspaper. We will remain open
to new ideas, critiques and suggestions.
We encourage those with any questions,
comments, pitches, submissions, photos,
comics, poems, graphics, and anything
else you would like to see published in the
paper, to email [email protected], and we will
respond promptly!
For the One Big Union,
Diane Krauthamer &
Nicki Meier
Gainesville GMB: c/o Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.,

32601. Robbie Czopek, del., 904-315-5292, [email protected], www.gainesvilleiww.org
Hobe Sound: P. Shultz, 8274 SE Pine Circle, 33455-6608.
South Florida GMB: P.O. Box 370457, 33137. 305-8946515. [email protected], http://iwwmiami.wordpress.
com. Facebook: Miami IWW
St. Augustine: C/O The Lincolnville Public Library, 97 M L
King Ave., St. Augustine, 32084. staugustineiww@gmail.
com. www.facebook.com/StAugustineIWW
Tallahassee: www.facebook.com/IwwTallahassee
Georgia
Atlanta GMB: P.O. Box 5390, 31107. 678-964-5169,
[email protected], www.atliww.org
Idaho
Boise: Ritchie Eppink, del., P.O. Box 453, 83701. 208-3719752, [email protected]
Illinois
Chicago GMB: P.O. Box 15384, 60615. 312-638-9155,
[email protected]
Indiana
Indiana GMB: [email protected]. Facebook:
Indiana IWW
Iowa
Eastern Iowa IWW: 319-333-2476. EasternIowaIWW@
gmail.com
Kansas
Lawrence GMB: P.O. Box 1462, 66044. 816-875-6060
Wichita: Richard Stephenson, del., 620-481-1442.
[email protected]
Kentucky
Kentucky GMB: Mick Parsons, Secretary Treasurer,
[email protected]. 502-658-0299
Louisiana
Louisiana IWW: John Mark Crowder, del, wogodm1@
yahoo.com. https://www.facebook.com/groups/iwwofnwlouisiana/
Maine
Maine IWW: 207-619-0842. [email protected], www.
southernmaineiww.org
Maryland
Baltimore GMB: P.O. Box 33350, 21218. baltimoreiww@
gmail.com
Massachusetts
Boston Area GMB: P.O. Box 391724, Cambridge, 02139.
617-863-7920, [email protected], www.IWWBoston.org
Western Mass. Public Service IU 650 Branch: IWW, P.O.
Box 1581, Northampton, 01061
Michigan
Detroit GMB: 4210 Trumbull Blvd., 48208. detroit@
iww.org.
Grand Rapids GMB: P.O. Box 6629, 49516. 616-881-5263.
[email protected]
Grand Rapids Bartertown Diner and Rocs Cakes: 6
Jefferson St., 49503. [email protected], www.
bartertowngr.com
Central Michigan: 5007 W. Columbia Rd., Mason 48854.
Minnesota
Duluth IWW: P.O. Box 3232, 55803. iwwduluth@riseup.
net
North Country Food Alliance: 2104 Stevens Ave S, Minneapolis, 55404. 612-568-4585. www.northcountryfoodalliance.org
Pedal Power Press: P.O. Box 3232 Duluth 55803.www.
pedalpowerpress.com
Phoenix Mental Health, P.L.C.: FW Jeffrey Shea Jones,
3137 Hennepin Ave. S., #102, Minneapolis, 55408.
612-501-6807
Red River GMB: [email protected], redriveriww@gmail.
com
Twin Cities GMB: 3019 Minnehaha Ave. South, Suite 50,
Minneapolis, 55406. [email protected]
Missouri
Greater Kansas City IWW: P.O. Box 414304, Kansas City,
64141. 816-875-6060. 816-866-3808. greaterkciww@
gmail.com
St. Louis IWW: P.O. Box 63142, 63163. Secretary: stl.
[email protected]. Treasurer stl.iww.treasurer@
gmail.com
Montana
Construction Workers IU 330: Dennis Georg, del., 406490-3869, [email protected]
Missoula IWW: Diane Keefauver, 1250 34th Street #D202,
59801. 406-531-0601
Two Rivers IWW: Jim Del Duca, del., 106 Paisley Court,
Apt. I, Bozeman 59715. 406-599-2463. delducja@
gmail.com
Nebraska
Nebraska GMB: P.O. Box 27811, Ralston, 68127. [email protected]. www.nebraskaiww.org
Nevada
Reno GMB: P.O. Box 12173, 89510. Paul Lenart, del.,
IU 520 Railroad Workers: Ron Kaminkow, del., P.O. Box
2131, Reno, 89505. 608-358-5771. ronkaminkow@
yahoo.com
New Jersey
Central New Jersey GMB: P.O. Box 10021, New Brunswick,
08906. 732-692-3491. [email protected]. Bob
Ratynski, del., 908-285-5426. www.newjerseyiww.org
New Mexico
Albuquerque GMB: 505-569-0168, [email protected]
New York
New York City GMB: 45-02 23rd Street, Suite #2, Long
Island City,11101. [email protected]. www.wobblycity.
org
Starbucks Campaign: [email protected],
www.starbucksunion.org
Syracuse IWW: [email protected]
Upstate NY GMB: P.O. Box 77, Altamont, 12009. 518861-5627. [email protected]
Utica IWW: Brendan Maslauskas Dunn, del., 315-2403149.
North Carolina
Greensboro: 336-279-9334. [email protected].
North Dakota
Red River GMB: [email protected], redriveriww@gmail.
com
Ohio
Mid-Ohio GMB: c/o Riffe, 4071 Indianola Ave., Columbus, 43214. [email protected]
Northeast Ohio GMB: P.O. Box 1096, Cleveland, 44114.
440-941-0999
Ohio Valley GMB: P.O. Box 6042, Cincinnati 45206, 513510-1486, [email protected]
Sweet Patches Screenprinting: [email protected]
Oklahoma
Oklahoma IWW: 539-664-6769. iwwoklahoma@gmail.
com
Oregon
Lane GMB: Ed Gunderson, del., 541-743-5681. x355153@
iww.org, www.iwwlane.org
Portland GMB: 2249 E Burnside St., 97214, 503-2315488. [email protected], portlandiww.org
Red and Black Cafe: 400 SE 12th Ave, Portland, 97214.
503-231-3899. [email protected]. www.
redandblackcafe.com
Primal Screens Screen Printing: 1127 SE 10th Ave.
#160 Portland, 97214. 503-267-1372. primalscreens@
gmail.com
Pennsylvania
Lancaster IWW: P.O. Box 352, 17608. 717-559-0797.
[email protected]
Lehigh Valley GMB: P.O. Box 1477, Allentown, 181051477. 484-275-0873. [email protected].
www. facebook.com/lehighvalleyiww
Paper Crane Press IU 450 Job Shop: 610-358-9496. [email protected], www.papercranepress.com
Pittsburgh GMB: P.O. Box 5912,15210. 412-894-0558.
[email protected]
Rhode Island
Providence GMB: P.O. Box 23067, 02903. 401-484-8523.
[email protected]
Tennessee
Mid-Tennessee IWW: Jonathan Beasley, del., 218 S 3rd
St. Apt. 7-6, Clarksville, 37040. [email protected]
Texas
Houston: Gus Breslauer, del., [email protected].
Facebook: Houston IWW
Rio Grande Valley, South Texas IWW: P.O. Box 5456
McAllen, Texas 78502. Greg, del., 956-278-5235 or
Marco, del., 979-436-3719. [email protected]. www.
facebook.com/IWWRGV
Utah
Salt Lake City GMB: P.O. Box 1227, 84110. 801-8719057. [email protected]
Vermont
Burlington: John MacLean, del., 802-540-2561
Virginia
Richmond IWW: P.O. Box 7055, 23221. 804-496-1568.
[email protected], www.richmondiww.org
Washington
Bremerton: Gordon Glick, del., [email protected]
Whatcom-Skagit IWW: [email protected].
www.bellinghamiww.com. Facebook: Bellingham IWW
Seattle GMB: 1122 E. Pike #1142, 98122-3934. 206-4295285. [email protected]. www.seattleiww.org,
www.seattle.net
Spokane: P.O. Box 30222, 99223. spokaneiww@gmail.
com
Wisconsin
Madison GMB: P.O. Box 2442, 53701-2442. www.
madison.iww.org
IUB 560 - Communications and Computer Workers: P.O.
Box 259279, Madison 53725. 608-620-IWW1. [email protected]. www.Madisoniub560.iww.org
Lakeside Press IU 450 Job Shop: 1334 Williamson,
53703. 608-255-1800. Jerry Chernow, del., jerry@
lakesidepress.org. www.lakesidepress.org
Madison Infoshop Job Shop:1019 Williamson St. #B,
53703. 608-262-9036
Just Coffee Job Shop IU 460: 1129 E. Wilson, Madison,
53703. 608-204-9011, justcoffee.coop
Railroad Workers IU 520: 608-358-5771. railfalcon@
yahoo.com
Milwaukee GMB: P.O. Box 342294, 53234. [email protected]. 630-415-7315
Northwoods IWW: P.O. Box 452, Stevens Point, 54481
The Centennial Commemoration Of Joe Hill
By Elmore Y., X359525

Singer, songwriter, and union activist
Joe Hill was shot on Nov. 19, 1915. The
centennial of this tragic and arbitrary case
of state murder will lead to at least three
events that are being promoted at the moment, with potentially more events being
planned over the coming few months.
In Utah, a Joe Hill Organizing Committee was set up to prepare an all-day
concert on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 (more
information can be found at: http://
joehill2015.org). In fact, Joe Hill did
not want to be caught dead in Utah and
his ashes were to be sent by the IWW to
any place in the world but Utah. Catholic
workers Amon Hennacy and Mary Lathrop
founded the Joe Hill House of Hospitality
for hobos and bums in 1961 to wash a little
of the guilt from that bigoted Mormon
metropolis of Salt Lake City.
Activists from the Bread and Roses
Workers Cultural Center in Denver, Colo.,
are planning an anniversary event. According to their website:
We may have lined up a major promoter and thereby a major concert to go
along with films, documentaries, perhaps a
musical play, poetry and the book signing.
We will need a great deal of help on this,
especially publicity/media and outreach,
and this may be an opportunity to raise
significant funds to develop Bread and
Roses projects in Joes memory. This could
be a corner-turner in making our Center
a force for working class self-activity and
development: join in! (Contact: info@
workersbreadandroses.org). The Bread
and Roses Center already held a two-day
Joe Hill festival with folk singers John McCutcheon and Elena Klaver in August 2011.
The Bread and Roses Center is currently
closed and looking for a new location.
The Cologne IWW branch is preparing
a concert with several bands in the Kln/
Dsseldorf region, Germany. Contact [email protected] for more information.
There are some homegrown IWWbands playing Joe Hill songs, such as the
General Strike Band in Portland, the Over-
IWW Constitution Preamble
The working class and the employing

class have nothing in common. There can
be no peace so long as hunger and want
are found among millions of working
people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of
life. 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, and live in harmony with the
earth.
We find that the centering of the
management of industries into fewer and
fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever-growing power
of the employing class. The trade unions
foster a state of affairs which allows one
set of workers to be pitted against another
set of workers in the same industry,
thereby helping defeat one another in
wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions
aid the employing class to mislead the
workers into the belief that the working
class have interests in common with their
employers.
These conditions can be changed and
the interest of the working class upheld
only by an organization formed in such
a way that all its members in any one
industry, or all industries if necessary,
cease work whenever a strike or lockout is
on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.
Instead of the conservative motto, A
fair days wage for a fair days work, we
must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, Abolition of the wage
system.
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The
army of production must be organized,
not only for the everyday struggle with
capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been
overthrown. By organizing industrially
we are forming the structure of the new
society within the shell of the old.
Joe Hill (left) and his last will (right).
all Brigade from Cologne, and 12 Dead in

Everett from Sheffield. Not to forget FW
Tom Morello (a.k.a. The Nightwatchman), John Pietaro, and many others. But
songs by and about Joe Hill have spread
far beyond the IWW. They are part of the
repertoire of famous musicians like Steve
Earle (Christmas in Washington), Ry
Cooder (Three Chords and the Truth),
Anti-Flag (1915). Film score writer and
jazz musician Wayne Horvitz wrote a
90-minute oratorio called Joe Hill, 16
Actions for Orchestra, Voice and Soloist. It was premiered at the University
of Washingtons Meany Hall on Oct. 30,
2004, and funded by the Rockefeller
Foundation. Strangely enough, companies
like Standard Oil once made John D. Rockefeller the richest man in the world. Rockefellers Colorado Fuel & Iron Company
was responsible for the Ludlow Massacre
against striking miners on April 20, 1914.
The music is good, though. History makes
strange detours sometimes.
This leads me to the next point: A
friend and fellow Wobbly from Berlin and
I are preparing a documentary film called
The Ashes of Joe Hill. It will center on
the year 1988, when envelopes with Joe
Hills last remains were accidently found in
January/February 2015 Industrial Worker Page 3
Images: rebelpress.org.nz
the U.S. National Archives and given back

to the IWW. The film will chronicle the
period since Joe Hills death and go back
to 1915, and maybe to 1969 when Joan
Baez sang I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last
night at Woodstock. And of course it will
present union struggles and feature rebel
musicians and itinerant workers to answer
the questions: Where has the Wobbly spirit
of 1915 gone? Will the fading flower bloom
again, as Joe Hill expressed his hopes in
his last will?
We are urgently searching for interview partners and clues:
Who discovered the remaining envelopes of Joe Hills ashes in the National
Archives in 1988?
Who took part in the Joe Hills Wake
Bonfire in Michigan 1990? The event was
reported by Carol Landry: Joe Hills
Wake, Industrial Worker, December
1990, page 6.
Who was present in 1989 when parts
of the ashes were scattered in Lafayette,
Colo., in remembrance of the Columbine
Mine Massacre of 1927?
If you can contribute contacts and
background information, or if you want
to participate in this project, please email
[email protected].
Join the IWW Today
he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the

job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions
today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and
distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire
population, not merely a handful of exploiters.
We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially
that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing
workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to fight the bosses together.
Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a
truly international union movement in order to confront the global power of the
bosses and in order to strengthen workers ability to stand in solidarity with our fellow workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on.
We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to have
representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recognizing that unionism is not about government certification or employer recognition
but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimes
this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with
an unsafe machine or following the bosses orders so literally that nothing gets done.
Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specific
workplace, or across an industry.
Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, decisions about what issues to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved.
TO JOIN: Mail this form with a check or money order for initiation
and your first months dues to: IWW, Post Office Box 180195, Chicago, IL
60618, USA.
Initiation is the same as one months dues. Our dues are calculated
according to your income. If your monthly income is under $2000, dues
are $9 a month. If your monthly income is between $2000 and $3500,
dues are $18 a month. If your monthly income is over $3500 a month, dues
are $27 a month. Dues may vary outside of North America and in Regional
Organizing Committees (Australia, British Isles, German Language Area).
__I affirm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer.

__I agree to abide by the IWW constitution.
__I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes.
Name:_________________________________
Address:_______________________________
City, State, Post Code, Country:________________
Occupation:_____________________________
Phone:_____________ Email:________________
Amount Enclosed:__________
Membership includes a subscription to the Industrial Worker.
We Need More
IWW Translators
A letter to my fellow
English speakers,
We are screwed if
you only speak English and your aptitude for learning new
languages is not good. Im feeling pretty
stuck in the English-speaking world and
that is not okay. I joined the IWW to
transcend language barriers and to be
able to participate in events and actions
with workers who speak all languages.
There are several things we can do
immediately to improve our IWW translation programs and make better use our
dedicated and weary IWW translators.
First of all, THANK YOU THANK
YOU IWW translators. I know how much
work it is, and I can see what you have to
prioritize. Wobblies need you, even when
we dont know it we need you profoundly,
and we will try to protect your every step.
Lets have some translated conference calls that we plan in advance and
where we have language support/translators on both endsa Skype call with
a nice speaker phone and a big screen.
Lets invite new translators and
people with language skills we would
like to access to begin by reviewing our
Preamble in the language they speak
and then maybe test their skills with a
translation of some of Fellow Worker
(FW) Tom Keoughs cartoons.
My immediate translation needs are:
there are a group of workers at Giant
Eagle Store 47 and many other Giant
Eagles that speak African languages. I
dont even have an adequate list of what
those languages are. I could use help
providing them with some orientation
to the union which represents them
United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) Local 23. It would be nice to
have a conference call with the National
Garment Workers Federation of Bangladesh. The logistics of this, especially the
first time, require a lot of planning. FW
Tom Keoughs cartoons can be formatted
to help us work with translators and have
immediately useful translations that can
be exchanged via PDF. Does someone
want to help with that?
I dont know where copies of the
IWW Preamble in different languages
are located, whether they are in PDF
format or who certified or accepted any
of the translations as being official.
Locally, whats working is that the
Pittsburgh IWW has a liaison to the IWW
International Solidarity Commission.
The branch has allocated $50 to support new translation initiatives, and the
editor of our new quarterly newsletter,
Martin Zehr, is very focused on prioritizing Spanish language material for our
newsletter. Thank you Martin!!!
If you can share information in
English about translations or any of
these initiatives, please call me at 412512-1709.
Solidarity,
Kenneth Miller
Industrial Worker
Subscriptions
Reminder!
As per GEB motion
JWS-09, the pricing
for IW bundles is
$0.50/copy. Yearly
bundle subscriptions
(10 issues) are as follows:
Monthly Bundle of 5:
$25
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Pricing has already taken effect as

reflected on the store website and delegate forms. Starting January 1, 2015,
any incoming renewal requests will be
at the above rate.
To request a renewal or inquire on
your subscription expiration date email
[email protected]. Please title your email
Subscription Inquiry.
Marginalized Workers Voices
The Toughest Skin
By Liberte Locke
major corporate chain means that Im on
Being a woman means knowing most- display constantlyfor every judgment
ly women will actually read this column. and every critique. Being confident means
As a woman who works in retail, I customers go out of their way to break
am making next-to-nothing for serving me down because shit rolls downhill and
everyone.
their jobs suck too, but differently. Very
I have always worked with my hands. differently.
I have used them to care of other peoples
I know being a woman organizer is
children. I have used them to clean breaking down from all the misogyny I
bachelor pads while men I dont know experience daily, the ableism, the howatch television and occasionally look mophobia, the transphobia (from openly
me up and down when I know that this supporting and loving trans people, and
will not be a reoccurring gig. When men admitting to being a bit fagboi myself),
stay home to watch the housekeeper they being truly working classborn and
hired from Craigslist
bredthat male orfor next-to-nothing,
ganizers will hear all
they were hoping to get
that as counter-revolumore than their montionary complaining or
eys worth to watch a
identity politics for
disenfranchised broke
those with the time to
woman clean for them.
be all academic about
Ive been asked why I
my reality. One such
was wearing so much,
even said I wasted his
asked how much I
time with it. Same such
Photo: unionsmatter.com
weigh, asked why anysaid I needed tougher
one would hire me looking like that.
skin for this work, meaning unionizing.
Ive been called every insult, been
Being an injured queer fast food
offered paid and unpaid sex work from working woman who has always made her
complete strangers while selling them money through physical labor and knows
cups of coffee for barely over the mini- homelessness, and knows need, and
mum wage. And I have considered it.
feels compassion for others struggles...I
I know touching a mans hand while know that means that I embody toughgiving him change makes for a 75 percent ness; even through my tears, and even
chance Ill get a tip. I know laughing when through my breakdowns. Even through
he asks if Im on the menu means not be- my struggle with daily misogyny, fating called bitch. Im called bitch often. phobia, homophobia and ableism, I keep
Being a large woman means that thin on keeping on. I realize that I can defend
rich New York white ladies will almost my emotional state until Ive lost my voice
always change their drink orders after and broken my own heart but that true allooking me up and down to non-fat, no- lies, true comrades, true Wobblies would
whip, and sugar-free.
never ask me to do such a thing.
Being an injured woman worker
Im still fighting, Im still breathwearing wrist braces on both hands while ing, and thats in spite of the haters and
making drinks at neck-breaking speeds people who misunderstand me. This life
means undoubtedly that the few people aint easy, and it aint over. And Im not
that feign concern mostly want to waste giving up.
my time telling me how I dont take care
Marginalized Workers Voices is a
of myself, how losing weight will help my new column for women, gender minoriarms. They will make every assumption ties, and any LGBTQ+ Fellow Worker.
about me, my class, my life, and assume Its for Wobblies of color, workers with
I somehow did this to myself and not disabilities, and any other marginalized
capitalism.
voice of the One Big Union. If youd like
Being a big, injured, openly-queer to contribute, please send your article to
woman, exhausted, overworked, under- [email protected] with the subject line Marpaid, almost bottom-rung worker at a ginalized Workers Voices.
Workers Power is on vacation this month. If you

would like to contribute to a future Workers Power column, email [email protected].
Organizing
Imagining An IWW Branch In Accra

By Brad Laird, X374826
Indiana IWW GMB Member
In August 2014 my partner, five-yearold daughter and I packed up and moved to
Ghana for the academic year. This is a time
for us to experience the world through
lenses of another culture. The many details
of making sure the pets are cared for, the
house rented, stuff stored, bills paid, mail
forwarded, etc., left us dazed and a little
worried that we had forgotten something
important, some capitalist requirement
in the fine print that will generate misery.
We let the worry go as best we could, and
took the plunge.
Ghana, which used to be called the
Gold Coast, is located in West Africa, an
Anglophone country surrounded by Francophone countries. Ebola has not come to
Ghana, although the international effort
to deal with the West African countries
it has ravaged is organized from Accra,
Ghanas capital. We are here because my
partner was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at the University of Ghana in
Legon, part of the Accra region. Ghana has
over 100 ethnic groups and corresponding
languages and dialects. Most adults speak
several local languages and some English
with varying proficiency. English is the
common languagea legacy of British
colonialism. Ghana was the first African
country to gain independence from the
colonial powers, becoming independent

in 1957.
Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian
nationalist leader who led the Gold Coasts
independence from Britain and presided over its
emergence as the new
nation of Ghana. He
imagined a Pan-African,
socialist future, with
Ghana inaugurating an
Africa free of the influences of colonial powers. In February 1966,
Ghanas armed forces, with intelligence
assistance and pressure from the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), took over the
government in Operation Cold Chop, a
coup dtat. The Cold War policies brought
in the neocolonial era. Frantz Fanons
earlier descriptors during the colonial
period remained true, and seems so still
today: the unemployed and the starving
do not lay claim to truth. They do not say
they represent the truth because they are
the truth in their very being.
With this brief introduction to Ghana,
here are four suggestions for what an IWW
branch in Accra might need:
First, a branch will need to have one or
more official linguists. This person could
be a working-class person who speaks six
or more languagesnot an uncommon
Graphic: Mike Konopacki
person to find here. Whether visiting a

family because a member has died, or
negotiating a contract, there is usually
an identified linguist present to whom
one speaks, and who
relays that information
to the other party. This
is done even when all
parties speak a common
indigenous language or
when everyone is fluent
in English. This cultural
norm will need to be
Graphic: Gadflye reflected in an IWW
branch.
Second, organizers can talk theory
openly. Left ideology is generally a more
comfortable fit in Ghana than in the United
States. Even many fundamentalist Christians here wish Nkrumahs socialist plans
in the countrys structure would have continued, despite their unhappiness with his
seeing Christianity as a disruptive colonial
cultural import. Talking about Marxism,
communism, socialism, or anarcho-syndicalism is not fraught with the red-baiting
that some of us have experienced.
Third, we will need to find ways to
develop the IWWs developing praxes
regarding gender, with an eye to what is
possible first without surrendering our
commitment to radical gender inclusiveness and egalitarianism. The conversation
here is at a distinctly different place than

those in the United States and Europe. At
the Kotoka International Airport in Accra
one is met by a sign that reads:
Welcome!! Ghana does not welcome pedophiles and other sexual deviants. Ghana imposes extremely harsh
penalties on such sexually aberrant behavior, and that if you happen to be one of
these sexual deviants, then you should go
elsewhere for everybodys good.
We were told that discussing gay rights
could get one lynched. A non-cisgender
Ghanaian friend tells us that it is dangerous, but there is a large GLBTQI community here, and this community does do
things out in the open periodically. I will
do more research on this matter.
Fourth, and finally, Ghana does not
need another American or European telling them what they should do. Fortunately,
this is consistent with my understanding of
what the IWW stands for: local determination of goals and objectives, local development of praxis within our overarching
constitution and bylaws. I find Staughton
Lynds discussion of Accompanying to
be helpful. He is specific about the how
privileged persons can avoid being more
of a problem than a help by accompanying
others toward their self-determined goals
and putting our shoulder to their tasks in
solidarity.
Wobbly & North American News
Wobblies Keep Up The Fight In Scotland
By FW Keith,
West of Scotland
Regional Organiser
Scotland has experienced
a turbulent time recently.
Even though the independence referendum failed, the
levels of political participation
and discussion on alternatives increased dramatically.
Parties that voted in favor
Photo: WestScotRO
of independence, such as Anti-fracking rally at Ineos plant
Grangemouth,
Dec.
7,
2014.
the Scottish National Party
Earlier last summer and autumn, the
(SNP), the Scottish Green Party, and the
Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), witnessed branch held two public meetings. The first
huge increases in membership after the was in July with Immanuel Ness from New
poll, whilst parties against independence York on worldwide new forms of worker
organization. In September, Dave Dougsaw their poll ratings plummet.
Workers and students joined the lass from Tyneside spoke about the miners
Clydeside IWW branch, especially in the strike 30 years ago, and the preparations
education sector. The branch profile has the State took to defeat the miners cause.
been raised at demonstrations and pickets, In November, an IWW Scottish Assembly
and the outlook remains firmly interna- was held in Edinburgh. Over the course
tionalist and focused on exposing capital- of eight months, three issues of the Strike
ism for the flawed system it is. A major Back newsletter have been distributed at
issue that has emerged and will produce events such as the St. Andrews Day anticracks in the political landscape is frack- racist march and the John McLean Coming. Local community groups have sprung memoration rally.
For more for information, see http://
up in former mining areas in the Central
iwwscotland.wordpress.com.
Belt, from Bishopbriggs to Balingry.
NYC IWW Marches Against Police Brutality
Oklahoma IWW Solidarity With Students

By the Oklahoma
IWW
Students at Norman High School
in Norman, Okla.,
walked out of their
classes at 9:20 a.m.
on Monday, Nov.
24, 2014, greeted by
hundreds of activists
and supporters boldly
standing with them in
solidarity. Why?
Throughout the
semester, an 18-yearold senior at the
school raped three
female students, publicized the rapes
and humiliated the survivors. These girls
were met with bullying and harassment,
one being forced to leave the school because of constant hazing. Another was
not even able to enter the school before
being violently confronted by the rapists
friends. The third student retaliated when
being harassed and was asked to leave the
school for the remainder of the year until
things blow over. The administration
punished the survivor for self-defense
and has done nothing to address rape,
sexual assault and harassment in their
school community.
A brave group of students, supporters, and friends of the survivors decided
to take action against this injustice. Following this, a core group of organizers
met in coffeehouses and in supporters
homes, and brainstormed what they could
do to force the administration to address
this problem. Through cooperation with
local activists and media, the #YesAllDaughters campaign was born, gar-
nering almost 5,000

Facebook likes in
two weeks, bringing
media attention to
the issue and rallying hundreds of students and supporters
to stand outside the
school on the morning
of Nov. 24.
As a union committed to the abolition of patriarchy and
all forms of exploitation, the Industrial
Workers of the World
Photo: Oklahoma IWW (IWW) stands with
these students in solidarity and was represented at the walkout. Christophe Parsons, a delegate for the Oklahoma IWW,
was part of the core group of organizers.
Parsons said, Both as a friend of the
survivor and as a revolutionary unionist
committed to building a new world, inaction was not an option. I am proud of my
fellow students and community supporters who have rallied around these girls,
and I am proud of my union, which has
showed incredible solidarity and support
in organizing this event.
Anyone who denies the role that
patriarchy plays in oppression, anyone
who will not practice gender equity and
feminism, is not a revolutionary. The
Oklahoma IWW will not stand silent in
the face of such a blatant injustice in our
community against our young people,
Parsons added.
The Oklahoma IWW echoes the
cries of the student-activists and stands
alongside them in their struggle and the
struggle of all victims of patriarchy.
Red November, Black November A Success!

Photo: Stephanie Basile
Members of the NYC IWW participate in the Millions March NYC on Dec. 13, 2014.
About 25,000 were estimated to have marched that day against police brutality.
Nurses Strike Against Ebola Readiness
Texas Health Presbyterian, who are nonBy John Kalwaic

On the morning of Nov. 11, 2014, union, contacted the NNU about what
approximately 18,000 nurses went on had gone wrong. These two nurses cited
a two-day strike at Kaiser Permanente concerns about working conditions, such
hospitals and clinics in California. Nurses as inadequate staffing and training that
did not prepare them for
at other California hospitals
fighting the deadly disease.
went on strike as well. Some
400 newly-organized nurses
Though the vicious
virus, which can kill in a
in Washington D.C., who
matter of days, engenders
were seeking a first contract,
a particular horror, its far
went on a one-day strike the
from the biggest danger
following day, and nurses
facing health care workers
held rallies, pickets, and
on the job, or patients in
candlelight vigils in 14 other
states. This was part of a day
a hospitalNurses say the
Photo: nationalnursesunited.org same problems theyre highof action aimed to raise the
alarm that hospitals arent prepared to lighting over Ebolalack of supplies and
safely care for patients with Ebola. It was training, for instance, and short staffing
coordinated by National Nurses United most of allstrike at the root of all kinds
(NNU).
of safety concerns that health care workers
According to Labor Notes, the specter and patients face, with understaffing as a
of workplace-contracted Ebola grabbed top concern, wrote Alexandra Bradbury in
headlines this fall when two Dallas nurses Labor Notes. For more information, visit
who had treated an infected patient got http://labornotes.org/2014/11/nursessick themselves. Luckily, both recovered. strike-its-not-just-about-ebola.
With files from Labor Notes.
But nurses from the affected hospital,
Valve Workers Strike In Ipswich
By John Kalwaic
ing in defiance of $1.75 per
On Nov. 26, 2014, mahour cuts, as well as slashing
chinists, welders and other
of health care services after
workers with United Electritaking cuts from the company
cal, Radio & Machine Workers
for years. The workers braved
Graphic: UE Local 279
of America (UE) Local 279,
a snowstorm to come out to
held a strike against a North Shore manu- the picket line.
facturing company in Ipswich, Mass. The
Kevin McPherson, full-time valve
workers, who make parts for the nuclear technician and UE Local 279 President,
power and energy industry picketed Weir said We have a lot of fun out on the
Valves & Controls, USA Inc., protesting picket line even though striking is not
what they said were management's efforts supposed to be fun, according to the
to increase their health care costs and Boston Globe.
change rules governing seniority, overWith files from the Boston Globe and
time, and hiring. The workers were strik- http://www.ueunion.org.
By The Organizer
November is a somber
month for labor. The Haymarket
Martyrs were executed in November. Joe Hill was put before
a firing squad in Utah during
November. Buenaventura Durruti was killed in November. The
Centralia, Everett and First Columbine massacres all occurred
in November.
It is for this reason that the
Twin Cities General Membership Branch (GMB) of the In- Setting up for the Red November, Photo: Erik Davis
dustrial Workers of the World Black November event in 2009.
(IWW) began to put together a yearly currently in South Africa.
social event called Red November, Black
Moving on to perhaps the highlight of
November (RNBN). Recognizing the im- the night was the kids skit. Organized by
portance of this month to organized labor, the Junior Wobblies with the assistance
RNBN is held to remember and reflect on of some of their parents and siblings, the
both our own efforts, as well as those who skit featured the kids poking fun at the
came before us.
campaigns and experiences of the Twin
Nov. 22, 2014 marked the seventh time Cities IWW. As usual, it received a lot of
RNBN has been held. A $10 ticket ($5 for laughter and a standing applause.
kids) bought you a pozole dinner with two
A staffer from General Headquarters
beverages, along with a full program of in Chicago attended and gave a broad
reports, music, a kids skit, a quiz, raffles report of what has been going on in the
and conversation with other IWW mem- union. This was followed by reports from
bers. Although it was a Twin Cities focused the editor of our branchs newsletter, The
event, Wobblies from Winnepeg, Toronto, Organizer, and the Junior Wobblies. This
Chicago, Salt Lake City and Indiana were was the last of the reports.
in attendance. This year RNBN also coinThe event then moved on to a Trivia
cided with an Organizer Training 102 that Pub Quiz with the winning table getting
happened the same weekend.
an extra entry into the raffle. The raffle,
After dinner, and interspersed with which every attendee got at least one entry
labor songs throughout, attendees heard in, consisted of a number of prizes, includreports from the outgoing branch sec- ing items from May Day Books, thoughtretary-treasurers. The two officers went crime ink, Recomposition and individual
over some of the better practices they had members. The last part of RNBN involved
tried to establish in 2014, and announced making toasts. Wobblies raised their
the branchs move to a new, larger office glasses and saluted each others efforts. It
in December.
was a display of appreciation for tasks not
Next were reports from campaigns always recognized. This concluded the 7th
that members have been involved in over Annual Red November, Black November.
the year. Among some of the campaigns
After the event, Twin Cities GMB
discussed were: how the Hands Up Dont member Emmett D. said, It was a sucShip job action came together, establish- cessful event that captured the energy
ing contacts with prison laborers and and hilarity of our union. I think a lot of
activity from dual-carders in education. people left feeling energized and excited
Extra time was set aside to watch a video to see what we can accomplish in the year
greeting recorded by a branch member ahead.
Front Page News
Anti-Police Brutality Protest Shakes Things Up At The Mall Of America

Continued from 1
Whether or not food court workers who
abandoned their posts and joined the
protest could be called a wildcat strike
is up for debate, but it certainly speaks
volumes that this is an issue that resonates with so many. It resonates enough
with people that they are willing to refuse
to work and instead take action against
a white supremacist police state. Previous Black Lives Matter demonstrations
in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have
linked the Service Employee International
Unions (SEIUs) Fight for 15 and Fast
Food Forward campaigns with the movement against police violence. McDonalds
workers, still in their uniforms, blocked
highways and led chants of Hands up,
dont shoot. Some of them participated
in die-ins on the highway or in the middle
of busy intersections. The fact that many
people of color who experience the brunt

of police violence also make up a considerable amount of those who work at
low-wage fast food and service jobs speaks
volumes about the white supremacist capitalist system that we find ourselves living
in today. It is the hope of this Wobbly
and many others within the general antipolice movement gaining traction that we
can link direct action against bosses who
exploit us for our labor and pay us menial
compensation with direct action against
a State which uses violence to enforce a
white supremacist and patriarchal social
order.
Actions like Hands Up Dont Ship (a
symbolic protest by rank-and-file workers
at the United Parcel Service [UPS] hub
in Minneapolis in which workers refused
to ship packages from Law Enforcement
Targets Inc.) and these spontaneous walk-
outs by food court workers at the Mall of

America are just the beginning of what is
hopefully a new movement: a movement
which can begin to combat both the mistreatment at the hands of the employing
class and the mistreatment at the hands
of the police; a movement that can bring
working-class people together regardless
of race, gender, or sexual orientation and
fight for its emancipation. The Twitter personality @zellie, who has been extremely
active in reporting what has been going on
in Ferguson and also in New York in response to the murders of Mike Brown and
Eric Garner, said If you ever wondered
what you would be doing in the Civil Rights
Movement, now is the time to find out. Let
us all find out together. In the face of such
blatant disregard for the lives of people of
color in this nation by the police, inaction
on our part is complacence.
is open to those discourses?

At the crack of
dawn on Tuesday,
we all took a bus to
Graphic: movimientospopulares.org the Vatican and had a
mass at St. Peters, followed by a speech
Continued from 1
and concentration of land and natural by the Pope, another panel, and another
resources are processes of turning every- speech by Evo Morales. Pope Francis
thing into capital. This includes pollution, stressed the importance of solidarity,
hunger, and sickness itself; migration, which he defined as to think and to act in
indebtedness, consumerism, domestic and terms of community, of the priority of the
institutional violence, and drugs; and of life of all over the appropriation of goods
how rights are now called benefits. After by a few, as a way of making history,
denouncing the declared and undeclared and to fight against the structural causes
wars by regular forces, paramilitaries and of poverty and inequality, to confront
drug traffickers in West Africa, Afghani- the destructive effects of the empire of
stan, Mexico and elsewhere and conclud- money. He then addressed the key themes
ing that food is not a business but a basic of the conference in turn, in relation to
human right, she called for public policies religion, emphasizing that love of the poor
and the right to self-determination. This is at the heart of the Gospel, that this is
pattern of a radical critique of capitalism, simply the Social Doctrine of the Church,
followed by a demand of rights, and oc- indeed that idolatrous worship [is] rencasionally, although not in Pancha Rodri- dered to money, and that this is because
guezs contribution, followed by an appeal the world has become an orphan because
to the support of the Catholic Church, it left God to one side. We were invited,
seemed to me the dominant type of speech because movements from below, like ours,
delivered in the course of the formal part ought to come together to coordinate, and
that we must try to walk together.
of the event.
The afternoon brought a panel on
The two further panels on violence
and the environment, with speakers rang- Pope Francis and Native People, which
ing from the Pontifical Academy of Social the chair, Margaret Archer of the Pontifical
Sciences to the President of the Turk- Academy of Social Sciences, introduced
ish Peasant Confederation, considered with the question of how a popular moveclimate change and unequal access to ment can be converted into a legitimate
resourcesincluding energyas well as form of government of direct participatory
war and violence, as systemic problems democracy. Her remarks seemed to me to
stemming from the use of nature and other suggest that (especially with the concludpeople for profit. During the last days ing talk by Evo Morales, an armed guard
proposals for action, Suha Jarrar of the in uniform standing right behind him
Union of Agricultural Work Committees, throughout) this kind of feat was seen to
based in Palestine, provided an analysis have been accomplished in Bolivia with
of the colonial situation in Palestine with an economic order based on principles
an unambiguous appeal to support the of cooperation, solidarity, and harmony
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) with nature as touted by Morales (and
lacking any acknowledgement of problems
campaign.
In the course of the meeting, there concerning the energy sector in relation
were also denunciations of patriarchy, to ecology and indigenous communities
references to Marx and Gramsci and lands, for one).
The final day was intended to lead to
jokes about revolutionary expropriation.
What could it mean if the Catholic Church action, with two parallel workshops: one
on the Church and popular movements,

and the other to prepare a conference
statement. The structure was again one
of panels, followed by five speakers from
the floor. It seemed everyone was tired,
we were running late, and the schedule
was changed. And again, I was not sure
how statements actually lead to action or
are further examples of local struggles as
was the case throughout the first two days.
Appeals were made and essentially
various forms of lobbying were proposed,
despite the analysis of how governments,
global institutions, and companies are
profiting from maintaining the current
situation of inequality, exploitation and
oppression. Despite the critique of capitalism, the dominant term throughout the
event was however, not struggle, but
inclusion. A lot of speakers appealed to
the Church for support, while conversely
those speaking for the Church emphasized
the self-organization and determination
of the poor.
Other discussions of how we organize
and our methods and strategies were
absent. The focus was on public declarations, as well asfor the representatives
of many organizationsto make sure
they had room to speak on behalf of their
group. Maybe this simply means that this
is all that can happen, when an event is
structured in this manner, with its strictures of time and need to finding common
denominators between so many different
groups who dont all know each other.
Another conclusion would be that
overall, this functions as a form of publicity for the institution, where the presence
of our diverse expressions of struggling
but self-organized and hard-working
global poverty quite literally shows that the
Church cares for uswhile parties, governments, the traditional labor movement and
other secular bodies clearly dont. This
critique is not entirely wrong, of course.
Participants such as Judith Marshall,
who recently retired from the Canadian
Steelworkers Union, were aware of this
failure, and articulated a critical need for
labor to move beyond the limits of what is
commonly raised as a legitimate issue for

a union to take onfor example, the false
choice between jobs, wages and protecting the earth. This means, in their words,
that we need to analyze neoliberalism
also in terms of the relationships between
governments, corporations and the upper
structures of unions.
During the meeting one of the organizers of the event also suggested it was
important to think about our own practices as popular movements and outlined
four principles evoked by the Pope: time
is superior to space, unity is greater than
conflict, we need a global and collective approach, and reality is superior to ideology.
Perhaps we can consider our involvement
in this event, and relationship to it, in light
of this last notion?
While it is obvious that we must aim
to act and organize in solidarity with
each other, including with our religious
fellow workers, it is harder for me to see
how the Church as an institution, with
its hierarchies and rules, ordained from
above, is truly compatible with the values
of an egalitarian, emancipatory project.
The moments that seemed to me rich in
potential and learning were the encounters
with many people who are organizing for
themselves globally, and who I would be
unlikely to have met otherwise. This included the lunch and conversation I shared
with three women who were farmers in
Mali, the Netherlands, and the United
States, in which we spoke personally and
clearly about our common circumstances
and the global networks of capitalism.
As the formal meeting drew to a close
on Wednesday, after the final statement
was read out, I got a real glimpse of what
kind of event we all could organize together when the speaker who was to give
the closing statement was running late:
the chair of the meeting at that moment
started a song, others joined in to sing and
dance, then another woman stepped up to
sing a song from their country, again, with
everyone joining in...and so on.
For more information on the meeting,
visit: http://movimientospopulares.org.
Continued from 1
stay. Richard described their interactions
with the police as generally adversarial but
not overtly hostile. Holding up two hands,
he illustrated this relationship by lightly
bumping them together. We try not to run
into each other too hard too often so that
we can still cut a deal, he said.
One of the problems Richard described was helping members deal with
businesses that asked the police to remove
the members from public property near
their store. However, the Windsor Panhandlers and Buskers Union also have one
larger campaign under their belt. In 2013,
one city council member tried to bring in
an anti-panhandling measure called Care
had four Wobblies down there right away,

Richard said. The scene of the altercation
just happened to be across the street from
the Windsor Star offices (the local daily
newspaper) and the event made the front
page the next day!
This brought a lot of attention to our
public meeting and attendance was really
good. We had people speak on addiction
problems, on issues facing First Nations
people, and accessing services for people
on the streets, said Richard.
When the city council met to discuss
the motion on the Care Meters, the only
speaker to the motion was the city solicitor, who told council members that
the bylaw would probably be overturned
if someone brought forward a Supreme

Court challenge. Richard was beaming
when he told me this part: After that you
could hear a pin drop in the council chambers. The motion died on the floor with no
one voting for it or even speaking to it.
Now the Panhandlers and Buskers
Union is back to building their membership up through smaller actions and
building power on the street from what
they describe as small victories. They
hold a business meeting every two weeks
to check in with each other and work on
how they deal with the police and local
businesses, and they even keep regular
office hours. This is definitely a campaign
worth watching.
Riot police.
Photo: Justin Rodin
The labor movement of the 21st century cannot avoid the presence of white
supremacy or patriarchy in our society. It
must combat them as well as combat capitalism. Then and only then will we begin
to see a much less miserable world, one
in which all of us will be free to carve out
our own destinies free from the confines
of wage labor, patriarchal subjugation,
and white supremacist marginalization.
Wobblies of the world, lets get to work!
Strange Encounters: World Meeting Of Popular Movements In Vatican City
Windsor Wobblies Build Street Solidarity

Meters. These are basically parking meters that collect money for charities. Usually they go hand-in-hand with restrictions
on panhandling to certain parts of town
during certain times of day.
Richard described how they tackled
the issue:
We decided to organize a public meeting on July 1, 2013, to discuss our side of
the issue. We had some speakers talk about
peoples rights, about police violence, and
also about addiction issues.
Before the meeting, the same city
council member who was pushing Care
Meters was confronted while harassing
an IWW panhandler downtown. Well, he
just called the others in the union and we
Labor News From Around The Globe
Austerity, Tax Deals, And Massive Protests In Belgium

By Alexis Merlaud
Over 120,000 people gathered in
Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 6, 2014, to
protest against austerity measures of the
new right-wing government. As could be
expected, despite the fact that the demonstration was mainly peaceful, mainstream
media drew the attention on the violent
acts of a few hundred people. There is
much violence in the austerity measures
themselves, which follows a classical
scheme: shifting the legal age of retirement from 65 to 67 years old; ending the
automatic link between wages and inflation; and imposing massive budget cuts
in research, culture, health care and development aid. One should note that some
public investment seems safe: Belgium
will buy new military planes for 6 billion. The huge demonstration of Nov. 6,
the largest of its kind in almost 30 years,
was part of an action plan organized by
the three major unions together, which
included rolling strikes across Belgium
and a national general strike on Dec. 15.
By an ironic calendar coincidence,
Nov. 6 was also the day when the press

released what was called Lux Leaks.
This affair revealed an industrial system
by which major companies like Coca Cola,
Pepsi, IKEA, FedEx, or Amazon evaded
paying taxes with the help of the Big 4
audit firms: Price Water House Cooper
(PwC), Deloitte, Ernst and Young, and
KPMG. The system consists of putting the
profits in the tax haven of Luxembourg,
where the tax rate can be less than 1 percent. In Belgium, according to Lux Leaks
documents, several large companies and
also rich families used the Luxembourg
trick to avoid tax. The loss for the country
budget in Belgium accounts for several billion euros; the same order of magnitude as
the government expects with its austerity
policies. In fact, Luxembourg was already
known for tax evasion before the Lux Leaks
revelations. What is new is the extent of
the system.
The audit firms, the multinationals, and Luxembourg authorities defend
themselves in the same way: saying that
the process is perfectly legal. The Euro-
pean Commission has promised to

consider tax deals seriously. One
can be skeptical considering that
the commission is already paying
PwC to study transparency policies
for banks. Moreover, the president
of the European Commission is now
Jean-Claude Juncker, who was the
minister for finances (1989-2009)
and the prime minister (1995-2013)
in Luxembourg. So far, the legal
reactions to the Lux Leaks affair in
Luxembourg has consisted in opening a case against the employee of Anti-austerity protests in
Photo: Alexis Merlaud
PwC who had leaked the information Brussels on Nov. 6, 2014.
on the tax scandal to the media.
austerity does not improve the economic
The link between the multinationals situation. According to an Oxfam study
and the super-rich hiding their money in published in September 2013, austerity
tax havens, and the austerity measures policies, if they carry on, will push 15
of governments justified by the public to 25 million Europeans to poverty by
debt, is rather obvious. But one can also 2025. Oxfam also considers that the only
consider that these practices are merely segment of the population who benefits
two aspects of the ongoing money transfer from austerity measures in Europe is the
from the public to the ruling class. Our richest 10 percent. With austerity, in this
collective experience in Latin America, case, one mans meat is thus nine other
Southeast Asia, and Africa shows that mens poison.
Railroad Workers United To Co-Sponsor Railroad Conference
By Railroad Workers
United
This coming March,
Railroad Workers United
(RWU) will co-sponsor two
conferences: one in the Bay
Area and one in the Pacific Northwest. Tentatively entitled The Future of
Railroads: Safety, Workers,
Community and Environment. RWU is partnering
with the Backbone Campaign and other
citizens and environmental groups to organize these innovative and cutting-edge
conferences. The Bay Area conference
will be held on March 14 at the Richmond
Recreation Center in Richmond, Calif. The
following weekends conference will be
held on March 21, in Seattle; the location
is yet to be determined.
In recent months, public attention
has focused on the railroad in a way that
it has not for decades. In the wake of the
Lac-Mgantic rail disaster in 2013 and
other derailments and resulting fires and
explosions, the public is alarmed about
oil trains and the movement of trains in
general through their communities. Environmental activists are up in arms about
the amount of fossil fuels being trans-
ported by railway. Farmers

and other shippers are concerned about the congestion
that has occurred in recent
months, due in part to the
oil boom. All of this attention gives railroad workers a golden opportunity to
educate the general public
about the railroad, its inherent efficiencies, its value to
Graphic: RWU society, and its potential. It
also gives us an invaluable opportunity
to inform non-railroad workers about the
situation that we face on the job every day.
The public generally has no idea what
goes on daily on Americas railroads. At
these conferences, we plan to talk about
crew fatigue, single employee train crews,
excessively long and heavy trains, draconian availability policies, short staffing,
limited time off work and other concerns.
These issues are of concern not just to
railroaders, but to environmentalists, the
community at large and society in general. Non-railroaders in attendance at the
conference will come away with a deeper
understanding of our workplace and a
greater appreciation of the issues facing
us. They will, without a doubt, become
valuable allies in our future fights with
Obituary
Rest In Peace: Mathematician And Ecological Activist,

Alexander Grothendieck (1928-2014)
By Alexis Merlaud
receive the Fields Medal (equivalent to
Alexander Grothendieck died on Nov. the Nobel Prize in mathematics) in 1966
13, 2014, at the age of 86. He is considered because it was awarded in the U.S.S.R. In
by many to be one of the greatest math- 1967, he delivered lectures in the forest
ematicians of the 20th
around Hanoi, North
century. He was also
Vietnam, while the city
an avant-garde figure
was being bombed,
in peace and ecological
to protest against the
activism. According
war. Grothendieck
to Grothendieck, his
started to distance
father, Sasha Piotra
himself from the scienRussian anarchistis
tific community when
one of the main charhe discovered that his
acters in John Reeds
own institute in Paris
book Ten Days That
was partially funded
Shook the World. Piby the military. From
otr fought in the Rus- Grothendieck in 1975. Photo: math.cnrs.fr then on, he started to
sian and Ukrainian revolutions and in consider that all scientific research helped
the Spanish Civil War. Sasha Piotr was the military-industrial complex.
deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he
He left his institute and founded the
was murdered by the Nazis. During this activist group Survivre in 1970 to camtime and until the end of World War II, paign against militarism and ecological
Grothendieck and his mother survived in degradation. After some years of politicamps for displaced people. The following cal activism, he left urban civilization to
two decades he had an incredibly produc- raise goats in southern France, in growing
tive careerparticularly in reshaping loneliness. Grothendieck, while rejecting
algebraic geometry. Apart from being a science, stated that the ecological crisis
mathematical genius, Grothendieck was will force us to radically change our way
a radical pacifist opposing both American of life. Now, science is on the side of
and Soviet imperialism. He refused to Grothendieck.
the rail carriers.

Tentative workshops and discussion
topics include but are not limited to:
Single-employee train crews, why
they will not work, and the safety hazards
they pose for workers, communities and
the environment.
Excessively long and heavy trains
and their inherent problems and dangers.
Crew fatigue and the need for adequate time off, proper train line-ups, and
advance call times, call windows and all
the rest to ensure well-rested, alert and
safe train crews.
Building worker-to-worker alliances
along the supply chain of all transport
workers.
Railroading for the General Public
101.
Environmental Politics for Railroad
Workers 101.
Ensuring safe track, bridges and
rolling stock.
The Solutionary Rail campaign and
a vision for what a sustainable railroad of
the future could look like.
Building a labor-community alliance
around safety issues.
A history of labor-environment alliances and how to build one that revolves
around the railroad industry.
For more information, check the RWU
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.
com/groups/Railroadworkersunited and
the RWU list serve. To get involved in organizing either conference and to attend,
contact Gifford Hartman at 415-410-9299
or [email protected].
Rapid Progress Being Made

With Prisoner Organizing
By X363375
The
IWW
General Executive
Board (GEB), in response to the rapidly growing organization of prisoners,
Graphic: IWOC
recently assigned the Prison Industry
Industrial Union (IU) 613. IU 613 is the
first odd-numbered designation in IWW
history and also the first IU numbering
that does not end in zero.
Currently more than 250 prisoners
are already seeking membership into the
One Big Union (OBU). This is an exceptionally large number of Wobbly recruits
in a comparatively short amount of time.
Clearly, the OBU is the right place, and
this is the right time, to help prisoners
organize and make positive change happen through Wobbly unionism.
As this organizing campaign expands
it clearly needs financial support from
sponsors outside of prison walls. While
for a limited amount of time, initiation
fees and dues can be waived by the GEB,
there is ongoing need for postage and
office supplies to spread the word and
to multiply our gains.
At the time of this writing, the unofficial vote just came in that IU 613 will be
accepting new Wobblies with initiation
and dues waived for 12 months! I truly
hope that we can recruit 100,000 in the
next year!
Cheers for the Incarcerated Workers
Organizing Committee!
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Reviews
Doing (And Making) History From Below

Lynd, Staughton. Doing History from the
Bottom Up: On E.P. Thompson, Howard
Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement
from Below. Chicago: Haymarket Books,
2014. Paperback, 250 pages, $17.00.
By Gregg Shotwell
The title, Doing History from the
Bottom Up, not only defines the purpose
and sets the direction; it lays down a challenge. The author, Staughton Lynd, uses
the present continuous form of the verb
do, which commonly means to perform
or carry out, and which indicates that
there is really no beginning or end. Lynd
challenges us to act rather than ideate, and
he demands that the action proceed from
the primary source; that is, the bottom.
Doing History from the Bottom Up
turns standard academic method upside
down, but theres another component as
well. Lynd told me, Doing history is a
term I got from Edward Thompson. He
didnt think a person could do history
and do politics at the same time. But I
think we have to try to do both together.
In this sense, doing is the present progressive form of historical research. The
subject is living, and the practitioners of
this guerrilla history, as Lynd calls it,
learn as they teach.
Oral history, like every other form
of American history, proceeds from elitist presumptions, Lynd contends. As a
result, Existing histories of the recent
labor movement tend to be both thin and
misleading.
We are led to believe that social movements start at the top and are entirely
dependent on leaders. Such theories are
convenient to politicians, a category which
includes union officials, whose object is
control and manipulation.
A former steelworker, Jesse Reese,
who Lynd recorded in 1970, seems to de-
scribe our present labor malto business unionism will

aise succinctly and to point
succeed, but the present
toward a different solution:
coursetwo-tier, three-tier,
Today we have in our
and temp workersis a sounions a pet dogwhat you
cial and moral disaster.
might call a pet company
Lynd contends, The
dogled by the caretakers;
structure of hierarchical
and the caretakers are the
unions will not change simleaders of our union. And
ply by electing new people
the dog is being fed redto run them. Solidarity
baiting and his teeth have
unionism is the alternative
been pulled out (thats the
he recommends, but it must
no-strike clause) and your
be distinguished from a
dog dont bark no more for
merely tactical rather than
you. So the only thing you
strategic or principled argucan get to win now is a cat,
ment for solidarity. Lynd
and its got to be a wildcat,
Graphic: haymarketbooks.org cites as example, The Inorganized as a blanket matside Game, a pamphlet put
ter. Youve got to use blanket cover to keep out by the American Federation of Labor
from being exposed.
and Congress of Industrial Organizations
The predominant union history li- (AFLCIO), which promotes the direct
onizes leaders like John L. Lewis and action tactics which built the unions in the
Walter Reuther. The analysis of history 1930s. The pamphlet invokes rank-andfrom below, however, reveals a stubborn file resistance, but the goal is to persuade
rank-and-file resistance to autocratic rule management that dealing with profesdisguised as democracy and a preference sional union reps behind closed doors is
for direct action.
preferable to the rabble. This is precisely
Business unionism shackled the rank what John L. Lewis did when the CIO was
and file with two cuffs. First, the man- organized. Once Lewis was in control, he
agement prerogative clause, which gives got rid of the radicals who organized the
companies the unilateral right to close a union.
plant and move work elsewhere. Second,
The alternative, solidarity unionism,
the no-strike clause, which prohibits would retain the radicals, never concede
strikes and slowdowns for the duration the right to strike, and soundly reject the
of the contract. Union officials stripped assumption that labor and management
rank-and-file members of the power to have mutually consistent interests.
challenge management. It is no wonder Lynd cites a real expertrank-and-file
that the dog doesnt bark. He doesnt have steelworker, Ed Mann:
the teeth to back it up.
I believe in direct action. Once a
A concerted effort by government, problem is put on paper and gets into
business, and union bureaucrats to the grievance procedure, you might as
throttle direct action has bought labor well kiss that paper goodbye. When the
peace, but the price has proved too steep corporations started recognizing unions,
for workers. Urgent need demands action. they saw this. They co-opted the unions
We cant prove that radical alternatives with the grievance procedure and the dues
The F-Word: Why Feminism Matters

her cohorts
who struggled
for womens
suffrage and
moreand the
Second Wave
the 1960s and
1970s womens liberation
movement that
led the fight
for equality.
Cobbles narrative documents what
she calls the
other womens
Photo: Jane LaTour m o v e m e n t
Students at Columbia University stand in
solidarity with Emma Sulkowicz, a young Third Wave feminist, of the 1940s,
and her Help Carry That Weight campaign, which focuses on
1950s, and
survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
early 1960s
those workingDorothy Sue Cobble, Linda Gordon and class, trade union women and their allies
Astrid Henry. Feminism Unfinished: A who led the fights within their unions
Short, Surprising History of American for equal pay and so much more. Cobble
Womens Movements. New York: Liv- makes links and restores this lost history
eright Publishing Corporation, 2014. that adds so much to our understanding of how change takes place. Next, the
Hardcover, 288 pages, $25.95.
historian Linda Gordon focuses on the
Rhode, Deborah L. What Women Want: womens movement of the 1960s and
An Agenda for the Womens Movement. 1970sthrough a brilliant, detailed deOxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. scription that highlights the diversity of
the movementhighlighting class, race
Hardcover, 256 pages, $29.95.
and models of organizational approaches
that challenged gender-based practices.
By Jane LaTour
Two terrific books arrive at the same The third section by the historian Astrid
time and serve as complementary entry Henry looks at the Third Waveas propoints to a similar topic. Feminism Un- claimed by Rebecca Walker, daughter of
finished: A Short, Surprising History of author Alice Walkerthe young women
American Womens Movements, is the of the demographic cohort known as
more accessiblea book in three parts, Generation X (born between 1964 and
each by a different author. First, the his- 1982) and the millennial generation (born
torian Dorothy Sue Cobble tackles the pe- between 1982 and 2000) and their contririod between what is often called the First butions to the struggle for gender equality.
In preparation for writing this review,
Wave of the womens movement in the
mid-19th centurySusan B. Anthony and a random and unscientific sampling of
young womena college student, a clerk,

a postal worker and a podiatristwere
asked about the womens movement and
what feminism and the womens liberation movement means to them. Their responses were unequivocal and unanimous:
nothing. These individuals are the young
women raised in the wake of the high tide
of the womens movement, told that they
could do anything they desiredraised to
believe they were equal. Deborah Rhodes,
the author of What Women Want: An
Agenda for the Womens Movement, calls
this the no-problem problem. Rhodes, a
highly accomplished scholar and professor
at Stanford University Law School, begins
her closely argued and exceptionally useful book with her own compelling story
of how she discovered feminism and the
womens movement and how it has shaped
her career.
While Astrid Henrys essay looks at
the various ways young feminist activists
have pursued their objectives, what she
calls intersectional organizingbringing
together issues of class, race, economics
and gender, Rhodes examines the issues
facing women, young and old, that constitute the unfinished agenda for the
womens movement. Women who were
part of Second Wave feminism had the
benefit of living in a time when movements were part of the zeitgeist. Collective
action was all around us. We had the Civil
Rights Movement and the Anti-(Vietnam)
War Movement as beacons. Their lessons
and their energy informed the experiences of the Second Wave of the womens
movement. Younger women face a different world. Yet, stories ripped from the
headlines demonstrate on a daily basis
that individually, women are confronting
monumental issues that threaten their
notions of equality, and oftentimes, their
lives. Economic inequality; the disproportionate number of women and children
check-off. They quit dealing with the rank

and file and started dealing with the people
who wanted to be bosses like them, the
union bosses.
Business unionism was constructed to
stifle and control the rank and file. In the
new United Automobile Workers (UAW),
which I am so familiar with, competitivenessnot solidarityis the relevant buzz
word. The labor-management relationship
is described as a partnership and adversarial intonations are muzzled. The result
is two-tierthe ultimate indignation to
anyone who believes in solidarity.
If we want to seek alternative forms
of unionism, we must be willing to do
history from the bottom up, to discern
where solidarity unionism is beginning to
happen, and to help it shape and sustain
itself. We will not recognize alternative
forms if we continue to see the world from
the prefabricated perspective of unions
indentured to capitalism.
If we want to predict the future, we
must study the past, and with the knowledge gleaned examine the present. If our
information is limited to documents supplied by leaders and filtered through the
perspective of top-down research, we will
learn what they want us to believe. If we
are never allowed to view the situation
from a different perspective, it will appear
that there is no alternative. Contrary to
the pontifications of prevailing blowhards,
the seeds of a new future may be found
by doing history from the bottom up, by
exploring the vital, living history that surrounds us.
I have work to do. I have to locate the
old soldiers of solidarity and record their
tales of shop-floor resistance, how they
trained the boss. Its not over. When
we do history from the bottom up we will
discover new alternatives. Im excited.
Things are looking up already.
living in poverty; rape and sexual harassment; child care and the need for quality,
affordable daycare; the lack of support for
families; even pregnancy and the right
of a worker to light duty on the job (an
issue argued before the U.S. Supreme
Court in December 2014); and reproductive rightsabortion and birth control,
are some of the major challenges facing
women in a very real way.
Rhodes parses each area of womens
livesemployment, work and family, sex
and marriage, reproductive justice and
economic security, sexual abuse, and
appearanceand provides an agenda of
reasonable goals for each. As someone
who has spent her life teaching and
thinking about these subjects, she is wellpositioned to do so. In her last chapter,
The Politics of Progress, she underscores the obstacles that are hampering
the advancement of gender equality:
More women need to be convinced
that we cannot adequately improve the
lot of women without challenging all
the sources of subordination with which
gender interactsA second problem to be
confronted is the lack of social consensus that there is a significant problem
To many Americans, the laws against
sex discrimination and the presence of
women in prominent positions look like
evidence that the woman problem has
been solved. This no-problem problem
and the sense of complacency that it
engenders have themselves become obstacles to broader change.
Demonstrators in the streets marching against police brutality and the deaths
of unarmed black menand a childare
taking up an old chant from the 1960s:
The people / united / will never / be
defeated. Women would do well to remember this adage and apply it to achieving some of the goals of the unfinished
revolution.
Wobbly Arts
Stub Your Big Toe

By Peter G. Engstrom
Alabama is a Right to work state.

(Right to work (in slavery) state).
Economic slavery exists in Alabama,
More widespread, accepted and imbedded in this culture
Than human slavery was as part of American Life in the South before the
civil war.
Been Workin On The Railroad
Back then people knew that slavery was wrong

And some tried to oppose it.
Today, we dont even know anything is wrong.
We are slaves and like it. In fact we love it.
Someone has given us a job!!
Nothing to oppose. What is the problem?
You dont like this job? Go find another one, right arm.
You cant say NO. Dont cha know?
The machine will give you $ 1 per hour next year, if youre the lucky duck.
You dont even know the pay is less than you made ten years ago. Doesnt matter.
There is no past history. Everything is what it is.
We are good here.
FW John Paul Wright posted this photo on an

early November morning from his job on the
railroad. We hear the IW goes great with coffee!
loop around and wait :

rotten vegetables or bread to eat.
You need the money. You take the job.

Dont get stuck in traffic.
Dont be late. Drug test:
Can I check your urine, to see if youre stirrin?
You are free to work (work hard and fast)

Until you drop (dead, slowly).
Over age fifty? What? You have no retirement money,
no income to play? Only
what you carry in your pocket,
What you make at the end of the eight hour day?
The poverty level pay

Is mean and hateful s _ _ _.
Puts one on the dollar grind stone
(You better be grateful), you little twit.
How many jobs do you need to work full time?
50 or 60 hours per week? Two or three full time jobs?
Still not have
enough to put food on the
table or gas in the car?
No such thing as living wage.
Death wages is all. Enough to keep you scared.
You are in slavery to Mr. Man.
Whites, blacks, yellows, and greens,
We are all part of the machine.
In America we are free, dont cha know?
(land of the free, home of the brave).
There is no safety net in the United States.
Go to poor house
see the hungry and the lines of feet
Photo: J.P. Wright
Graphic: Gadflye
Stub Your Big Toe, cant walk or work?

No money. But am I such a jerk?
Bad person to not have cash?
A few cats in history didnt have much stash
but werent too bad of characters
Its OK, Jesus was no Rockefeller.
(He couldnt manage his 401 K plan well,
dont cha know?)
In 2014, poor equals bad human being.

Bad to the bone. Not glad.
No food? No rent money?
No utility money, No medical insurance.
Too bad Mr. Poor Person. Get a life.
Dedicated to Woody Guthrie.
And to the support of the
Commongood that is part of any definition of civilization.
Reasons Why I Admire Upton Sinclair

By Raymond Solomon
The book, The Autobiography Of
Upton Sinclair, demonstrates why
Americans must always be grateful to
him. I have some very personal reasons,
and other very important reasons, for
loving Sinclair. They include:
1. Sinclair was a favorite author of my
father, Sidney Solomon, who especially
loved The Jungle, The Goosestep, and
The Goslings.
2. Sinclair wrote and fought against
anti-Semitism. He discussed anti-Semitic
discrimination in American colleges and
expressed his hope that the Jews would
establish their own college that would
admit all students except those with antiSemitic prejudices.
3. Most important for me, reading
Sinclairs book The Cup of Fury prevented me from becoming an alcoholic.
Sinclairs father was an alcoholic and thus
Sinclair did not drink. This brings me to
an area were Upton Sinclair and George
Orwell differed. In his essay Reflections
on Gandhi, Orwell judged Gandhis
abstinence from tobacco and alcohol
and said that these two substances were
things that a saint must abstain from but
that sainthood was something humans
must abstain from. Perhaps his addiction
to tobacco was a contributing factor in
Orwells early death. Because I read The
Cup of Fury, I was saved from becoming
a full-flung alcoholic. Without reading
this book, I would not be around to write
about Orwell. I have known too many
people whose lives were lost to alcoholism, directly and indirectly. Orwell is of
course entitled to his views on alcohol,
but it is better not be an alcoholic or to
be saved from alcoholism at an early
stage. According to a recent Ken Burns
documentary about prohibition, the IWW

supported the constitutional amendment
creating prohibition.
4. Sinclair believed in God and wrote a
book about it. In that respect, he differed
from many radicals. The book was titled
What God Means to Me: An Attempt at
a Working Religion. It was published
in 1935. I differ from many others with
radical labor backgrounds in my religious
views. Please note that Norman Thomas
started out as a Presbyterian minister. In
this sense, I go against much of radicalism.
But Im also just a little bit of an individualist. A Catholic priest, Father Thomas J.
Haggerty, was one of the founders of the
IWW. Martin Buber, a professed anarchist,
also believed in God.
5. Sinclair believed in mental telepathy. He wrote a book about it called
Mental Radio. Sinclairs wife was the
successful subject of mental telepathy experiments at Duke University by famous
parapsychologist J.D. Rhine. Albert Einstein endorsed Mental Radio. Einstein
also happened to be a personal friend of
Sinclair. I for one have been interested in
mental telepathy.
6. Sinclair ran for governor of California as a Democrat in 1934 on a platform
that he called End Poverty in California, or
EPIC. There was a very dirty campaign run
against him. Naturally, he was defeated.
Many of his ideas were similar to the IWW
program.
7. Sinclair put up many personal fights
for freedom of speech and freedom of the
presssomething very personal to me.
8. Sinclairs The Jungle deals with,
among other topics, the immigrant experience. As a grandchild of immigrants, my
father came to America with his mother
and two older brothers when he was two.
Graphic: prosebeforehos.com
Towards the end of the book, we hear a

speech based on a person modeled after
Eugene Victor Debs. Debs, of course, was
a founder of the IWW.
9. Sinclair was early in warning against
Hitler. During the 1930s, H.L. Mencken
berated Sinclair for unjustly attacking
HitlerMencken believed that Stalin was
much worse. Hitler was responsible for the
deaths of over 50 million people. I think
Mencken changed his perspective. In an
era of isolationism, Sinclair advocated
intervention against Nazi Germany during
World War II.
10. Many of his ideas could very well
be applied now, including making factories of bankrupt businesses into workers
collectives. This could and should also be
used for businesses that outsource their
factories or other commercial facilities
from the United States to other countries.
I think Orwell would like that idea.

11. Like my father, Sinclair went to
the City College of New York.
12. His book, My Lifetime in Letters,
contains letters from many vital personalities, including Albert Einstein, Peter
Kropotkin, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
13. He wrote a play about the Wobblies
called Singing Jailbirds. Wobblies were
among his favorite people. He also wrote
a play about Sacco and Vanzetti, called
Boston.
14. Writing 90 books is quite an accomplishment.
15. Sinclair said that all the socialists
had to teach him was that they themselves
existed.
Upton Sinclairs idea about turning
factories of bankrupt businesses into
producers co-ops is especially needed
today in this time of outsourcing.
Letters from Prisoners
Crime And Punishment

By Bomani Shakul
The degree of civilization in a society
can be judged by entering its prisons.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
of a lack of opportunity,
father.
sought to raise me and
Similarly, when a
my three siblings on welsociety is deindustrifare. In the whole 42
alized, a steel worker
years Ive been alive,
becomes a corrections ofIf what Dostoyevsky says is true (and Ive only seen my father
ficer; a would-be college
I believe it is), then America, which boasts one time. By the age of
student, a drug dealer.
the largest prison population in the world, 10, I was stealing food
When communities are
is perhaps the most uncivilized country from the neighborhood
decimated and hemmed
there is. A bold statement, I know, es- grocery store in order to
in by poverty, families
pecially coming from someone who has survive. I was 13 when I
take new heart or fall
spent the past 23 years behind bars. But if took my first joyless joyapart. When a fictitious
what Dostoyevsky says is true, then what ride in a stolen vehicle,
War on Drugs is dehappens inside these places is crucial to which ultimately led to
clared on the inner city,
understanding what kind of society we live being sent away for the
penitentiaries are built
in, and who better to speak to the reality first time. By the time I
in rural areas and filled
of prison life than someone who is living turned 17, I had been livwith criminals; a wife
Graphic: Timmy Jackson lives alone; a child grows
the experience?
ing on my own for several
But no one wants to learn about the years and selling drugs in one of the most up without a father.
madness that predominates inside these impoverished, drug-infested neighborContrary to what we have been told,
places. Peopleaverage, law-abiding hoods in Cleveland, Ohio. A few months this is how life (under the system of capicitizensare losing their homes and jobs, after my 19th birthday, in 1988, the year talism) unfoldsnot in a picnic basket of
struggling to survive, and the last thing crack cocaine became an epidemic, I was unlimited opportunity, but in a crucible
anyone wants to hear is how hard prison involved in a shootout over money and of socioeconomic forces that force us to
is for a bunch of criminals. If you cant do killed a rival drug dealer. For this, I was assume positions of survival. Thus, a steel
the time, dont do the crime is the prevail- sent to prison to serve a life sentence for worker becomes a corrections officer, not
ing sentiment and attitude. It never occurs murder.
in pursuit of a lifelong dream, but in order
to people that the rising incarceration
In a nutshell, this is the story of my life, to feed his family. A boy growing up in the
rate is connected to the same economic and if any of it was unique, the telling of ghetto becomes a criminal or gang banger,
and political policies that resulted in the it would be inconsequential, an unneces- not to glorify crime, but to survive. And
home foreclosure crisis and the rise of sary recounting of my personal troubles. what C. Wright Mills would have us ununemployment.
What makes my story significant is that derstand is that the various permutations
When people think of crime, what its the exact same tale told by millions of that we as individuals undergo are directly
usually comes to mind is a poor person poor people who grow up in the slums of connected to the economic and political
inflicting pain upon another poor person. America, which points to the possibility of permutations of the system.
Very seldom, if ever, do we stop and allow there being something larger than ones
When corporations, through Congress,
ourselves to consider the forces that cre- personal troubles at work in the processes lobby for the enactment of the North
ate crime; trapped by the pull of our own that determine where one ends up in this American Free Trade Agreement (NAFnecessities and fears, we live reactively, fo- society.
TA), removing obstacles for corporate
cusing on the effects instead of the causes
In his groundbreaking work The So- capital and goods to move back and forth
of what we see and believe, and so we ciological Imagination, C. Wright Mills, between Mexico and the United States,
remain divided. And its precisely because using the example of unemployment, they do so with full knowledge and underof this division that we are our own worst explains the difference between personal standing of the economic consequences.
enemies; divided, they rule us!
troubles and societal issues:
Cheaper labor means greater profits, but it
But who are they, and what do they
When, in a city of 100,000, only one also means the closing of factories, a lower
have to do with the ways in which we see man is unemployed, that is his personal standard of living, a subpar educational
and treat each other?
trouble, and for its relief we properly look system, and an increase in crime as normal
Howard Zinn, in his book A Peoples to the character of the man, his skills, and everyday citizens scramble to survive. And
History of the Unites States, tells us who his immediate opportunities. But when in what do those in power do in order to adthey are and how they use us against one a nation of 50 million employees, 15 mil- dress the ramifications of their decisions?
another:
lion men are unemployed, that is an issue, They build more prisons.
[T]he wealthiest 1 percent of the na- and we may not hope to find its solution
With the advent of deindustrialization
tion owns a third of the wealth. The rest of within the range of opportunities open in the 1980s, the prison population in
the wealth is distributed in such a way as to any one individual. The very structure the United States more than quadrupled,
to turn those in the 99 percent against one of opportunities has collapsed. Both the peaking at 2.5 million and surpassing
another: small property owners against the correct statement of the problem and the both South Africa and Russia in per
propertyless, black against white, native- range of possible solutions require us to capita prison populations. During the
born against foreign-born, intellectuals consider the economic and political insti- same period, 1980-2007while 30 miland professionals against the uneducated tutions of society, and not merely the per- lion people languished below the poverty
and unskilled
sonal situation of a scatter of individuals. linethe United States produced 1,000
Hence, in the context of a capitalist soApplying the same logic, it should be billionaires and 227,000 millionaires, with
ciety, crime is the result of an unequal dis- considered an issue that black people, in a a combined worth of $30 trillion, more
tribution of wealth. As such, a distinction country where they only represent 13 per- than the gross domestic products (GDPs)
between guilt and responsibility must be cent of the population, make up 50 percent of China, Brazil, Japan, Russia and the
made. For instance, a person can be guilty of those who are sent to prison. It is like- European Union (EU) put together. This
of selling drugs but not at all responsible wise an issue that virtually 100 percent of is how the system of capitalism works: the
for creating the conditions wherein selling those behind bars are poor and come from rich get richer, and the poor get screwed.
drugs is the only viable option for survival. economically-deprived sections of society. In his book Understanding Power, Noam
Indeed, when one lives in a society where
In addressing this issue, its not Chomsky talks about what he refers to as
profit takes precedence over human poten- enough to point the finger at a bunch of so- superfluous populations, which is a very
tial, ones very existence becomes a crime; called criminals and, without first looking intellectual way of calling people trash.
and whether this takes the form of selling at the economic and political institutions From the perspective of the rich, whose
drugs, stealing food, or joining a gang to of society, claim that they are the sole main objective is to accumulate wealth,
fight over turf and limited resources, the cause of their predicament.
human beings are useless when they no
goal is to stay alive.
Despite what those in power would longer contribute to profit-making, so as
I grew up in poverty, born to a margin- have us believe, no one starts out with the a result, explains Chomsky, the rich want
ally educated black woman who, because goal of becoming a criminal and spending to get rid of themand the criminal justice
the bulk of their lives behind bars, system is one of the best ways of doing it.
ponsor an ndustrial orker
in and out of prison. As individuals,
So prisons, it must be understood,
we
make
choices
based
on
what
we
arent
about controlling crime and punubscription for a risoner
perceive
our
options
to
be:
and
those
ishing
and those who commit it; theyre
Sponsor an Industrial Worker subscription
options,
be
they
good
or
bad,
are
a
about
controlling the poor. Looked at
for a prisoner! The IWW often has fellow
product of the society we live in.
correctly, its not an exaggeration to say
workers & allies in prison who write to us
When a society is industrialized, that what is going on now is very similar
requesting a subscription to the Industrial
Worker, the official newspaper of the IWW. explains C. Wright Mills, a peasant to what was going on in the 1940s when
becomes a worker; a feudal lord is Hitler was exterminating the Jews. The
This is your chance to show
liquidated or becomes a businessman. only real difference is that those who are
solidarity!
When classes rise and fall, a man is now being thrown away are considered
For only $18 you can buy
employed or unemployed; when the criminals, which, lets face it, makes it a
one full years worth of
rate of investment goes up or down, whole lot easier to accept. But just as Hitler
working-class news from
a man takes new heart or goes broke. created the justification for the mass exaround the world for a fellow
When wars happen, an insurance termination of the Jews, so too have those
worker in prison.
salesman becomes a rocket launcher; in power created the justification for the
Just email [email protected] to
a store clerk, a radar man; a wife lives mass incarceration of the poor.
order the subscription TODAY!
alone; a child grows up without a
When Ronald Reagan declared the
so-called War on Drugs in the 1980s, a

finely honed strategy of imposing mandatory sentences for particular kinds of
drugs (read: crack cocaine) was used to
lock up those from predominantly black
and Hispanic communities. For instance,
a young man in the ghetto gets caught
with a kilo of cocaine or $20,000 in cash
is sent to prison for 20 years. In the meantime, nothing is said about the chemical
corporations who make billions of dollars
from sending the necessary chemicals to
Latin America in order to manufacture the
very drugs that are destroying inner cities
throughout the United States.
And what about the bankers who
launder billions of dollars in drug money
through American banks? According to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), its estimated
that a half trillion dollars in drug money
gets laundered internationally each year
more than half of it ($260 billion) through
American banks. But are any of these
people in prison? The answer is NO! And
the reason why none of these people are
in prison is because those in power determine what constitutes a crime and, more
importantly, who gets categorized as a
criminal. A white man laundering billions
of dollars in drug money is a businessman.
A black man selling drugs in the ghetto is
a criminal, and for his crimes, he is sent
to prison.
And what happens to that black
poor white or Hispanicman when he
enters Americas prisons? If he makes it
through orientation without being raped,
he is lucky. Its a brutal world in here, and
unless one is totally devoid of common
sense, one very quickly learns that there
is safety in numbers. In other words, the
picture repeats and expands, and its the
ghetto street all over again. But in here the
police operate without restraint, and the
old adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely is on full display. Not a day
goes by without someone being sprayed in
the face with mace, shot with a pellet gun,
or thrown down a flight of stairs.
A few weeks ago, while watching
the news, I witnessed a group of college
students in California being sprayed in
the face with mace because they had the
audacity to protest against the rising cost
of college tuition, student-loan debt and
the uncertainty surrounding future employment. In New York City (and around
the country), I witnessed members of
Occupy Wall Street being forcibly evicted
from their camps, some (as in Oakland,
Calif.) being shot with pellet guns, thrown
atop automobiles, and kicked and shoved
about like cattle. Watching these things,
it occurred to me that this is what Dostoyevsky must have meant when he said,
The degree of civilization in a society can
be judged by entering its prisons. Indeed,
what many Americans witnessed and experienced for the first time is something
that those of us in prison witness and
experience on a daily basis.
So why are normal, everyday citizens
being treated as criminals, and for what
crimes are they being punished? From the
perspective of those who own society, its
considered a lack of appreciation when
slaves rise up to question their masters;
and of course where people come together
and begin to talk earnestly about the inequity of the system, they automatically represent a threat to the status quo and must
go. Then we learn how thin the veneer of
civilization really is and how fragile our so
called freedoms are.
When eyes are burning with mace,
when blood is dripping down the face, it
all becomes frighteningly clear: capitalism
is a sham; and whether in or out of prison,
as long as we live under a system that views
everything and everybody as a commodity, were all doing time. And that, at the
end of the day, is the real crimenot that
some of us are locked up, but that none of
us are free!
Hospital Workers Win With Anarchist Union In Poland
The IWW formed the International Solidarity Commission to help the union build
the worker-to-worker solidarity that can lead to effective action against the
bosses of the world. To contact the ISC, email [email protected].
New Team For International Solidarity
The evolution of absurdity contin- our fellow workers. We dont want their
ued in 2014. People were killed on their capitalist hierarchy. We dont want their
jobs due to company management that system. They cant divide us anymore by
doesnt give a shit about workplace safety. nations, by occupations, by education
Organizing efforts of concerned workers levels, by gender, with their ideological
were nipped in the bud. Attacks
games. We have to shout out
against democracy, freedom,
loud: No more bosses, we are
and environmental movements
not stupid!
got more violent and ruthless.
My name is Yusuf Cemal
Labor laws got cut, conditions
and I have been working as a
worsened, and more free trade
programmer for local and inagreements were put in place to
ternational industrial or comensure the profits of the rich well
munication companies such as
into the future. For us, the workdescribed above for the last 16
Graphic: iww.org years. Since 1992 I have orgaing class, this system is obsolete!
It cannot be stressed enough that its time nized in working class movements, radical
to organize!
left parties, and other groups in Turkey.
But the International Solidarity Com- When my coworkers and I discovered the
mission (ISC) of the IWW wields the IWW, we immediately jumped on board
silver bullet of resistance: international and started to build the IWW in Turkey.
working-class solidarity. We are thankNow, I have started to contribute to
ful for our relationships to militant labor the International Solidarity Commission,
organizations around the globe, and we not only due to my individual egalitarian
must maintain and improve our solidar- thoughts and beliefs, but due to the fact
ity activities. Therefore, we introduce that we have to show to every worker that
our continuing officers Fellow Workers we have no border or limit as a working
(FWs) J. Pierce and Florian H., our new class when we organize. We have to deal
officer FW Yusuf C. as we bid farewell to with the same struggles, experience simiFW Bill B.
lar conditions, and fight the same fight.
FW Bill sent the following message:
We always say that the working class
THANK YOU TO THE ISC AND and the employing class have nothing in
THE IWW: Kudos to the 2014 ISC. It has common. Its time to be part of this long
been a privilege to serve, to update the struggle internationally.
world wide ISC Liaison and Branch list,
There is more than enough motivato deliver the ISC report to the General tion within the ISC to contribute to our
Convention in Chicago, and to meet face common goal. Therefore, please pay
to face with workers in Poland. Thanks to attention to the call for solidarity from
Florian for all of his hard work. Thanks the South African farmworkers union,
to J. Pierce for spearheading the Direct Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural
Links program. All the best to the incom- and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU):
ing ISC, including fellow workers Yusuf of
After the rebellion of South African
Turkey and Anders of the U.K.
farmworkers, who stood up and fought
Thanks to you, Bill! You have done a for their rights and working conditions
great job: consistent and patient. The ISC in 2012-2013, the CSAAWU defended,
will continue with your vision and your dismissed and victimized workers and
work. Florian and J.P. say, Thanks for took cases to the Labour Court where
your continued support!
farmworkers were heard the first time
Our new team member from Turkey, since 1994.
Yusuf, says:
Two cases were lost and the CSAAThey developed a lot of tactics WU has been issued with cost orders in
against us to break and prevent our re- excess of R 600,000 ($53,500) for supsistance. They told us their logic: You porting the farmworkers struggle. The
are cheaper than people in the U.S., equal charge is unacceptable but not surprising.
compared to the Chinese and more expen- This case shows again in whose favor lasive than Indian workers. If you want to bour courts act and make decisions. The
keep your jobs, your wages have to freeze voice of the working class has never been
or decrease. You need to work harder and welcome in any legal or administrative
more efficiently. So we are confronted office in a system based on exploitation
with longer working hours, fewer benefits, and violence.
competition in performance and innovaWe stand in solidarity with the
tion, less power but more responsibilities. CSAAWU to support organized workers
To summarize: less money and less time who fight for and care about each other.
for life. And we must agree to that even if We will help this union to continue their
we already work 12 hours a day. But why fight. An injury to one is an injury to all!
should we? What about our co-workers
Thanks to all of our active ISC liaiaround the globe? They are losing their sons from 2014 and hello to the new ISC
jobs because we agreed to work harder liaisons for 2015! There is much to do, so
for lower wages. Who can prevent the loss lets get to work!
of our jobs to those with cheaper working
Solidarity Forever,
conditions in a different country? Who
Florian H., J. Pierce, Bill B.,
can stop this competition that makes
Yusuf C., and Anders M. (ERA)
us sick? We dont want to compete with
2014 & 2015 ISC
Support international solidarity!

Assessments for $3 and
$6 are available from
your delegate or IWW
headquarters:
PO Box 180195, Chicago,
IL 60618, USA.
By John Kalwaic
Cleaners and meal
servers at Belchatow
Hospital in Poland, who
are organized with the
anarcho-syndicalist
Zwizek Syndykalistw
Polski (ZSP) union, won
some of their demands
after going on strike in
early November 2014.
The workers demanded that 30 of their colleagues, who were fired
by the company that
employs workers at the
hospital, be reinstated.
On Nov. 3, 2014, approximately 130
workers at Belchatow Hospital protested
and occupied the hospital to demand the
reinstatement of their fired colleagues.
They carried banners and demanded a
meeting with the boss in an effort to reinstate the laid-off workers. Additionally,
workers demanded that

the hospital meet health
and safety standards,
such as the reduction
of working hours, and
the right to take leave
they are entitled to for
rehabilitation. At the
time of this writing, the
hospital administration
promised it would reinstate the workers.
Belchatow Hospital
has gone through several
different companies that
provide cleaning and
Graphic: zsp.net.pl
meal services. Many of
these companies have laid off workers as
outsourcing continues to be a problem in
Polish hospitals. Many of the jobs these
companies produce are not permanent
and pay sub-minimum wage.
With files from http://www.libcom.
org and http://zsp.net.pl.
Workers Strike At Shoe Factory In China
By John Kalwaic
Approximately 2,500 workers
went on strike on Dec. 6, 2014, at the
Guangzhou Panyu Lide Shoe Company
in Guangzhou, China. As with the strike
of about 50,000 workers at another
companys shoe factories in the Pearl
River Delta region several months ago,
one focus of this strike was on the comPhoto: libcom.org
panys non-payment of social security, Striking workers on Dec. 6.
larger ones in the regions recent history.
along with factory relocation.
In November, the workers formed According to factory workers engaged in
a member-elected General Assembly to the strike, organizing and mobilization is
negotiate with the bosses to recognize showing the power of the working class,
their rights. The strike finally occurred and this proves once again, the wisdom
when management forced the workers to and the awakening of the Chinese working
sign unfair changes in the labor contract class. Long live the unity of the working
and threatened them with termination if class!
With files from http://www.libcom.org.
they did not sign. This strike is one of the
CNT-f Congress Vows To Continue

Struggle Against Austerity
By Monika Vykoukal
fraternal atmosphere, the numerous secThe IWW was invited to attend the tions present could engage in rich discus33rd Confederal Congress of Confdra- sions on the processes, direction, strattion Nationale du Travail France (CNT- egy and development of the structures
f) in Angers, France, this last December. of the confederation in the coming two
This three-day delegate meeting takes years, as well as elect a new confederal
place every two years. This year
team. A new federation of work,
around 60 sections were repreemployment and professional
sented. Since I live in Paris, I was
training will be created, as well
able to attend the congress on the
as a confederal training institute.
Friday afternoon and evening
The participation and the
and Saturday morning, Dec. 12
contributions of comrades from
and Dec. 13, 2014the part of
foreign organizations close to the
the meeting that covered reports
CNT, such as the German FAU
Graphic: CNT-f
from officers, but I was only pres[Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeent for the beginning of discussions on iter-Union], the Swedish SAC [Sveriges
other items.
Arbetares Centralorganisation] and
Of the over 30 motions submitted by the Algerian CLA [Conseil des Lyces
the CNT-fs sections, several proposed dAlgrie], was also an opportunity to
working more closely with other radical reaffirm our solidarity and links with
unions, political groups and international workers in struggle against the capitalist
labor networks, including the French system across the whole world.
section of the Confederacin Nacional
In a politically and socially diffidel Trabajo Asociacin Internacional cult situation, dominated by austerity
de los Trabajadores (CNT-AIT), the In- policies, the rise of the far-right and a
ternational Workers Association (IWA) weakened social and labor movement,
internationally, the Red and Black Coor- which has to face ever stronger violence
dination and the IWW.
from the State as well as bosses, the CNT
The context for both was given as the stands more than ever for self-organizaweakness of the Left in France, the creep- tion and the communist and libertarian
ing growth of the far-right, and the lack social transformation of our society.
of a strong movement against attacks on
The CNT invites all those who can
workers rights and social provisions of identify with our struggle and our pracall kinds. Based on an update I received tice, to join us or to contact our sections,
since, no formal decision was made on to expand our struggle against capitalist
those items, but I, for one, personally, oppression.
would look forward to more cooperation
For class struggle, self-organization,
and exchange with the CNT-f and other international solidarity and the emanradical unions in Europe.
cipation of workers: the CNT, a fighting
The congress passed the following union!
statement:
The CNT
In the face of austerity, the criminalization of social movements, and the exThe above statement was translated
treme right, the CNT keeps up the fight! by Monika Vykoukal, who attended the
The Confdration nationale du tra- Congress on behalf of the IWW. More
vail held its 33rd confederal congress in information can be found at http://www.
Anger, on 12, 13, and 14 December. In a cnt-f.org.

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Anti-Police Brutality Protest Shakes Things Up At The Mall Of America

they tried to break through these police

Photo: Nick Kozel

Strange Encounters: World Meeting Of Popular Movements In Vatican City

Brazil, I found myself at the

their aims for the meeting. These included

approach of see-hear-discern. The first

Windsor Wobblies Build Street Solidarity

At this point they called themselves the

Page 2 Industrial Worker January/February 2015

Introducing The 2015-2016 Industrial Worker Co-Editors

Send your letters to: [email protected] with

Get the Word Out!

Post Office Box 180195

IW, Post Office Box 180195,

for IWW General Headquarters (GHQ),

New South Wales

European Regional Administration (ERA): P.O. Box 7593

Leeds GMB: [email protected]

Graphic: Walter P. Reuther Library

A 1961 issue of the Industrial Worker.

working with YOU in continuing the

Gainesville GMB: c/o Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.,

The Centennial Commemoration Of Joe Hill

By Elmore Y., X359525

IWW Constitution Preamble

The working class and the employing

Joe Hill (left) and his last will (right).

all Brigade from Cologne, and 12 Dead in

January/February 2015 Industrial Worker Page 3

the U.S. National Archives and given back

Join the IWW Today

he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the

__I affirm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer.

Membership includes a subscription to the Industrial Worker.

Pricing has already taken effect as

Page 4 Industrial Worker January/February 2015

Marginalized Workers Voices

The Toughest Skin

Workers Power is on vacation this month. If you

Imagining An IWW Branch In Accra

colonial powers, becoming independent

Graphic: Mike Konopacki

person to find here. Whether visiting a

here is at a distinctly different place than

January/February 2015 Industrial Worker Page 5

Wobbly & North American News

Wobblies Keep Up The Fight In Scotland

NYC IWW Marches Against Police Brutality

Oklahoma IWW Solidarity With Students

nering almost 5,000

Red November, Black November A Success!

Nurses Strike Against Ebola Readiness

Texas Health Presbyterian, who are nonBy John Kalwaic

Valve Workers Strike In Ipswich

Page 6 Industrial Worker January/February 2015

Front Page News

Anti-Police Brutality Protest Shakes Things Up At The Mall Of America

people of color who experience the brunt