There were several attempts to organize casual labor after the decline of the Knights of Labor.But it is difficult to arouse any sustained interest in industrial organizations among workingmen of this class.They lack the motive of members of a trade union, and the migratory character of such workers deprives their organization of stability.One industrial organization, however, has been of the greatest encouragement to the I.W.W.The Western Federation of Miners, which was organized at Butte, Montana, on May 15, 1893, has enjoyed a more turbulent history than any other American labor union.It was conceived in that spirit of rough resistance which local unions of miners, for some years before the amalgamation of the unions, had opposed to the ruthless and firm determination of the mine owners.In 1897, the president of the miners, after quoting the words of the Constitution of the United States giving citizens the right to bear arms, said: "This you should comply with immediately.Every union should have a rifle club.I strongly advise you to provide every member with the latest improved rifle which can be obtained from the factory at a nominal price.I entreat you to take action on this important question, so that in two years we can hear the inspiring music of the martial tread of 25,000 armed men in the ranks of labor."This militant vision was fortunately never quite fulfilled.But armed strikers there were, by the thousands, and the gruesome details of their fight with mine owners in Colorado are set forth in a special report of the United States Commissioner of Labor in 1905.The use of dynamite became early associated with this warfare in Colorado.In 1903 a fatal explosion occurred in the Vindicator mine, and Telluride, the county seat, was proclaimed to be in a state of insurrection and rebellion.In 1904 a cage lifting miners from the shaft in the Independence mine at Victor was dropped and fifteen men were killed.There were many minor outrages, isolated murders, "white cap" raids, infernal machines, deportations, black lists, and so on.In Montana and Idaho similar scenes were enacted and reached a climax in the murder of Governor Steunenberg of Idaho.Yet the union officers indicted for this murder were released by the trial jury.
Such was the preparatory school of the new unionism, which had its inception in several informal conferences held in Chicago.
The first, attended by only six radical leaders, met in the autumn of 1904.The second, held in January, 1905, issued a manifesto attacking the trade unions, calling for a "new departure" in the labor movement, and inviting those who desired to join in organizing such a movement to "meet in convention in Chicago the 27th day of June, 1905." About two hundred persons responded to this appeal and organized the Industrial Workers of the World, almost unnoticed by the press of the day and scorned by the American Federation of Labor, whose official organ had called those in attendance at the second conference "engaged in the delectable work of trying to divert, pervert, and disrupt the labor movement of the country."An overwhelming influence in this convention was wielded by the Western Federation of Miners and the Socialistic American Labor Union, two radical labor bodies which looked upon the trade unions as "union snobbery" and the "aristocracy of labor," and upon the American Federation as "the consummate flower of craft unionism" and "a combination of job trusts." They believed trade unionism wrong in principle.They discarded the principle of trade autonomy for the principle of laboring class solidarity, for, as one of their spokesmen said, "The industrial union, in contradistinction to the craft union, is that organization through which all its members in one industry, or in all industries if necessary, can act as a unit." While this convention was united in denouncing the trade unions, it was not so unanimous in other matters, for the leaders were all veterans in those factional quarrels which characterize Socialists the world over.Eugene V.Debs, for example, was the hero of the Knights of Labor and had achieved wide notoriety during the Pullman strike by being imprisoned for contempt of court.William D.Haywood, popularly known as "Big Bill," received a rigorous training in the Western Federation of Miners.Daniel DeLeon, whose right name, the American Federationist alleged, was Daniel Loeb, was a university graduate and a vehement revolutionary, the leader of the Socialistic Labor party, and the editor of the Daily People.A.M.Simons, the leader of the Socialist party and the editor of the Coming Nation, was at swords' points with DeLeon.William E.Trautmann was the fluent spokesman of the anti-political faction.These men dominated the convention.
After some twelve days of discussion, they agreed upon a constitution which established six departments,* provided for a general executive board with centralized powers, and at the same time left to the local and department organizations complete industrial autonomy.The I.W.W.in "the first constitution, crude and provisional as it was, made room for all the world's workers."** This was, indeed, the great object of the organization.
1.Agriculture, Land, Fisheries, and Water Products.2.Mining.
3.Transportation and Communication.4.Manufacturing and General Production.5.Construction.6.Public Service.
J.G.Brissenden, "The Launching of the Industrial Workers of the World," page 41.
