Industrial Pioneer

The Industrial Pioneer was a monthly publication of the Industrial Workers of the World. It was published in Chicago by the general executive board of the IWW from 1921 to 1926, under various editors.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 19, 2014

Comments

syndicalist

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 20, 2014

Sorry, can't see anything

EDIT: No text with this one, just the cover?

Steven.

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on April 20, 2014

Nice!

Juan Conatz

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

syndicalist

Sorry, can't see anything

EDIT: No text with this one, just the cover?

How long have you been on libcom? lol

This page is the 'parent' article, you have to click on the years to get to the issues...

Juan Conatz

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

So, this is what Wiki has to say about this publication:

The Industrial Pioneer was a monthly publication of the Industrial Workers of the World. It was published in Chicago by the general executive board of the IWW from 1921 to 1926, under various editors. The precursor of the Industrial Pioneer was the One Big Union Monthly. The editor of One Big Union Monthly, John Sandgren, used his position to wage war on the Communists in the IWW. When his editorials became too sectarian, the IWW replaced him as editor in 1921, and changed the name of the publication to the Industrial Pioneer. The new editor was a Communist, however, and this alienated the non-Communist majority of IWW members. He was removed as editor in 1922.[2]

By the end of 1923, the IWW publications Industrial Pioneer and Industrial Worker were both nearly bankrupt. An organizer with experience in the Oklahoma oil fields, Frank Gallagher, became business manager for both.[3] The Industrial Pioneer lived on, but after the 1924 split in the IWW, the union's decline as an actual labor organization is visible in the Industrial Pioneer, which became more purely educational and historical in flavor.[2]

In the words of IWW historian Melvyn Dubofsky, the Industrial Pioneer is “one of the finest examples of the poetry, prose, fiction, art, and socioeconomic analysis produced in America’s past by self-educated working-class radicals.”[2] The Industrial Pioneer reflected the strong influence of Marxism within the IWW, as well as an activist emphasis on workers’ emancipation through control of industry. One academic article that refers to the Industrial Pioneer describes this intellectual culture of the IWW using the library of John Edwin Peterson, a rank-and-file Wobblie: “Articles on the economic and technological development of the modern railway industry in the Industrial Pioneer were studied along with Pullman production manuals for the day when workers like Peterson would take over production.”[4] This focus on analyzing the nuts and bolts of capitalist industry went hand in hand with a desire to eliminate the wastefulness endemic to capitalism. In 1920, the IWW created the Bureau of Industrial Research to address such issues, in part due to the influence of the technocratic ideas of Howard Scott. In 1921, a series of articles by or about the Bureau appeared in the Industrial Pioneer.[5]

Some of the regular features of the Industrial Pioneer were a section called “The Question Box,” where readers wrote in to have their questions answered, a humor section called “Wobbles,” a poetry section, numerous cartoons, and a page advertising subscriptions to the magazine. In 1923, for example, one could order an annual subscription to the Industrial Pioneer, and receive a book such as Karl Marx's Capital, Volume I along with the subscription, for a total of $3.25.[6] Prominent IWW cartoonists such as Maurice Becker and Dust were regularly featured in the magazine. A good deal of space was often devoted to fiction and poetry. As the initial announcement in the Industrial Pioneer’s first issue makes clear, the magazine dedicated itself not just to addressing labor and economic issues, but to providing a forum for “proletarian art.”[7]

The topic of Communism was clearly important for the IWW. The first, pro-Communist editor of the Industrial Pioneer published articles by Communists like Solomon Lozovsky and Karl Radek, but was not simply preaching Bolshevism. While he is uncritical of Communist tactics in Russia, he makes clear that purely economic action is called for in the United States.[8] A later editor, writing an editorial on the death of Lenin in 1924, provides a typical Wobblie assessment: he praises Lenin’s idealism, but notes that Lenin could not save the top-heavy “workers’ dictatorship,” which rested on the misconception that “all power resides in the state.”[9]

Other topics treated in the Industrial Pioneer include relations between the sexes (Jennie Wilson, "Modern Romance," May, 1923 issue), evolutionary theory (J. Howard Moore, “Savage Survivals in Higher Peoples,” June, 1923 issue), immigration (“Some Anti-Immigration Fallacies,” October, 1923 issue), and race relations (“The Negro—A Subject Race,” April, 1924 issue). The Industrial Pioneer published some noteworthy figures in American labor history, including Eugene V. Debs,[10][11] Bartolomeo Vanzetti,[12] Ricardo Flores Magon,[13] and Upton Sinclair.[14]

Upton Sinclair, for example, was involved with the free speech fight that grew out of a strike in San Pedro in 1923, and the August, 1923 issue of the Industrial Pioneer covers these events. Due to Sinclair’s advocacy for free speech, the editor of the Industrial Pioneer wrote to Sinclair, and Sinclair wrote an article on "Civil Liberties in Los Angeles," which criticized arrests for "criminal syndicalism."[15] In addition, “The national office of the IWW began to give space in the Industrial Pioneer to reviews of Sinclair’s literary efforts and sought to enlist him as a California speaker in its campaign for amnesty for political prisoners.”[16]

So, first of all, we have a little bit of One Big Union monthly, but not as much as I'd like. There isn't a lot available online on the war of words between the CPUSA and the IWW, but here's 2 articles from the CP side that are responding to One Big Union Monthly articles.

“Using the I. W. W. Against The Left Wing.” The New York Communist, May 24, 1919, p 8.

Reed, John. “The I. W. W. and Bolshevism.” The New York Communist, May 31, 1919, p 3-4.

I'm still going through this huge PDF of Industrial Pioneer's, splitting them for the library, I'm curious if I'll come across any of this conflict in it...

syndicalist

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 20, 2014

Juan Conatz

syndicalist

Sorry, can't see anything

EDIT: No text with this one, just the cover?

How long have you been on libcom? lol

This page is the 'parent' article, you have to click on the years to get to the issues...

I never said I was the brightest light in the warehouse -:)

1921

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 19, 2014

Industrial Pioneer (February 1921)

February 1921, Vol. 1, No. 1, Serial No. 1 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 19, 2014

CONTENTS

-The 'white terror' in Hungary - The Executive Committee of the Communist International of Youth
-Sunny California: land of romance and unemployment by Jack Gaveel
-Progress by Julia C. Coons
-The call of the IWW by H. Van Dorn
-Industrial Research, editorial
-"At the movies" by A Rebel Girl
-The development of tobacco growing by Chas J. Miller
-The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions by A. Lozovsky
-The gates of tomorrow by Julia C. Coons
-Towards an international of action by George Andreytchine
- Dad-Burn-It's view of life by John E. Nordquist
-Report on Waste by the IWW Bureau of Industrial Research
-The bars say: no! by Edward E. Anderson (Written in Leavenworth Penitentiary)
-Evolution of the lumber industry by James Kennedy
-Fear not, organize!: an appeal to the lumber workers
-Be brave by John E. Nordquist
-International news by George Andreytchine
-Laborare est orare (Work is prayer)
-Truth by Julia C. Coons
-Technique and Revolution by G. Cannata
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-The defense situation by John Martin
-How I failed in my first business venture by "Operator"
-The scenery spoiler by Card No. 247770

Comments

syndicalist

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 20, 2014

Good deal

Industrial Pioneer (March 1921)

March 1921, Vol. 1, No. 2, Serial No. 2 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS

-At the grave of Karl Liebknecht by Theodor Plievier
-The German martyrs and the IWW by Tom Barker
-Eugene V. Debs by Jessie Wallace Hughan
-The fiftieth anniversary of the Paris Commune by George Andreytchine
-The Industrial Workers of the World by Laura Payne Emerson
-Causes for war - 1921
-Industrial efficiency, editorial
-Industrial Research Bureau of the Industrial Workers of the World
-Life on the New York water front by Card No. 200824
-The inefficiency of capitalism by Charles Beard
-"Old dry bones" by W.I. Fisher
-Crafts on the sea by Julia C. Coons
-"California oranges" by J.A. Stromquist
-Technique and Revolution by G. Cannata
-The wastes of war by the IWW Bureau of Industrial Research
-The glass industry by Robert Grayson
-To the Russian Red Guard by Ralph Chaplin
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-Defense news by John Martin
-To Soviet Russia, an American workingman speaks by Charles Ashleigh
-Labor demands resumption of trade with Russia
-The Berlin Conference of Syndicalist and Industrial Unions by H. Van Dorn
-The class war in Spanish-speaking countries by Frank J. Guscetti
-The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions by A. Lozovsky
-Book reviews

Comments

syndicalist

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 20, 2014

Well worth the read

Industrial Pioneer (April 1921)

April 1921, Vol. 1, No. 3, Serial No. 3 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS

-Red Russia and the IWW: a letter from Tom Barker
-Toward a definite syndicalist policy (Extracts from articles by Angelo Faggi of USI, Salvador Segui of CNT, French delegation to the Berlin syndicalist conference)
-Two conventions of Italian labor by G.C.
-The status of organized labor in Soviet Russia
-For a concerted plan of action by H. Van Dorn
-Organization by James Kennedy
-On the threshold of the great work of reconstruction in Soviet Russia by Karl Radek
-The star is risen by Julia C. Coons
-Conference on scientific organization of labor and production in Soviet Russia
-How industry is managed in Soviet Russia
-From Berlin to Moscow by E. Bouwman
-The Australian labor movement by J. Morris
-What have you done with the old men by Berton Braley
-"Let's go into business" by A Worker
-Ship committees - a problem in organization by Card No. 804943
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-Defense news by John Martin
-The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions by A. Lozovsky
-The stranger by Julia C. Coons
-The story of a hard workingman and his white-collar son by H.V.D.
-A real love story by John E. Nordquist
-A statement by Zinoviev on the relation between economic and political bodies
-What our readers say about the Industrial Pioneer

Comments

syndicalist

9 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 20, 2014

Well worth the read. I read these years ago but rereading them now, good deal
Thanks for getting this and the other "IP" up

syndicalist

7 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 17, 2016

This article is worth the historical read: -

Toward a definite syndicalist policy (Extracts from articles by Angelo Faggi of USI, Salvador Segui of CNT, French delegation to the Berlin syndicalist conference)

OliverTwister

7 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by OliverTwister on June 17, 2016

Interesting that that's in the same issue as articles from Radek and Zinoviev. That was sure a short historical window.

Also interesting to see the French syndicalist fascination with the Moscow union federation that still has some echo in the contemporary "Revolutionary Syndicalist Committee"/

Industrial Pioneer (May 1921)

May 1921, Vol. 1, No. 4, Serial No. 4 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS:

-First of May, 1921
-Supreme Court denies petition of IWW prisoners
-The son of man (Dedicated to all class-war prisoners confined in American jails and penitentiaries)
-The truce in England by Francis Davis
-All aboard for "normalcy"!
-George Hardy on the IWW (Letter written by George Hardy and sent by him from Russia to the Danish syndicalist paper Solidaritet, published in Copenhagen)
-Capital and labor by John O'Hara
-May Day, 1921 by J.S.W.M.
-The thirteenth convention of the IWW
-Secretary Davis urges "A fair deal for capital"
-The striker by Robert Whitaker
-How the IWW is organized by James Kennedy
-The W.W.I. by John Banks
-Mexico: its government and labor movement by W.J. Lemon
-Bow of promise by Julia C. Coons
-"Dust" on Mexico
-The economics of a patriot by Jacob Sherman
-The question box
-Prelude to propaganda by S.P.
-The majority: a one act play by Ernest Riebe
-To the labor organizations of the world! Boycott all goods made in Spain! by the Executive Committee of the Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands (Syndicalists)
-Wobbles
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-John Bull, the sacred cow and the golden calf by J.A. Loeb
-The international situation by H. Van Dorn
-Revolution: a creative process, a book review by S.P.
-General defense news by John Martin
-The river by Julia C. Coons
-Wasteful methods of distributing city milk by the IWW Bureau of Industrial Research
-A criticism by Card No. 473009
-What our readers say about the Industrial Pioneer

Comments

syndicalist

7 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on June 17, 2016

I read this years ago, but just looked at it again: "-George Hardy on the IWW (Letter written by George Hardy and sent by him from Russia to the Danish syndicalist paper Solidaritet, published in Copenhagen)" ...... Hardy became a CPer, but his comments on the differences between the IWW and syndicalist unions are reflective of a certain grain of thought.

Pure bolshevik bunk, yet revealing in some ways of how some of the marxian socialists (both bolsheviks and non) structurally viewed the IWW

The I. W. W. is not the same as the European
syndicalist organizations. It is a highly centralized,
industrial organization. The decentralizers met with
a decisive defeat at our convention in 1913.

What transpired at the IWW 1913 Convention between "centralizers" and "decentralizers"?

I found this interesting, as there was a conversation (here?) about the IWW and WWI.
Hardy wrote:

On the other hand, the I. W. W. was absolutely against the war without being guilty of “conspiracy” against the United States government, of which we were accused during the war.

On paper the IWW took a position, but is he implying they did more than that? Hard to say.

How the IWW is organized - James Kennedy

An article by James Kennedy about how the IWW differs from other unions.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on September 21, 2014

The Fallacy of Craft Unionism

As to the necessity for working-class organization there can be no question. The point to be decided is: How shall the workers organize? This question is of supreme importance. If the workers allow themselves to be misled and tricked into organizing in a way that will not only fail to free them from wage-slavery or even to better their condition, but will put them more thoroly in the power of the industrial masters, much valuable time will be lost and discouragement and despair will result. What is needed is unity of thought and action. Far better no organization at all than a fake form which divides the workers against themselves and misleads them in the interests of the employers.

Such a form of unionism exists today. It is know as craft unionism and is represented by the American Federation of Labor. Craft unionism splits the workers up into as many different unions as there are crafts. Each of these unions is tied up by a separate contract with the employers, and all these contracts expire at different times. In this way united action is rendered impossible. Not only does the A. F. of L. divide the workers in industry but it teaches them the economic lie that the interests of labor and capital are identical. It stands for "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work." This may sound reasonable enough to these ignorant of economics and unacquainted with the real nature of the wage system. In reality it means nothing except that the A. F. of L. puts itself on record as upholding the wage system and condemns the workers to perpetual exploitation. Who can determine what is a fair day's pay? Wages and profits go together. One cannot exist without the other. If a worker admits his wages are fair then he must also admit that his employer's profits are fair. One might as well talk about a fair night's plunder for a burglar. Employers think a fair day's pay is just enough to keep the workers in working condition. Intelligent workers know labor produces all wealth, and they demand the full product of their labor. This would leave no profits for the boss and so would mean the end of the present system which is based on wages and profits.

The workers are organized to produce wealth--not by crafts but by industries. To get out logs the donkey engineer cooperates, not with engineers in other industries, but with fallers, buckers, choker men and all others on the job. In carrying on industry he is only remotely connected with engineers in other industries. He cannot come to an agreement with engineers in the mining and construction industries as to how many logs are to be got out by the crew with which he works. That agreement can only be made or carried out by the men who make up the logging crew. The stationary engineers are organized in a craft union. Their local union is made up of stationary engineers in all industries in that locality. At their business meetings engineers from the logging industry come together with engineers from all other in dustries. It is impossible for them to arrive at, or carry out an agreement to exert any control over the job, for their union separates them from the other men on the job, with whom they work.

The different local unions of a craft are brought together in so-called international unions. These cut across all industries and bring together a small section of the workers in each industry. It is impossible for workers organized on the craft plan to ever exert any appreciable control over industry because only the workers remotely connected in industry are brought together in the union, and those directly connected in industry are separated and tied up by separate contracts. On one job there may be a dozen or more different unions, each tied up with a separate contract. Thus the men organized by the bosses to work together to produce, are organized in craft unions to prevent their acting together to control. Could any more effective system be devised to keep the workers divided and powerless? Could any arrangement better suit the masters than this Machiavellian policy of "divide and conquer"? The only explanation is that craft union officials are agents of the capitalists and traitors to the workers.

Not all A. F. of L. unions are craft unions. The United Mine Workers, for instance, is not divided on craft lines; but it is organized so as to prevent concerted action by its members. Instead of separating the workers by crafts it separates them by districts. These districts are all tied up by separate contracts expiring at different times. When one district is on strike the rest remain at work. The orders are transferred from the strike district to the others, and in this way one district scabs on another. Often the strikers go to work in other districts, thus scabbing on themselves.

Revolutionary Industrial Unionism

Revolutionary industrial unionism, as represented by the Industrial Workers of the World, aims to organize the workers according to industry, on the basis of one big union in each industry, without regard to craft or the tools used; all these unions being brought together under one head and all co-operating together towards a common end. The I. W. W. is not only industrial in form but it is revolutionary in character. It is based on the principle that "the working class and the employing class have nothing in common" and that "labor is entitled to all it produces." Its aims are threefold:

(1) To organize the workers in such a way that they can successfully fight their battles and advance their interests in their every-day struggles with capitalists.

(2) To overthrow capitalism and establish in its place a system of Industrial Democracy.

(3) To carry on production after capitalism has been overthrown.
The Job Branch.

The workers are organized by industries to carry on production. The job is the unit of these capitalist-controlled producing organizations. Each job is controlled by a capitalist's agent--a foreman. The object of the workers' organization is to control industry, therefore it must follow the lines of industry, and its unit must be the job branch. At the job branch meetings the workers who work together, come together in conference. At the meeting they can come to an agreement to work in whatever way is most beneficial to themselves. When they go back on the job they can co-operate to carry out this agreement. In case of strike all quit together. The foreman's control is exerted to speed up the workers and get the greatest amount of work done for the least money. Control by the organized workers is exerted to secure for themselves the greatest possible percentage of the wealth they produce. On all organized jobs the workers' control is centralized in a job committee whose function is to see that all legislation passed at the job branch meetings is lived up to.

The Industrial Union

But little can be gained by organizing on one job if the other jobs in the same industry are unorganized. The workers on each job co-operate with the workers on all other jobs in the same industry to run that industry--for the capitalists. Capitalist control of the different jobs in an industry is centralized thru the medium of foremen, superintendents, general managers of companies, and industrial associations of capitalists until it culminates in the trust--or one big union of bosses--that dominates that industry. In the early days when employers were small and unorganized, the workers on one job might have organized and struck successfully. But shutting down one job brings little pressure to bear on a big company that owns many jobs. Even if all the jobs of one company were shut down by strikes it would still be possible for that company to continue to do business by transferring their orders to other companies in the trust. The union must cover the whole industry. But even if the workers on every job were organized their power would be small unless they had some means of coming to a common understanding with the workers on all other jobs so they could act in unity.

Therefore all job branches in an industry must be brought together to form one big industrial union so they can all cooperate to control that industry for themselves. They must have some means of arriving at a common agreement, and must keep in touch so they can co-operate to carry out that agreement. To this end annual or semi-annual conventions are held, composed of delegates from all branches in the district or industrial union. At these conventions a general agreement is reached as to how the business of the union is to be conducted. The convention is the legislative body of the union, but all legislation passed must be ratified by referendum vote of the rank and file on the job. As boards of directors are elected at stockholders' meetings to look after the interests of the company, and are responsible to the stock holders, so the executive committees of the union are nominated at the conventions and elected by referendum vote, and are responsible to the membership. The job branches of an industrial union are further kept in touch thru the medium of a weekly bulletin published at industrial union or district headquarters. This bulletin prints the minutes of all job branch meetings so each branch knows what all others are doing at all times.

One Big Union of All Workers

The workers in each industry are organized to co-operate with the workers in all other industries to carry on industry as a whole. Each industry is dependent on, and linked up with all other industries. The whole complicated system of modern industry is run by capitalist-controlled producing organizations of workers. Control of the whole system culminates by means of interlocking directorates, common ownership of stock, "gentlemen's agreements," etc., in the hands of a ring of great financial magnates with headquarters in Wall Street. This is the one big union of capitalists who control all industries. The industrial unions of the workers in each in dustry must be brought together in one big union of the entire working class, so that the workers in each industry may co-operate with the workers in all other industries to control industry as a whole and run it for their own benefit. The connecting link between the different industrial unions is the general convention of the I. W. W., composed of delegates from each industrial union; and the General Executive Board, which is nominated at the general convention, and elected by referendum vote of the rank and file. The G. E. B. has general supervision over the affairs of the organization between conventions. As in each of the industrial unions the general convention is the legislative body of the union, but all legislation passed must be ratified by referendum vote of the rank and file.

Industry is world-wide. It pays little attention to national boundary lines. The modern wage worker has neither property nor country. Ties of birth and sentiment which connect him with any particular country are slight and unimportant. It makes little difference to him what country he exists in, but he must have a job. Therefore he follows industry. Capital seeks the most profitable investment. If an American capitalist can invest more profitably in the Krupp Works of Germany than in the Steel Trust of the United States he in vests in the Krupp Works tho he knows his money may be used to finance the manufacture of submarines to send American sailors to the bottom of the sea. Capitalists often try to cover up their crimes with a cloak of patriotism, but the only patriotism they know is that of the dollar mark. The revolutionary unions of the workers must not confine themselves to geographical divisions or national boundary lines, but must follow the world-embracing lines of industry. The workers of all countries co-operate to carry on industry regardless of national boundary lines, and they must organize in the same way to control industry. To promote unity of thought and action among the world's workers, international conventions are held, composed of delegates from the unions of different countries. But as industrial development proceeds industrial lines grow stronger and nationallines become relatively less important. It is probable that in future these conventions will be composed of delegates from the different branches of one great world-wide industrial union.

Revolutionary Tactics.

When the workers are educated to the real nature of the profit system they lose all respect for the masters and their property. They see the capitalists in their true colors as thieves and parasites, and their "sacred" property as plunder. They see state, church, press and university as tools of the exploiters and they look on these institutions with contempt. They understand the identity of interests of all wage workers and realize the truth of the I. W. W. slogan: "An injury to one is an injury to all." Organized industrially, the workers are in position to strike at the very heart of capitalism. Even with only a small percentage of workers organized there are many ways in which they can use their economic power for the benefit of their own class, and to weaken capitalism. Railroad men can refuse to transport scabs or material produced by scabs. They can refuse to haul gunmen or soldiers to be used against strikers. They can carry union men free of charge. Union longshoremen can refuse to handle munitions to be used against workers in any part of the world; or to load vessels beyond the safety limit. Union telegraph and telephone operators can fail to transmit messages detrimental to labor. Union printers and publishers can refuse to print distorted news, anti-labor editorials or advertisements for scabs. Union cooks and waiters can refuse to serve rotten food to union men or any food to scabs. Union store clerks can sell the best goods to union workers and reserve shoddy clothing and adulterated food for scabs and parasites. Union steel workers can refuse to manufacture armored automobiles, trains or tanks to be used against their class. Union factory workers can refuse to manufacture rifles or ammunition for use against workers. Union food workers can refuse to can rotten or diseased meat or to adulterate food in any way. Union construction workers can refuse to handle scab material, or to build jails or dangerous, unsanitary houses. Union lumber workers can refuse to supply lumber to scab construction jobs.

By mutual agreement organized workers can slow down on the job, thus conserving their energy and lessening the army of unemployed by causing more men to be put to work. They can dictate who shall be hired or discharged. They can refuse to work under objectionable foremen and can choose their own foremen. It might be objected that such action by workers would cause their discharge. This would depend on how strongly they were organized. Some of the examples given would require the backing of a strong union, others could be done with very little organization, but all have been put into practice in recent years both in this and other countries. Little is heard of such cases because, for obvious reasons, they are seldom mentioned in the capitalist press.

When the capitalists feel their control of industry slipping they will probably declare a lockout and try to cause an extensive shut-down of industry, hoping by this means to starve the workers into submission. But the organized workers, confident of their power to run industry, will remain on the job and continue to carry on production and distribution. These tactics were used on a large scale by the Italian workers in 1920. The metallurgical workers demanded higher wages, which the employers refused. They did not go out on strike but stayed on the job, and by the slow-down strike reduced production one half. The employers then declared a lockout, but the workers refused to leave the job. They put the bosses out and continued to operate the plants. Owing to lack of sufficient organization in other industries they were forced to let the capitalists take control again. But when they resumed work for wages it was on much more advantageous terms in regards to hours, wages and conditions.

No doubt the same tactics will be used many times in different countries before the final collapse of capitalism. With each trial of their strength the workers will gain experience and learn their weak points. As working-class organization grows stronger capitalism grows weaker. It has already outlived its usefulness. It is unable to run industry efficiently, and fails to supply the needs of the great majority of the people. With the workers organized industrially and understanding their interests and their power as a class, failure is impossible, and it is only a matter of time before they take full control of industry and abolish wage slavery .

Facts About the I. W. W.

The I. W. W. is non-political. It is not concerned with the empty forms of a fake political democracy. Industrial unionists know popular government can never be anything but a fraud and a sham under a system of industrial autocracy. Knowing the industrial government is the real government, they refuse to waste time electing the hirelings of Wall Street money kings, but aim straight at the root of all human power--control of industry. The aim of the I. W. W. is industrial democracy, which means that those who run industry shall control industry and that every worker shall have a voice in its management. Control of industry by the workers means a social revolution--a complete turning over of the social system. With control of industry in the hands of the workers production will be carried on for use and not profit, and all activities of society will be for the benefit of the workers instead of for the maintainance of a parasite class.

The I. W. W. believes in, advocates and practices direct action. Direct action means the direct use of their economic power by the workers themselves--as in strikes--as opposed to parliamentary action by which the workers try to elect politicians to represent them in capitalist governments.

Initiation fees and dues in the I. W. W. are low in order to be within reach of I. W. W.I. W. W. aims to take in all workers regardless of race, creed, color or sex. It is not its object to build up an exclusive job trust, but a great working-class union. Keeping workers out of a union by a prohibitive initiation fee forces them to scab and eventually destroys the union.

The I. W. W. is democratic in principle. It tolerates no official autocracy within its ranks. Officials are elected and all im portant questions decided by referendum vote of the rank and file. Strikes cannot be called on or off except by vote of the men on the job.

It is against the principles of the I. W. W. to sign contracts. When workers sign a contract not to strike they sign away one of their strongest weapons. Past experience shows employers only respect contracts so long as the workers have power to enforce them. When the workers have power to enforce them contracts are unnecessary, but when they lack such power contracts are useless, for the employers will break them whenever it suits their purpose.

There are no high-salaried officials in the I. W. W. Wages of officials are determined by the average wages of the workers in industry. There are no permanent officials, the term of office being limited to one year. Ex-officials must work at least six months at the point of production before they are eligible to hold office again.

In its battles with the system the I. W. W. does not depend on big treasuries. It realizes the power of labor is industrial, not financial, and that the few nickels and dimes of the workers can never prevail against the billions of the capitalists. No attempt is made to build up a big treasury, all funds not needed for actual running expenses being used to carry on the work of education and organization. Big treasuries are more a source of weakness than of strength. They cause a union to become conservative, and in time of strikes can be confiscated by the courts or tied up by injunctions as in the case of the Danbury Hatters and the United Mine Workers of America. When any industrial union or branch is on strike it is backed up by the solidarity of all members in all industries. Meetings are held, collections taken up and subscription lists circulated. This method has never failed. Some of the biggest and most successful strikes ever carried on in the United States have been financed in this way.

There is a universal transfer system between the different industrial unions of the I. W. W. When a worker moves from one industry to another he can transfer from one union to the other without expense or inconvenience.

The I. W. W. is the result of the past experience of the labor movement. It has learned from the mistakes and failures of former organizations. It is a natural result of capitalism. So long as the conditions which produced it remain it cannot be destroyed.

For further information write to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World, 1001 W. Madison St., Chicago, Ill.

Editor's Note-The above article forms a chapter in James Kennedy's book on the Lumber Industry which will soon be published by the Industrial Workers of the World. Two other chapters from the same book have already been published in previous issues of The Industrial Pioneer.

Transcribed by J. D. Crutchfield. Taken from iww.org page no longer online but available on archive.org[/i]

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (June 1921)

June 1921, Vol. 1, No. 5, Serial No. 5 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS:

-George Hardy's report to the convention
-Notice to branches
-Flashlights on labor and revolution: an interview with Jack Tanner
-Proud of our class by Covington Ami
-In union there is strength
-A rallying call to all IWW members
-Open the shops and factories by Mary E. Marcy
-The Irish labor movement by Thomas J. O'Flaherty
-Scenes from a rank-and-file convention
-Siberian reminiscences by Capt. L.M. Beilin, M.D.
-Facts
-Spring and hope by Violet Kaminsky
-A convention of the union of union officials: reported and illustrated by our special correspondent I. Shothemup
-Unemployment and the way out by Jan Rus
-Organize! by G. Mills
-A heart to heart talk with railway workers
-On the south side by Jan Rus
-The ownerless slaves by Lestor
-"Go find a master": a fairy tale for working girls by A Rebel Girl
-The truth
-Wobbles
-"High spots" of the thirteenth IWW convention compiled by Roy Brown
-The question box
-The premier's dilemma by Francis Davis
-Special notice to branch secretaries and delegates
-Defense news by Geo. Williams
-Special notice to those who have loaned cash and liberty bonds to the bail and bond fund
-Book review by S.P.
-What our readers say about the Industrial Pioneer

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (July 1921)

July 1921, Vol. 1, No. 6, Serial No. 6 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS:

-The class war on the railroads and in West Virginia by Jan Rus
-Wesley Everest by Ralph Chaplin
-The lesson of the British betrayal by Jack Tanner
-A preacher's solution by Hal Brommels
-The British miners come back by Francis Davis
-The rebel lads who won't come back again by Richard Brazier
-A worker looks at reparations by Hugo Schurtz
-The revolutionary movement in India from The Workers' Challenge
-Notice to readers
-Industrial depression
-Can labor unions function as revolutionary organizations? by H. Van Dorn
-Proclamation
-The thirteenth convention of the IWW
-Runaway slaves by Mary E. Marcy
-The international relations of the IWW
-To a factory whistle by S.P.
-Conference of the unemployed in Great Britain by H. Van Dorn
-The Hoosierfied can by Ralph Winstead
-Everett, November fifth by Charles Ashleigh
-For unity in the metal industry by Glenn B. Fortney
-"High spots" of the thirteenth IWW convention compiled by Roy Brown
-Book review by S.P.
-Is personal gain a true incentive by Jane A. Lee
-The roar (From "Factory echoes" by R.M. Fox)
-Address to the convention of the All-Russian Union of Transport Workers, Moscow by Tom Barker
-Wobbles
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-Defense news by the General Defense Committee
-Wastes in the coal industry by the IWW Bureau of Industrial Research
-Debs the dreamer by Ellis B. Harris
-One College professor who knew
-Hunting a job in the clouds by W.J. McSweeney

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (August 1921)

August 1921 Vol. 1, No. 7, Serial No. 7 issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 20, 2014

CONTENTS:

-Norway strikes!
-Soft hands by A. Miner
-International class unionism by George Hardy
-Sacco-Vanzetti: victims by Art Shields
-Crafty gossip
-Slopperene: it contains hog fat (Words by Jim Seymour)
-The ring around German capitalism (Translated from Die Rote Fahne)
-The educated Americans
-Industrial science and organization
-One union for all of us by Tom Barker
-The Rubiyat of El Vagabondia
-Waste by Walter N. Polakov
-The lunch hour gang discusses nationalism by J.E.
-Organization in the lumber industry
-Ownership developments in American basic industry by Perkons
-California agriculture demands industrial tactics by Mortimer Downing
-The spirit of Centralia victims
-Facts are universal
-Industrial unionism and the strike in steel by Robert Grayson
-The story of the sea by Tom Barker
-Tactics by Achef
-Economics in American universities by Max Lippet Larkin
-A letter from Russia by Card No. 418,588
-Nationalism and direct action in India by A Hindoo Nationalist
-Wobbles
-The British miners' struggle
-The question box
-Book review
-The International situation
-Defense news by Harry Feinberg, Sec'y
-Railroad juggling by Jan Rus
-A new periodical: the Marine Worker
-To marine workers of the world: organize to overcome the capitalist sea wolf

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (September 1921)

The September 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 8, Serial No. 8) issue of Industrial Pioneer, a journal produced by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1920s.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

CONTENTS

-An Organized Harvest by Wm. Dimmit

-Industrial research

-Economic Determinism by Mary E. Marcy

-Oil and oil workers by Albert Barr

-The American railway industry and its workers by W.J. Lemon

-Revolutions in industrial countries by Charles W. Wood

-Large and small scale agriculture by Wm. Dimmit

-The undoing of capitalist industrial management by Rosa Knuuti

-Industrial democracy by Justus Ebert

-Wowen war and the class struggle by Mabel Kanka

-Tramping the Northwest by G.R.

-Gary, the home of steel and efficiency by The Steel Workers Press Commitee

-Will Europe revert to barbarism by H. Van Dorn

-The labor movement in Greece: a compilation

-The workers of the near east by Joe Marko

-A volunteer on the Siberian front by John Korpi

-Wobbles

-Book reviews by Jean Cutner and Art Shields

-Defense news by H.J.

Johnson the Gypo by Ralph Winstead

-At the top of the world by A Rebel Girl

-"I" or "we" by Achef

-Honorably discharged by Jim Seymour

-The winnder by John E. Nordquist

-Civilization by Julia C. Coons

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (October 1921)

The October 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 9, Serial No. 9) issue of Industrial Pioneer, a journal produced by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1920s.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

CONTENTS include:

-The iron heel

-To members of the Industrial Workers of the World

-War in West Virginia by Art Shields

-The Negroe workers falls into line by Robert H. Hardoen

-Copper smelting by John Hammer

-Salting down the marine workers by Upton Hold

-An appeal for spokesmen by Robert Grayson

-Brains or brawn by Jim Morris

-"Justice": a bird's eye view

-The Work Peoples College by Rosa Knutti

-Memories by Jaze

-Starving Russia by Ralph Winstead

-Petrograd in July 1921 by Tom Barker

-Mohandas Ghandi and the soul force by P.D.E.

Comments

The Work Peoples College - Rosa Knuuti

An article by Rosa Knuuti about the courses offered by Work Peoples College, an IWW run school in Duluth, Minnesota that operated until the 1940s. Originally appeared in the Industrial Pioneer, October 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 9, Serial No. 9)

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

AMONG the millions of foreigners that have crossed the waters to this side of the world, are the Finns numbering nearly 300,000. Ignorant of the customs and language of the country, they with other immigrants were easily liable to become cheap slaves for the American labor market.

Thousands of these Finns located in the mining regions of Michigan and Minnesota. They were being educated to the ways of the country by the religious clergy, the obedient servants of the master class. In time they established a school or seminary for the purpose of putting forth ministers as educators among the Finns. It was first organzed in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1903 and was called the "People's College." It was moved later, however, to Smithville, Minn., a suburb of Duluth, where it is situated today.

As a religious seminary, this school wasn't much of a success. The workers that enrolled for study demanded something in modern sciences. The liberal element among the Finns were interested in a project of this sort and began to purchase stock in the People's College Corporation. And along in 1907-8 they were holding the majority of the stock, which as a result meant that their influence began to be felt in no time. The radical element was injected into the school board and soon potent changes were seen. The name of the college was changed to the Working People's College.

The new policy was a change for the better. It created interest among the workers. They began to flock to the school in such numbers that it was necessary to build another building to house the students. In 1908 the Finnish Socialist Federation had full control and ownership of the college. Its membership was assessed one dollar per year for the maintenance of the school. One improvement after another took place. Important changes were made in the curriculum. Preparatory courses in Scientific Socialism and advanced classes for advanced students. The teaching of such subject-matter that was of paramount importance to the class struggle was given first consideration. This included history, political science and sociology. Commercial subjects were also taught, and while some of the students enrolled for the commercial courses alone, they were obliged to take the scientific courses in socialism. Each student spent part of his time in getting acquainted with the teachings of Karl Marx, Engels and Kautsky. Essays and lectures were prepared on topics concerning the class struggle. Students were put through rigid tests and examinations of their studies. In due time the Working People's College became a veritable factory for turning out finished speakers, lecturers and editors for the socialist movement.

A few years later, however, in the year of 1912 new ideas innoculated into the movement began to work havoc with the teachings of conservative socialism. A controversy arose in the Finnish Federation which resulted in a split. Incidentally, the College was affected. There, also, two factions arose. The conservative political socialists and the industrial socialists. It reached its climax at the annual college conference in the spring of 1913. The industrialist element dominated. Before the conference was over the conservatives had evacuated. They refused to abide by the rules of the College Corporation and automatically lost all control over the school. Since then it has been in the hands of the industrialists.

Again the curriculum was changed. Industrial socialism became industrial unionism, and was being taught from the viewpoint of the I. W. W. The most able teachers that could be had were obtained for the instructors along these lines. Men and women in sympathy with industrial unionism came flocking to the school, eager to know more about the scientific doctrines of the class struggle.

It was not long before the student body voiced their sentiments as to what subject matter was most important to them. They were not satisfied to confine their studies alone to the theoretical side of the class struggle, but demanded a new course of study in addition. Organization book keeping and the study of the delegate system appeared on the curriculum. Soon a miniature I. W. W. headquarters with all its various branches and officials was formed as part of the study.

Every student was a delegate, and efficiently and thoroughly the filling out of application blanks for membership, the lining up of new members, stamping cards, and making out intelligible report blanks were being learned. Side by side, the burly miner from the regions of Mesaba, the lumber jack from the west, the harvest stiff, the girl from someone's kitchen or from the factory looms of the east, studidied, learning to become fighters in the ranks of labor. What a vocation to choose, to follow. They were there for a specific purpose. They are learning the A. B. C.'s of industrial administration, studying the plans for a workers' system of society to replace the old.

But the mission of the Work People's College is not the education of Finnish workers only, but seeks to cater to the English speaking workers also. It is striving to become the working class institution of America. It has already been sanctioned by the 1921 convention of the I. W. W. which went on record to give it support and publicity in every way possible. It is the wish of the Work People's College that the English speaking workers rally to College this coming year.

School Year

The school year at the Work People's College commences on November 15th and continues for five months, until April 15th. Everyone entering the College may begin his course of study from where he left off either at the College or other school or at the place he had reached by self-study.

Courses of Instruction

1. Scientific department.
2. Technical elementary sciences and practise.
3. English department.
4. Organization bookkeeping department.

Scientific Department

Lectures in this department will be given on the following subjects: The construction and procedure of industrial unionism, commencing with the preamble of the I. W. W. and concluding in industrial society. Economics and sociology.

Literature which treats on these subjects will be used as text books. The teachers will guide the students in the obtaining of such course books which are collateral to the lectures. The College library has a good assortment of books dealing with these subjects, giving an abundance of material in this work.

Practise Department

Among other work in this department, two hours per week will be devoted to correct pronounciation, reciting poetry, reading and platform deportment.

Two hours per week will be given to public speaking and presentation, debate, parliamentary drill, and organizing work.

In addition to these hours the student body will arrange for two meetings per week in which subjects of the hour and other discussion will be carried on so as to give the students practise in speaking on his feet and conducting meetings according to parliamentary rules.

Department of English

The teaching of English language is divided into four classes. The first class learn the fundamentals of grammar, pronounciation and the diacritical marks.

The second class goes through the grammar thoroughly and in detail. Considerable attention is given to composition in connection with the points raised in the grammar. Attention is also given to sounds and the pronounciation.

The third class concentrates on composition with reviews now and then in grammar. Considerable time is given to reading.

The fourth class gives most of the time to the study of rhetoric; several long themes are written; some time is given to working out speeches and debates.

Organization Bookkeeping

II. The duties of a secretary; 3 hours.

III. Fundamentals of double entry bookkeeping according to the Rowe system; 2 hours. The students can take up the work where he had formerly left off, or depending on his former preparation.

IV. Penmanship; 5 hours.

V. Letter writing; 2 hours.

VI. Arithmetic 1. Whole numbers, fractions, decimals; 5 hours.

VII. Arithmetic 2. A review of Arithmetic 1, measures, percentage and proportion; 5 hours.

VIII. Typewriting.

Charges

Room and board may be obtained by each student at the College dormitory and boarding hall. The charges are as follows: tuition $8.00, board $25.00, and room $6.00 per month, the total expenses being $39.00 per month. Under all circumstances the payments are to be made in advance for at least one month. If for any reason the student is compelled to leave before the month is up, the balance of his boarding and rooming account will be refunded, but no tuition will be refunded.

How to Get to the College

To get to the College buy a ticket at the Union Depot in Duluth to Spirit Lake. In case of baggage which is checked, the check must be given to the conductor on the train before the baggage is put off at the Spirit Lake station. The station is right near the College. If the street car is taken, take car No.9 or 14 to 91 Ave. W. From here it is just a short distance to the College.

Student Life

The students are organized and have regular business sessions as well as discussions and debates. Parties, games, and dances are given Saturday evenings. Frequently programs are given which are attended by fellow workers and friends from Duluth and the neighborhood who come here to take part in the program and to visit the College.

There is plenty of opportunity for the student to take regular exercise indoor and outdoor to keep himself in good physical condition. It is an absolute requisite that one be healthy to get the most out of these subjects.

Instruction for Those Intending to Attend the College

Hereafter is attached a student's entrance application. Fill it out and send it to the College. When you have made application for entrance, report at the time you specify. If you are unable to attend after you have reported, be sure to notify the College of the inability.

Try to arrive in time at the College. Do not unnecessarily delay in making your entrance application, for in the College dormitory there is now room for only about 60 students, therefore a delay may shut you out.

Take all your text books with you for they may be useful course books here.

Select your course of study as completely as possible before your arrival here, selecting what you think the most important subjects. Follow your selections and plan to the end; then you will get the most from your study.

The College has received the recognition of hundreds of its former students; this should behoove you to come to the College to get information and reap the benefits of learning while you live.

Knowledge is the keenest weapon in the unavoidable class struggle. Learning is its best capital. The sooner the working class becomes conscious of its significance in society the nearer is the day of industrial freedom.

It is required of all students persuing courses at the College that they take at least one subject in the scientific course.

Originally appeared in the Industrial Pioneer, October 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 9, Serial No. 9)

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (November 1921)

The November 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 10, Serial No. 10) issue of Industrial Pioneer, a journal produced by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1920s.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

Contents include:

-The railway situation by F. McKinley

-Stumping the stump ranches by C.E. Payne

-Tieing the shot on the corpse by Upton Hold

-Panama and the Marine Transport Workers by Tom Barker

-Dual unionism and the closed shop in Italy by Angelo Boni

-The Red International of Labor Unions by George Hardy

-Words or weapons by John Hammer

-Metal

-As to lubrication by Nick Wells

-Paul Freeman

-A thought by Nuf Ced

-Planned action in the industries by Jas. H. Larsh

-The poet's corner

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (December 1921)

The December 1921 (Vol. 1, No. 11, Serial No. 11) issue of Industrial Pioneer, a journal produced by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1920s.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

Contents include:

-Unemployment

-Moving the dirt movers by Waterboy

-Splitting the big drive by Wm. Dimmit

-Book review: The New Policies of Soviet Russia by Lenin, Bukharin, Rutgers

-Grabbing them young

-The cut glass industry by Richard James

-Three big drives in one

-Wobbles

-The janitors by John H. Fleming

-A personal squint at steel by Robert Maddux

-The Spanish-Moroccan war and the revolution by Theodor Plievier

-Tactics in oil by Nick Wells

-Work by Charles Gray

-Lecture III

Comments

1922

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

Industrial Pioneer (January 1922)

The January 1922 (Vol. 1, No. 12, Serial No. 12) issue of Industrial Pioneer, a journal produced by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1920s.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on June 19, 2016

Contents include:

-To Pioneer readers

-A few adventures in steel by Robt. Maddux

-Wobbles

-A conference for war by H. Van Dorn

-Light exercise and change by Ralph Winstead

-The question box

-Solidarity in America by Jacob Margolis

-The gentling art by Johu Hammer

-The longshore strike by Jaze

-Justice - Hell!

-Whitey Benson by Fred Mann

-Christmas at a price by John Gabriel Soltis

Comments

1923

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Industrial Pioneer (May 1923)

The May 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 1) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-The Red Flag by James Connell

-Up with the radical press! by Eugene Debs

-May Day, 1923

-The Barbo Fair by Mary E. Marcy

-Poem: The Cause by Bert Ullad

-The General Strike call by the General Executive Board

-Poem: Marching sing by Berton Braley

-"Organize the unorganized" by H. Van Dorn

-Poem: The struggle for bread by Martin J. Connolly

-In the grip of a dead hand by Vern Smith

-Go east, young man! by A. Sonnefelder, Jr.

-When the master's pocketbook is hit

-Tightline Johnson and efficiency by Wm. Akers

-Forcing the farmers off the farms by Justus Ebert

-Wobbles

-The real workers' international by D.W. Latchem

-The railroad container by A Civil Engineer

-Poem: Hail solidarity! by Covington Hall

-An analysis of graft by Hubert Langerock

-The electronic reactions of Abrams by "Observer"

-Editorial

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (June 1923)

The June 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 2) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-Smashing the chains of slavery by Vern Smith

-The ballad of Sandy McCole by Archie Sinclair

-What is industrial unionism? by Jacob Silbert

-The San Pedro strike by Art Shields

-Under the Iron Heel by R.F. Pettigrew

-The new migration: northward by Alois Sennefelder Jr.

-Poem: Escaped! by Ralph Chaplin

-For a mess of pottage by Henry Van Dorn

-Poem: The logic of today by Ragnar Redbeard

-The Marine Transport Industry by A Marine Worker

-Mr. Kyne joins the head-hitters by John Nicholas Beffel

-"R.U.R." by Rosa A. Knuuti

-On the San Pedro slave market by Fred R. Wedge

-Poem: Tribute to Ricardo Flores Magon by Mortimer Downing

-The electrification of American railroads by A Civil Engineer

-Book Review: "Negro Slavery"

-Editorial

-Poem: Leavenworth by A.E.

-The question box

-Poem: To labor by Charlotte P. Gilman

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (July 1923)

The July 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 3) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-The great agricultural workers' drive

-How to strike by Vern Smith

-A Ford slave speaks up

-Eighty-five days in irons

-The international situation by Henry Van Dorn

-Poem: "O, say, can you see?" by Brent Dow Allinson

-El Proceso Wilckens by Leone Esmond

-The significance of the modern city by George Williams

-Revolutionary history and the workers by Pasquale Russo

-Poem: Caliban in the coal mines by Louis Untermeyer

-Tightline Johnson goes to heaven by William Akers

-Savage survivals in higher peoples by J. Howard Moore

-Poem: A cry from the ghetto by Morris Rosenfeld

-Poem: The people by Tommaso Campanella

-Editorial

-The question box

-Rational living versus Abrams by Benzion Liber, M.D.

-Organization news and views

-Poem: Cry of the people by John G. Neilhardt

-With our readers and contributors

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (August 1923)

The August 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 4) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-Henry Ford for President

-San Pedro General Strike

-110's best drive ever

-The modern Prometheus

-Harding's "Lettre Du Cachet" by Leone Esmond

-Super-power capitalism

-Judge Gary exposed

-The worm turns by Archie Sinclair

-Significance of modern city by George Williams

-Brockton Shoe Workers' Revolt

-How to strike by Vern Smith

-Labor turns to banking by Alois Sennefelder Jr.

-Tintinabulated Jazz band by Wm. Akers

-Interviews with hoboes by Jim Seymour

-Civil liberties in Los Angeles by Upton Sinclair

-Tony the immigrant by Pasquale Russo

-A visit to Liberty Hill

-Wages, prosperity, depression by Philipp Taft

-Industrialist vs statist

-Talking American

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (September 1923)

The September 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 5) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-Steel Workers' awakening by Fred W. Bowerman

-I.W.W. steel drive

-When workwomen organize

-Internationalism at Detroit

-Ford wades in gold by S. Almazov

-Where wealth accumulates by Robert Grayson

-Ballad of the fifty-five by Henry George Weise

-Hell: a review by Ralph Chaplin

-Magnus Johnson

-Review: Parlor Provocateur by J.D.C.

-Whither Russia? by Neil Gordon

-The general strike by John Griffiths

-The passing of a great union by Harry Fisher

-Frank Lindroos

-The white terror in Italy by M. De Ciampis

-Health note

-Building the I.W.W.

-Facts for arguments

-The co-operative fallacy

-Modern science by Wm. T. Brown

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (October 1923)

The October 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 6) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on March 17, 2017

Contents include:

-A modern general strike by Henry Hazard

-R.R. Company Union, Grecian gift by Julian Deuter

-"Rails": heart to heart talk

-Poem: The west is dead by Ralph Chaplin

-Labor hells in Dixie by J.W. Leigh

-Why are we discontented?

-Organizing in steel by Fred W. Bowerman

-In the domain of Standard Oil

-Story of a proletarian life by Justus Ebert

-Coming fuel and transportation trust by Edward E. Anderson

-The lads on the lakes by Card No. 416,897

-A visit to San Quentin by Archie Sinclair

-Immigration and national development by James Williams

-Henry Ford: a peculiar entity by Geo. Williams

-Wm. Mannings's "Key to Liberty" by Phillip Taft

-The man without a country by Covington Hall

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (November 1923)

The November 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 7) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 12, 2017

Contents include:

-Packing House Workers' Plight by H.L. Stoddard

-The Great New Orleans' Strike by Sidney Terry

-Berry betrays New York pressmen by M.J.C.

-Social conditions in South by J.W. Leigh

-Minneapolis' amnesty meets by Forrest Edwards

-Tacoma, Lumber Capital of America

-Profit sharing and management sharing

-It's the workers who know by Fred L. Tiffany

-On dividing labor by Alois Sennefelder Jr.

-Making machines of bank clerks

-"Goose-step" in economics. Review by C.B. Ellis

-Joe Hill: a biography by Ralph Chaplin

-Wool, man's first fiber

-Textile worker in trimming industry by Del. U-200

-International drug stores by A Drug Clerk

-Chain stores arouse interest by Tom Duncan

-The next world tragedy by Neil Gordon

-Interesting current history. Review by Phil Taft

-Labor movement and I.W.W. by James Morris

-Portland A.F. of L. convention (Editorial)

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

syndicalist

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 12, 2017

Excellent!

Industrial Pioneer (December 1923)

The December 1923 (Vol. 1, No. 8) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on April 12, 2017

Contents include:

-Amnesty by Christmas

-California, beautiful and damned

-Nailing Christ to the cross ahain by H. George Weise

-Hypocritical California by Archie Sinclair

-Centralia Conspiracy by Ralph Chaplin

-Apples by AG-1351

-Out where the Oregon rolls by Fred Pugh

-Steinmetz: a genius who was a friend of labor

-Fairy wand of the ages

-I.W.W. in convention assembled

-Modern industrialism by Justus Ebert

-Boss florists' industrial union by Aaron Weber

-Wreck of the silk special by James Lance

-Revolution in the air by C.M. Ripley

-A farmer sees America first

-Situation in Germany by Louis Bartha

-Retrenchment in Hollywood

-Russia, Europe's savior by Neil Gordon

-Conveyor makes shoe worker appendage

-The lynching of Bud Williams by Adam Noir

-Winter in working class families by J.D.C.

-Workers education: now or for future?

-As Pioneer readers see things

-Last letters of Joe Hill

-War and Christmas by Robert Grayson

-A worker's wanderings by John Ashburn

-Gompers and deportation by Forrest Edwards

-Christmas in Cleveland by Edward Lloyd

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

syndicalist

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on April 12, 2017

Is there an attachment?

1924

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Industrial Pioneer (July 1924)

The July 1924 (Vol. 2, No. 3) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 19, 2017

Contents include:

-Smoke wreaths and visions by James Lance

-The farmers and industry by John Hayhand

-"The dreaded yellow peril" by Sydney Weise

-Railroad work and railroad workers by Alonzo Walters

-The causes of unemployment by Justus Ebert

-Industrial unionism in building industry by Del. B4-11

-Childhood and the evil influence of capitalism by J.D. Carliph

-The new labor displacers by Joseph Ostrander

-The IWW at home and abroad

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (January 1924)

The January 1924 (Vol. 1, No. 9) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Contents include:

-1924 is beginning by Edward Lloyd

-Vision of new day in California by Archie Sinclair

-California holds the key

-The potteries of England by Wilfred Braddock

-Economic background of KKK by Hubert Langerock

-Wonders of modern science

-The widow, poem

-Other people's kids

-What might have been by James Lance

-Scandinavia's labor movement

-Greatest I.W.W. convention

-Wall St. Wolves and the Wobs

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (February 1924)

The February 1924 (Vol. 1, No. 10) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Contents include:

-Three letters, full of war

-A migratory worker's diary by James Foy

-Europe: a new interpretation by Blair

-Why "red communism" failed by Neil Gordon

-An ex-service man's views

-The deportation mania: review

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (March 1924)

The March 1924 (Vol. 1, No. 11) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Contents include:

-The men of the lakes by James Lance

-Now that the storm is subsiding by Archie Sinclair

-The White Goods Girls' strike by Jennie D. Carliph

-General Construction workers campaign begins

-New Orleans costly scabs

-The Fords and billionairedom

-City labor vs. country labor

-French syndicalism in perilous condition by E. Mast

-What the movie photographed at Centralia, on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1919 by Ralph Chaplin

-Editorial: The death of Lenin; The rise of Ramsay McDonald

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (April 1924)

The April 1924 (Vol. 1, No. 12) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Contents includes:

-Slavery exists in West Virginia by Edward Lloyd

-The immigrant and his home ties by C-4-226

-The negro: a subject race by Vern Smith

-Women and the IWW

-Crossing the Mason-Dixon line

-Lenin: toiler and dreamer by John Ashburn

-Large scale mining makes robots

-The abolitionists and the IWW by A Columbia River Rebel

-Ku Klux Klan tries intimidation by Harry Fisher

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (May 1924)

The May 1924 (Vol. 2, No. 1) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 12, 2017

Contents include:

-May Day song by Ralph Chaplin

-International labor day

-No.744 missing in action by Eugene Barnett

-"Oh, for the life of a sailor!" by Publicity Committee, New Orleans Branch MTW of IWW

-The meaning of revolution by Archie Sinclair

-Labor under industrialized agriculture by James Lance

-A worker's wanderings, from Italy to South America by John Ashburn

-Rebel girls help the fight for solidarity by E.L.

-Hellish conditions in Eastern Kentucky by Alonzo Walters

-Learning from Henry Ford by J.E. and J.D.C.

-Their voices shall be heard though they speak in Spanish

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

Industrial Pioneer (June 1924)

The June 1924 (Vol. 2, No. 2) issue of the Industrial Pioneer, an early publication of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 19, 2017

Contents include:

-The political earthquakes by Neil Gordon

-The late Hugo Stinnes; Germany's real Kaiser

-Is industry slowing down? by Fred W. Bowerman

-IWW comes back in New England

-From the hell of wage slavery to industrial heaven by Pasquale Russo

-The land of sunshine and serfdom by Californian

-The efficiency of capitalism by J.A. MacDonald

-The crimes of capital by Frank Myers

-Brief editorials: A hold up; Undone by superwisdom; The pacifist outburst; The Farmer-Labor Convention

-A message to the IWW by Covington Ami

This issue scanned for libcom.org as part of an effort which was made possible from funds donated by our users.

Comments

1925

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 1, 2016

Industrial Pioneer (September 1925)

Articles from the September 1925 issue of Industrial Pioneer.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 1, 2016

Comments

Editorial: We are not Gandhis

An anti-pacifist editorial from the September 1925 issue of Industrial Pioneer.

Submitted by Juan Conatz on May 1, 2016

Even leaders of reactionary trade unions occasionally refer to their organizations as being militant, implying that militancy In associations of workers for economic advancement is effective. Usually such references mark anniversary orations, while in the everyday relations between their members and the employers class collaboration is stressed and militancy is discouraged. But whatever we may think about militancy or its lack in the trade unions it is a fact that aggressiveness, the will to hold fast to every gain that has been secured and ceaselessly to struggle for additional improvement is as necessary to a real, functioning union as red blood is to a healthy, living body.

I. W. W. ideational soundness and the eager determination of its advocates to propagate the message of revolutionary industrial unionism, to establish the correctness of its theoretical position by the evidence of victories crowning its practical application, early aroused employing class antagonism. As circumstances and their tempers dictated they have seen fit to jail our members, to deport them, to lynch them, to deny free speech and press and to raid our halls. Now had we been appalled with a sense of our unworthiness or op-pressed with hopelessness; had the bosses been able to beat this red devil of industrial union conviction out of us there would now be no I. W. W.

Aggressively and defiantly our speakers delivered their message to the workers; our delegates and organizers continued lining up new members; for every man sent to prison in the struggle many others joined the organization; Wobblies deported for agitating returned to agitate some more, and when the ruling class forbade our presses to operate we published our opinions notwithstanding. These are not the acts of pacifists. We are engaged in class warfare. Recognizing this belligerency between workers and employers the capitalist press does not regard it as an insoluble problem, but the fierceness with which the battles of industry are waged has compelled reflection in the language of bourgeois publications. "Wage disagreements" as they were called a few years ago are now headlined as "Industrial Warfare". With these journalistic sciolists evincing such an advance in terminology is it not time for the workers to regard their struggle as a class war?

Moreover, it is also time for well-meaning liberals to cease mentioning Wobblies as pacifists, as men and women imbued with a "turn the other cheek" spirit, or with the non-cooperation philosophy of the Indian leader, Gandhi. Recognition of class war leaves no place in our tactical program for such systems, but their influence has been active in our organization. Whenever a labor union loses its militant spirit it is an a dying condition. We have no business as industrial unionists than that of opposing the employing class ay all times and striving for the enlistment of other workers to the struggle's support.

Christianity itself, which is usually glorified as a pacifistic philosophy, hid away in the darkness of catacombs so long as its leading protagonists adhered to a non-militant philosophy, and it came out of the hole to spread over the world only when its mission was propagated at the sword's point. Gandhi's philosophy already betrays inconsistencies, and we find him quite recently saying that it is all right to fight to defend what you have. No passivity there. The I.W.W. is abreast of the times, and we are not in the age of the spinning wheel any longer; neither, then, should our mental processes hark back to ancient pacifism that proved a failure. The working class is faced with a machine development that steadily throws larger and larger numbers of workers out of jobs; that contributes continually to capitalist concentration and working class misery. This class operates the machines socially and the solution to its problems is in the abolition of private ownership of these wealth producing tools. The I.W.W. is fighting for possession of these tools by the working class.

Martyrdom is incidental to the progress of this battle for proletarian freedom; it is not the objective, and any who have entertained such an idea have not grasped the purpose of our organization.

Originally appeared in the Industrial Pioneer (September 1925)
Typed up for libcom.org by Juan Conatz

Comments