Official newspaper oF The Industrial Workers of the World

INDUSTRIALNovember 2011 #1740 Vol. 108 No. 9 $2/ £2/ €2 WORKER In November We Remember Financial Crisis & the Mr. Block Reacts to The Annual IW Year In November We American Working Occupy Wall Street in (Book) Review Remember Fallen Class 3 7 12 Comrades 14-16 Dispatch From The Front Lines Of Occupy Wall Street By FW Arthur Smilios, X362847 community, have all been left wonder- NEW YORK – As the Occupy Wall ing, “When will the working class finally Street (OWS) movement is now in its awaken, en masse?” We have our answer. third week (at press time), I can truly Autumn 2011 is proving to be the moment. report that it is, in fact, a movement. Despite the misinformation (or complete Having been away from my beloved ignorance) purveyed by the capitalist hometown, I began attending OWS on press, OWS has caught the imagination Oct. 3, returning every day since. My and tapped into the indignation of working experiences have borne out that this is, people nationwide. The network fossils, in indeed, a legitimate people’s uprising. their comfortable torpor of past relevance, This is not the “astroturf networking,” believe that they can kill a movement by with its empty platitudes and glossy disregarding or misrepresenting it. They placards, paid for by the banking prove their irrelevance. We have democra- cartels, that the Obama campaign so tized communication and, as a result, OWS successfully sold to the working class has become an unstoppable conflagration. three years ago; this is a demand from Fighting the urge simply to revel below. It seems that the working class in the joy of community, I have walked has finally grown weary of waiting for around, engaged all manner of people in the elusive and illusory noblesse oblige. conversation and interviews. While the Good! backgrounds of those with whom I’ve in- We have all attended numerous an- teracted differ, there is a commonality: we ti-Wall Street rallies over the years and, are the working class. We’ ve been abused. Wobblies march with Occupy Wall Street on Oct. 5. Photo: Thomas Good, Next Left Notes while buoyed by the camaraderie of our Continued on 6 What Is Occupy Wall Street All About? Starbucks, Wisconsin, Occupy X & Economic Crisis: One Wobbly’s Perspective Building An IWW For The Present Moment By Diane Krauthamer ity of voices: It’s time for DEMOCRACY By db When a friend of mine invited me to NOT CORPORATOCRACY.” Starbucks, Wisconsin, Occupy X: these Occupy Wall Street on the morning of Sept. There didn’t seem to be much more all name organizing initiatives that the 17, I thought nothing of it. Actually, that’s to it than that, and, while I didn’t neces- IWW has been intimately connected with, not true; I honestly thought it was a waste sarily oppose the occupation, I didn’t though, obviously, with different levels of of time. This was an occupation of a public think it was worth my time either. A few responsibility and impact. space, which, as far as I could tell, had no days later, I’d heard that the occupation The Starbucks Workers Union is an clear purpose, no articulated demands, was continuing, and while I thought such IWW campaign initiated by “salts”—or and no seemingly developed strategy. It persistence was impressive, I maintained workplace organizing—in New York City, was to begin on a Saturday morning—a my doubts. Most people could not even and has grown to be a large-scale cam- day when Wall Street is typically filled attend due to work, school or family, and paign organizing Starbucks workers across with tourists, not bankers. It was to last if they did attend, it was only for a short the United States and internationally. The “for a few months” and was organized in period of time to show their support. Oc- growth of this campaign has required the response to a call put out by Adbusters, a cupy Wall Street seemed like a place for creation of national infrastructure to sign publication/group based out of Canada over-privileged youth who did not have up, train, and support workers organiz- which is vaguely anti-corporate and seems many, if any, responsibilities. These were ing; coordinating media messaging and to run the spectrum from liberal to social- my initial impressions, and cynical as I solidarity actions across the country; and democratic. In a piece published on July was, part of me hoped that I would be fighting to put pressure on the company to 13, Adbusters wrote: proven wrong. make gains, prevent illegal union busting, “On September 17, we want to see One week after it began, on Sept. 24, and change the message around Starbucks 20,000 people flood into lower Manhat- the occupiers staged a march to Union and the culture of its workers. Photo: Diane Krauthamer The Occupy Wall Street encampment. tan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful bar- Square as part of a “Day of Outrage” over The Wisconsin uprising was a mass ricades and occupy Wall Street for a few the execution of Troy Davis, approximately upsurge of rank-and-file action in re- tions and ideas. As such, if we are going months. Once there, we shall incessantly 35 city blocks north of the encampment sponse to a budget bill designed to crush to meaningfully support and grow this repeat one simple demand in a plural- Continued on 7 the working class, including ending movement we need to have coherence collective bargaining for state workers. on our role—to grow, expand, increase The IWW was the key actor in getting Industrial Worker Periodicals Postage nonviolent disruption and analysis—as the idea of a general strike on the table well as coordinate our efforts, share our PO Box 180195 PO Box 180195 PAID and pushed for an independent worker- propaganda, and fight against cooptation Chicago, IL 60618 Chicago, IL 60618, USA Chicago, IL based response rather than the suicide of from liberal or right wing force, while and additional recall. Unfortunately the unions and the mailing offices representing ourselves well and being an ISSN 0019-8870 Democratic Party won out on pursuing a organization people can commit to if they ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED recall, and in doing so the workers lost. want to deepen their involvement. Reflecting on Wisconsin necessitates cre- These types of struggles will continue ating independent rank-and-file power to and likely grow. If we as the IWW are go- expand the struggle and take action when ing to meaningfully add our experience, the leadership won’t, which means having analysis and energy to these struggles we organized and organizing IWW tendencies need to learn from them, reflect on how within other unions and across class, from we could be more effective, and push our- farm laborers to the urban and rural poor. selves to meet the formal, organizational The Occupy X movement, though only challenges they represent. beginning, is an open-source protest that The forms of actions mentioned here anyone can take up and that is rapidly include one or more of the following: spreading to hundreds of cities around the 1. Workplace organizing United States. A mini-mass movement, it 2. Coordinated outside pressure is hitting a whole new section of the class 3. Coordinated networks of militants structure. Many of the people involved 4. Independent dual-card formations have no formal organizing experience, 5. Mass-based organizational solidarity and there is a complicated mess of posi- Continued on 6 Page 2 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 Addendum On Joe Hill’s Ashes Fellow Workers, returned and that the enve- of the ashes appeared in a Richard Myers’s review of William lope containing the ashes variety of outlets, such as Adler’s book, “The Man Who Never Died,” should remain part of the the Chicago Tribune, the (“On Centennial Of Joe Hill’s Death, New Archives. Later in July, I New York Times, and the Details Uncovered: A Review Of ‘The Man talked with them about the Wall Street Journal. This Who Never Died,’” pg. 8-9, September request and was told that generated a great deal of Letters Welcome! IW) and Adler himself briefly allude to the they was still looking into publicity for the IWW. Send your letters to: [email protected] union’s recovery of Joe Hill’s ashes from the matter. Upon arriving back with “Letter” in the subject. the U.S. National Archives. Both note the After another two in Chicago, I turned the NEW mailing address: spreading of the ashes a year later over months of silence, I re- ashes over to the union. Industrial Worker, P.O. Box 23216, the graves of fellow workers killed at the ceived a letter from the As to what happened with Cadman Plaza Post Office, Brooklyn, NY Columbine Mine. However, there is more National Archives on Sept. them, my understanding is 11202-3216, United States. to the story of retrieving Hill’s ashes from 28, 1988, stating that the that part of the ashes were the National Archives. IWW could have the ashes spread at Columbine, but The April 1988 issue of the United but not the envelope. I the rest of them were mixed Get the Word Out! Graphic: recollectionbooks.com Auto Workers’ publication, Solidarity, contacted them to arrange with grey sand, put in plas- Photo: iww.org IWW members, branches, job shops and reported the existence of Joe Hill’s ashes the transfer and chose Nov.18 to pick up tic envelopes and distributed to various other affiliated bodies can get the word at the National Archives. Shortly thereaf- the ashes. I subsequently found out that General Membership Branches to carry out about their project, event, campaign ter a Wobbly wrote a letter to the General Utah Phillips was interested in taking out and appropriate. Whatever was done or protest each month in the Industrial Administration who in turn got in touch part in the transfer, so I contacted him with the ashes is not so very important Worker. Send announcements to iw@ with the Chair of the General Executive about participating in it. We showed up as long as it helped Wobblies remember iww.org. Much appreciated donations for Board (me) about it. I then called the on the appointed day and the ashes were and gain inspiration from those who have the following sizes should be sent to: National Archives and asked how I could transferred, with Utah Phillips receiving given and were currently giving their lives get Hill’s ashes returned to the IWW; it the ashes and me signing the paperwork. to bettering the lives of workers and paving IWW GHQ, Post Office Box 180195, was suggested that I write a formal letter After the transfer, Utah Phillips and the way for a new society. This is why it is Chicago, IL 60618, United States. requesting the ashes. I answered questions from reporters important to remember Joe Hill and his $12 for 1” tall, 1 column wide On June 1, 1988, I sent a letter to the from the Boston Globe, the Washington ashes in November. $40 for 4” by 2 columns head of the National Archives stating that Post, The New Yorker, and National Fred Lee, X332955 $90 for a quarter page I was only interested in having the ashes Public Radio. The report of the transfer September 19, 2011 Industrial Worker IWW directory The Voice of Revolutionary Industrial Unionism Australia Ottawa Panhandlers Union: Andrew Nellis, Georgia New York Regional Organising Committee: P.O. Box 1866, spokesperson, 613-748-0460. ottawapanhandler- Atlanta GMB: 542 Moreland Avenue, Southeast New York City GMB: P.O. Box 23216, Cadman Plaza Albany, WA [email protected] Atlanta, 30316. 404-693-4728 Post Office, Brooklyn,11202. [email protected]. Organization Albany: 0423473807, [email protected] Peterborough: c/o PCAP, 393 Water St. #17, K9H Hawaii www.wobblycity.org Education Melbourne: P.O. Box 145, Moreland, VIC 3058. 3L7, 705-749-9694 Honolulu: Tony Donnes, del., [email protected] Starbucks Campaign: 44-61 11th St. Fl. 3, Long 0448 712 420 Toronto GMB: c/o Libra Knowledge & Information Island City 11101 [email protected] Emancipation Svcs Co-op, P.O. Box 353 Stn. A, M5W 1C2. 416- Idaho www.starbucksunion.org Perth: Mike Ballard, [email protected] Boise: Ritchie Eppink, del., P.O. Box 453, 83701. 919-7392. [email protected] 208-371-9752, [email protected] Hudson Valley GMB: P.O. Box 48, Huguenot 12746, 845-342-3405, [email protected], http://hviww. Official newspaper of the British Isles Québec Illinois British Isles Regional Organising Committee (BI- Montreal GMB: cp 60124, Montréal, QC, H2J 4E1. blogspot.com/ Industrial Workers Chicago GMB: 37 S Ashland Avenue, 60607. 312- Syracuse IWW: [email protected] ROC): PO Box 7593 Glasgow, G42 2EX. Secretariat: 514-268-3394. [email protected] 638-9155. [email protected] of the World [email protected], Organising Department Chair: Central Ill GMB: 903 S. Elm, Champaign, IL, 61820. Upstate NY GMB: P.O. Box 235, Albany 12201- Post Office Box 180195 [email protected]. www.iww.org.uk Europe 217-356-8247. David Johnson, del., unionyes@ 0235, 518-833-6853 or 518-861-5627. www. IWW UK Web Site administrators and Tech Depart- ameritech.net upstate-nyiww.org, secretary@upstate-ny-iww. Chicago, IL 60618 USA ment Coordinators: [email protected], www. Finland org, Rochelle Semel, del., P.O. Box 172, Fly Creek tech.iww.org.uk Helsinki: Reko Ravela, Otto Brandtintie 11 B 25, Freight Truckers Hotline: [email protected] 13337, 607-293-6489, [email protected]. 773.857.1090 • [email protected] NBS Job Branch National Blood Service: iww.nbs@ 00650. [email protected] Waukegan: P.O Box 274, 60079 Ohio www.iww.org gmail.com German Language Area Iowa Mid-Ohio GMB: [email protected] Mission Print Job Branch: tomjoad3@hotmail. IWW German Language Area Regional Organizing Eastern Iowa GMB: 114 1/2 E. College Street, Iowa Ohio Valley GMB: P.O. Box 42233, Cincinnati 45242 General Secretary-Treasurer: co.uk Committee (GLAMROC): IWW, Haberweg 19, City, 52240. [email protected] 61352 Bad Homburg, Germany. iww-germany@ Textile & Clothing Workers IU 410: P.O. Box 317741 Joe Tessone Building Construction Workers IU 330: construc- gmx.net. www.wobblies.de Kansas Cincinnati 45231. [email protected] [email protected] Lawrence IWW: 785-843-3813. [email protected] Austria: [email protected]. www.iw- Oklahoma General Executive Board: Health Workers IU 610: [email protected]. Louisiana Tulsa: P.O. Box 213 Medicine Park 73557, 580-529- uk, www.iww-healthworkers.org.uk waustria.wordpress.com Koala Largess, Ildiko Sipos, Frankfurt am Main: [email protected] Louisiana IWW: John Mark Crowder, del., P.O. Box 3360 Education Workers IU 620: [email protected], 1074, Homer, 71040. 318 957-2715. wogodm@ Oregon www.geocities.com/iwweducation Koeln GMB: IWW, c/o BCC, Pfaelzer Str. 2-4, 50677 yahoo.com, [email protected]. Ryan G., John Slavin, Jason Krpan Koeln, Germany. [email protected] Lane GMB: Ed Gunderson, del., 541-743-5681. John Reimann, Greg Giorgio Recreational Workers (Musicians) IU 630: peltonc@ Maine [email protected], www.eugeneiww.org gmail.com, [email protected] Munich: [email protected] Switzerland: [email protected] Barry Rodrigue, 75 Russell Street, Bath, 04530. Portland GMB: 2249 E Burnside St., 97214, Editor & Graphic Designer : General, Legal, Public Interest & Financial Office 207-442-7779 503-231-5488. [email protected], pdx. Workers IU 650: [email protected] Diane Krauthamer Netherlands: [email protected] Maryland iww.org Bradford: [email protected] Baltimore IWW: P.O. Box 33350, 21218. balti- Portland Red and Black Cafe: 400 SE 12th Ave, [email protected] Bristol GMB: P.O. Box 4, 82 Colston street, BS1 South Africa [email protected] 97214. 503-231-3899. general@redandblackcafe. 5BB. Tel. 07506592180. [email protected], Cape Town: 7a Rosebridge, Linray Road, Rosebank, Massachusetts com. www. redandblackcafe.com Proofreaders : [email protected] Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa 7700. Boston Area GMB: PO Box 391724, Cambridge Pennsylvania [email protected] Maria Rodriguez Gil, Tom Levy, Cambridge GMB: IWWCambridge, 12 Mill Road, 02139. 617-469-5162 Lancaster: 610 N Pine St [email protected] Cambridge CB1 2AD [email protected] Nick Jusino, FW D. Keenan, Cape Cod/SE Massachusetts: [email protected] Paper Crane Press IU 450 Job Shop: 610-358- Dorset: [email protected] United States Western Mass. Public Service IU 650 Branch: IWW, 9496. [email protected], www. J.R. Boyd, Neil Parthun, Hull: [email protected] P.O. Box 1581, Northampton, 01061 papercranepress.com Michael Capobianco, Arizona Leeds: [email protected], leeds@iww. Phoenix GMB: P.O. Box 7126, 85011-7126. 623- Michigan Pittsburgh GMB: P.O. Box 5912,15210. pitts- Skylaar Amann, Chris Heffner, org.uk 336-1062. [email protected] Detroit GMB: 22514 Brittany Avenue, E. Detroit [email protected] Rebekah David, Billy O’Connor, Leicester GMB: Unit 107, 40 Halford St., Leicester Flagstaff: 928-600-7556, [email protected] 48021. [email protected]. Tony Khaled, del., 21328 Rhode Island Trevor Hultner LE1 1TQ, England. Tel. 07981 433 637, leics@iww. Arkansas Redmond Ave., East Detroit 48021 Providence GMB: P.O. Box 5795, 02903. 508-367- org.uk www.leicestershire-iww.org.uk Fayetteville: P.O. Box 283, 72702. 479-200-1859. Grand Rapids GMB: P.O. Box 6629, 49516. 616- 6434. [email protected] London GMB: c/o Freedom Bookshop, Angel Alley, [email protected] 881-5263. [email protected] Texas Printer: 84b Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX. +44 (0) 20 DC Grand Rapids Bartertown Diner and Roc’s Cakes: Dallas & Fort Worth: 1618 6th Ave, Fort Worth, Globe Direct/Boston Globe Media 3393 1295, [email protected] www.iww. 6 Jefferson St., 49503. [email protected], 76104. DC GMB (Washington): 741 Morton St NW, Wash- www.bartertowngr.com Millbury, MA org/en/branches/UK/London ington DC, 20010. 571-276-1935 South Texas IWW: [email protected] Central Michigan: 5007 W. Columbia Rd., Mason Nottingham: [email protected] Utah Reading GMB: [email protected] California 48854. 517-676-9446, happyhippie66@hotmail. Next deadline is Los Angeles GMB: (323) 374-3499. iwwgmbla@ com Salt Lake City IWW: 801-485-1969. tr_wobbly@ Sheffield: [email protected] yahoo .com November 4, 2011 gmail.com Minnesota Tyne and Wear GMB (Newcastle +): tyneand- North Coast GMB: P.O. Box 844, Eureka 95502- Red River IWW: POB 103, Moorhead, 56561. 218- Vermont [email protected] www.iww.org/en/branches/ 0844. 707-725-8090, [email protected] 287-0053. [email protected] UK/Tyne Burlington GMB: P.O. Box 8005, 05402. 802-540- U.S. IW mailing address: San Francisco Bay Area GMB: (Curbside and Buy- Twin Cities GMB: 3019 Minnehaha Ave. South, 2541 IW, P.O. Box 23216, Cadman West Midlands GMB: The Warehouse, 54-57 Allison back IU 670 Recycling Shops; Stonemountain Suite 50, Minneapolis 55406. [email protected] Virginia Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5TH westmids@ Fabrics Job Shop and IU 410 Garment and Textile Plaza Post Office, Brooklyn, iww.org.uk www.wmiww.org Missouri Richmond IWW: P.O. Box 7055, 23221. 804- Worker’s Industrial Organizing Committee; Shattuck 496-1568. [email protected], www. NY 11202-3216, United States York GMB: [email protected] www.wowyork.org Cinemas; Embarcadero Cinemas) P.O. Box 11412, Greater Kansas City GMB: P.O. Box 414304, Kansas Berkeley, 94712. 510-845-0540. [email protected] City 64141-4304. 816.875.6060. greaterkciww@ richmondiww.org Scotland gmail.com ISSN 0019-8870 IU 520 Marine Transport Workers: Steve Ongerth, Washington Clydeside GMB: [email protected] St. Louis IWW: [email protected] Periodicals postage del., [email protected] Bellingham: P.O. Box 1793, 98227. 360-920-6240. Dumfries and Galloway GMB: [email protected]. Montana [email protected]. paid Chicago, IL. IU 540 Couriers Organizing Committee: 415- uk , iwwdumfries.wordpress.com 789-MESS, [email protected]. Construction Workers IU 330: Dennis Georg, del., Tacoma GMB: P.O. Box 7276, 98401. TacIWW@ Edinburgh GMB: c/o 17 W. Montgomery Place, EH7 messengersunion.org 406-490-3869, [email protected] iww.org. http://tacoma.iww.org/ Postmaster: Send address 5HA. 0131-557-6242, [email protected] Evergreen Printing: 2335 Valley Street, Oakland, Billings: Jim Del Duca, 106 Paisley Court, Apt. I, Olympia GMB: P.O. Box 2775, 98507. Sam Green, changes to IW, Post Office Box 94612. 510-835-0254. [email protected] Bozeman 59715. 406-860-0331. delducja@gmail. del., [email protected] 180195, Chicago, IL 60618 USA Canada San Jose: [email protected] com Seattle GMB: 1122 E. Pike #1142, 98122-3934. Alberta Colorado Nebraska 206-339-4179. [email protected]. www. Edmonton GMB: P.O. Box 75175, T6E 6K1. edmon- Denver GMB: 2727 W. 27th Ave., 80211. Lowell Nebraska GMB: [email protected]. www. seattleiww.org SUBSCRIPTIONS [email protected], edmonton.iww.ca May, del., 303-433-1852. breadandroses@msn. nebraskaiww.org Wisconsin Individual Subscriptions: $18 British Columbia com Nevada Madison GMB: P.O. Box 2442, 53701-2442. www. International Subscriptions: $30 Four Corners (AZ, CO, NM, UT): 970-903-8721, madison.iww.org Library Subs: $22/year Vancouver GMB: 204-2274 York Ave., Vancouver, Reno GMB: P.O. Box 40132, 89504. Paul Lenart, BC, V6K 1C6. Phone/fax 604-732-9613. gmb-van@ [email protected] del., 775-513-7523, [email protected] Lakeside Press IU 450 Job Shop: 1334 Williamson, Union dues includes subscription. iww.ca, vancouver.iww.ca, vancouverwob. Florida 53703. 608-255-1800. Jerry Chernow, del., jerry@ IU 520 Railroad Workers: Ron Kaminkow, del., P.O. lakesidepress.org. www.lakesidepress.org Published monthly with the excep- blogspot.com Gainesville GMB: c/o Civic Media Center, 433 S. Box 2131, Reno, 89505. 608-358-5771. ronka- Vancouver Island GMB: [email protected] Main St., 32601. Jason Fults, del., 352-318-0060, [email protected] Madison Infoshop Job Shop:1019 Williamson St. tion of February and August. Manitoba [email protected] New Jersey #B, 53703. 608-262-9036 Winnipeg GMB: IWW, c/o WORC, P.O. Box 1, R3C Miami IWW: [email protected] Central New Jersey GMB: P.O. Box 10021, New Just Coffee Job Shop IU 460: 1129 E. Wilson, Articles not so designated do 2G1. [email protected]. Garth Hardy, Hobe Sound: P. Shultz, 8274 SE Pine Circle, 33455- Brunswick, 08906. 732-801-7001. iwwcnj@gmail. Madison, 53703. 608-204-9011, justcoffee.coop not reflect the IWW’s del., [email protected] 6608. 772-545-9591, [email protected] com. Bob Ratynski, del., 908-285-5426 Railroad Workers IU 520: 608-358-5771. railfal- New Mexico [email protected] official position. Ontario Pensacola GMB: P.O. Box 2662, Pensacola 32513- Ottawa-Outaouais GMB & GDC Local 6: 1106 Wel- 2662. 840-437-1323, [email protected], Albuquerque GMB: 202 Harvard Dr. SE, 87106. Milwaukee GMB: 1750A N Astor St., 53207. Trevor Press Date: October 20, 2011 lington St., PO Box 36042, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4V3 www.angelfire.com/fl5/iww 505-227-0206, [email protected] Smith, 414-573-4992 November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 3 Greed And The Worker: The Financial Crisis In America By Michael Capobianco According to the U.S. Department of course, in the United States where health depending on who you ask. If you ask the Exiting the bus, Dan’s appearance Labor, around 7.9 million jobs were lost care is considered a privilege and not a rich boss class, the answer is that people bore the marks of an economy in crisis. due to the recession as of late 2010. To right, the injury of paying more in taxes took on too much credit, and therefore too His hair was wild and out of control, clear- make matters worse, most of those jobs was enhanced by the insult of having to much debt. When they could not pay their ly showing the long absence of a haircut. will never return. beg the family doctor to keep seeing his bills, the financial crisis ensued. However, He noticed that my eyes were fixed on it, Among the different industries, there children. if you ask the working class, you get the and he instantly commented: have varying levels of loss. For example, However, Dan’s efforts were not more accurate answer. This answer is “You know, I’ve actually taken some retail companies have cut around 1.2 mil- enough and the family lost their house predatory lending and the inevitable child flack about not getting a haircut recently. lion jobs, most of which existed before the soon thereafter: of capitalism: greed. A couple of people have told me that it is recession started. Of course, the fact that “I really don’t know what was worse. The most famous example of preda- not possible for me to be doing my part many retail companies went out of busi- Was it losing the house, or having to tory lending which led to the financial cri- in helping the economy if I’m not even ness also played a large explain to my children sis was the case of Countrywide Financial supporting my local barbershop.” role in this. that we would have to Corporation. In a 2007 article, the New My first thought was, “Who on earth In the manufac- move into a one bedroom York Times described the methods of the would have the gall to say something like turing industry, there basement apartment, company: that to someone in Dan’s position?” were 2.1 million jobs which we could still only “Potential borrowers were often led As if he could read my thoughts, Dan lost throughout the barely afford? All this to high-cost and sometimes unfavorable immediately spoke up: course of the recession. while I knew that the big loans that resulted in richer commissions “My boss said that to me. One morn- According to experts fat cats were now lining for Countrywide’s smooth-talking sales ing after my shift ended, my boss showed at Moody’s Analytics, their pockets with our force, outsize fees to company affiliates up in his newly leased crossover SUV and an economic analysis hard earned tax money providing services on the loans, and a commented on my hair. As we stood in firm, roughly 1 million as well as the fortunes roaring stock price that made Country- his office, he pointed out the window at of the 2.1 million jobs they amassed prior to the wide executives among the highest paid the sleek-looking vehicle and actually lost will never come financial crisis.” in America.” told me that he was taking an active role back. Experts also be- Dan was not alone in To make matters worse, there was in supporting the economy by purchasing lieve that of the few losing his home. a suspected association between this the car. He told me this one day after he jobs that do come back, According to foreclo- company and a U.S. politician named cut my weekly hours from 40 to 25. He most will be sent to sure experts at the or- Christopher Dodd. Dodd, who was the told me this as he pointed outside to his other countries. ganization RealtyTrac, chairman of the Senate Banking Commit- foreign-made Honda. Ironic, isn’t it?” As a result of being foreclosures went up an tee, fought in 2008 for bailout money to Dan is a 50-year-old man who worked laid off, Dan was un- astonishing 81 percent in be given to mortgage companies which for 25 years as a driver for a local laborato- employed for several 2008, which was a 225 included Countrywide Financial. It was ry—a non-union job, but still one in which months. The combined percent increase from later revealed by the website, Portfolio. he was treated well and had steady work. income from his small 2006. The most shocking com, that Dodd had been given better Once the economic crisis hit the United unemployment check finding was that in 2008 a terms when he remortgaged his homes in States, jobs like Dan’s were among the and his wife’s measly staggering 1 in 54 families Connecticut and Washington, D.C. What first to go. Instead of continuing to pay salary working as a Graphic: J. Pierce had foreclosures filed on company did he use to remortgage his multiple drivers very competitive wages to school aide was not enough for them to them, with a total of 861,664 actually being homes? Countrywide Financial. Although run down long routes and deliver hazard- keep their home. As Dan described, the forced from their homes. he denied knowledge of receiving any ous materials, his company decided to let house was modest to begin with and barely While I felt bad telling him, I felt it was special treatment, it was revealed that his most of the drivers go, starting with the had enough room for him, his wife, and my duty to inform Dan that the rich have remortgage rates were below market value. oldest and highest-paid. This not only put their three children. In a desperate attempt actually become richer since the crisis. These special rates came as a benefit of these laid-off drivers in the terrible posi- to save the house, he sold the family car Internal Revenue Service data shows that being a “friend of Angelo.” These “friends” tion of having to find new work in a poor and found a job working as an independent between 2007 and 2009, the richest one of Angelo Mozilo, the founder and CEO of economic climate, but it also meant that contractor in a security company. This of percent of America actually obtained more Countrywide Financial, received benefits the workers who were kept on would have course meant that there were no health money and new wealth while, as usual, the as Mozilo tried to gain the favor of politi- to work longer and harder for the same benefits and higher taxes, as independent workers suffered. This also brings about cians, lawmakers, and virtually anyone rate they were making before. contractors in the United States must cov- one of the most important questions of who could help to advance the financial At least those workers still had a job, er taxes that regular employees normally the financial crisis: who was responsible? interests of his company. though. have paid for them by their employers. Of The answer to this question changes What does all of this mean for Dan IWW Constitution Preamble and the rest of the working class in the Join the IWW Today United States? The working class and the employing he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the For one thing, it shows that capitalism class have nothing in common. There can job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions does not work. Almost every time a person be no peace so long as hunger and want today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and is given the opportunity to increase their are found among millions of working T distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire popu- profits, they take it—usually at the cost of people and the few, who make up the em- lation, not merely a handful of exploiters. harming other people. The recent finan- ploying class, have all the good things of We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially ­– cial crisis, as well as the greed of certain life. Between these two classes a struggle that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing employers, such as Dan’s, has shown that must go on until the workers of the world the so-called “American Dream” is dying. organize as a class, take possession of the workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to fight the bosses together. If you are not born into money, or to put means of production, abolish the wage Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a truly system, and live in harmony with the international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses it crudely, if you do not win the sperm earth. and in order to strengthen workers’ ability to stand in solidarity with our fellow lottery, you spend most of your life in this We find that the centering of the man- workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on. country struggling to survive and spending agement of industries into fewer and fewer We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to have a fortune on things like health care. The hands makes the trade unions unable to representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recog- financial crisis has hopefully woken up cope with the ever-growing power of the nizing that unionism is not about government certification or employer recognition the working class in the United States to employing class. The trade unions foster but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimes the greed and unfairness of the capitalist a state of affairs which allows one set of this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with system. If we are to succeed in bringing workers to be pitted against another set an unsafe machine or following the bosses’ orders so literally that nothing gets done. an end to capitalism and becoming totally of workers in the same industry, thereby Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specific free, we must oppose the system’s philoso- helping defeat one another in wage wars. workplace, or across an industry. phy of greed. We must remain in solidarity Moreover, the trade unions aid the employ- Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, decisions about what issues and support each other whenever possible. ing class to mislead the workers into the to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved. After all, an injury to one is an injury to all. belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers. TO JOIN: Mail this form with a check or money order for initiation These conditions can be changed and and your first month’s dues to: IWW, Post Office Box 180195, Chicago, IL Subscribe to the the interest of the working class upheld 60618, USA. only by an organization formed in such Initiation is the same as one month’s dues. Our dues are calculated a way that all its members in any one in- Industrial Worker according to your income. If your monthly income is under $2000, dues dustry, or all industries if necessary, cease are $9 a month. If your monthly income is between $2000 and $3500, work whenever a strike or lockout is on in Raise eyebrows! Get ideas! any department thereof, thus making an dues are $18 a month. If your monthly income is over $3500 a month, dues 10 issues for: injury to one an injury to all. are $27 a month. Dues may vary outside of North America and in Regional Instead of the conservative motto, “A Organizing Committees (Australia, British Isles, German Language Area). • US $18 for individuals. • US $22 for institutions. fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we __I affirm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer. must inscribe on our banner the revolu- • US $30 for internationals. tionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage __I agree to abide by the IWW constitution. system.” __I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes. Name: ______It is the historic mission of the work- Name:______ing class to do away with capitalism. The Address:______army of production must be organized, Address:______State/Province:______not only for the everyday struggle with City, State, Post Code, Country:______capitalists, but also to carry on production Occupation:______Zip/PC______when capitalism shall have been over- Send to: PO Box 180195, thrown. By organizing industrially we are Phone:______Email:______Chicago IL 60618 USA forming the structure of the new society Amount Enclosed:______within the shell of the old. Membership includes a subscription to the Industrial Worker. Subscribe Today! Page 4 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 How’s The Campaign Going? By MK, X353650 by any number of things in my life—the Have you ever woken up and the first more likely I will characterize the state of thing that happens determines your mood the IWW as grim. Conversely, if I’m ex- for the entire day? cited for my own organizing, the workers’ There’s a phenomenon among IWW revolution seems inevitable. When are my organizers that some of my friends call the evaluations of our efforts truly “correct”? “How’s The Campaign Going” syndrome. I think every organizer should try to When a fellow worker calls and asks about be conscious of the risk of burn out. Some the campaign you are organizing you take confuse personal burnout with lack of stock of the situation and give a report. organizational progress. So stay in touch Sometimes you can’t wait for this kind of with someone who is excited, someone phone call, since it’s an excuse to impress who’s on a peak while you’re in a valley. other organizers with the great work go- If you don’t know someone excited about ing on in your branch or in your industry. their own organizing, take a moment Other times you use the to seek someone out. opportunity to discuss Keep negative thoughts ways the union has failed to yourself—a bad mood your expectations. can be contagious. Ev- My theory is that the eryone needs to vent, margin between a “good” but persistent negativity organizing situation and does the organization a “bad” organizing situ- a disservice. If you’re ation is smaller than we causing people to reas- often think. We must recognize our answer sess their own level of activity for the to the question “How’s the campaign go- worse, who are you helping? If you buy ing?” is always subjective. We usually sub- my “How’s The Campaign Going?” theory, consciously answer a different question: then be aware when it hits someone else “What are you doing right now?” To put close to you. If it feels frustrating to hear this another way, when an organizer tries about how bummed out someone else is to see what the class war looks like, it’s like about the campaign, remember the two a soldier looking over a trench. You might of you are looking at the same thing, just see your company charging forward or you interpreting it differently. Don’t argue; might see them gunned down and retreat- help them work through it. ing, but neither image tells the whole story The path to cooperative common- of the state of the battle. wealth isn’t a straight line and it isn’t free In real world terms, I believe the less of debris. In the work we do here in the active I am in the union, the less active I IWW, instead of two steps forward and perceive the IWW to be. The more I wade one step back, it usually feels like ten steps into factional email battles, the more I forward and nine steps back. Don’t forget imagine the IWW to be plunging to its that the math gives the same result though, death under factional wars. If I feel demor- and don’t scare yourself away from the alized—an emotion that could be affected union. We’ll get there. A Review Of “Weakening The Dam” By FW Edward vocabularies. This pamphlet keeps us on What is one way to gain insight and the shop floor with organizers. clarity when organizing your workplace Would I use it as a direct reference tool as a seasoned Wobbly? How does a total for organizing? Probably not. It plays more newbie find helpful stories, strategies, as a generator of ideas, a labor meditation hints, and warnings about diving into guide of sorts. A fellow worker I know is organizing? What is the logical next step currently organizing at her workplace. She in learning what the union has to offer was getting down because no one would after you have “Thought It Over”? Many a join the union, and she saw this as a fail- worker in the Twin Cities ure. Reading through the have found a pamphlet essay “Lasting Lessons put together by some from the Class Struggle” Wobblies, “Weakening gave her a new perspec- the Dam,” to be the an- tive on her work. She may swer to all three of these have failed to get workers questions. to join the IWW, but as The introduction to the essay says, “through this collection of orga- Photo: libcom.org struggle we produce more nizing tales, resources, and introspection than better or worse working conditions, rightly points out that, besides the IWW’s resolved or unresolved grievances, and organizer trainings, there are many, “re- union or no union. We produce new kinds sources that are not written down, but are of people.” She reflected that her cowork- in people’s heads.” This pamphlet is a step ers were changed people, sticking up for down the path to rectifying this mistake. each other at work and seeing work in a Passing knowledge on to current and different light. Maybe they will make the would-be organizers should take as many leap someday. forms as possible, and writings should be While generating ideas makes “Weak- updated frequently. Most of “Weakening ening the Dam” valuable, it could go the Dam” consists of material originally deeper into organizing issues that happen published in the “Workers’ Power” column further into a campaign. A broader spec- that runs each month in the Industrial trum of dilemmas that happen during a Worker. campaign would make the pamphlet more The pamphlet serves many purposes relevant to all organizers. Also, while prob- and many audiences. It covers topics such lems are usually more fun to read about, as goals, strategy, and tactics for organiz- successes and proven techniques could ing while also going into a sample organiz- be woven into more of the sections. The ing campaign from day 1 to day 195. The advantageous aspect of this pamphlet is Graphic: Mike Konopacki sample campaign plays out a little like a that sections can be easily revised, culled, diary and a little like one of those “Choose and added as needed. Your Own Adventure” books I read when Hopefully, “Weakening the Dam” will I was young. connect with new members by giving them The accessibility of “Weakening the a jargon-free, accessible path to organiz- Dam” also appeals to me. I have long been ing. It will recharge and redirect members a fan of writers such as the late Howard currently battling in the trenches against Zinn, who wrote for the layperson. I do that scourge of the boss. I hope many more not mean that the text is written at an publications like “Weakening the Dam” eighth-grade level, but that the ideas are will be written, revised, and entered into simple and straightforward. People may the consciousness of our organization. debate certain aspects of the IWW through If you would like a copy of the pam- the years, but one thing most can agree phlet, contact the Twin Cities GMB via: on is that organizing has been, and must http://www.iww.org/en/branches/US/ be done, by regular workers with regular MN/twincities. November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 5 U.S. & Wobbly News Shorts Wobblies Gather For Bi-Annual Union Leaders Squander IWW Assembly In Scotland Potential Of Verizon Strike By X349317 By Megan Cornish killed any potential for the realization of The Edinburgh General Labor’s showdown at Verizon started this lofty vision. Membership Branch (GMB) like so many in the last few years, with the hosted the Scottish IWW Assem- company taking for granted that it could With friends like these ... bly on Saturday, Oct. 8th—a twice walk on unions. On August 22, the leaders of the two yearly meeting of Wobs from In contract negotiations, the employer unions cut the strike short just as it was across the country. demanded concessions of $1 billion a year gaining steam. They claimed that manage- Fellow Workers from the Ed- from its unionized workers. These includ- ment was now willing to talk. But Verizon inburgh, Clydeside and Dumfries ed freezing pensions of current employees made no indication it was backing down. GMBs were in attendance. The and eliminating them for new hires, mak- And commentators started predicting day-long event featured a fasci- ing workers pay a quarter of health care that the company would win many of its nating talk from James McBar- premiums, slashing wages in half for new demands. ron of the Independent Workers workers, and cutting sick leave and other Unfortunately, the pundits may be Union (IWU) of Ireland, who benefits. Verizon also insisted on removing right. Strikes cannot be turned on and gave an overview of the work of all job security provisions—a green light to off like a faucet. Even though leafleting of the IWU, the challenges of build- Assembly participants pose. Photo: X349317 outsourcing. wireless stores continues, calling union ing an independent and militant labor the Fellow Workers attended. This at a company that in the last four members back to work ruined the strike’s movement in a hostile environment, and Finally, the assembled Wobs had a years made profits of $22.5 billion and momentum. Now bosses can prepare for the strategy and tactics they have found discussion about the state of the IWW paid its top five executives $258 million. any future walkout. Verizon took none of useful. Following a short report on the in Scotland today and how we can build This was a classic opportunity for work- their demanded concessions off the table, activities of our own Pizza Hut Workers again through local organising initia- ers to draw a line in the sand. Yet only and extracted a promise for unions not to Union organizing efforts in Sheffield, we tives and involving members in their two weeks into the strike, union officials strike for 30 days. The CWA and IBEW had an organizer training session deliv- Industrial Union networks. sent everyone back to work. must also give a week’s no- ered by Phillip LeMarquand, Tyne and The next Assembly will be held in What happened? tice of any strike after that. Wear GMB Branch Secretary, which all the Spring of 2012. This agreement disarms Enough is too much, the union membership! already! The two unions cer- Exploited Student Guest Workers Union members had tainly had different at- had it. After a strike autho- titudes toward the strike. Fight Back Against Hershey rization vote of 91 percent, While CWA had a strike By John Kalwaic complained. 35,000 Communications fund of $400 million, Around 400 student On Aug. 17 the Her- Workers of America (CWA) IBEW had none at all. Yet guest workers from the shey’s J-1 student work- went on strike on August 7, many supporters would J-1 visa exchange pro- ers walked out with no joined by 10,000 Interna- have generously donated gram went on a wild- union and no support. tional Brotherhood of Elec- to a strike fund had they cat strike on Aug. 17 to At that time, very few trical Workers (IBEW). The Photo: Diane Krauthamer been asked. protest low wages and people had knowledge of massive walkout covered Verizon workers picket. Continuing the walk- sweatshop-like condi- the students’ situation. the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. out and building on community support tions in Hershey, Pa. However, as more people Militancy was high, even including the use could have stopped the take-backs cold. Students on the pro- learned about the inci- of roving pickets to confront supervisor- It could also have given a huge shot in the gram are from around dent, support has grown scabs on job sites. arm to organizing the 80,000 non-union the world, including for the students, and the Supporters across the United States. wireless workers, and strengthened labor’s the Middle East, Asia, Service Employees Inter- flocked to picket Verizon Wireless stores. position considerably. Africa and Eastern Eu- national Union (SEIU) The outpour showed how ready U.S. work- Union leaders not only betrayed the SEIU protests Hershey. Photo: SEIU rope. They expected to and other unions have ers are to resist the relentless attacks on power of the Verizon strike, but also the work shorter hours and to have a cultural begun to support their cause. The work- labor. energy created by the Wisconsin fight-back exchange experience in the United States, ers that originally worked in Hershey’s And Verizon felt the heat. The huge movement. In selling the strike short, of- learning about American culture and im- chocolate plants were union workers who concessions being demanded by a com- ficials undermined the growing sense that proving their English skills. Instead, they had benefits and higher pay, but Hershey pany so profitable sparked public outrage. working-class people can win! ended up working in Hershey’s chocolate outsourced the jobs to guestworker and High-profile outages and significant delays How long will it be before labor finds plants, lifting boxes all day for very low visa programs, much to the despair of the in new installations threatened the com- its feet again and we have another water- wages—less than $200 a week—with union workers. There is now much more pany’s business in an industry with stiff shed moment like the Republic Windows virtually no time or energy for anything public attention on the plight of the J-1 competition. and Doors sit-down strike or the Wiscon- else, least of all for the cultural exchange students. Rallies were held in both Her- Yet union officials were conciliatory sin public worker upsurge? experience they had thought they signed shey and Philadelphia, and the students from the start. The stated goal of the strike Workers will never get anywhere with up for. Many of the students were threat- have been featured on Amy Goodman’s was to get Verizon back to the table to a labor leadership like this. More than ened if they complained, and often they show, “Democracy Now.” Public pressure bargain “seriously”—a concept the two ever, it’s urgent for union militants to were blocked from contacting the embas- has been put on the U.S. State Department, sides are bound to view totally differently. speak out and tell it like it is. sies of their home countries. Hershey has which monitors the affairs of immigrants CWA leaders compared the fight to This story originally appeared in a company town system, which forced the and guest-workers. The Department stated the heroic revolts in Tunisia and Egypt Freedom Socialist newspaper, Vol. 32, student workers to acquire debt for rent they were looking into the matter. The and the fight of Wisconsin public work- No. 5, October-November 2011, and and board. They could not return home students came to learn about American ers that electrified the nation last winter. was reprinted with permission. It does without paying the debt, and they were culture, but they have ended up teaching Supporters and union ranks clearly agreed not represent the views of the Industrial often threatened with deportation if they more than they have learned. with this comparison. But union officials Worker or the IWW. Wobblies Demand Money FromLibertalia the Providence Needs IWW Your Help! Libertalia—a social center in Providence, R.I. and houses meetings and office space for many local groups—needs a little help with making the rent. The space is home to the office of the Providence IWW as Back From Chase Bank well as a solidarity network project called Rhode Island Solidarity and Equality that helps precarious work- ers when they have problems with their bosses or their landlords. The space has been crucial in building a vibrant anti-authoritarian movement for social transformation in our little city. If there is anything you can do to help there are ways to donate at the following link: http://www.libertaliapvd.org/p/donate.html

By Neil Parthun Photo: Neil Parthun On Oct. 8, Wobblies in Champaign, Ill. joined in a Unity March for Jobs with about 100 local activists. We marched to Chase Bank and a group went in and filled out with- drawal slips asking for our $94 billion in taxpayer money back. :) In November We Remember Graphic: Tom Keough Page 6 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 Special Politics Averted: Thoughts On The “Occupy X” Movement By Aidan Rowe liberal post-politicism (which sees a Left Third World as an alternative to imposing relevant to understanding power in the What are we to make of the global vs. Right contest of ideas as being largely austerity. A call to reform banking practice modern world—an outdated idea clung Occupy X movement which has exploded irrelevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall). to constrain “corporate greed” is merely to by old-left dinosaurs. This is reflected onto the streets of cities across the world, After decades of neoliberal governance a call to stabilize capitalism so that the in the idea of “the 99 percent” which turning public spaces into campsites of and media spin attempting to drive ideol- course of exploitation runs more smoothly. has become the slogan of the Occupy X opposition? Certain things are obvious: ogy and politics out of public discourse The problem is capitalism, not regulatory movement, which expresses a very crude First, the fact that there are thousands in order to enshrine the liberal-capitalist failure, or corporate greed or a lack of eco- understanding of class, where the ruling of people across the world taking over consensus as being “above politics” and to nomic patriotism, and the inadequacies of class is an arbitrarily defined proportion public spaces to express their anger at reduce political questions to technical ones these analyses need to be exposed rather of the wealthiest people in society. This the financial system is undeniably a good best dealt with by “experts,” it is perhaps than uncritically welcomed. The Irish makes for some great chanting—“we are thing. Having camped out outside the unsurprising, but nonetheless dishearten- protest seems to be following a similar pat- the 99 percent!”—but is a poor criterion for Central Bank on Dame Street (in Dublin, ing, to see this de-politicization reflected in tern, with a particular anti-IMF/EU flavor. membership of an anti-capitalist or anti- Ireland), I can also say that these protests contemporary forms of resistance. The theory underlying these anti- austerity movement. Put bluntly: There exude a positivity and hopefulness that is Most obviously, this has been ex- politics, so far as I can gather, is this: No are an awful lot of capitalists, bosses, man- so often lacking from the ritualistic pa- pressed in the movement’s unwillingness two people experience oppression in the agers, bankers, CEOs, politicians, police, rades of anger that make up most protest to attempt to agree on a coherent set of same way, and thus any attempt to unite prison wardens, pimps, heroin dealers, etc. marches. But there are also, in my view, positions beyond some very basic points of people under a political program inevita- in the 99 percent. serious political problems that prevent the unity with no underlying analysis of soci- bly ends up erasing some people’s perspec- Properly understood, class is not a movement from moving beyond a “radical ety. Instead, the occupied space is used by tives. This is superficially quite a pleas- classification system of individuals based sleepover” and becoming a genuine anti- individuals to express ing analysis since it on how much money they have; it’s a social austerity grassroots resistance movement. a range of incoherent creates a framework relation between people that derives from The analysis below is based on my and often mutually under which all ideas the organization of labor under capitalism. own particular experience of the Dame contradictory ideas can be understood In other words, it’s the way people are Street protest on the ground and of the which are related as equally valid, and forced to relate to one another in order U.S. protests as a media event. Obviously only by being in some they all derive from to participate in capitalist society. Class any attempt to discuss a diverse and fluid sense opposed to the real-life experience, oppression is not a small cabal of the movement like this as a whole can only status quo and the but it’s extremely ultra-rich on Wall Street or Washington or ever be approximate and reductive. This political and finan- problematic. Im- Leinster House. It’s in every workplace, ev- account is not intended to be comprehen- cial elites. At Dame plicitly, it denies the ery police station, every dole queue, every sive, but rather to sketch what I see as the Street, I spoke to in- Photo: Gabriel Engel possibility of com- courtroom, every prison and every terri- major trends and tendencies emerging dividuals who believe in everything from ing to an inter-subjective understanding tory occupied by Western militaries, and within the movement, and should be read Rawlsian social democracy, to anarchism, (i.e. one based on mutual recognition of can only be sensibly understood as such. with that in mind. to paranoid crypto-anti-Semitic conspir- shared experiences and understanding acy theories (the New World Order, etc.), of differing ones) of oppression through Conclusion Non-politics, incoherence, (neo) to Stalinism. Of course, the advantage of collective discussion and compromise, and The radically democratic nature of liberalism this is that it’s extremely inclusive—the instead collapses into a naive relativism the occupations creates the potential for The Occupy X movement has since only requirement to participate is a sense that produces a vague and weak politics, the movement to evolve in any number of its inception shown an extreme aver- that things are not as they should be and which plays into the hands of those who possible directions. Whether or not they sion to being seen as political. Some that the financial sector and the state wish to dismiss the protesters as “hippies” become genuine resistance movements aspects of this, such as banning political are in some way to blame—but this also who don’t understand the complexities of depends largely on how much the radical party banners, are an understandable means that reactionary ideas are treated capitalism. In any case, it’s easy to over- left are willing to engage with them and pragmatic reaction to the tendency of the same as progressive ones rather than state the case for subjective perspectives re-assert the importance of class politics in various Leninist parties to hijack these being robustly challenged. In practice, this and ignore the objective factors that shape understanding and countering oppression, kinds of events by swamping them with means that the ideas that come to the fore experiences: the processes and structures by participating in the actions, discus- flags, banners and paper-sellers. But the tend to be those that are already dominant of capitalist domination. sions, and assemblies. A key hurdle has anti-politics of the movement, at least on in society: the ideas of the ruling class. In already been overcome: People are on the the part of the organizing core and the the U.S. context, the dominant messages Bring back the working class! streets, expressing their dissent, reclaim- Adbusters collective who issued the call from Occupy Wall Street have been liberal, One of the major victories of neo- ing public spaces; it remains to be seen for the original Wall Street protest, is also reformist and nationalistic: those that liberalism is the eradication of the work- what comes of it. ideological: an odd synthesis of post-leftist posed the least threat to the establishment. ing class from the popular consciousness. This piece originally appeared on the anti-organizationalism (which sees formal For example, a call to “make Wall Street One of the results of this is the prevalence Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) political organizations, trade unions, etc. work for America” amounts to little more of the idea among certain sections of the website on Oct. 12, 2011. It was reprinted as being necessarily oppressive) and neo- than a call for increased exploitation of the left that the working class is no longer with permission from the WSM. Dispatch From The Front Lines Starbucks, Wisconsin, Occupy X & Economic Crisis: Of Occupy Wall Street Building An IWW For The Present Moment Continued from 1 of the next generation; that they may know Continued from 1 to dual-card set- We are weary of it and we are fighting back. a kinder world than the hell that the rapa- All of these, in my mind, are part of tings, bringing I spoke with an electrical worker from cious have dealt us. the IWW building towards being a re- our experience, Boston who felt a compulsion to come We, being an “illegal” occupation, spected and effective current within the ideas, trainings, down to his rival city and stand at the do not enjoy the amenities of electricity, labor movement and within class, as well solidarity and nexus of avarice, exploitation and corrup- hence we have no PA system. Because of as a core supporter of the popular anti- analysis to the la- tion. This was on Monday, Oct. 3. I have some Byzantine and asinine law, we are capitalist counter-power that can grow bor movement as seen him every day since. I expect to see also not allowed bullhorns, which the into a working-class revolution. a whole, industry him again tomorrow, the next day and the Filth employ with comedic frequency. The This is a far cry from where we are, by industry. day after that. solution has been the über-democratic at but every next day makes it seem more Fifth, we need There was the group of Teamsters, and cooperative “people’s mic”—in which realistic and more necessary. The future to build powerful locked out by that bastion of the bourgeoi- everything that is spoken is repeated by must be considered in the context of a enough branches sie—Sotheby’s—inviting all to a workshop the entire crowd. Participation in this has double dip recession, peak oil prices, to meaningfully scheduled for Monday, Oct. 10 at 2:00 p.m. been among the most fulfilling aspects of climate change and global war. That said, move or create One of them took a moment to pull me the experience. if the IWW is going to have the type of mass action in aside and thank me (although I, person- The major slogan—which has caught impact we want it to, we need to organize localities around ally, had nothing to do with the action) for the imagination of the masses and facili- ourselves to make it possible. the country, and the disruption caused at one of Sotheby’s tated the movement’s rapid-fire growth— also to concen- exercises in gross and vulgar materialism. is, “We are the 99 percent!” The standard How might this look? trate people in Photo: Diane Krauthamer The coppers, as usual, strutted around, chants are indelibly emblazoned in all of First, we would continue our work- core upsurges, be fondling their truncheons and believing our memories, but this is something new. place organizing, getting as many mem- they scattered around the country like that they mattered. On the night of a Those of us on the so-called fringes have bers through our organizer training the Occupy X movement or in a single massive community/labor march on Oct. often spoken of the class distinction in program and building solid, drama-free, state, like the struggle in Wisconsin. 5, after most of the union folk had left, fractional terms, but to hear the main- organizing-focused branches. There is, of course, much more to dis- the cops decided to compensate for their stream scream this sentiment signals a Second, we need to have a way of eas- cuss and much more to learn from our past shortcomings and bludgeon and pepper- seismic shift in the present order. ily and effectively tapping our branches and ongoing efforts. How do we effectively spray unarmed people (mostly young, As I constantly carry my sign, reading, to do solidarity work with our (or allied) organize workplaces? How can we maxi- passive students), as they are wont to do. “The Working Class is Awake! IWW.ORG” campaigns, including local salting and mize the impact of our existing solidarity The conviction amongst everyone I spoke with a QR Code to send the tech-savvy direct action. and organization? What are best practices to was that the New York Police Depart- directly to our website, I cannot recall how Third, we need to identify and con- for relating to dual-card organizing, mass ment is simply the private security firm many times I have heard supporters shout nect experienced organizers and militants movements and so on? of the bankers. The $4.6 million donation things such as, “The Wobblies are here!” or (which are two different things) across our I can only relish the possibility of figur- they accepted from J.P. Morgan recently “The OBU!” Being a romantic, such things union and create a culture of coordinated, ing out these things, but I hope we can all is just confirmation of these suspicions. give me goose bumps. Yes, it seems that disciplined action that addresses local dif- agree that they are essential if the IWW is Another thing that struck me was how the working class finally is awake. ferences and larger contexts, scales and going to be relevant in the present. From many children were present. The feeling These are just a few of my experiences. impacts. here on, the work is ahead of us. is that, while we demand a better world I will humbly share more soon. Fourth, we need to expand this coordi- Please send your thoughts/feedback now, we are also doing this for the benefit See you at Liberty Plaza. nation and workplace organizing to the author at [email protected]. November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 7 Special What Is Occupy Wall Street All About? One Wobbly’s Perspective Continued from 1 did not think occupying a public park a located in Zuccotti Park (or “Liberty block away from Wall Street was an effec- Square”), which is just one block north of tive means of building a more democratic Wall Street. I did not attend this march and society. didn’t even know it was happening until I My perceptions of Occupy Wall Street received a text message that some Fellow started to change around the beginning Workers from the New York City General of the third week of the occupation. I was Membership Branch, along with around out of town on Saturday, Oct. 1, and as I 70 other people, were arrested. Upon was sitting down to dinner with my fam- further investigation, I found out that the ily, I learned that over 700 people were cops used their full array of brutality tools arrested during a march on the Brooklyn to repress the march—everything from Bridge. Suddenly, I realized that it was pepper spray to baton beatings to mass time to swallow my pride and let go of my arrests. I’d heard rumors that one Wobbly doubts and criticism for at least one night even received a concussion. Concerned for just to process how many people that was, their safety, I spent the rest of the evening and how I probably would have been one doing jail support from home while others of them had I been in town that day. I felt spent the night outside the precincts. We helpless and humbled. I still didn’t agree relayed all of the information we received with how the occupiers were fighting and about the arrestees to supporters swiftly wasn’t even sure what they were fighting through email, social media and phone. for, but I knew that whatever it was they Word spread quickly about these violent were doing was more than what I was police tactics, and by 10:00 p.m. that night, doing, and it was enough to attract the the local evening news was broadcasting world’s attention. Youtube videos of peaceful women pro- That weekend, the Transport Workers testors being trapped inside orange mesh Union (TWU) Local 100 voiced support netting and pepper sprayed at point-blank for the occupation, and on Monday, Oct. range by burly cops from Staten Island. 3, they announced plans to try to stop the It had been a while since the cops used city from forcing bus drivers to transport such violent tactics against large groups arrested protesters. of demonstrators, and, combined with the “TWU Local 100 supports the protest- mass arrests, this certainly sparked the ers on Wall Street and takes great offense media’s attention. that the mayor and NYPD have ordered It was around this point that Occupy operators to transport citizens who were Wall Street gained a wider audience out- exercising their constitutional right to pro- side of New York, both within the IWW test—and shouldn’t have been arrested in and amongst the international radical the first place,” TWU Local 100 President Graphic: Tom Keough and progressive community. Maybe it was John Samuelsen told the New York Daily nothing back in return? Did they have the but also the diversity of struggles at hand… the violent police repression that caught News. This was a pivotal moment—a point same criticisms and doubts that I had? Or all of which point to the fact that people people’s attention—it certainly caught my when labor began to play a major role in did it just take some extra time for every- are disgusted with the fact that they cannot attention, and compelled me to be involved Occupy Wall Street by refusing to cooper- one to get on the same page? Who knows. get any of their projects realized, because with Occupy Wall Street to some extent, ate with the state, and a point in which This delayed endorsement from a bulk of they cannot meaningfully participate in even if it was just for legal support. While I Occupy Wall Street became a threat to the labor movement apparently wasn’t economic and political institutions.” would always defend those who are victims the city’s abuse of power. Throughout that that noticeable. When the support came The problem with defining class as of police brutality, I continued to disagree week, many influential unions and labor through it was appreciated, and it brought an economic body of people who are not with the overall (lack of) strategy of Occupy groups in New York followed suit. It was about a massive 20,000-plus person the 1 percent of Americans who own 40 Wall Street. My cynicism was questioned great to hear that labor finally supported community/labor march on Oct. 5, which percent of the nation’s wealth is that it by those who were both involved in the a movement that was putting into action received widespread international media detracts from an understanding of the protests and those who understood the what they had previously put into words coverage. A friend of mine who had been power relationships that define the dif- disillusionment and frustration with the and into symbolic rallies. involved in setting up and maintaining the ference between the working class and the overall inactivity of the “left.” Being in this In the past, the labor movement has encampment at Zuccotti Park since the employing class. Class is not determined “left” for more than 10 years, I felt myself staged countless rallies with names such as beginning of the occupation told me that by economic level; if it were, then upper- grow defensive. Some of us have been “Showdown on Wall Street” and had been the march brought a tremendous growth level management, police officers and working really hard to build sustainable voicing the exact same messages that Oc- in participation. The occupiers were very business owners are in the same class of movements for a long, long time, and to cupy Wall Street has been voicing, so why enthused about this, even though this “99 percenters” as Starbucks baristas and have what some people were claiming to did it take the labor movement more than meant that the park was now completely public school teachers. be a “revolutionary movement,” sparked two weeks to publicly endorse Occupy Wall packed from one end to the next. In other words, the strength of Oc- by a few hundred angry kids, made me Street? They certainly knew it was happen- In fact, it was sometime between the cupy Wall Street’s plurality may also be its feel that those of us who had been work- ing—news of the protests and the mass second and third week of Occupy Wall weakness. Still, because this movement is ing day and night at destroying capitalism arrests were making the front page of every Street that this movement really started an evolving organism that seems to morph were getting short-changed. Suddenly I felt major paper in New York City on nearly a spreading like wildfire, with autonomous into whatever those involved make it to be like our day-to-day movement building on daily basis and being broadcast through- actions and encampments in 1,582 cities means that building it into a movement the shop floor just wasn’t enough to spark out other cities as well. There were also (as of Oct. 19) throughout every continent with firm class consciousness is a strong a popular uprising, but that taking over a certainly committed labor activists already in the entire planet, including Antarctica. possibility. Maybe this is already happen- public park and posting Youtube videos involved in the ground work and they were Millions of people who identified with the ing insofar as action precedes conscious- of cops pepper spraying innocent people committed to Occupy Wall Street from the simple message expressed by Occupy Wall ness and the occupiers are already acting was going to do the trick. I certainly agreed beginning. Did the labor bureaucrats not Street—that it is time to stand together and in their class interests as an organized with Occupy Wall Street’s simple demand see any strong political motive to endorse fight back against the top tiers of society grouping within the working class. of “democracy not corporatocracy,” but I a movement that would likely give them who own a majority of the wealth—were Maybe the occupiers’ collective expe- inspired by what started as a few hundred rience of protest, of being beaten and ar- protestors camping out in a small park rested by the police on a seemingly regular IWW Endorses Occupy Wall Street in lower Manhattan. Now the message, basis can firm up their perspective and give encapsulated in what has become the un- them a more solid understanding that, yes, On behalf of our union, the General Ex- official slogan of “we are the 99 percent,” the police are also in the 99 percent, but, ecutive Board of the Industrial Workers of the has finally captured the world’s attention no, as police officers they don’t share our World sends our support and solidarity to the occupation of Wall Street, those determined to and invigorated a sense of plurality that class interest. hold accountable our oppressors. effectively includes just about everyone As the movement continues to spread This occupation on Wall Street calls into who is not a multimillionaire—an indirect globally, there is no telling what will hap- question the very foundation in which the capi- strength. pen next. Maybe this will just be a pass- talist system is based, and its relentless desire Such messaging, which arose spon- ing trend that loses momentum as the to place profit over and above all else. taneously out of the Occupy Wall Street cold winter months hit, or as soon as the When 1 percent of the ruling class holds the movement, proved indirectly effective movement is co-opted by the Democrats, wealth created by the other 99 percent, it is in amassing the movement’s strength or maybe this is the popular uprising that clear that the watchwords found in our union’s and popular appeal. A friend of mine re- we have all been waiting for. Hopefully if Preamble, “the working class and the employ- cently pointed out that almost everyone it’s the latter, this will be a powerful lesson ing class have nothing in common,” ring true is being screwed by the recent, radical which millions of people bring back to the more than ever. The IWW does not follow a concentration of wealth and power—the workplace and larger society—one which business union model. We believe that the work- middle class, students, those whose pen- teaches the world the strength and beauty ing class and the employing class have nothing sions are invested in the stock market (as of plurality and direct democracy, but also in common and we don’t foster illusions to the most teachers’ and civil servants’ are), the the necessity of class consciousness. contrary. Photo: Arthur Smilios unemployed, the rabble, the youth, those - Tom Levy and Marianne LeNabat Throughout the world, from Egypt to Greece, affected by cultural anomie—and they are contributed to this piece. from China to Wisconsin, working class people are starting to rise up. all part of this 99 percent. This, she said, (Note: The opinions expressed in this The IWW welcomes this. We see the occupation of Wall Street as another “encapsulates the dramatic wealth transfer piece are solely those of the author, and step—no matter how large or small—in this process. that has been happening since the 1970s, not of the Industrial Worker or the IWW. ) Page 8 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 9 Page 10 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 11 Page 12 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 Industrial Worker Book Review The Annual IW Year In (Book) Review By William Hastings Rosemont, Franklin, ed. Haymarket portions of America, it Schools aren’t going to do it for us. Scrapbook: 25th Anniversary Edi- is also a hard look into Newspaper book reviews slip a little more tion. Oakland: AK Press, 2011. Paper- the human heart. The everyday. Unless we begin to educate our- back, 272 pages, $20.00. stories centering on selves, actively seeking out alternatives to To celebrate the 125th anniversary returned veterans ring the mainstream, our ability to sustain a of the Haymarket bombing, AK Press, as warnings of things to revolutionary dialogue is threatened. Wait. in conjunction with the Charles H. Kerr come. This book is not Let me correct that: to hell with dialogue. Company, has released an updated ver- to be missed. Let’s try a howl instead. sion of the seminal scrapbook. A wealth However, howling is only effective if of primary source material plus essays by Watson, Sterling. it is deep, resonant and able to affect all modern historians and writers, no other Fighting in the people. Wide reading in multiple genres book will do justice to the Haymarket Shade. New York: builds active, broad minds. Reading only events like this one. This is a monumental Akashic Books, 2011. within one genre puts blinders on, stifling piece of history too long out of print, given Paperback, 330 pages, the howl. We need to challenge ourselves back to us as a reminder of what it means $15.95. to read as widely and as deeply as pos- to put it all on the line. Watson is one of the sible, otherwise the plutocrats will do few novelists in America the thinking for us. Remember, it wasn’t Al Aswany, Alaa. On the State of Egypt. today who consistently until Frederick Douglass learned to read Cairo: The American University in asks tough moral ques- that he encountered the word “freedom.” Cairo Press, 2011. Hardcover, 202 pages, tions. Never afraid to The slave masters didn’t teach the slaves $15.00. put incredible demands how to read, so they never heard or saw Al Aswany is Egypt’s finest novelist on his characters, he “freedom.” The slave masters owned the and one of the great writers of the world. tests them repeatedly, language, they controlled thought. If we This book is a collection of his columns and always attempting to are not reading widely, we must ask our- reporting for Egyptian papers in the years peer a little further into selves what words don’t we know and what and months leading up to the remarkable the human mystery. words are being kept from us? Egyptian revolution this past spring. The This novel challenges Reading is a revolutionary act. columns are a passionate plea for true our concepts of mascu- Graphic: woodland- What follows are some of the books democracy, as well as a clear window into linity while at the same that challenged me the most this past what events made the revolution possible. time re-envisioning the Graphic: akpress.org year. Some are current releases, some not. As always, Al Aswany is a passionate writer Faustus story. At a time Reading them was an act of remembrance: and an utterly fearless individual. There when we keep seeing people selling their nah is a difficult writer to make compari- we still have far to go. is much to be learned from this excellent souls, Watson’s novel couldn’t be more sons to, his style was that unique. This is a book, one released very much under the appropriate or thought provoking—not collection to savor. Its rewards are nearly Non-Fiction radar here in the United States this year. to mention he is one of our finest prose endless. Brown, Chester. Paying For It. Montre- stylists. al: Drawn & Quarterly, 2011. Hardcover, Kornbluth, Joyce, ed. Rebel Voices: An Poetry 292 pages, $24.95. IWW Anthology. Oakland: PM Press, Williamson, Eric Miles. Welcome to Harrison, Jim. Songs of Unreason. Brown’s graphic novel was one of the 2011. Paperback, 464 pages, $27.95. Oakland. Hyattsville, MD: Raw Dog Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon best, and most under-reported, releases The third edition of the classic, put out Screaming Press, 2009. Paperback, 236 Press, 2011. Hardcover, 120 pages, this past year. Ostensibly it is about his in a superb printing by PM Press. With pages, $15.95. $22.00. time as a john in Canada, but the book goes a new preface by Fellow Worker Daniel Yes, Williamson now writes for Walt Whitman once wrote, “I believe far beyond that. Brown’s book is no less Gross and an additional 40 pages of ma- the Industrial Worker. But even if he in the flesh and the appetites, / Seeing a forceful inquiry into prostitution, our terial, this edition of the book is the most didn’t, and was content to toil away in hearing and feeling are miracles, and each concepts of romantic love, civil rights and complete, and best, work on the union the depths of Texas, this novel would part and / tag of me is a miracle.” No better human relationships. With a philosophical available. At a time when the IWW’s voice still stand as perhaps the finest book I set of lines could be written to summarize eye, Brown looks at as many sides of these needs to be heard as loud as ever, here is read last year. It is definitely one of the the heart of Harrison’s latest collection. issues as possible, coming out to plea for a the book to get people reacquainted with classics of working-class fiction. A book Besieged by crushing debt, endless hys- re-imagining of moral concepts. The book the union. born of the gutter and an intense study teria and celebrity diversion, we finally challenges common ideas on prostitution, of a man trying to escape it, the novel have a collection of poetry to shake us out monogamy and love and we are better for Liebler, M.L., ed. Working Words: is utterly fearless. At times it blows like of our misery, to put fire in our blood, and it. It is high time we had a writer as fear- Punching the Clock and Kicking Out immortal jazz, at others it howls against lightning in our eyes. less as Brown force us to re-imagine these the Jams. Minneapolis: Coffee House a system designed to break the laboring basic assumptions. Press, 2010. Paperback, 470 pages, man. The novel is proof of the essential- Char, Rene. Furor and Mystery & $22.00. ness of fiction: we can read all the jour- Other Writings. Boston: Black Widow McKay, Iain, ed. Property is Theft! A One of the best anthologies of the nalism we want, but it can never capture Press, 2011. Paperback, 558 pages, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Anthology. year, this book is a compendium of poetry, the horror and triumph of a man’s heart $24.00. Oakland: AK Press, 2011. Paperback, 670 fiction, song lyrics and nonfiction about in the way our best fiction can. This is Char was one of the founders of Sur- pages, $26.95. work, the grind. In this work, laborers, indispensable reading. realism and a central figure of the French Put out by the always phenomenal AK miners, assembly-line workers, Woody Resistance during World War II. Albert Press, this roughly 700-page anthology is Guthrie, Walt Whitman, Tony Medina, Hannah, Barry. Long, Lost, Happy. Camus called this book the most important the end-all summary of Proudhon’s think- Marc Kelly Smith, Bob Dylan, Eminem, New York: Grove Press, 2010. Hard- piece of French poetry since Rimbaud, but ing and writing. Regardless of whether strikers, farmers and roustabouts are all cover, 464 pages, $27.50. I will say that it is one of the most impor- you are an anarchist or not, any one of the meeting side by side in one place. Losing Barry Hannah was losing a tant books of poetry ever. When resistance essays, lectures, or letters in this volume piece of the Great American Soul—that breeds poets and poets breed resistance, will prove to be indispensable reading. Fiction blasting Whitman/Henry Miller soul you know something is being done right. Proudhon was a man of remarkable variety Woodrell, Daniel. The Outlaw Album. we need once again. Hannah was one of Char’s writing is full of wisdom, struggle, of thought and talent, and this anthology New York: Little, Brown and Company, our finest writers, one who never failed clarity and vitality. Every bookshelf should gives the widest possible picture of the 2011. Hardcover, 176 pages, $24.99. to make a reader wonder, smile, cheer have a copy. man. In a time when we should be ques- One of the most important collections at the possibility tioning and challenging plutocratic con- of short fiction in this country in a very of great writing. trol over world politics and finances, and long time—this is superb writing with This book is a col- cheering empire’s collapse, Proudhon’s piercing insight. Woodrell never fails to lection of his best In November, writings provide both guidance and chal- excite, challenge, and move. While the col- short fiction, each lenge—the marks of our finest thinkers. lection is a look into the disenfranchised story a gem. Han- We Remember...

Some Wobbly Women pioneers:

Lucy Parsons

Mother (Mary Harris) Jones

Helen Keller

-- By Harry Siitonen, SF Bay Area GMB November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 13 Industrial Strength In The Red Zone By Eric Miles Williamson blue-collar workers rarely go to college, political upheavals and countries we’ve and that topples the towering edifices and I just got back from France where I write books, and become professors. Social never heard of and can’t pronounce. fortresses of the mighty capitalist pigs who participated in a literary festival called mobility of this variety is a thing nearly A decade ago, when I was on a book alone are responsible for the horrors and En Première Ligne (which translates into unique to the United States. And so each tour in England and Scotland, hoping to brutality that characterizes humanity. I get “On the Front Lines”—I think it’s a mili- time I get invited to Europe, I’m seen as a promote my book, my publicist got me a to work, writing with indignation and rage, tary metaphor) held in Ivry-Sur-Seine, a revolutionary of sorts, an author writing spot on a BBC talk show. It was a political calculating just how my words, characters, suburb of Paris just minutes from Paris to lead the common man in America out show, everyone else around the table in the stories will spark thoughts of revolution in proper. Ivry-Sur-Seine is called by the lo- of his capitalist bondage and servitude studio was a political analyst of some vari- the minds of my people, how my book will cals “The Red Zone”: it’s the area of Paris to the bourgeoisie. In Europe, from my ety or other. After about a half an hour of be the flame that sets ablaze the purifying where socialists and communists gather experience, American authors them talking about revolutions, fire that leads to a new and better nation. and live, scheme and plot. The streets are who write about the workers, uprisings, monetary issues in Then I remember the problem, at least named after French revolutionaries such the poor, immigrants and so Africa, Asia, and the South Pa- here in the United States: the disconnect. as Marat and Robespierre. People walk forth are expected to be wholly cific, the host finally asked me These days in America if an author writes the avenues wearing red bandannas tied political animals steeped in what I thought about all this books championing the common man, to their biceps to signify their support for current events and Marxist stuff. I said, “I’m just a dumb the worker, the farmer (as once upon a socialism. The festival was held in a build- rhetoric, when in fact, more of- American novelist. I don’t know time did John Dos Passos, Upton Sin- ing named Espace Robespierre. ten than not, these authors are what the hell y’all are talking clair, John Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell, I was brought over to the festival and just people telling the stories about. I’ve never even heard of Jack London, Frank Norris), just who is named a Parrain, a Patron of the festival, of their people, of their families and their most of the countries you’re referring to. he writing these books for? Socialists and because I write novels about blue-collar neighborhoods. I’m not likely to write a Sorry. But I can talk about art and fiction progressives already agree with socialist workers, which, in the eyes of the French, romantic parlor room intrigue, because, if you want.” and progressive stances, and so when makes me a socialist sympathizer, an what the hell, I’ve never even been in a That was the last question they asked they read such a book they just nod their overtly political writer, a literary muck- parlor room. me. heads in agreement. Conservatives won’t raker who puts a political agenda before So I get put on panels, les debats as Unlike American authors, European read liberal whining, and the workers—the his artistic agenda when writing his books. they call them in France, a few writers in authors are public intellectuals, respect- ideal target audience, the ones who need The truth is I write about blue-collar front of an audience fielding questions ed—rightly so—for their opinions about to organize, unionize, strike, stand up for workers because I come from a blue-collar like, “What is the nature of the novel as things philosophical and political. The their rights—well, for the most part, at family and the world of labor is the world I a vehicle of social critique?” and “What political opinion of an American author, least in America, they’re in front of their know best. My dad drove a tow truck and is the social responsibility of an author?” however, is generally worth less than that television sets with bags of Cheetos and repaired truck tires for a living, and when The European authors on the panel at of a comedian. Comedians at least read six-packs of Budweiser. I graduated from high school he got me a this point become animated, delivering the news. I no longer know if there’s a social Laborers Union card and I went to work. brilliant lectures on how literature can Every time I get invited to Europe I purpose at all for American writers. It was I saved my money from construction work alter the minds and hearts of mankind, come back to the States feeling not only nice when I was a young man deluded into and put myself through college on it, and how authors have a moral obligation to like an idiot but guilty for being just an- thinking he could change the world. Now, now I write books about what I know— lead the way toward liberating the masses other ill-informed politically apathetic though, I’m thinking the guy who flips my blue-collar work and workers. from the chains of oppression. Meanwhile drain on the possibilities of a better, burgers or the one who fixes my plumbing This narrative is almost unthinkable we American authors start looking a little more humane world. I decide I’m going contributes more to the human condition in most countries of the world, and cer- mousey, noticeably pale, especially when to work on fiction that betters the plight than any American poet, playwright, or fic- tainly in France—where the children of the European authors begin referring to of the common man, that affects change, tion writer. Please convince me otherwise. Wobbly Poetry Corner Red November, Black November By Ralph Chaplin Red November, black November, bleak November, black & red; Red & black the colors blended, black & red the promise made, Hallowed month of labor's martyrs, labor's heroes, labor's dead. Red until the fight is ended, black until the debt is paid. Labor's hope and wrath and sorrow, red the promise, black the threat. August Spies and Albert Parsons, with Joe Hill and all the rest. Who are we to not remember? Who are we to dare forget? Who are we to not remember? Who are we to dare forget?

Died In The Mills Then, fifty dollars for a Hungarian say a black dress to go to the funeral and shoes with soles for the three oldest, that leaves a dollar fifty for the feast but I'd say what a dollar was worth then you could have a necktie if you wanted and paprikash for twenty or thirty and strudel with apples and nuts and violins—he favored the violin— and it is not just poets that love meadows and take their sneakers off and their socks to walk on the warm rocks and dip their tender white feet in the burning freezing water and then bend down precariously to pick up a froglet and sight the farthest lonely tree and note the wind moving quickly through the grasses their last summer.

Gerald Stern is a poet residing in Lambertville, New Jersey. The winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 1998, Stern is also the recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets. He is the author of seventeen poetry collections, three volumes of non-fiction and a chapbook. Stern is currently the poet-in-residence at Drew University's low-residency MFA program in creative writing. Page 14 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 In November We Remember Rest In Peace Troy Davis Michael Evers, A Friend & Comrade The following statement was Michael Evers, legal representative and great friend of the IWW, passed away on written prior to the Sept. 21, 2011 Sept. 11, 2011, following a tragic motorcycle accident on August 4. execution of Troy Davis as a show Michael was once a member of the IWW and was a current member of the General of solidarity with Troy Davis and his Defense Committee. He was always eager to offer valuable legal advice on issues sur- family. Rest in peace, brother. rounding organizing campaigns such as the Chicago Couriers Union. He also spoke at Troy Anthony Davis is obviously a number of seminars on workers’ rights for the Chicago General Membership Branch. the most innocent man on the face For the past two years, he proudly worked pro bono for the IWW and helped us of this earth. Yet he continues to face sort through a number of urgent legal matters facing down his executioner. There is no the union. He attended the last two winter meetings of physical evidence against him. No the General Executive Board and spoke with me on a court testimony which is not tainted regular basis to help flesh out legal solutions or to just by obvious bias. No doubting that Syl- offer some words of wisdom. His rugged and straight- vester Coles, one of those to testify in forward approach guided the General Administration court and one of the few who did not and organizers in Chicago through many complex issues. recant his testimony, identified that In one meeting, Michael said to me, “I probably he himself was the shooter. won’t live to see the Revolution, but your generation In our world innocence is a thing most certainly will and I wish you the best of luck. You’re which must be proven, like in the gonna need it.” old days of the Napoleonic Code of Michael Evers was a dedicated union man, a working Law, as during the days of kings and class hero, and a true comrade. His service to working queens and dungeon-and-cudgel jus- people will not be forgotten. tice. Until then, we are guilty. Solidarity Forever, The Atlanta Branch of the Indus- Graphic: ellabakercenter.org Joe Tessone trial Workers of the World stands in exist about Troy Davis’ guilt; we stand for General Secretary Treasurer Photo: IWW solidarity with Troy Davis and his family. common decency, common justice, and We call for the indefinite stay of his death common sense. poisons as pentobarbital and sodium thio- who are innocent are not guilty, too. sentence, and the death sentences of all There are some things that the state of pental to be neutralized, made harmless, We stand definitively and decidedly those imprisoned by the laws of a country Georgia is guilty of itself: The worst history and discarded. against those, like U.S. District Judge Wil- which prosecutes innocence by the testi- in the nation of executing and lynching The IWW intends to continue to march liam T. Moore Jr., who will condemn Mr. mony of the guilty. We call for his imme- innocent black people is one. It is a very in solidarity with those in support of Troy Troy Anthony Davis to his death by the diate release, without exception, without old, hallowed tradition and we should Davis up to his planned execution date of statement: “Troy Davis is not innocent.” hesitation, and without doubt. like to see its continuance brought to an Wednesday, September 21st, and beyond. If this is not innocence, indeed, and The IWW demands that the State of end. The State, too, is guilty of having the We lock arms with those who call him if this is what not-innocence deserves, Georgia will recognize the impermissible seventh highest rate of capital punishment friend, brother, son, and lover and expect perhaps we are all guilty. The IWW is Troy and unacceptable nature of the “evidence” convictions in the country. We call for an to welcome him back into our midst any Davis, too. and testimony submitted in court against immediate end to this. We call for an end day now, when the conscience and good In Solidarity, him. We stand not just for the very seri- to all this vulgarity that is advanced as reason of those who detain him finally The Atlanta General Memership ous and well-documented questions that justice in this country. We call for all such gives way to the plain notion that those Branch of the IWW Remembering SDS Activist Carl Oglesby By James W. Russell twenties SDS member. As the try, on his way to becoming an writing the useful Yankee-Cowboy thesis Carl Oglesby, one of the most eloquent United States was beginning international celebrity, a status as a way to analyze divisions in the Ameri- leaders in the movement against the war in to escalate the war, he became he would occupy for the rest of can ruling class. He ended up flirting with Vietnam, died of cancer on Sept. 13, 2011. increasingly aghast and joined the 1960s. right-wing libertarians. He was 76 years old. forces with SDS members at the In Chicago at the 1968 His trajectory was consistent with a As a Students for a Democratic So- University of Michigan. Democratic Party Convention kind of radical eclecticism that existed ciety (SDS) member in Oklahoma, I first There were a number of demonstrations, I remember in some quarters of SDS—an umbrella heard of him in early 1965 through a long strong candidates for president, him speaking to a large crowd organization that had contained disparate mimeographed article about the war that but the convention was smitten as the police began moving in and sometimes contradictory tendencies. he wrote that was sent out to chapter lead- with Oglesby, and a few months and clubbing. As I was running (It was in SDS that I met an ideological ers. Along with Robert Scheer’s pamphlet, after joining the organization to escape, I heard his surreal species that identified itself as anarcho- “How the U.S. Got Involved in Vietnam,” it he was its new president. indignant words over the loud- Maoist.) convinced civil rights and anti-poverty ac- A month after the con- speaker: “Are you surprised?” I saw him in 1974 in San Francisco. tivists that they had to take action against vention I went to work in the Photo: Next Left Notes What those of us who were A neighbor of mine, the creator of Young the war. Its prose sizzled with persuasive- national office in Chicago. Oglesby came 10 years younger were not sensitive to Lust comics (don’t ask), was having a wed- ness and urgency. through on his way to Japan, where he had at the time was that it was not so easy to ding reception at the warehouse of The My first physical view of Carl was at been invited to represent the U.S. anti-war suddenly assume the role of full-time ac- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers—another that year’s SDS convention. I was curious movement. On his way back we learned tivist when you already had a family that underground comic. I spotted Oglesby to see the man behind the article and he that he had caused a near scandal by chal- included three children, to move from and we chatted for a while. He was excited was every bit as impressive in person as he lenging well-known Japanese intellectuals a middle class income and stability to a about libertarians he had met. He said that had been on paper. He was tall, thin, and on television to take a position on the war. hand-to-mouth economic existence. He they had the same interests we had. I ex- bearded with the intensiveness of an en- The Japanese press buzzed with coverage had made an existential decision to give pressed my doubts and we let it go at that. gaged scholar—more than a little like the of this audacious American. his life to the movement, come what may, He struggled to remain relevant in a character played by Marcello Mastroianni That November there was a second, and it took a toll that eventually led to the historical period marked by the end of in the 1963 movie “The Organizer.” even larger, march on Washington, and family breakup. the movement and the decades-long as- SDS was running on a high. Two he was the star speaker. He began: “Seven He also became involved in wrench- cendance of the new right. In retrospect, months earlier it had organized the first months ago at the April March on Wash- ing disputes with the Weather faction and it can be said that he had already made his march on Washington, D.C. against the ington, Paul Potter, then President of feminists. mark on a particular historical period that war, the success of which had exceeded Students for a Democratic Society, stood By the 1970s as the crowds were wan- was intense but short. everyone’s expectations and the organiza- in approximately this spot and said that ing and the movement was losing steam But he made quite a mark. Bob Ross, a tion was in the national spotlight. At the we must name the system that creates and breaking up, Oglesby became like former SDS vice president, wrote, “Edward march, SDS President Paul Potter had and sustains the war in Vietnam. Name everyone else, a veteran. Five or six years R. Murrow said of Winston Churchill in delivered a searing indictment of the war it, describe it, analyze it, understand it, earlier we had all believed that the move- 1940: ‘Now the hour had come for him to that went straight to the moral and histori- and change it.” ment would keep growing until the whole mobilize the English language, and send it cal responsibility to stop it. Oglesby went on to identify the system society was transformed and then we into battle, a spearhead of hope for Britain For reasons that I don’t know, the as corporate liberalism, showing how would be involved in its reconstruction. and the world…It sustained. It lifted the organization was locked into changing obedience to corporate interests, domes- But that was not to be. hearts of an island of people when they presidents every year. Al Haber, Tom tic liberalism, and imperialist aggression People adapted in different ways. The stood alone.’ John F. Kennedy glossed this Hayden, and Todd Gitlin had been the first could all be wrapped up into one unitary Weather people went underground. Some when, presenting Churchill with honorary three before Potter. Now the organization dominant politic. He exposed cold war went into Marxist-Leninist party-building citizenship he said: ‘He mobilized the Eng- would have to choose another president liberals for what they were and set SDS as a kind of organizational tightening lish language and sent it into battle.’ Well, who would instantly become the focus of to their left. to compensate for the increasing loss of Carl Oglesby was our Churchill. In the year intense national and international scru- It was a speech that articulated and public resonance. Some went into the he was the president of SDS, and after tiny. It was a key decision for the 200 or oriented the sentiments of the movement. Democratic Party and tried to move it that, Carl was our tribune. With infinite so people at the convention. The response was overwhelming. to the left. Later, others got involved in eloquence he mobilized our forces against Potter and the previous presidents had News organizations identified SDS as the solidarity for Third World revolutionary an unjust war. His passion in words led our all been long-time members active in na- epicenter of the movement against the war organizations. Still others went into what passion in the streets.” tional meetings. Oglesby was not. He had and flooded the national office with inter- later became known as identity politics. I will always remember Carl Oglesby been living in Ann Arbor while working for view requests. Each day’s mail brought Many dropped out of activism altogether. for having shown those of us in the move- a defense contractor, a job he had taken scores of letters from students inquiring A very few went to the right. ment at our best by articulating most elo- after not being able to earn enough as a about how to organize new chapters. There Oglesby struck out on an eclectic path. quently our highest ideals and intelligence. writer. He had a wife and three children, a was excitement in the air. He recorded two music albums. He delved In his historical moment, he made you suburban house, and was a good ten years Oglesby toured campuses and spoke into conspiracies around the Kennedy as- proud to be a part of the same common older than the average late teen—an early- widely elsewhere in and out of the coun- sassination. He invented and explored in movement. November 2011 • Industrial Worker • Page 15 International Solidarity A Wobbly Perspective From Egypt By John Reimann problems. Then it turned out that he was, were holed up on I spent five days in Cairo in July, partly in fact, an Israeli. Then there was the at- rooftops of build- as a representative of the International tack some weeks earlier against the Coptic ings surround- Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the IWW. community. Several people I asked about ing the square, Most of that time was spent in Tahrir it said that they think Mossad was behind armed with rifles Square. The second day I went to the that attack. I think they’re probably right. equipped with square, as soon as I entered the occupa- (I met quite a few Christians in Tahrir laser sights. The tion area, a guy came up to me and said, Square and one of the tents there was a protesters would “You are American? Welcome!” We started Coptic Christian group. It’s also interesting see somebody to talk. Within five minutes, there was a to note that I was told that many Christians next to them sud- crowd of some 20 people, mostly young, celebrate Ramadan with their Muslim denly have a laser standing around, peppering me with com- friends). Unfortunately, I did not get to spot on them and ments and questions. meet with the new, independent unions. then, boom!, they One of the first things they wanted I went one day to the office of their new would be shot. to know was about Israel. They were not federation, but there was nobody there Most of the build- against the Jewish people, but Zionism who spoke English and in the short time I ings housing the was a different matter. There was one was there I didn’t have a chance to return snipers were guy who was a strict Muslim—maybe a with a translator. guarded by the fundamentalist to an extent. This guy People asked me about Obama. I think police so the pro- and a friend of his gave me a long lecture when he came here and said “Salaam testers could not Photo: unknown about how Zionists control Wall Street and Aleikum,” that made a big impression and get to them, but John Reimann (right) and an Egyptian worker in Tahrir Square. control the U.S. government, how the U.N. people liked him a lot. But my position is they did manage Security Council veto rule was set up for Is- that the difference between him and Bush to get to one sniper. He will not be killing coming to power of the working class in rael. My position was that there is nothing is like that between a pickpocket and a anybody else. I was told that up to 500 Egypt and regionally is necessary. that the U.S. government has done in the mugger. In this connection, we talked a lot people were killed that night. Several days This makes the role of the council that Middle East that it hasn’t done elsewhere. about conditions in the United States—the later, there was a general strike in Cairo organized the community in Tahrir Square I pointed to the series of coups it helped unemployment, the homelessness, the and within a week, Mubarak was gone. all the more important. Unfortunately (in organize in Latin America. Look at its his- health care situation. Now, with Obama’s The snipers must have been from a my opinion), it was agreed that this council tory: from defending the enslavement of obvious support for Israel, there are far select group in the Egyptian military since would not take up political tasks in order to Africans, the slaughter of the Indians, the fewer illusions about him. I personally met two young men amongst cut down on conflict between the different machine gunning of striking U.S. workers. I also met some slightly older workers the protesters who were also soldiers. In groups of protesters. However, the work- In the end, he told me that I had “entered and they were telling me about the strikes other words, the general rank and file of ing class’s coming to power cannot take into his mind” and that he hoped one day against privatization, beginning in 2004. the military was not to be relied upon by place without internal debate and conflict I would read the Koran. I thanked him These strikes were really the spark of the the military brass. as workers test out different ideas and the and also told him that I hoped one day he present revolution, and it was a general At one point, a general who evidently organizations that represent those ideas. would read the “Communist Manifesto.” strike on Feb. 9, 2011 that brought down is pretty popular—a member of the rul- Since I was in Egypt, I saw reports We took a picture together. former President Hosni Mubarak. How- ing military council—tried to speak from of a huge rally in Tahrir Square in which Even with their great friendliness, ever, that wasn’t all. I was told that there one of the stages. It seems opinions were the Islamic fundamentalists (or semi- many people wondered whether I was had been no original plan to occupy Tahrir divided, with the most vocal elements fundamentalists) dominated. I think this some sort of agent of the United States Square, but the different neighborhood shouting him down. He went from stage shows that if the different views aren’t and/or Israel. This came out in various protests in Cairo just somehow—as if to stage, trying to speak. clearly brought forward, and if the work- ways. Sometimes they came right out and called together by an unconscious force— Egypt is so crucial to the politics of the ing class is not able through this process ask. One guy quizzed me on what differ- all ended up there. The U.S. media showed entire region. That’s why it’s impossible to find the road to power, then the danger ent languages I speak: German? French? the thugs who attacked the protesters in to resolve the crisis in Egypt purely on a of reactionary ideas, such as religious fun- Italian? Then he asked, with a slightly Tahrir Square on camels on Feb. 4. What national basis. But it’s impossible to really damentalism, taking root is real. cynical smile on his face, “Hebrew?” They they didn’t show was that this attack— unite the region on the basis of capitalism. Also, since then, the military cleared are cautious for good reason. For instance, known as the “Battle of the Camels”—was Nasser tried to do this and he was unable. Tahrir Square. This is a temporary setback, one guy came into the square posing as an combined with a general sniper assault Therefore, I believe that to resolve the but overall the revolution there will take American reporter. He caused some sort of that lasted through the night. The snipers crisis, the overthrow of capitalism and the many twists and turns. In November We Remember Comrades of the International Solidarity Movement and 2010 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

Remembering our downed comrades of the International Solidarity Movement and 2010 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza—victims of Israeli bullets and bulldozers while standing with our mutual Palestinian comrades under brutal occupation. We recognize and honor them all by our international union’s stand as the first U.S., and third Canadian union to support the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign To End the Israeli Occupation and Apartheid.

Brave International Freedom Riders fallen in our common struggle:

Rachel Corrie - Deliberately crushed to death by a U.S.-made Caterpillar bulldozer demolishing homes in Rafah, occupied Gaza - March 16th, 2003

Emily Henochowicz - Lost her left eye when hit in the face with a tear gas projectile fired directly at her by an Israeli soldier - May 31, 2010 Qalandiya checkpoint.

Tristan Anderson - Skull penetrated when shot by high velocity U.S. made tear gas canister shot directly at his head at close range - quasi-paralyzed from brain injury. - March 13, 2009, Ni’lin village.

Bassem Abu Rahmah - Killed by U.S. made 40 mm Tear Gas grenade to chest - Bi’lin village, April, 2009

Jawaher Abu Rahmah (Bassem’s sister) - Suffocated by CS tear gas - Bi’lin village, January 1, 2011 [http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3150-is-israel-using-lethal- tear-gas-to-disperse-demonstrations]

Tom Hurndall - Shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, while trying to escort children to safety in Rafah, Gaza - April 11, 2003

Brian Avery - Shot in face by heavy machine gun fire, cheek torn, eye socket and jaw bones smashed - April 5, 2003, Jenin

Furkan Dogan, Ibrahim Bilgen, Ali Haydar Bengi, Cevdet Kiliçlar, Çetin Topçuoglu, Necdet Yildirim, Fahri Yaldiz, Cengiz Songür, Cengiz Akyüz - Shot to death on Mavi Marmara, May 31, 2010 [http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2010/06/putting-names-to-faces.html]

We remember also the millions of Palestinians who have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of the Israeli occupiers.

Klaus Helms, x360805, GLAMROC fw sparrow, x326388, SFBA GMB Page 16 • Industrial Worker • November 2011 Support international solidarity! Assessments for $3 and $6 are available from your delegate or IWW headquarters PO Box 180195 Chicago, IL 60618 The IWW formed the International Solidarity Commission to help the union build USA. the worker-to-worker solidarity that can lead to effective action against the bosses of the world. To contact the ISC, email [email protected]. In November We Remember: Community Blockades Proposed Gas Hub, Wobblies Who Fought For International Solidarity Protects Indigenous Land In Australia By Matt Antosh By Ema Corro In November, Wobblies For over 100 days local resi- around the world take a mo- dents, environmentalists, and ment to remember those broth- Indigenous owners have been ers and sisters killed in the blockading a site for a proposed struggle for workers’ power, gas hub at James Price Point in international solidarity and North-Western Australia. industrial democracy. IWW The $30 billion hub is being members have always held built by a consortium lead by themselves as “citizens of the Woodside Petroleum along with world,” and have spread out shareholders Chevron, Shell, BP across the world to bring the and BHP Billiton. fight to the bosses in every na- The site where the gas hub tion. This article recognizes five is to be built—the Kimberley—is Photo: Lorna Kelly Photo: AP Photo/Courtesy of Dave Smith, from sfgate.com The Manari Road blockade at James Price Point. Fellow Workers who left their This 1937 photo shows members of the Abraham untouched wilderness on in- homes and gave their lives in Lincoln Brigade in Jarama, Spain. digenous land. It has many endangered The blockade managed to hold off all work Spain and Chile. species, including a population of bil- on the site for 30 days, until at least 70 Henrich Bortz: Fellow Worker Bortz Frank Terrugi: Terrugi was a jour- bies living in one of the areas scheduled police officers attacked the blockade and was a German-born member of the IWW nalist and Chicago IWW member killed for clearing. It is a breeding ground for arrested 25 people, including indigenous branch in Seattle. Bortz was thrown into a by a U.S.-backed military during a coup humpback whales and there are dugongs, owners, in an attempt to get a large convoy concentration camp by the Nazis, but was d’état in Santiago, Chile. In September sharks and sea turtles, which will all be of Woodside vehicles through. There have able to escape to Denmark and then to 1973, days after the coup d’état, Terrugi endangered from underwater blasting also been protests in the nearby town of Sweden. After getting involved in Swedish was seized by the Chilean military and and dredging as well as potential oil spills. Broome, with 5,000 residents (out of the labor struggles, he was again captured in taken to the National Stadium in Santiago, Dinosaur prints 130 million years old have town’s 18,000) attending a rally against Sweden by Nazis, but the Swedish govern- which had been turned into an ad hoc been found near the site. The hub will be the hub. Protests and other solidarity ment refused to deport him. He made his concentration camp where prisoners were a major greenhouse polluter with conser- events are happening in other parts of way to Spain during the Spanish Civil War interrogated, tortured and executed. For vative estimates suggesting it would emit the country. and joined the Durruti International Shock many years thereafter, the U.S. govern- 15 million tons of greenhouse gases per Woodside and the Western Australian Battalion. Bortz was killed in Spain, and ment steadfastly maintained its ignorance year. It is also feared that the development government have used numerous illegal his obituary appeared in the Industrial of the killing and torture of Americans in will open up the rest of the Kimberley to tactics and dirty tricks to try to push the Worker on Oct. 23, 1937. Chile. It was only in October 1999 that a industrialization, as has already happened hub through. Indigenous owners were Lou Walsh: Possibly a nom de guerre document was released which admitted in the nearby Pibara region. bullied and tricked into signing off on the of Louis Rosenberg or vice-versa, Lou that U.S. intelligence agents played a role The area is of great importance to local deal. A Kimberley Land Council meeting Walsh, at the age of 24, joined the IWW IU in the deaths of these Americans. indigenous people who have lived in the voted in favor of the proposal 164 to 108 120 - Timber Workers Industrial Union, at This is only a partial list. As many region for at least 28,000 years. There are in a deal which promised $1 billion in Port Arthur, Ontario. He took part in the of the names we know—the Joe Hills, numerous sacred sites in the area, includ- compensation. However, the notice call- Thunder Bay strike of 1934 and the Algoma The Saccos and the Vanzettis—there are ing some which are closed sites—meaning ing the meeting gave no indication that a district strike of 1935. Walsh joined the thousands of unionists killed whose names they are so sacred that even their exact decision was to be made to sign off on the Durruti International Shock Battalion in will never be recorded. But as the Woody GPS position in not available. The hub deal, and many traditional owners were Spain and was killed in action on June Guthrie song goes: will destroy the Lurujarri Songline—a not present for the vote. Worst of all, the 16, 1937. “Every new grave brings trail which follows the paths taken by decision was made under threat by the Ted Dickerson: An Australian by a thousand new ones Dreamtime beings as they created the government that if the deal was refused it birth, Dickerson was active in Melbourne, Every new grave brings land. By singing the song cycles, people would compulsorily acquire the land, leav- Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. He joined a thousand members navigate across the land, sacred places, ing the indigenous owners with nothing. the IWW in 1923 and edited the Austra- Way over in that laws, ceremonies, places to find food and Bushfires have been used as a cover lian IWW paper, Direct Action. In Spain, union burying ground water—everything needed for life are en- for land clearing and to get rid of bil- Dickerson was captured and executed by Every new grave brings coded into them. bies—whose existence may have resulted the fascists. a thousand brothers The blockade began on June 7 to stop in a halt to land clearing—and suspicious Raymond Albert Steele: An IWW Every new grave brings the clearing of the area, which illegally fires have been lit in the area. A police boat seaman, Steele was considered one of a thousand sisters began without permission from the En- was spotted running over a whale in what the best soldiers of the Abraham Lincoln To the union in that vironment Protection Agency. Protestors appeared to be an attempt to drive it away Battalion and one of the best machine union burying ground.” formed a human chain across the road to from the area; witnesses to the bizarre gunners of the Tom Mooney Machine Gun Note: Information on those killed in the stop bulldozers getting through while oth- incident were later targeted and arrested Company. He was killed on July 15, 1937, Spanish Civil War comes from the Anar- ers locked onto bulldozers, and a car with at the blockade. Protestors have been during the Battle of Brunete. cho-Syndicalist Review, Issues #42/43. no wheels appeared further down the road. subjected to all kinds of intimidation, in- cluding arrests and surveillance. Teachers who attended the blockade had their jobs threatened. The deep divisions created in Subscribe to the Industrial Worker the indigenous and Broome communities Subscribe or renew your Industrial Worker have also been played upon with the gov- subscription. ernment spreading false rumors of racism by protestors. Give a gift that keeps on giving!

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