Industrial Workers Radicalism

960 Words4 Pages
The Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) was a radical organization in the United States that was most active between the turn of the century and the 1930s. The Wobblies, as they were known, believed there must be radical changes in American capitalism to improve the oppressive conditions that workers faced. Many I.W.W. members believed in socialist or communist ideology and some advocated whatever means necessary to effect change, including sabotage and violence. The Seattle chapter of the I.W.W. was founded in 1905 and contributed to the city's reputation as a hotbed of labor radicalism. The local office showed a keen interest in labor-related and Wobbly-related activities across the nation, but most of its activities focused on organizing…show more content…
Wobblies in Everett, joined by members of the Seattle I.W.W., continued to deliver radical rhetoric despite vigilante beatings and arrests. After the brutal beating of forty Wobblies whom deputies had taken out of jail and turned over to a group of vigilantes, the Seattle I.W.W. rallied 250 supporters to sail to Everett on November 5, 1916. Upon their arrival the men from Seattle faced a force of almost 200 newly-deputized citizens. After a heated confrontation involving gunfire, five Wobblies and two deputies were killed, over thirty men were wounded, and an unknown number of Wobbly sympathizers fell overboard to their deaths before the boat cast loose and returned to…show more content…
in the 1920s wasn't only from vigilantes. In 1920 the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the state's criminal-syndicalism law which made it illegal to advocate crime, sabotage, and violence as a means of accomplishing political or industrial reform. Criminal syndicalism laws made it much easier to prosecute Wobblies and forced them to conduct many of their activities underground. I.W.W. members in Washington and many other states faced prosecution for various offenses and often lost their cases despite the fact that the American Civil Liberties Union often lent them legal support. During the Red Scare of the 1920s, federal and local authorities were able to raid the Seattle I.W.W. office with impunity destroying many of their records and
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