But in spite of dissension on the inside and bitter abuse and misrepresentation on the outside, the industrialists were, on the whole, very optimistic about the prospects of the new-born I. W. W. and held high hopes for its future. In spite of the emphatic declaration of the manifesto that the I. W. W. "should be established as the economic organization of the working class, without affiliation with any political party," the newspapers and even the labor press persisted in representing the movement as a political one. Thus the Milwaukee Journal said:

The Advance Advocate, a labor organ, had this to say:

The Iowa State Federation of Labor issued the following statement:

The expectation that there would be a general secession from the American Federation of Labor to the new organization was not realized and there was practically no American Federation of Labor material in the new body. In numbers it seemed, in view of later shrinkage, to be at high tide. The reports of the convention estimated the membership at 60,000, and A. M. Simons estimated that at the very least the organization would in six months have 100,000 members.[175] The twelve organizations finally installed represented a membership of 49,010. This excluded the thirty-nine "individual" members. In regard to this Vincent St. John writes: "I know that the Annual Convention reports claim 60,000 members, but the books of the organization did not justify any such claim, and in fact the average paid-up membership, without the W. F. of M. (27,000), for the first year of the organization was 14,000 in round numbers."[176]

The I. W. W. was organized, as the constitution expressed it, to "subserve the immediate interests of the working class and effect their final emancipation." The attempt to realize this "final emancipation" was the thing which marked off the I. W. W. from the typical craft union. This latter body is craft conscious; the I. W. W. is class conscious. The structural and organic form it assumed at the first convention made for the stupefaction of craft consciousness and the stimulation of class consciousness. The idea of the class conflict was really the bottom notion or "first cause" of the I. W. W. The industrial union type was adopted because it would make it possible to wage this class war under more favorable conditions.

It is true the Socialist and Socialist Labor parties are working for the ultimate freedom of the working class, but the (Chicago) I. W. W. considers their method—political action—a snare and a delusion, and (here both the Detroit and Chicago factions came together) absolutely impotent when used alone. It is rather significant that every member of the provisional board elected at the convention was a member of the Socialist party. But they emphatically declared that the Socialist party was not to be involved in any way; and it never did become involved except as an enemy. On the other hand, the Socialist Labor party did, through the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, indirectly affect the work of the first convention.

The anarchist element was weak in 1905, and the anarchistic leanings now so prominent in the direct-actionist wing of the organization were then quite overshadowed by the socialistic and industrial phases of the movement. Carlton says that "the Industrial Workers may be compared with the Knights of Labor shorn of their idealism and saturated with class-conscious Socialism";[177] and he might have added, with their decentralized administrative system replaced by a very strongly centralized one—this constituting a fundamental distinction between the I. W. W. and the Confédération Générale du Travail, a decentralized organization. Nor should the Industrial Workers of the World be quite shorn of idealism. That must surely be idealistic which is "saturated with class-conscious socialism." This was amply demonstrated at the constitutional convention. Their idealism was given more of a pragmatic character by the persistent tendency to place socialism on an industrial rather than a political basis. The immediate struggle must take place primarily in the shop—at the point of production—only secondarily at the polls.

"By organizing industrially," claims the Industrial Worker, "we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old."[178] And here he evidences an idea of the future state of society and the method of its realization, rather new even to the socialist, and somewhat akin to that of the anarchists. The First Convention surely laid its plans, crude as they were, with an eye to the future. The scope of organization implied that the proletariat of the future would include more, by far, than the unskilled; that all those gainfully employed in whatever kind or grade of work would some day become proletarians, in spirit at least, and get together in this "one big union."

The first constitution, crude and provisional as it was, made room for all the world's workers and so at the beginning is a vast and nearly empty structure, with groups of the lower grades of workers in some of the basic industries in their proper places in the scheme, but with all the rest a hollow shell. Whether this empty structure will ever be "filled up" is a question which time will decide. George Speed, formerly a member of the General Executive Board (direct-actionist wing), has characterized this convention as the "greatest conglomeration of freaks that ever met in convention." This may have been true, for freak ideas often did bob up in the convention and some of them got fixed in the constitution, but at heart this was a vital move, impelled by high and serious motives.[179]

PART II
THE "ORIGINAL" I. W. W.

CHAPTER IV
Maiden Efforts on the Economic Field

The adjournment of the organizing convention in July, 1905, left the body it had created in a very chaotic condition. The time and attention of the delegates was so exclusively taken up with the problem of building up "one big union" out of many little unions and the task of working out a harmony platform of law and policy on which all could come together, that the matter of business management was almost entirely neglected. Indeed some of the circumstances surrounding the I. W. W. at its inception quite precluded the ordered and efficient procedure possible to a well manned and adequately financed organization. The I. W. W. was not well manned and was practically destitute of financial resources. The dearth of ability and especially the want of honesty in its managing personnel were to become all too evident long before the second convention had come to a close, as was also its practically bankrupt financial status. Although there were three rather formidable-looking departments nominally organized as such—viz.: mining, metal and machinery, and transportation—none of these except the mining department represented material accessions either numerically or financially, and the early defection of the Western Federation of Miners quite broke down this one and, what was even more important, cut off from the Industrial Workers of the World the great bulk of its financial resources.

The industrial-union idea made marked headway among the trade unions of the United States during the first year of the existence of the I. W. W., and this was very largely due to the influence and example of that organization. Organizers were sent to those places where serious friction existed between trade-unionists and employers, or between trade-unionists and the American Federation of Labor. The I. W. W. devoted very little attention at that time to the unorganized; its energy was chiefly centered on the reformation of the craft unions—a policy of dual unionism. The Federation lost rather heavily in some quarters to the I. W. W., the disaffection proving most marked among the brewers and machinists. Max S. Hayes, in reviewing the situation at the end of the year 1905, wrote as follows:

This same unrest and dissatisfaction with the condition of trade-union organization was evident among many local unions of the United Mine Workers of America. Only two local unions of the Mine Workers had finally joined the Industrial Workers of the World at the first convention,[181] but before the end of the year there were several others desiring admission. In many cases, however, they were unable to go into the I. W. W. because they had contracts signed up with the mine operators, and must perforce await their expiration before any action could be taken. The Mine Workers' locals at Barrow, Muddy Valley, and Elkville (Ill.) were in precisely this situation. They reported themselves at the second convention as desirous of admission, but that immediate transfer of allegiance was impossible because they had two-year contracts with the operators which did not expire until April, 1908.[182] Although in these instances the contracts were respected and the locals did not join the I. W. W., that result was not due to any moral influence emanating from the Industrial Workers of the World, who, of course, repudiated the validity of contracts with employers. They believed that, as Haywood expressed it, "as all is fair in love and war, industrial unionists should abrogate all agreements which would compel them to violate the principles of unionism."[183]

Friction between the Industrial Workers of the World and the American Federation of Labor continued, of course, to be in evidence. The nominal possession of a defense fund by the I. W. W., and the want of such a feature in the Federation, doubtless appealed to craft unions in time of need. For that reason, if for no other, many craft unionists have felt that Haywood had some reason for saying that "the only function which the American Federation of Labor can assume is to act as an advisory board of the trade-union movement," and that "the ideas of Mr. Gompers are hoary, aged, moss-covered relics of the days of the ox-team and the pony express, when the craftsmen owned or controlled the tools of production."[184]

There were a few trade unions which joined the Industrial Workers of the World as a last resort or merely to spite the American Federation. Such was the case with the Stogie Makers, who constituted an independent organization in January, 1906, and who, having been for some reason denied a charter in the American Federation of Labor, finally, and with noisy repudiation of the principles of the Federation, joined the I. W. W.[185]

Trouble most commonly arose between the Industrial Workers and the Federation in time of strike. The Industrial Workers objected to what they called the "unfair interference of the A. F. of L. in I. W. W. strikes." Numerous protests against this alleged meddlesomeness of the Federation were made on the floor of the second convention. The following excerpt from the report of General-Secretary Trautmann to the convention will serve for illustration:

The American Federation of Labor was undoubtedly often guilty of attempts of the kind just mentioned—activities which were looked upon by the "Wobblies" as crafty methods of undermining and antagonizing the work of their organization. It happened more than once during that first year of the younger organization's existence, and has happened on the occasion of many an industrial conflict since that time. However, the blame lies not entirely at the door of the Federation, nor has it alone been guilty of such practices. It is, in fact, quite likely that the first provocation to interference arose from the persistence of the I. W. W. in the policy of organizing—or rather of annexing to itself—unions already organized, and usually so organized in the American Federation of Labor itself. This policy of double affiliation was warmly discussed at the first convention, but no definite official decision of the convention appears in the stenographic report of proceedings. The I. W. W. has been accused of deliberately agitating among unions already organized, and that in the face of open declarations that the I. W. W. does not believe in dual organization. It is true that such declarations of policy may have been made by I. W. W. speakers, but it has not been officially declared to be the policy of the organization. A sharp distinction should be drawn here between reorganizing, or attempting to reorganize, already organized bodies—dual organizing activities—which are not expressly approved or condemned, and the condition of dual organism—or dual membership—which last is expressly forbidden. No local union of the I. W. W. may belong to the American Federation of Labor or to any other national organization.[187]

The I. W. W. has constantly been guilty of agitating in and building from the old craft unions, and in the earlier days of its history most of its work consisted in thus "boring from within" the established unions. It is only in later years that it has even approximately lived up to its avowed policy of organizing the unorganized—the unskilled—the floating laborer. Consequently the provocation of the American Federation of Labor, and craft unions generally, to retaliate for the alleged meddlesomeness of the I. W. W. was even greater then than it is now.

The vigor of this retaliation on the part of the craft unions was evidenced by the action taken by such organizations as the International Association of Machinists, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the United Cloth Cap and Hat Makers, the United Brotherhood of Leather Workers, and others, which "decreed that the mere joining of the Industrial Workers of the World would deprive any man or woman of the right to work in industries controlled by these combinations."[188]

This strenuous opposition was largely the cause of more or less compromising on the part of the Industrial Workers of the World with the craft-union idea, though, of course, the very weakness of the new movement and the hard-fixed habit of years of life and work under the old craft form was a potent factor here. This much is plain from the record of those early days of I. W. W. history. Many of its constituent unions retained to a considerable degree the characteristics of craft unions, and more than that—some of the I. W. W. locals (boasted types and rallying centers for industrial unionism) were nothing more or less than craft locals. Even this extremity was no doubt forced upon many locals on account of the lack of knowledge of industrial unionism among workingmen, and this made necessary that rather ambiguous phenomenon of a revolutionary industrial union largely composed of craft or pseudo-craft units. The delegates to the second convention had to face this very impossible situation. A typical one was that of the Bartenders and Waiters Local Union No. 83 of Chicago, concerning which Delegate Shenkan of San Francisco said:

The convention was very desirous that this condition be remedied as soon as possible, and a resolution was finally passed stipulating that the General Executive Board must always organize so far as possible on industrial lines: "The incoming General Executive Board is hereby directed to organize the new recruits in and by industries, and to promote the education in industrialism among those men to whom charters may have been issued upon a craft system before they could be enrolled in the I. W. W."[190] In his report to the convention General Secretary Trautmann recommended that

However, this antagonism from outside craft unions, and these involuntary internal compromises with the craft-union idea were not the most serious difficulties which now beset the Industrial Workers of the World. The organization was threatened with wholesale defection and very soon actually suffered it in some quarters. During the spring of 1906 it became evident that a movement was afoot in the lumber camps of the northwest to organize the lumber workers in a general union outside of the I. W. W. Moreover, it appeared that the moving spirit in the agitation was one Daniel MacDonald—charter member of the Industrial Workers of the World from the old American Labor Union—a man who had not long since been an organizer for the I. W. W., and who must at the time have been a member of that organization, since he was sent as a delegate to the second convention. Mr. MacDonald explained the nature of the proposed organization in a letter to Mr. James Brookfield of Crescent City, California, dated at Butte, Montana, March 27, 1906. He does not mention the I. W. W. He writes that

The attempt was not successful. The lumber industry was destined to be one of the most fertile fields for the propaganda of the I. W. W. and to be one of its most solidly established divisions. This disloyal agitation on the outside in 1906 was a comparatively insignificant movement. It merely deprived the organization of a few individual members, and delayed somewhat the I. W. W. invasion of the lumber industries.

The most serious defections occurred in the Metals and Machinery, and the Mining Departments. The former department at the outset comprised two groups of metal workers: the United Metal Workers International Union and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. The United Metal Workers had been a part of the American Federation of Labor until shortly before the first I. W. W. convention, and was on its adjournment installed as a part of the Metals and Machinery Department of the I. W. W. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers had also been a part of the American Federation of Labor.

On the merging of the American Labor Union in the Industrial Workers of the World, the Metal Workers of that union organized in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers were naturally installed with the United Metal Workers in the Metals and Machinery Department. Mutual hostility and friction between these two groups thus arbitrarily forced into one department, added to a deplorable lack of coöperation and assistance from the General Headquarters, finally resulted in the breaking away of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and the consequent loss to the I. W. W. of about four thousand wage-earners in this one department during the first year of its existence. This left the Metals and Machinery Department, about three thousand strong, practically limited in membership to the United Metal Workers International Union.[194]

The most paralyzing blow of all came with the loss of the whole of the Mining Department in the defection of the Western Federation of Miners in 1907. Indeed, the Federation really ceased to be an active member of the I. W. W. after the second convention of the latter organization in September, 1906. The W. F. of M. defection was so intimately connected with other dark troubles which came to light at the second convention that the subject will best be treated in that connection.[195]

The strikes conducted by the Industrial Workers of the World during the first fifteen months of its existence were almost uniformly unsuccessful. Its strike activities were, however, quite widespread and pushed in most cases with energy and enthusiasm. The following groups of workers were involved: the Stogie Workers of Cleveland, Ohio; Hotel and Restaurant Workers of Goldfield, Nevada; the Window Washers of Chicago; the Marble Workers of Cincinnati; the Miners of Tonopah and Goldfield, Nev.; the Silk Workers of Trenton (N. J.) and Staten Island (N. Y.); and the Saw Mill and Lumber Workers of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Stogie Workers were on strike from January 1 to October 1, 1906. They demanded a ten per cent wage increase, abolition of the black list, and one apprentice to every ten employees.[196] Although the strikers were unable to get the aid they needed from the General Organization, the strike seems to have been quite successful.[197]

In Goldfield, Nevada, strikes were conducted by two different locals. The demand of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers for the eight-hour day was finally acceded to. The Miners were on Strike both in Goldfield and Tonopah. They were bitterly opposed by the Allied Printing Trades Council of the American Federation of Labor, and seem not to have reached a settlement until late in 1907.

The Window Washers' strike in Chicago began August 1, 1906, and was on at the time of the second convention. Members of the Window Washers' Union quit work in thirty-five buildings in the down-town district of Chicago. The General Executive Board advised that the striking men be kept at work in other occupations so far as possible in order to keep down expenses. The Marble Workers of Cincinnati demanded a nine-hour day and a Saturday half-holiday. There appears to be no record of the result of their efforts.

The strikes of the Silk Workers at Trenton, N. J., and

Staten Island, N. Y., were both lost, the cause assigned by the strikers for their defeat being the fact that they could get no support from the General Organization.[198]

There was a disproportionate amount of energy given to strikes at this time. Moreover, most of this energy was misdirected. President Sherman, in his report to the convention, said: "There has been no time since August, 1905, but what we have had one or more strikes to contend with, which has been more or less responsible for our organization not being in a position to place more organizers in the field than what it has maintained."[199]

In discussing the I. W. W. strike record, Secretary Trautmann declared that "there was not a single solitary strike that the I. W. W. won." They were not rightly conducted, nor called at the right time.