The I.W.W. in other lands - Albert Hanson

The I.W.W. has been described as the institution of the working class. It certainly is American in origin and is chiefly American in ideology and in its activities.

The occurrences to which I refer in this article are those taking place after the world war and especially the events of the past few years. It would serve no useful purpose here to consider earlier events.

The policy of the organization on this question before 1931 was at least negative, if not intellectually dishonest. The declaration that we would “maintain friendly intercourse with the workers in other countries” could hardly be classed as a policy if anything, this was an evasion of a real policy.

For many years we followed the idea of the “International” unions affiliated with the A.F. of L. in our relations with our membership in Canada. The members there found this method so unsatisfactory that the 1931 General Convention outlined the plan for the Canadian Administration. This plan was adopted, put into effect and has since been found general satisfactory. This is the one real administration, outside of the original one in the U.S.A., which is now functioning. There is one in Sweden which is nominally an administration, but I think that you will see by their reports that it is much nearer to what we here would call a branch.

While the theory of the I.W.W. provides for a world wide organization and a world administration, the nearest that we have yet come to this is to have the General Administration in this country function in that capacity. This is not intended as criticism since most of the structure adopted by our organization has been of a temporary nature, and our methods in use have been adapted to the needs of the particular time and place. So the temporary nature of our world wide organization is no different from that of the various parts of the I.W.W., when left alone, have generally been rather practical in adapting the structure and methods to present needs.

I believe that the Canadian Administration can well serve as the – or shall we say a – a model for the I.W.W. in other countries. For the smaller nations it might be more practical to have a Regional Administration including several of these small countries. For the present, the General Administration in this country could serve as the General Administration for these various National or Regional Administrations.

What steps, if any, we should take to establish such administrations where none exists, is quite a problem. It is too big to discuss in this article, so will leave it for later.

Yours for Industrial Democracy,
Albert Hanson, 197587

Transcribed by Juan Conatz