Industrial Worker newspaper

Partial archive of articles from the newspaper of the revolutionary union, the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 1, 2014

Originally the voice of the IWW in the Pacific Northwest during the 1910s and 1920s, the Industrial Worker eventually became the main official English-language publication of the union. It ceased to be a newspaper in late 2015, transitioning into a magazine until 2021. Since then it had mainly been an online blog, with occasional collections of writings released in a pamphlet format.

Comments

Juan Conatz

9 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 6, 2016

The numbering system is very confusing and makes little sense to me.

The September 4, 1913 issue is "Volume 5, Number 21".

February 17, 1917 is "Volume 1, Number 45".

October 1, 1927 is "Volume 4, Number 39 (Whole No. 563)"

It seems to follow this numbering system until sometime between 1934-1936 when I think it restarts.

Then it changes sometime between 1940-1970 and its the format we have today.

I may have to just give up trying to figure this out and stick to organizing these strictly by dates instead.

Steven.

9 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on June 6, 2016

Ha ha yeah that seems a bit ridiculous! I guess they must restarted it on multiple occasions, maybe when it moved cities/editorial teams? I guess doing it by date is simpler, so I would stick with that, but just have the volume/issue number somewhere in the text or intro

Juan Conatz

9 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 6, 2016

Yeah that's probably what I'm going to do. Maybe add a note about numbering problems.

Juan Conatz

9 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 24, 2016

Part of my confusion also is that I apparently can't read Roman numerals! Embarrassing, considering I'm an avid (American) football fan...

Steven.

9 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on June 24, 2016

Ha ha oh dear hopefully sorted now? BTW is there anyone who could help you with this? We could try to do a call out on FB, or maybe the IWW could do one as well?

Juan Conatz

9 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 24, 2016

Really the only help I need is getting access to the materials. The IWW started putting PDFs of current Industrial Worker issues online in 2005. Marxist Internet Archive put up PDFs of the paper until 1913. So 1914-2005 is only out there in hard copies, microfilm and bound reprints. Quite a few institutions such as historical societies and universities have microfilm going up until the 1940s at least. Very few universities have the bound reprints, I haven't come across them at all actually and have only heard second hand that they exist. Probably the most difficult period to track down is 1950s-1990s, which seem only to exist as scattered hard copies in institutions and people's homes.

Juan Conatz

8 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Finally finished uploading 57 issues from 1917-1940.

syndicalist

8 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on March 17, 2017

Good stuff. Appreciating all the post WWI materials.

Juan Conatz

7 months 3 weeks ago

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 27, 2025

Starting to upload all the IWW stuff I've transcribed in the past few years but not yet put on libcom

Submitted by Steven. on April 28, 2025

Juan Conatz wrote: Starting to upload all the IWW stuff I've transcribed in the past few years but not yet put on libcom

That's amazing, thanks so much!

Juan Conatz

6 months 4 weeks ago

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 23, 2025

Found a huge collection of scanned IWs on Internet Archive that I've been uploading. Unfortunately not a ton in the 1940s-1950s, a period which may not be that interesting to most, but a period I've been interested in nonetheless.

Juan Conatz

6 months 3 weeks ago

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 24, 2025

I've reorganized how to get to the issues by breaking down the initial child pages into decades rather than years. Then the decade child pages breakdown by years. Seemed more orderly than listing each year individually as a child page on this main parent.

I'm not really satisfied with how I was organizing the child pages for the IWs prior to it becoming a monthly paper. I was breaking those down into monthly child pages. But considering removing those and just listing the 36 or so yearly issues.

Steven.

6 months 3 weeks ago

Submitted by Steven. on May 28, 2025

This is great! But yes, sorting just by year would seem to be sufficient, without doing additional sorting by month

Submitted by syndicalist on May 31, 2025

Juan Conatz wrote: Found a huge collection of scanned IWs on Internet Archive that I've been uploading. Unfortunately not a ton in the 1940s-1950s, a period which may not be that interesting to most, but a period I've been interested in nonetheless.

I actually find the years of retreat and holding the fort of interest. Not very uplifting, but interesting. Not only for the IWW, but the IWA and whatever affiliates remained above ground and even the SAC which went its own way. Most importantly for me at least, wherever there were some to keep the flame alive, to pass the history and the torch to another generation, small and isolated that generation may have been, we have benefited. And if these militants were not around in the 1960s and 1970s, the generation before me and my generation would not have been exposed to the general revolutionary working class ideas when we developed, learned, got our feet wet and so forth. Keep digging and keep 'em coming!