IWW's Industrial Worker
Dec 30 2005 05:09
Does anybody know if it's any good? Worth subscribing?
Dec 30 2005 05:29
#2
Did you join as a part of a unionized workplace, or as an individual?
Dec 30 2005 07:04
#3
i joined as an individual, but i'm also a salt.
Dec 30 2005 14:30
#4
Don't know what its like these days, but when i was a member back in the mid 90's I hated it. I remember there being a big 'Let's get rid of the editor campaign' which ended up in a vote. A collective took over and I hated it even more. As I say, it might be a different kettle of fish today.
Mar 16 2006 12:23
#5
Quote:
i'm also a salt
what's one of those?
NB no hilarious seasoning jokes please 8)
Mar 16 2006 13:24
#6
ftony wrote:
Quote:
i'm also a saltwhat's one of those?
NB no hilarious seasoning jokes please 8)
A union member who gets a job in a non-union workplace in an attempt to recruit & organise.
Mar 16 2006 14:27
#7
nice
keep on saltin' pardner 
Mar 16 2006 16:54
#8
Hey, thanks.
I'm on hold, b/c i'm planning to move to somewhere where there's an active branch, but where i work i can transfer. 
Mar 16 2006 20:46
#9
I get the Industrial Worker and read it/skim it, most of it is solid journalism from a libertarian labor perspective, right in line with the stuff you would read on libcom's news, the anecdotal stuff is thoughtful/humane. Sort of like the antithesis to the Socialist Worker rag.
The IWW had another journal in the sixties out of its chicago branch called the REBEL WORKER (which is a guess a sort of generic/archetypal masthead now.) It had a strong Surrealist bent, some serious labor theory/critique, and tended to a kind of Situationist strain, a parallel development, I think, A couple of their staff met with DeBord but they found the whole exculsions thing distasteful. As do I, though I love Situ thought. They had ties to the "Heatwave' group in London, which I believe included expelled members of the British S.I. section.
The IWW should develop a new, large, slick/cheap Rebel Worker, with a lot of editorial autonomy, as a counterbalance to Crimethinc's Rolling Thunder and Adbusters, both of which lack any conving labor-based perspective. It could have some deeper aestheitc values. It could beckon more. The only wobbly I know here who consistently writes articles also edits or does web stuff for the ASR. I asked one of the writers for the Rebel Worker if he thought it should be revived, and he said hell yeah. Perhaps not under that title though.
Mar 17 2006 17:27
#10
I really like that title. It's edgy.
Mar 17 2006 17:31
#11
Quote:
rebel worker
ah, but what about student wobs like me?
maybe it should be 'rebel waster' instead...
Mar 17 2006 17:33
#12
Don't us student wobs spend half our time pretending to be workers?
Mar 17 2006 20:01
#13
I never went to school, so I guess I can't appreciate the joke. I do know that the IWW started accepting students I think in the late 50's or early 60's on the basis thet they were essentially apprentice workers,(and prolly cause they were desperate for members, heh., heh.) Which makes some sense. Now, students are essentially buying themselves into indentured servitude. Some who are upper/middle class don't have so much to worry about.
Anyhoo, I think that establishing a more versatile vehicle for the IWW is a good idea, it would be best done with international coordination. Any further ideas would be welcome.
Mar 29 2006 19:41
#14
the current IWW homepage has lifted something from us: http://www.iww.org/.
Mar 30 2006 22:25
#15
Are you referring to WSWS, LibCom, or CNT-F? 
Mar 31 2006 17:48
#16
libcom, dude!
would the IWW repost from WSWS???
Mar 31 2006 18:03
#17
There are some more and some less fucked up trends in the IWW:
http://www.iww.org/en/node/2287
But it could also have simply been an easy news source...
Mar 31 2006 18:24
#18
OliverTwister wrote:
But it could also have simply been an easy news source...
they do use the disclaimer.
they used it for the libcom repost too 
used to be kind of dismissive of it... but since i joined i've become more appreciative of its coverage of workplace issues.