The primary purpose of this study is to tell the story of the Industrial Workers of the World for the period beginning with the year 1932 and ending with the year 1948. The I.W.W. was organized in 1905. Professor Paul F. Brissenden and others have dexcribed its activities fully from the date of organization to 1918. John S. Gambs and Ralph Chaplin are prominent among those who have related the story from 1918 to 1931. Reference to the attached bibliography will provide more complete information concerning available literature.

Since no books could be found covering the activities of the union after 1931, the story presented in this thesis was obtained from newspapers and periodicals issued since that date. The I.W.W.ts paper "Industrial Worker" is the source of most of the information, although other publications referred to in the foot-notes were also used.

A great deal of help was received from Mr. Fred Thompson, Editor of the Industrial Worker, who has been a prominent “Wobbly” for many years. Mr. Thompson has read this thesis, and has supplemented it with facts not obtainable elsewhere. No attempt has been made to review the history of the organisation prior to 1931, since this has been done by many others.

Mr. Gambs closed his book with the question: "What is the place and function of a mild, gentle I.W.W. in the American labor movement, Is it likely to grow or to decay?" The final sentence in the answer which he gave to his own question was: "If it survives the years, it will probably survive as did the Blanquist Party or the Knights of Labor--for futile decades after its hour of lustihood”

Almost two decades have elapsed since he made this prediction. It appears to me that his prediction was right. The organization has continued to exist, but it certainly has not regained its former strength. In fact, it is hard to understand how it has continued to maintain itself in the intervening years. At any rate, it has done so, and the members whom I have contacted in the Chicago headquarters are by no means pessimistic about its future.

One of the three major parts of this thesis describes chronologically the activities of the union beginning with the year 1932. The other two parts explain the philosophy of the organization and the details of its structure.

The chronological section of this thesis will show that the union was able to carry on during the depression by organizing the unemployed. Out of this organizational work developed some success among migratory construction worke~ in the western states. In the middle thirties the I.W.W. missed a promising chance for growth, when it was unsuccessful in its vigorous attempt to organize the auto industry.

At about the same time it was able to organize a few small units in Cleveland, some of Which it still holds. It will be seen that Cleveland is virtually the only place where the union has continued to show some signs of strength. Although it has a few members in various sections of the country in certain industries such as lumber, marine transportation, construction and metal mining, the activities of these members are insignificant. Nevertheless, these activities have been described in order to show that although still very weak, the organization isn't dead yet.

Vincent St. John, one of the early "Wobblies", expressed the basic aims of the organization as follows:

The I.W.W. wants the world for the workers, and none but workers in-the world. By organizing industrially, we (the workers) are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.1

The last paragraph of the Preamble (Appendix I), as well as the following phrase from its second paragraph, also helps one to understand its objectives. "...the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. The last paragraph of the Preamble states: "It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the every-day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown...”

The I.W.W. point of view is based on two assumptions. One of these is that in order to protect themselves against the exploitation characteristic of the capitalistic system, the workers must organize. The other is that the organization developed must be democratic.2

In order to understand these aims it is necessary to consider what capitalism means to the I.W.W. Its papers and pamphlets continually stress the weaknesses of the system, and remove any doubt from a reader's mind as to why the I.W.W. wants to get rid of it.

To the I.W.W. capitalism is the co-operation of the many for the profit of the few. It observes that the capital invested in modern industry is owned by private individuals, called capitalists, and is used by them to exploit labor primarily for their own private profit. To them capitalism is wage slavery, because it binds the workers through capitalist ownership to the control of the capitalist class. At the same time without the cooperation of millions of laborers modern industry, with its accompanying exploitation, would be impossible.

Furthermore, the control is actually in the hands of only a few giant combinations and financiers who control lands, mines, ore deposits, oil fields, forests, pipe lines, steamship companies, railroads, banks, etc. The literature of the I.W.W. is full of the details of this control.

This literature points out that the business, or capitalist class which controls industry is anxious to keep that control and the privileges that go with it. Hence, it strives to control all social institutions. It tries to participate in the writing and administering of the laws. It seeks to control the schools, the press, movies and all other means of molding public opinion. In addition, when it has found that it has been unable to prevent the organization of labor in opposition to its interests, it has sought to control the organizations which have been formed. When unsuccessful in this, it has tried to create disharmony among them and to destroy them by playing one against the other.

The I.W.W. teaches its members how modern capitalism grew from the days of the owner-worker, who owned his own tools and had control over his production, to today's big business, industrial empires international in scope, chain combinations, etc., controlled by a few capitalists.

It stresses the defects which accompanied this growth. As the worker lost control over his tools and his production, industrial independence was replaced by industrial servility. Skilled workers became few, armies of unskilled appeared. Industrial opportunity for the vast majority vanished; part-time employment and unemployment became common. Wealth and income became concentrated in the hands of the few. These undesirable features became more pronounced because of the massing of the workers in the cities to be near employment. It became practically impossible for the average man to escape the unhealthy city environment by migrating to the farm. His wages were not sufficient to enable him to live properly let alone to save enough to own his own business or to obtain a farm. Often. if he was lucky enough to become temporarily financially independent, he soon found he was unable to compete with concentrated capital either in business or in farming. Farm tenancy became the lot of many, since big capital had also taken over control of farming.

The I.W.W. emphasizes the point that under the capitalistic system profits are first in importance, the common good, secondary. Therefore, capitalists do not hesitate to disregard the common welfare if it interferes with the accumulation of profits. They are not even above leading the workers to war, if by doing so there is a chance to enrich themselves or to solidify their control.

Generally speaking, the I. W. W. believes that most social problems are caused by capitalist mismanagement and greed. They state that to this greed can be traced the need for foreign markets, world wars, race wars, class wars, and discouragement of projects directed toward improving the welfare of the masses. However, it should be observed that the I.W.W. is more critical of the capitalistic system than of individuals who are capitalists. It doesn't propose to reform human beings. Instead, it intends to reform the industrial system so that the common good rather than profits for those in control will be the goal.

The I.W.W. notes that soon after the Industrial Revolution began, various movements were started to reform or abolish the obvious defects of the capitalistic system. It refers to the granger, anti-monopoly, anti-trust, greenback, free Silver, populist and other movements for more control over industry and capitalism. Of particular interest to the I.W.W., of course, were the early labor movements. It has studied these movements effort to benefit by the mistakes of its predecessors. It that these movements started as soon as the workers became of their existence as a separate class in society. Then, they began to organize themselves against their employers and capitalistic system in general.

As early as 1831, according to the I.W.W., the New York Typographical Society had a constitutional clause under which membership was forfeited by journeymen becoming employers. Later, at the first national convention of typographical societies in the country, it was stated: "There exists a perpetual antagonism between labor and capital." Class consciousness among workers grew with the trust development after the Civil War, the panic of 1873 and the great labor outbreaks like that of the railroad strikes of 1877. Gradually, isolated unions began to see the necessity of amalgamation and closer unity. Soon came the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, the Knights of St. Crispin, the Knights of Labor, and the A.F. of L. The I.W.W. recognizes certain similarities between itself and the Knights of St. Crispin and Knights of Labor, especially the principle of industrial rather than craft unionism. The Knights of St. Crispin, of course, was limited to only one industry, that of shoe manufacture.

Some of the early labor movements were like the I.W.W. in demanding abolition o~ the wage system. Some of them also were preparing themselves to take over the operation and control of the means of production and distribution. The I.W.W. believes that some of them failed chiefly due to too much preoccupation with politics. The failure of the Knights of Labor, for example, is blamed on politics, abnormal growth, lack of definite purposes, too much centralization, and to scabbery by the A.F.L.

Like some of its predecessors the I. W. W. is convinced of the reality of the class struggle. It believes that certain prominent Americans, notably Hamilton and Madison, join in that belief. It quotes Hamilton as having said: "All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are rich and the well-born; the other is the mass of the people." Madison is considered to have been even more definite in saying:

Those who hold, and those without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide civilized nations of necessity into different classes actuated by different sentiments and views.

As evidence of the Americanism of the idea of abolishing the wage system, the I.W.W. quotes several other prominent Americans including Orestes Brownson from his book The Convert published in 1857 in which he said:

The consequence of this system is, that the owners of capital enrich themselves at the expense of the owners of labor. The system of money wages, the modern system, is more profitable to the owner of capital than the slave system is to slavemasters, and hardly less oppressive to the laborer. The wages, as a general rule, are never sufficient to enable the laborer to place himself on an equal footing with the capitalist.

Not only is the I.W.W. convinced of the reality of the class struggle and of the necessity for the abolishment of the wage system, but is also believes that it is up to labor to rid society of capitalism by the effective organization of labor.

The I.W.W. contends that the solution of modern social problems and the establishment of better social relations and ideals requires the abolition of capitalism. Only those few who would lose their special privileges would be worse off, if capitalism were to be done away with. The rest of mankind would be much better off. The original job of the capitalist was to furnish funds and management. Now management is the job of a specially trained section of the class of hired hands, and funds are amply provided out of corporate profits. In other words, the system of corporate administration that capitalists have built up has made them superfluous. The capitalists have unwittingly prepared the way for their elimination by educating some of the workers in the skills of management. It was their intention that these scientists and technicians would continue to be under their control and would continue to turn over the profits of industry to them. But this policy may prove to be their undoing. Once educated this superior class of hired hands has perceived that upon them depends capitalist civilization, and without them it can not exist. Some of them, it is hoped, may wish to use this power for the emancipation and elevation of all workers.

The big question to the I.W.W. is not the ownership of industry, but its management. It is interested in who is to say whether industry is to run or stand idle; who is to decide what is to be produced and how production and the fruits of production are to be distributed. It doesn't want this control to be in the hands of financiers, because they are only interested in profits. Nor does it want the control to be in the hands of politicians, because of the dangers of totalitarianism. It feels that it never has been safe to let a few control the affairs of many and that it never will be. The alternative that it favors is, of course, control by the workers. Industrial democracy is its goal. It believes that this is the answer to many problems. It believes that workers properly organized can make society an harmonious whole, intelligently working for the common good.

Therefore, it contends that industry should be run by organized labor. All that is necessary is for workers to stop doing what they are told to do and start doing what they collectively decide to do. The key to the problem is for the workers to discover how to organize properly. The I.W.W. claims that proper organization must serve two purposes: (1) It must provide a complete solution of the industrial problem by making possible the efficient management of modern industry by organized labor once it is in power (2) it must provide the most efficient structure for carrying on the daily struggle for better conditions and better pay in the meantime. They say the appropriate organization is one in which workers are in groups corresponding to the work they are doing; not according to their crafts, but according to their place of business or industry.

An effort was made to obtain an understanding of various phases of the I.W.W.'s philosophy, such as its attitude toward private property; what compensation, if any, would be made to present owners of industrial property; what safeguards would prevent maldistribution of wealth when the workers control society, etc. However, although such matters have often been debated in union meetings no clearly defined policies were in evidence.

• 1One Big Union. Page IV
• 2Ibid. Page IX

The I.W.W. believes that it offers a form which will make labor invincible. This form of organization will make industrial democracy a reality. Industrial democracy, in turn, will make possible a better world. It will make society an harmonious whole, intelligently working for the good of all. It believes that this result will be obtained when the workers, rather than capitalists or political dictators, decide what is to be produced and what is to become of the product. Its contention is that democracy is possible only in industry of the people, by the people and for the people. Under the I.W.W. industry will be governed by democratically selected representatives from industrial instead of territorial groupings. It claims that its principles are an adaptation of those of Robert Owen, that essentially it aims at replacing the capitalist state based on territory and property by a workers' administration based on occupation, or industrial union lines. It intends its organization to be such that by education, promotion of a comprehension of business, and fraternal, public spirit, it can prepare the worker for a gradual transition from the wage system to the cooperative method of production of the future, which will have the purpose not only of meeting industrial needs but also of meeting social requirements. It desires that industry be administered according to the wisdom of the workers most basically and directly concerned. The workers will be their own employers, their own capitalists, their own beneficiaries.

According to the I.W.W. industry is divided into six major departments. In order that the union may be organized in conformance with industry, it is also broken into six departments. The following pages present the details of this organization.1

Department No. 100
Agriculture and Fisheries

Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union No. 110
All workers on farms, ranches, orchards, cotton and sugar plantations. All workers engaged in the raising of cattle, livestock, fowl, bird diary farms, etc.

Lumber Workers' Industrial Union No. 120
All workers in forests (rangers, foresters, etc.). All workers engaged in lumbering operations, in saw and shingle mills, and preparing wood for fuel and manufacturing purposes; collectors of sap, bark, etc.

Fishery Workers' Industrial Union No. 130
All workers in fishery and fishing pursuits on oceans, lakes and rivers; oyster and clam-bed keepers. All workers engaged in collecting pearls, corals and sponges, etc.

Floricultural Workers' Industrial Union No. 140
All workers engaged in nurseries, hothouses, etc., mainly devoted to flower production, in the distribution of flowers, in landscape gardening, etc.

Department No. 200
Mining and Minerals

Metal Mine Workers' Industrial Union No. 210
All workers engaged in mining of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, platinum, iron, etc., in mills, smelters, refineries. and other reduction works. This division also includes quarry workers, such as those engaged in mining of salt, sulphur, clay, borax, mica, bromide, graphite, soda, gypsum, asphalt, limestone, sandstone, whetstone, marble, onyx, slates, building stone, granite, etc. All precious gems, salines, salt and soda dry works, etc.

Coal Mine Workers' Industrial Union No. 220
All workers engaged in coal mining, lignite, anthracite, bituminous, etc. in the production of coke, briquettes, peat and turf, and in the distribution of these products.

Oil Workers' Industrial Union No. 230
All workers engaged in the production of oil, and in refineries, gas wells, filters, etc., and in the distribution of these products.

Department No. 300
Construction

General Construction Workers' Industrial Union No. 310
All workers engaged in the construction of highways, streets docks, railroads, bridges, subways, sewers, tunnels, levees, canals, viaducts, air fields, dams, irrigation ditches, etc.

Shipbuilding Workers' Industrial Union No. 320
All workers engaged in the building and repairing of ships, launches, boats of all kinds; dry dock workers, etc.

Building Construction Workers' Industrial Union No. 330
All workers engaged in the erection and construction of buildings and the direct supply of building materials; or in their repair except when employed as maintenance workers.

Department No. 400
Manufacture and General Production

Textile and Clothing Workers' Industrial Union No. 410
All workers engaged in the manufacture of threads, yarns, of fabrics, or in dyeing them, or in the manufacture of knitted wears, or of synthetic substitutes.

All workers engaged in the manufacture of garments, including sewn clothing, gloves, hats, caps, furs, etc. and in the supply of their accessories.

All workers producing other textile products, as cotton belting, rope, awnings, etc.

All workers employed in laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, and the repair of garments, etc.

Furniture Workers' Industrial Union No. 420
All workers employed in planing mills, molding factories etc. not attached to sawmills; or the production of furniture, etc., whether of wood or other materials, including pianos, organs, etc., bowling and billiard equipment, and most sporting goods; phonographs, radios, etc.

Chemical Workers' Industrial Union No. 430
All workers engaged in the manufacture and distribution of drugs, medicines, perfumes and kindred products.

All workers in the production of rubber goods and synthetic substitutes, etc., and in the distribution of these products.

All workers engaged in the production of explosives and their allied products, and the production of industrial chemicala. etc.

Metal and Machinery Workers' Industrial Union No. 440
All workers engaged in steel mills, blast furnaces, rolling mills, tin-plate mills, etc.

All workers engaged in the production of machinery including electrical equipment, locomotives, autos, airplanes, industrial and household equipment, etc.

All workers engaged in the production of sheets, tubes, castings, etc., of non-ferrous metals.

All workers engaged in making household utensils, watches and clocks or musical and scientific instruments.

Printing and Publishing Workers' Industrial Union No. 450
All workers engaged in the production and direct distribution of newspapers and other periodicals, whether employed in the editorial, art, business or mechanical departments.

All workers employed in other printing establishments, in concerns printing periodicals for their publishers, and in allied work as photo-engraving, bookbinding, etc.

Foodstuff Workers' Industrial Union No. 460
All workers engaged in the manufacture of foods, as in meat and fish packing plants, canneries, sugar refineries, cheese and condensed milk factories, and dairies, including their distribution workers.

All workers employed in flour, cereal and feed mills; bakeries and biscuit factories, confectioners; breweries, wineries, distilleries, and plants producing carbonated and other beverages, and workers engaged in the direct distribution of these or allied products such as yeast, malt, etc.; tobacco factories; establishments for preparing and packaging teas, coffees, spices and other groceries.

Leather Workers' Industrial Union No. 470
All workers engaged in tanneries, etc.; in making boots, shoes, and harness; in the production of trunks, bags, belts and all other leather goods.

Glass and Pottery Workers' Industrial Union no. 480
All workers engaged in the manufacture of glass products; in the production of pottery, porcelain, chinaware; cement plants brickyards, tile and terra cotta workers, etc.

Pulp and Paper Mill Workers' Industrial Union No. 490
All workers engaged in pulp and paper mills, in making paper containers, etc.

Department No. 500

Transportation and Communication

Marine Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 510
All workers engaged in loading and unloading of vessels.

All workers engaged in the operation of ocean, river, lake and harbor crafts. This includes all workers, in all departments aboard ships.

All workers on docks, wharves, etc.

Railroad Workers' Industrial Union No. 520
All workers employed by railroads in the operation of their service, whether they operate trains, repair and clean rolling stock, maintain the roadbed and equipment, work in the office, or watch as a crossing.

Motor Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 530
All workers engaged in general trucking and inter-urban bus lines, including the warehouses, garages, etc. incident to this industry. (Note: The truckdriver employed by a factory or store belongs in the industrial union of his fellow employees.)

Municipal Transportation Workers' Industrial Union No. 540
All workers employed in street car, bus elevated, or subway service; taxi drivers, and any truckers or draymen, etc., not attached to specific industries.

Air Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 550
All workers employed in the maintenance of this service, whether in its direct operation, in repairs and maintenance of airfields and equipment, in offices or attendant services.

Communication Workers' Industrial Union No. 560
All workers engaged in communication service, such as postal, telephone, telegraph, radio, television, etc., and the maintenance of the same.

Department No. 600

Public Service

Health Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 610
All workers employed by hospitals, sanatorium, etc., including physicians, attendants, clerks, janitors, etc.

All workers employed by bath and massage establishments, barbers, beauticians, . etc.

All workers employed in sanitation, garbage disposals, etc.

Educational Workers' Industrial Union No. 620
All workers engaged by institutions of learning, schools, colleges, libraries, museums, research services, etc.

Recreation Workers' Industrial Union No.630
All workers engaged in the production of motion pictures, (actors, mechanics, etc.) or in the operation of motion picuure theatres; and all workers engaged in other theatres as actors, singers, musicians, stage-hands, ushers, etc.

All wage earning musicians not otherwise classified.

All workers at amusement parks, circuses, and other places of recreation.

Hotel, Restaurant, and Building Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 640
All employees of restaurants, hotels, public cafeterias, etc.

All domestic help.

All workers engaged in maintenance, servicing and cleaning of office buildings, apartment houses, etc.

Park and Highway Maintenance Workers' Industrial Union No. 650
All workers employed in maintenance of streets, roads, parks, zoos, cemeteries, golf courses, etc.

General Distribution Workers' Industrial Union No. 660

All employees in stores, warehouses, Wholesale establishments including delivery service.

All employees of banks, insurance companies, etc.

All employees of advertising agencies, etc.

All wage earners engaged in general salvage and junking.

Public Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 670
All workers employed in such services as water supply, gas and power plants, central heating plants, and similar public services.

The industrial unionism advocated by the I.W.W. stresses the following basic rules:

1.All workers on the same job, regardless of craft, belong in the same job organization.

2.All workers in the same industry belong in the same industrial union.

3.All members of these industrial unions belong directly as members of the One Big Union of the entire working class.

4.Any worker changing his job is entitled to transfer free of charge to the industrial union covering his new employment-- "once a union man, always a union man."

5.No part of the labor movement should accept any obligation to work on materials furnished by strikebreakers, or to furnish material for them, or to fill the orders that strikers were supposed to fill; or cross any picket line, or aid in any way to break the strike of any group of workers.2

It is noteworthy that the I.W.W. emphasizes the importance of the job or work place in this organization. As they put it, "The job is the worker's State, the medium by and through which he will introduce reforms and the new society." They liken the job or shop to a cell which in turn is part of the union of the industry involved, possibly as a local branch. The industrial union is then connected with other industrial unions in a district council. The industrial councils are in turn bound together in the One Big Union. The division into different industrial unions is not to be construed as separating them. They compare their organization chart to a wheel. The lines between the sections are not lines of division, but spokes binding the different groups together.

They claim that all members are directly members of the One Big Union and have a right to participate in the determination of policies of the whole union as well as a vote in the election of the general officers. In addition, they have the right to participate in the affairs of their own industrial union, and free transfer rights from one group to another. At the same time, members can not participate in the affairs of a part of the I. W. W. to which they do not belong. Their immediate organization is the job or branch at the place at which they work. Each part of the I.W.W. is self-governing as long as its performance is not in conflict with the general constitution or by-laws.

On a given job or in a particular shop, the I.W.W. members hold meetings, consider grievances, wage and other demands to be made of the employer, and also discuss social problems and their solution. The shop organization elects a committee to act for it, but such a committee has no authority to conclude any settlement without the approval of the shop organization. One of the advantages of the shop organization device is that it encourages understanding on the part of the workers of the technical problems of the industry and thus prepares them for management when capitalism collapses. In addition this democratic rank-and-file control stimulates members to take a more active interest in union matters, as compared to the method of management by business agents.

In preparation for their management of industry the I.W.W. has made studies of the technical processes of a few manufacturers with the intention of writing manuals so that the workers could be educated in the "know how” of the various industries. This project was later postponed indefinitely. In the woolen industry, for example, the woolen factories of the country were studied. Charts were made up classifying them as to capacity of output, nearness to sources of supply, manufacturing techniques, nearness to markets, etc.

The principal organizing goals of the I.W.W. are solidarity and efficiency. They desire all the workers at a given plant or place of business to be in the same union, but at the same time workers with certain common skills should be able to unite in order to advance their common purposes. For example, the I.W.W. cites the case of hospital workers. Although all the workers at the hospital should be in the same union, anyone group such as laundry workers will be free to join with other laundry workers in promoting common demands. On the other hand, although the staff of an industrial cafeteria, the mess department of a ship, and the kitchen department of a logging camp have much in common, they might find it more effective to be in the same union as the factory workers, seamen and lumberjacks, respectively. Gas station attendants might find it more satisfactory to join with the workers at the refineries rather than with store clerks in their locality. At any rate in the I.W.W. the problem of proper jurisdiction is unimportant. The workers at a given workplace decide for themselves with which group they will be affiliated. The important thing is that they are all members of the same union and assist each other in any way practicable whenever the need arises. The workers at a particular plant are united together regardless of craft, and as a group they associate themselves with whatever other groups they can bargain or strike with most effectively.

The I.W.W. believes that the labor movement has been hampered considerably by faulty organization in the past. It feels, of course, that it has found the answer as to proper principles of organization. It is interested in a united working class and is, therefore, very much opposed to any kind of discrimination, whether it be on the basis of skill, race, religion or political allegiance. Solidarity and democracy are its underlying principles. Joseph J. Ettor, a prominent “Wobbly” in the days of the Lawrence textile strikes, expressed the essentials of the I.W.W. philosophy as follows:

The days that have just passed have demonstrated the power of the workers. The power of the capitalists is based on property. Property makes them all powerful, socially and politically. Because of it they control the institutions of attack and defense; they have the laws, the army, everything. They can employ agents to go around to plant dynamite and to provoke disorder among the workers, in order to defeat them. In spite of all that, the workers have something still more powerful. The workers' power, the one thing more powerful than all the property, all the machine guns, all the gallows, and everything on the other side, is the common bond of solidarity, of purpose, of ideals. Our love for solidarity, our purpose and our affection for one another as workers, binds us more solidly and tighter than do all the bombs and dynamite the capitalists have at their disposal. If the workers of the world want to win, all that they have to do is to recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists. As long as the workers keep their hands in their pockets the capitalists cannot put theirs there. With passive resistance, with the workers absolutely refusing to move, lying absolutely silent, they are more powerful than all the weapons and instrument that the other side have for protection and attack.3

The administrative organization of the I.W.W. is in conformity with its basic ideal that the rank and file workers should control; that democracy requires that the control be by, not over, the workers. Hence, there is no President nor Vice President, nor any other officer of similar importance with a different title. On several occasions when asked "Who is your leader?" the true I.W.W. has replied: "We have no leader. This is an organization run by its members, the workers." Administrative work is taken care by the General Executive Board, particularly the General Secretary, whose functions will be described shortly.

Several safeguards have been established to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one individual or in a small group. For instance, no officer is elected for more than one year at a time. No officer may be elected for more than three successive terms. The shop committee at a particular plant is elected by the workers at that plant. This shop committee acts only under the direction of the shopworkers. It can conclude no agreement nor settlement with the employer without the approval of the shop organization.

The workers of several plants within an industry may decide to establish an industrial union; or, the workers of plants in different districts within the same industry may decide to set up district industrial unions; or, those in different industries may ally in an industrial department. In any of the above situations all officers are elected by the workers immediately concerned. The General Secretary-Treasurer is nominated and elected by a general referendum ballot in which each I.W.W. is entitled to participate. The General Executive Board is nominated and elected in the same manner.

The functions of the General Executive Board are executive not legislative in nature. It coordinates the activities of the member unions, supervises the press and publications of the I.W.W., and manages the education of members in I.W.W. principles. The members of this board serve without pay except when engaged in organization work. The amount of pay at such times is decided upon by the membership of the unions concerned. The board is in continuous session by mail. It meets whenever called by its chairman or one of the industrial unions to take up an issue needing attention between conventions.

Each industrial union may elect a General Organization Committee, whose function is primarily that of organizing. Local organizers or job delegates may be appointed by this committee upon approval of the membership. Generally, he is a worker on a dob which the union is desirous of organizing. It is his function to organize the shop. He accepts new members, instructs them in I.W.W. principles, supplies them with dues books and literature. When the shop is sufficiently organized, he calls a meeting and initiates the election of the shop committee. However, job delegates are not limited to a particular shop or industry. They are empowered to accept members for any of the industrial unions included in the I.W.W. The I.W.W. attempts to avoid the use of professional organizers by using only the workers on the job which is being organized.

The chief duties of the General Secretary-Treasurer are the managing of central headquarters, known as the Clearing House, processing correspondence, and supervising whatever bookkeeping and general clerical work needs to be done. The expense of operating the Clearing House is divided among all the industrial unions in proportion to membership.

No officer has the power to call strikes on or off. Such action is taken only upon vote of the members. Any officer is subject to recall by majority vote. The I.W.W. is opposed to the "check-off”. It feels that this device is injurious to unionism because it tends to divorce the job committee from the members. It believes that the union representative is more likely to become acquainted with the members' grievances and their satisfaction with the union's handling of grievances and other demands by personal contact in the collection of dues. The I.W.W. has noted that some companies have expressed preference for the "check-off" for opposite reasons. The I.W.W. thinks the "power of the purse" can be kept under the control of the rank and file better if there is no "check-off”.

• 1One Big Union Page XIII
• 2Ibid Page XXIV
• 3I.W.W. Theory and Practice Pages 80 and 81

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system.

We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever-growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in anyone industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work”, we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system.”

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.

Knowing, therefore, that such an organization is absolutely necessary for our emancipation, we unite under the following constitution:

ARTICLE I

Name and Structure

Section 1. This organization shall be known as THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD.

Sec. 2. The Industrial Workers of the World shall be composed of actual wage workers brought together in an organization embodying Industrial Departments, Industrial Unions, General Recruiting Union and Industrial District Councils.

Departments

Sec. 3 (a) An Industrial Department shall be composed of Industrial Unions in closely kindred industries appropriate for representation in the departmental administration, and assigned thereto by the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World.

(b) An Industrial Department shall consist of two or more Industrial Unions aggregating a membership of not less than 20,000 members. The Departments shall have general supervision over the affairs of the Industrial Unions composing same, provided that all matters concerning the entire membership of the I.W.W. shall be settled by a referendum.

(c) The Departments shall be designated as follows:

1—Department of Agriculture, Land, Fisheries and Water Products.

2—Department of Mining.

3—Department of Construction.

4 -Department of Manufacturing and General Production.

5—Department of Transportation and Communication.

6—Department of Public Service.

Industrial Unions

Sec. 4. Industrial Unions shall he composed of actual wage workers in a given industry welded together as the particular requirements of said industry may render necessary.

Councils

Sec. 5. Whenever there are three or more branches of an Industrial Union or the G.R.U. in any city or industrial district, they should form an industrial Union District Council.

Sec. 6. Industrial District Councils may he organized for the purpose of promoting general solidarity in a given district and shall he composed of delegates representing the branches of various Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. within said district.

Sec. 7. Said Council shall be limited in scope to industrial centers and environs, which shall be determined by the membership of such industrial centers jointly. All by-laws of Industrial District Councils must be ratified by a majority vote (hand raising and recorded) of the membership within said district. The Industrial District Council shall meet as often as conditions in its locality necessitate.

Charters

Sec. 8. Industrial District Council Charters shall he issued upon application of three or more branches of different Industrial Unions, upon payment of the fee of three dollars.

Jurisdiction of the Councils

Sec. 9. Councils shall have charge of all propaganda work such as taking charge of street and indoor meetings, and the proceeds of same, the distribution of literature and papers within their jurisdiction and they shall also secure halls and meeting places for Industrial Union branches. They shall have no legislative authority over the affairs of any Industrial Union branch. Councils shall not act on resolutions or communications unless said matters have been duly acted upon by a quorum.

Sec. 10. No legislation conflicting with the constitution of the I. W. W. shall be passed by any subordinate body.

ARTICLE II

Membership, Etc.

Section 1 (a) None but actual wage workers shall be members of the Industrial Workers of the World.
No one shall be excluded from membership because of creed or color.

(b) Unions shall define the eligibility of their membership, not conflicting with the provisions of this Constitution.

(c) Editors of papers not controlled by the I. W. W. shall not be eligible to membership in the I. W. W. , except where such papers are sanctioned by the G. E. B. of the I. W. W.

(d) No member of the Industrial Workers of the World shall be an officer of a trade or craft union or political party.

Exceptions may be made by the Branch wherein permission shall be granted for members to become officers of trade or craft unions under special conditions.

Sec. 2. All applicants shall agree to abide by the Constitution and regulations of the I.W.W. and diligently study its principles and make themselves acquainted with its purpose. This obligation shall be printed on the application blank.

Job Branches

Sec. 3. Whenever there are seven or more members on a job, they shall constitute them-selves a shop or job branch, and elect a job committee and a job delegate to attend to urgent matters between business meetings. No member should serve permanently on a committee. At each meeting a new committee should be elected. All members should take their turn at serving on committees.

Quorum

Sec. 4. (a) Not less than seven members, not including the paid Branch Secretary, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

(b) No paid official of any part of the Industrial Workers of the World shall be permitted to vote in Branch meetings.

ARTICLE III

General Officers

Section 1. The General Administration shall consist of the General Secretary-Treasurer and the General Executive Board.

Sec. 2 (a) The term of office shall be for one year and the same shall commence on January 1. Officials after serving their first term of office shall be eligible for re-election for two more terms.

(b) The General Secretary-Treasurer and the members of the General Executive Board shall receive $40 per week, or $8 per day when working less than a full week, and mileage when on actual duty. The General Secretary-Treasurer shall be allowed expenses not to exceed $5 per week. The General Executive Board shall set the wages of all general organization employees and organizers.

ELECTIONS

General Administration

Sec. 3. (a) The eight largest Industrial Unions shall nominate and elect their own G. E. B. Members. The General Recruiting Union shall nominate and elect a G. E. B. Member. The Secretary-Treasurer and G.E.B. shall be members for three years, and eighteen months in continuous good standing, immediately prior to nomination.

(b) The three candidates for Secretary-Treasurer receiving the highest number of votes on the floor of the convention shall be submitted to the general membership for election, the one receiving the highest number of votes on referendum to be elected.

Alternates

The General Executive Board Chair-man shall be the alternate to the General Secretary-Treasurer. Alternates to the General Executive Board shall be so designated on the Industrial Union ballots.

(d) The general administration officials on assuming office shall be transferred out of their respective Industrial Unions and become members at large.

(e) No official of the general administration shall be permitted to hold other office in, or become a paid employee of any Indus-trial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Duties of General Secretary-Treasurer

Sec. 4. The duties of the General Secretary-Treasurer shall be to take charge of all books, papers and effects of the office. He shall conduct the correspondence pertaining to his office. He shall be the custodian of the seal of the organization, and shall attach same to all official documents over his official signature. He shall furnish the committee on credentials, at each general convention, a statement of the financial standing of each Industrial Union. He shall have a voice, but no vote, in the governing bodies of the organization.

The General Secretary-Treasurer shall close his accounts for the fiscal year on the last day of July. He shall make a monthly financial report to the General Executive Board and the general membership. He shall also make a complete itemized report of financial and other affairs of his office to each General Convention.
He shall prepare and sign all charters issued by the General Executive Board. He shall receive all moneys for charters from Industrial Unions and Industrial Departments. He shall receipt for same, care for and deposit all moneys as instructed by the General Executive Board, in some solvent bank or banks, which shall be drawn out only to pay indebtedness rising out of due conduct of the business of the organization, and then only if bills shall have been first duly presented by the creditors, when a check shall be drawn by him in payment thereof.

He shall employ such assistants as are necessary to conduct the affairs of his office, remuneration for such employes to be fixed by the General Executive Board.

Duties of the General Executive Board

Sec. 5 (a) The General Executive Board shall elect its own chairman from its own number.

The General Executive Board shall have general supervision over all affairs of the organization between conventions, and shall watch vigilantly over the interests through-out its jurisdiction. It shall be assisted by the officers and members of all organizations subordinate to the Industrial Workers of the World. It shall appoint such organizers as the conditions of the organization may justify.

(b) The General Executive Board shall not appoint or cause to be appointed any delegate or organizer against the protest of, and with-out first notifying, the G.O.C. of the Indus-trial Union which has jurisdiction in the territory in which the delegate or organizer is to operate.

All organizers so appointed shall at all times work under the instruction of the General Executive Board. All organizers and General Executive Board members, while in the employ of the Industrial Workers of the World, shall report to the Chairman of the General Executive Board in writing, on blanks provided for that purpose, at least once each week.

(c) The General Executive Board shall have full power to issue charters to Industrial Departments, Industrial Unions, Branches and Industrial District Councils.

(d) The General Executive Board shall have full power and authority over all I.W.W. publications and guide their policy.

(e) The members of the General Executive Board shall have power to visit any subordinate body of the I.W.W. and have full authority to examine and audit all accounts of such body; and also to enforce the use of the uniform system of bookkeeping as adopted by the Convention of the I.W.W. from time to time.

(f) The General Executive Board shall meet on the call of the Chairman or majority vote of the General Executive Board.

(g) All matters pertaining to organization shall be settled by the entire General Executive Board by mail or wire when absent from headquarters. It shall take a majority vote to settle any question.

(h) The General Executive Board shall have power to appoint a Secretary of the General Defense Committee whenever they deem it necessary.

(I) The General Executive Board shall issue a monthly report of their activities.

Charges Against General Officers

Sec. 6 (a) Charges against any of the General Officers shall be filed in writing with the G. E. B. or the General Convention, at the option of the person filing charges.

If the charges are filed before the G. E. B. they shall at once have a copy of the charges sent to the accused, together with the notice of the date of the hearing of the charges. Charges filed before the General Convention must be sent to the General Secretary at least thirty days prior to the date of the convening of the convention.

On receipt of the charges the General Secretary will forward a copy of the same to the accused and notice to appear at the convention for trial.

(b) Any decision of the G.E.B. on charges tried by them shall be subject to appeal to the next General Convention and from the General Convention to the general membership. The decision of the General Convention on charges can be appealed to the general membership.

The cost of appealing to the general membership shall be borne by the party taking the appeal. If the vote on appeal results in the favor of the party taking the appeal then the General Organization shall refund the cost of the appeal.

ARTICLE IV

Clearing House

Sec. 1 (a) The General Headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World shall function as a Clearing House that will automatically settle all debts between Industrial Unions and General Headquarters.

(b) All credentials shall be universal and issued from said Clearing House. All Branch Secretaries and all delegates of all Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall report to and remit all financial returns direct to the Clearing House, excepting where the Industrial Union by-laws provide for the job delegate reporting through the secretary of the branch of which the delegate is a member. The General Secretary-Treasurer of the General Organization shall deduct the cost of supplies, the per capita due the General Organization, that portion due the Press, the pro ratio cost of maintaining the Clearing House, from remittances on said reports and deposit the balance to the credit of the respective Industrial Union.

If the Clearing House costs exceed 15 cents per monthly dues stamp the excess cost shall be taken out of the funds of the General Organization.

The Chairman of the General Executive Board of the I.W.W. shall countersign all checks issued by the General Secretary. Books, records, and all financial and supply accounts of all Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall be kept in said Clearing House.

(c) The Industrial Unions and the General Recruiting Union shall determine percentage of dues, initiations, and assessments that may be retained by the Branches, providing that percentage remitted to headquarters be no less than the pro ratio expense of maintaining the Clearing House and the per capita to the General Administration.

(d) Each department, the Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall have a General Organization Committee of at least three members, who shall look diligently after the affairs of their respective union, or unions, carrying out the wishes of the respective membership of said unions. The General Organization Committee, through the General Secretary-Treasurer, shall order the withdrawal and spending of such sums as are deemed necessary for the carrying on of Industrial Union activities, and at all times be governed by the By-Laws, Constitution and referendum of their respective I.U., or departments, or General Recruiting Union.

(e) The cost of maintaining the G.E.B. and the General Convention shall be defrayed from the sum of the per capita tax and not from the funds of the Industrial Unions. The pro-ratio cost of maintaining the General Office shall in no manner include any expenditures necessary for the upkeep of the General Executive Board, the Press, or the General Defense.

(f) The General Administration can not use any finance belonging to an Industrial Union without the consent of the G.O.C. of the Industrial Union, or Unions. Any General Official violating any provision of this article to be held delinquent for such violation.

(g) An itemized financial statement shall be issued by the General Secretary-Treasurer at the end of each month, showing the total receipts and expenditures of each Industrial Union and of the General Recruiting Union.

(h) All units of the Industrial Workers of the World shall pay all indebtedness to each other at the end of each month.

(I) Industrial Unions, or the General Recruiting Union, becoming six months in arrears on per capita or pro ratio assessment account with the General Organization shall be declared on an unsound basis, and the General Executive Board shall assume full control of such Union, after having served a sixty day notice on such Union. During the aforementioned sixty day period, the G. E. B. shall advise the rank and file of such union in an endeavor to remedy the situation without drastic action.

ARTICLE V

Duties of Branch Secretaries and Delegates

(a) Applications for all accepted members eligible for membership in existing Industrial Unions shall be forwarded to the Clearing House.

(b) Branch Secretaries and Delegates of Industrial Unions shall be empowered to initiate and collect dues from all wage workers in any industry in their locality.

(c) No job delegate credentials shall be issued to any member not in good standing in the I.W.W. for at least six months.

ARTICLE VI

Conventions

Sec. 1 (a) The Annual General Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World shall convene on the second Monday of September each year where General Headquarters is located.

(b) The General Convention of the I.W.W. shall not remain in session over ten days. Prior to the Convention the General Executive Board shall issue an agenda to the delegates to the General Convention specifying the time limit on each question. All resolutions, wherever possible, shall be in the hands of the G.E.B. ten (10) days before the opening of the convention. Mimeographed copies of all resolutions to be furnished all delegates.

Sec. 2. The convention of the Industrial Workers of the World has power to expel any member for violation of principles, constitution or by-laws of the Industrial Workers of the World. It is also the legislative body of the organization and its enactments are of legal force when sustained by a referendum vote of the membership touching any and all amendments to the organic law which the convention may adopt. Such amendments shall be submitted to referendum vote by the General Executive Board within fifteen (15) days after adjournment of the convention. The vote shall close forty-five (45) days after the date of issuing of referendum.

Representation

Sec. 3 (a) Representation in the convention shall be based upon the amount of per capita paid to General Headquarters for dues for the fiscal year prior to the convention, except for Industrial Unions that have been chartered less than a year, which shall have representation in proportion. Each union entitled to representation in the convention shall be entitled to one vote for the first fifty (50) of its members and one additional vote for each additional fifty (50) of its members or major fraction thereof.

Votes of Delegates

(b) Unions, chartered directly by the Industrial Workers of the World, shall have two delegates for 200 members or less and one additional delegate for each additional 200 or major fraction thereof.

(c) When two or more delegates are representing an Industrial Union in the convention, the vote of such Industrial Union shall be equally divided between the delegates.

Credentials

Sec. 4 (a) On or before July 1 of each year the General Secretary-Treasurer shall send to the Chairman of the General Organization Committee of each Industrial Union and the G.R.U. credentials in duplicate for the number of delegates and alternates they are en-titled to in the convention.

(b) The Chairman of the General Organization Committee of the Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall properly fill out the blank credentials received from the General Secretary-Treasurer and return one copy to the General Office not later than August 15. The other copy shall be presented by the delegate to the Committee on Credentials when the Convention assembles.

Temporary Session

Sec. 5. The General Executive Board shall draw up a list of delegates against whom no contest has been filed at the general office. The General Secretary-Treasurer shall call the convention to order and read the aforesaid list. The delegates on the said list shall proceed to form a temporary organization by electing a temporary Chairman and a Committee on Credentials.

Delegates' Eligibility

Sec. 6 (a) Delegates to the General Convention from the Industrial Unions must be members of the I.W.W. for one year and in continuous good standing for sixty days immediately prior to nomination.

(h) The general administration officials shall be delegates at large, with voice but no vote. All paid officials and employes must be off the payroll ninety (90) days prior to the convening of the General Convention to become eligible as delegates. Any member who has not been on the payroll ten (10) consecutive days in the three months immediately prior to the convening of the convention, shall be eligible as a delegate. No delegate shall cast more than one vote when voting on the seating of a contested delegate or delegates. No delegate shall have more than one vote on the expulsion of a member.

(c) Delegates to the General Convention shall not serve for two consecutive terms.

Records of Delegates

(d) The Clearing House shall forward a complete record of each delegate elected to the general convention of the I.W.W., to the Chairman of the G.E.B. and to the Secretary-Treasurer in order to facilitate the work of the Credentials Committee of the general convention.

Expenses of Delegates

Sec. 7. The expenses of the delegates at-tending the general convention shall be borne by their respective Industrial Unions except mileage both ways which shall be paid by the General Organization provided the delegate comes from and returns to the district he was elected from.

Joint Delegates

Sec. 8. Two or more unions, with a total membership of 500 or less, may jointly send a delegate to the convention, and the vote of said delegate shall be based on the representation hereinbefore provided for.

Indebtedness

Sec. 9. Industrial Unions that are indebted to the official organs or the publishing bureau controlled by the organization, having sufficient funds to pay their indebtedness, shall not be entitled to representation in the General Convention.

Auditing Committee

Sec. 10 A general membership meeting shall be advertised and called in Chicago 30 days prior to the general convention for the purpose of electing an auditing committee from the floor of said meeting, to audit headquarters' books and supplies. Any member who has not been out of office for ninety days will not be eligible for this auditing committee.

Resolutions

Sec. 11. Resolutions for the General Convention shall be acted upon by their Industrial Union Convention, and if the Industrial Union has no convention, then the branches acting on same must send them to their Industrial Union G.O.C. or G.O.C. Chairman to be segregated ; and each resolution shall be on a separate sheet of paper and duplicated. No resolution sent in by an individual shall be considered by the General Convention.

ARTICLE VII

Label

Section 1. There shall be a Universal Label for the entire organization. It shall be of a crimson color and always the same in design. The use of the Universal Label shall never be delegated to employers, but shall be vested entirely in our organization. Except on stickers, circulars and literature proclaiming the merits of the Industrial Workers of the World, and emanating from the General Offices of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Universal Label shall be printed only as evidence of work done by I.W.W. members.

When the label is so printed it shall be done by the authority of our organization, without the intervention of any employer.

Whenever the Universal Label is placed upon a commodity as evidence of work done by Industrial Workers, it shall be accompanied by an inscription underneath the label stating what the work is that Industrial Workers have done, giving the name of Industrial Department to which they belong and the number or numbers of their unions; and the Universal Label shall never be printed as evidence of work performed without this inscription.

Seal

Sec. 2. Each union and branch shall be provided with a seal by the General Secretary- •Treasurer, which shall bear the number of the union, and all official papers from the union or branch must bear an imprint of this seal, and none will be legal without such impression.

ARTICLE VIII

Revenue

Section 1. The revenue of the organization shall be derived as follows: Charter fees for Industrial Departments shall be $25.00, and for Industrial Unions $10.00. Industrial Union branches shall pay $2.00 for seal and charter.

Per Capita

Sec. 2 (a) The per capita tax of Industrial Unions and the General Recruiting Union shall be ten cents per month per member.

(b) All foreign administrations of the I.W.W. shall pay a per capita tax of ½ cent per dues stamp per month to the General Administration. All funds derived from this per capita tax shall only be used for international organization purposes.

Initiation Fees and Dues

Sec. 3 (a) The initiation fee for members of Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall be no more than $10.00. The regular monthly dues of Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. directly united with the general organization shall he no less than 50 cents and no more than $2.00. No part of the initiation fee or dues above mentioned shall be used as a sick or death benefit, but shall be held in the treasury as a general fund to defray the legitimate expenses.

(b) Each Industrial Union shall have the right to levy its own assessments.

(c) All dues stamps for all Industrial Unions must be of the same design without the price printed on them.

(d) A page shall be provided in the credentials fully stating the initiating fee and the dues charged by every Industrial Union for the information of delegates and branch secretaries.

Sec. 4. A twenty-five cent (25c) quarterly press assessment stamp shall be issued by the G.E.B. Revenue derived from this assessment shall be used as a subsidy for the Industrial Worker. The quarterly press assessment shall be payable on the first day of each quarter. Members who fail to pay their press assessment on, or before the last day of the quarter, shall be declared in bad standing until such time as the assessment is paid.

ARTICLE IX

Amendments, Etc.

Section 1 (a) All proposed amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws shall clearly state the article, section and paragraph to which the amendment applies. New articles and sections shall be so stated. Each clause to be amended shall be on a separate sheet.

Conflicting Parts

(h) All parts of the Constitution conflicting with amendments ratified by a referendum vote are hereby declared null and void.

Referendums

Sec. 2. (a) The General Executive Board or the General Organization Committee of three or more Industrial Unions shall have the power to initiate a referendum on any organization question.

(b) On receipt of the initiative call for a referendum the General Office shall publish same in the official publications, and must submit it to a vote of the general member-ship within five (5) days.

(c) The General Referendum shall be open for voting not less than twenty-one days and not more than forty-five days. The date for a return of a referendum shall be stated on the ballot, by which date tabulated ballots must be in the General Office. I.U.'s and the G.R.U. on their referenda shall set their own time limits, within these limits.

(d) The returns of the referendum shall remain in General Headquarters in sealed envelopes until the ballot committee meets. Ballot committee shall meet immediately on expiration of time set for return of ballots. The General Secretary-Treasurer shall notify Industrial Union or body initiating referendum of date set for count of ballots.

(e) The ballot committee to count the votes on the referendum shall be composed as follows: Three (3) members in continuous good standing for one year prior to their election on committee shall be elected by the Industrial Unions in the city in which Headquarters is located. In reporting through the monthly bulletin the returns of referendums and elections, the General Secretary-Treasurer shall give the names of the ballot committee together with their card numbers and the Industrial Union of which they are members.

(f) The Industrial Union or body initiating a referendum shall pay the expenses of its own delegates on ballot committee unless the referendum is carried, in which event the expenses shall be borne by the general organization.

(g) Referendum returns from any Industrial Union cannot exceed its paid up membership for the three months prior to the vote on the referendum in question.

(h) Ballots shall be in duplicate form and numbered serially.

(I) All Constitutional changes ratified by a general referendum ballot shall take effect January 1st, unless otherwise decided by the General Convention.

Recall

Sec. 3. The general administration officials shall be subject to recall upon a referendum, initiated as provided for in Section 2 (a), Article IX. Such officials shall automatically stand suspended from office until referendum reinstates them. The alternates shall fill offices of suspended officials.

ARTICLE X

Transfers, Craft Cards, Etc.

Section 1. There shall be a free interchange of cards between all organizations subordinate to the Industrial Workers of the World, and any Industrial Union shall accept, in lieu of initiation fee, the paid up membership card of any recognized labor union.

Sec. 2. Members of an Industrial Union who cease work in that industry and are working in another industry for thirty days or more, must transfer to the proper Industrial Union. No member is allowed to transfer unless actually working in the industry he wishes to transfer to.

(b) Any member of chartered unions when working in another industrial union over thirty days and who fails to transfer shall be considered a member in bad standing.

Sec. 3. Members in arrears in dues and assessments can not transfer from one Industrial Union to another. Delinquent delegates can not transfer.

Sec. 4 (a) All delegates upon transferring a member from one Industrial Union to an-other shall immediately send the record of transfer to the Clearing House.

(b) Any member of the I.W.W. who has attended any I.U.S or G.R.U. Conference or Convention, with voice and vote 90 days prior to the convening of the General Convention, at which action was taken on resolutions to be presented to the General Convention, or at which delegates to the General Convention were elected, shall not have voice and vote at any other I.U.S Convention or Conference prior to the General Convention.

Withdrawal of Cards

Sec. 5. On application, members who cease to be wage workers shall send their cards to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Clearing House, who shall enter date of withdrawal on transfer page of membership book, together with his official signature, and return same to the withdrawing member.

Sec. 6. Any member in continuous good standing for ten years and found, after proper investigation by the Branch of the Industrial Union to which he belongs, to be incapacitated for life, the Industrial Union shall issue him a special membership card carrying the privilege of having a voice under "Good and Welfare", but with no voice on the business of the Branch.

ARTICLE XI

Charters

Section 1. The number of signers required on an application for a Charter shall not be less than twenty.

Sec. 2. (a) Supplies issued to Delegates and Branch Secretaries on behalf of Industrial Unions shall be charged to the Industrial Union.

(b) Per capita for the actual dues paid during the month shall be remitted to the General Headquarters not later than the 10th day of the following month. Should any Industrial Union or the General Recruiting Union fail to do so the General Executive Board shall not issue any more supplies until the former are paid.

Sec. 3. The charter of a union or branch shall not be surrendered so long as ten members who agree to abide by the rules and regulations of the General Organization objects thereto, nor shall the funds of any organization be divided among its member-ship.

Sec. 4. Upon a union surrendering its charter, the General Executive Board shall appoint a representative of the Industrial Workers of the World to take charge of the charter, supplies and property and funds of said union. Members or officers of said union refusing to deliver charter, supplies, property or funds of union surrendering its charter to the authorized representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World shall be expelled from the organization.

Sec. 5. Whenever a membership of 500 has been attained in any industry, they shall be issued an Industrial Union charter upon re-quest.

ARTICLE XII

Unemployed Members

Sec. 1. Industrial Unions and the G.R.U. shall be allowed to initiate unemployed workers at a fee not to exceed twenty-five cents (25c) and to charge them monthly dues not to exceed twenty-five (25c). The Industrial Union, or the G.R.U., doing so shall remit the regular charge for supplies used and five cents (5c) per unemployed dues stamp used, to the Clearing House to help defray costs. No per capita shall be charged for unemployed dues stamps.

Sec. 2. No member shall be allowed to pay unemployed dues ahead of the current month.

Sec. 3. The unemployed dues shall apply to unemployed members initiated prior to adoption of this provision. Each Industrial Union, or the G.R.U., shall define the eligibility of members to unemployed stamps, with-in its own jurisdiction. Unemployed dues stamps may be issued for back months, not to exceed six (6) months.

Sec. 4. Each Industrial Union, or the G.R.U., shall set the minimum number of back months for which dues may be so paid.

Sec. 5. All members shall pay the regular press assessment.

Sec. 6. Special unemployed dues stamps shall be furnished by the Clearing House, and be entered separately on report sheets.

Sec. 7. Members with unemployed dues stamps shall be entitled to full rights and privileges.

Sec. 8. The five cents paid the Clearing House per unemployed dues stamp shall en-title the Industrial Union or the G.R.U., to the same representation at the General Convention as the ten cents per capita paid per regular dues stamp.

GENERAL BYLAWS

ARTICLE I

Section 1. Unions shall have the power to enact such laws for their government as they may deem necessary, providing they do not conflict with the Constitution and By-Laws of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Sec. 2. A majority vote cast shall rule in the general organization and its subordinate parts.

ARTICLE II

Defense

Section 1. The General Defense Committee shall be composed of the members of the G.E.B. and Secretary-Treasurer, and they shall be empowered to hire any help necessary. All local defense committees shall submit monthly financial reports to the General Defense Committee.

Sec. 2. Membership in General Defense Locals shall be open to non-members of the Industrial Workers of the World who sub-scribe to the principles of the General Defense Committee.

Sec. 3. No expelled member of the I.W.W. shall be eligible to membership in any of the General Defense Committee Locals.

Sec. 4. The General Defense Committee shall be known as the General Defense Committee of the I.W.W. and shall be so stated on membership cards, literature and letter-heads.

ARTICLE Ill

Charges

Sec. 1. Whenever charges are filed by a member of one Industrial Union against a member of the same Industrial Union, they shall be in writing, setting forth the facts, together with the names of witnesses and their statements regarding the offenses with which the accused member is charged.

The charges shall be read in the Industrial Union Branch at the next regular meeting, at which time five members shall be elected from the floor of the meeting to act as a charges committee. The accuser and the accused shall have no voice in the election of the charges committee, nor can either of them act on same.
The committee shall furnish the accused with a true copy of the charges either by registered mail or by personal delivery in the presence of a witness. The charges committee shall set a date for a hearing and shall collect all evidence both for and against the accused, and at the end of their hearing they shall submit their findings together with the charges and evidence to the next regular meeting of the branch, at which time the membership will accept or reject their findings.

If the findings are accepted by both parties the decision shall at once be sent by registered mail to the headquarters of the Industrial Union. If either party so desires, an appeal may be taken within 30 days to the Convention of the Industrial Union, and to the general membership of the Industrial Union for referendum.

Sec. 2. Whenever charges are filed against a member of another Industrial Union the member preferring the charges shall present same to the branch of which the accused is a member if there is a branch in the city or industrial district where the alleged offense was committed. If charges are preferred against a member of another Industrial Union for an alleged offense in a city or industrial district where there is no branch of the Industrial Union of which the accused is a member, then the charges may be tried by any I.W.W. branch in the city, provided, how-ever, if there are two or more I. W. W. branches in the city the trial branch shall not be the one to which the accuser belongs.

Sec. 3. It shall be optional for each Industrial Union to make by-laws permitting the filing of charges direct with the Industrial Union Convention.

Sec. 4. Appeal may be taken from the Industrial Union Convention to the General Convention by either side.

Sec. 5 (a) No member's card shall be taken up without the action of a regular business meeting, conference or convention.

(b) No publicity shall be given in our papers on any suspension until same has been acted upon by the I.U.S Convention or General Convention. The I.U.S Convention or General Convention shall then order whatever publicity is necessary on the case.

Sec. 6 (a) The circulation of accusations by one member against another, unless substantiated by charges filed according to these provisions, shall be grounds for expulsion of members circulating such matters.

(b) No member of the I.W.W. shall be suspended for more than 90 days. All charges must be finally disposed of, and members so charged either expelled or reinstated within that time.

ARTICLE IV

Employes, Etc.

Section 1. All employes hired by the I.W.W. shall be members of the I.W.W. when possible.

Expelled Members

Sec. 2. The general organization and Industrial Unions shall be prohibited from employing expelled members until such members have been reinstated and placed in good standing by the union or unions from which they were expelled.

ARTICLE V

Delinquency

Sec. 1. Monthly dues are payable the first of each month. Members whose dues are sixty days in arrears (sixty days from the first of the month when the dues were payable), shall be in bad standing and shall not be entitled to any rights or benefits in the I.W.W. until such dues have been paid. After six months in bad standing members can not take part in business meetings.

Sec. 2. Delinquent delegates are members in bad standing. Delinquency of delegates shall be defined by the Industrial Union to which the delegate belongs.

Sec. 3. All G.O.C. traveling delegates and branch secretaries when issuing credentials shall mark in delegate's membership card the number of the credentials issued with the date, and by whom issued; and when a delegate's account is cleared, the Clearing House shall issue him a clearance stamp to be affixed in his or her membership card.

ARTICLE VI

Supplies, Etc.

All subordinate organizations of the Industrial Workers of the World must procure and use such supplies as due books, due stamps, official buttons, labels and badges from the General Secretary-Treasurer. All such supplies are to be of uniform design.

ARTICLE VII

Speakers and Organizers

Section 1. No member of the I.W.W. shall represent the organization before a body of wage earners without first having been authorized by the General Executive Board or a subordinate part of the I.W.W.

Sec. 2. No organizer for the I.W.W. while on the platform for this organization shall advocate any political party platform.

ARTICLE VIII

Intoxication, Etc.

Section 1. Any official or employe of any part of the Industrial Workers of the World seen in public in a state of intoxication shall, upon sufficient proof, be at once removed from his position by the authority having jurisdiction over such employe, and upon conviction, shall not be eligible to hold office in any part of the organization for two years thereafter.

Sec. 2. Any member who is, on sufficient proof, found engaged in selling intoxicating liquor (bootlegging) shall be expelled.

ARTICLE IX

Commissions

The commission on initiations shall be no more than 50 cents.

ARTICLE X

Declinations, Etc.

Any member who accepts nomination for an official position and declines after his name has been placed on the ballot, shall not be eligible for any office for two years, unless good cause is given, such as sickness or being in jail.

ARTICLE XI

No publication that is entirely controlled by the I.W.W. shall accept paid advertisement in any form.

ARTICLE XII

RESOLUTIONS

Political Parties and Discipline

Whereas, The primary object of the Industrial Workers of the World is to unite the workers on the industrial battlefield; and

Whereas, Organization in any sense implies discipline through the subordination of parts to the whole and of the individual member to the body of which he is a part; therefore, be it Resolved, That to the end of promoting industrial unity and of securing necessary discipline within the organization, the I.W.W. refuses all alliances, direct and indirect, with existing political parties or anti-political sects, and disclaims responsibility for any individual opinion or act which may be at variance with the purposes herein expressed.

ARTICLE XIII

Agreements

Sec. 1. Each Industrial Union and the General Recruiting Union shall have power to make rules relating to agreements between its job branches and the employers.

Sec. 2. No agreement made by any component part of the I.W.W. shall provide for a check off of union dues by the employer, or obligate the members of the union to do work that would aid in breaking any strike.

ARTICLE XIV

No clause of the General By-Laws in the General Constitution shall be considered valid unless carried by referendum vote and inserted in the General Constitution and By-Laws.

LIST OF INDUSTRIAL UNIONS

To be Used for the Information of Delegates

in Initiating New Members

Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union No. 110.

Lumber Workers' Industrial Union No. 120. Fishermen's Industrial Union No. 130.

Floricultural Workers' Industrial Union No. 140.

Metal Mine Workers' Industrial Union No. 210.

Coal Miners' and Coke Oven Workers' Industrial Union No. 220.

Oil, Gas and Petroleum Workers' Industrial Union No. 230.

General Construction Workers' Industrial Union No. 310.

Shipbuilding Workers' Industrial Union No. 320.

Building Workers' Industrial Union No. 330.

Textile and Clothing Workers' Industrial Union No. 410.

Furniture Workers' Industrial Union No. 420.

Chemical Workers' Industrial Union No. 430.

Metal and Machinery Workers' Industrial Union No. 440.

Printing and Publishing House Workers' Industrial Union No. 450.

Foodstuff Workers' Industrial Union No. 460.

Leather Workers' Industrial Union No. 470.

Glass and Pottery Workers' Industrial Union No. 480.

Pulp and Paper Mill Workers' Industrial Union No. 490.

Marine Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 510.

Railroad Workers' Industrial Union No. 520.

Motor Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 530.

Municipal Transportation Workers' Industrial Union No. 540.

Air Transport Workers' Industrial Union No. 550.

Communication Workers' Industrial Union No. 560.

Health Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 610.

Educational Workers' Industrial Union No. 620.

Recreational Workers' Industrial Union No. 630.

Hotel, Restaurant and Building Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 640.

Park and Highway Maintenance Workers' Industrial Union No. 650.

General Distribution Workers' Industrial Union No. 660.

Public Service Workers' Industrial Union No. 670.

When initiating new members be sure to place them in the Industrial Union to which they belong.