An article by Mike Johnson describing the possibility of the New Left joining the IWW. Originally appeared in the Industrial Worker (December 1966).
The recent emergence of a “New Left” on American campuses seems to offer the IWW a challenging opportunity to influence, if not recruit left-wing intellectuals. The most respected spokesmen for this New Left are already familiar with IWW history and principles. Staughton Lynd, professor of history at Yale, has included in his anthology Non-Violence in America Haywood’s testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations. And articles examining “student syndicalism” have appeared in New Left Notes, the journal of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Although interested in syndicalism (which I would define as revolutionary trade or industrial unionism), New Leftists are reluctant to join the IWW for several reasons. Advertising agencies have conditioned most Americans, including the New Left, to regard anything over a decade old as archaic – thus, the New Left in politics, the “New Thing” in jazz, “Pop” and “Op” art, etc.
Since the IWW has been around 61 years, the New Left feels Wobblies have little to say. Furthermore, New Leftists like everyone else are impressed with success. Since the “Old Left” has not led a successful revolution, dissident intellectuals often ignorant of the errors as well as the victories of the Old Left, have abandoned established working-class movements and have begun to build new radical organizations. Finally, the most pedantic intellectuals contend that gaucheries in Wobbly rhetoric, logic and behavior preclude the IWW from advocating a practical or significant alternative to contemporary American society.
Despite the reluctance of intellectuals to join or listen to the IWW, Wobblies can still reach some New Leftists. In searching for a consistent ideology, the New Left probably will continue to explore syndicalism and, more specifically, revolutionary industrial unionism. The IWW will then serve as an example and source of inspiration for a new generation of revolutionaries. The ultimate test of the IWW’s success in dealing with the New Left will not be the number of students the union recruits, but the number of students Wobblies encourage to fight for a better world.
Transcribed by Juan Conatz
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