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WINTER 2016 #1776 VOLUME 113 NO. 1 $4 (U.S. IWW members) / $6 (U.S. non-members) / $8 (International)

BOSTON, 1942: PICKETING WORKERS, MOSTLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN, LAUNDRY WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 135. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

CoverSpread-DK.indd 1 2/5/2016 2:15:06 PM 2 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 IWW DIRECTORY IWW Contract Shops Queensland Secretary: Dave Pike, secretary@ Lithuania: lithuania.iww@gmail. Kentucky Syracuse IWW: [email protected] California Brisbane GMB: P.O. Box 5842, West iww.org.uk com Kentucky GMB: Mick Parsons, Upstate NY GMB: P.O. Box 77, End, Qld 4101. Asger, del., hap- Southern England Organiser: Nikki Netherlands: [email protected] Secretary Treasurer, papamick.iww@ Altamont, 12009. 518-861-5627. San Francisco Bay Area GMB: [email protected]. Dancey, [email protected] gmail.com. 502-658-0299 P.O. Box 11412, Berkeley, 94712. Norway IWW: 004793656014. [email protected] 510-845-0540. [email protected]. Victoria Tech Committee: [email protected] [email protected]. http://www. Louisiana Utica IWW: Brendan Maslauskas Contact for: Berkeley Ecology Center Melbourne GMB: P.O. Box 145, Training Department: Chair - Chris iwwnorge.org, www.facebook.com/ Louisiana IWW: John Mark Crowder, Dunn, del., 315-240-3149. (Curbside) Recycling - IU 670 IWW Moreland, VIC 3058. melbourne- Wellbrook, [email protected] iwwnorge. Twitter: @IWWnorge del, [email protected]. https:// Ohio Shop; Community Conservation [email protected]. Treasurer: Jed Forward, treasurer@ United States www.facebook.com/groups/iwwof- Northeast Ohio GMB: P.O. Box 1096, Centers (Buyback) Recycling – IU Canada iww.org.uk Alabama nwlouisiana/ Cleveland, 44114. 440-941-0999 670 – IWW Shop; Stone Mountain IWW Canadian Regional Organizing West of Scotland Organiser: Rona Mobile: Jimmy Broadhead, del., P.O. Maine Ohio Valley GMB: P.O. Box 6042, & Daughters fabrics - IU 410 IWW Committee (CANROC): c/o Toronto McAlpine, westscotland@iww. Box 160073, 36616. [email protected] Maine IWW: 207-619-0842. maine@ Cincinnati 45206, 513- 510-1486, Shop; Embarcadero Center Cinemas GMB, P.O. Box 45 Toronto P, Toronto org.uk Tuscaloosa: Gerald Lunn. 205-245- iww.org, www.southernmaineiww. [email protected] - IU 630 IWW Shop ON, M5S 2S6. [email protected] org Women’s Officer: Jen Fox, women@ 4622. [email protected] Sweet Patches Screenprinting: Oregon Alberta iww.org.uk Alaska Maryland [email protected] Portland GMB: 2249 E Burnside St., Edmonton GMB: P.O. Box 4197, ERA Branches Fairbanks GMB: P. O. Box 80101, Baltimore GMB: P.O. Box 33350, Oklahoma 97214, 503-231-5488. portland. T6E 4T2. [email protected], Clydeside GMB: clydeside@iww. 99708. Chris White, del., 907- 21218. [email protected] [email protected], portlandiww.org. edmonton.iww.ca. org.uk Oklahoma IWW: 539-664-6769. 457-2543, [email protected]. Massachusetts [email protected] Contact for: Libra Knowledge and British Columbia Cymru/Wales GMB: caerdydd@ Facebook: IWW Fairbanks Boston Area GMB: P.O. Box 391724, Information Services Co-op; Janus Vancouver GMB: P.O. Box 2503 iww.org.uk Arkansas Oregon Youth Shelters. Cambridge, 02139. 617-863-7920, Vancouver Main, V6B 3W7. 604-732- Edinburgh GMB: edinburgh@iww. Northwest Arkansas IWW: P.O. Box [email protected], www. Lane GMB: Ed Gunderson, del., 541- Washington 9613. [email protected]. org.uk 4062, Fayetteville, 72702-4062.iww. IWWBoston.org 743-5681. [email protected], www. Seattle GMB: 1122 E. Pike #1142 www.vancouveriww.com Tyne & Wear GMB: tyneandwear@ [email protected] Western Mass. Public Service IU iwwlane.org Seattle, WA 98122-3934. 206-429- Vancouver Island GMB: Box 297 St. Portland GMB: 2249 E Burnside St., iww.org.uk California 650 Branch: IWW, P.O. Box 1581, 5285. [email protected]. A, Nanaimo BC, V9R 5K9. iwwvi@ Bradford GMB: [email protected] Northampton, 01061 97214, 503-231-5488. portland. Contact for: Central Co-op telus.net. Los Angeles GMB: P.O. Box 74344, [email protected], portlandiww.org Manitoba Leeds GMB: IWW, Ebor Court, Cooper 90004. 323-374-3499. iwwgmbla@ Michigan Gate, Leeds. [email protected] gmail.com Detroit GMB: P.O. Box 32236, 48209. Pennsylvania IWW Shop Cards Winnipeg GMB: IWW, c/o WORC, Manchester GMB: manchester@ Sacramento IWW: 916-672-8881, [email protected]. Pittsburgh GMB: P.O. Box P.O. Box 1, R3C 2G1. 204-299-5042, iww.org.uk [email protected] 5912,15210. 412-894-0558. Anarpsy-Mental Health Services – [email protected] Grand Rapids GMB: P.O. Box 6629, [email protected] Piraeus, Greece: [email protected] Sheffield GMB: IWW Office, SYAC, San Diego IWW: 619-630-5537, 49516. 616-881-5263. griww@ New Brunswick iww.org Rhode Island Baltimore Bicycle Works: 1813 Falls Fredericton: frederictoniww. 120 Wicker, Sheffield S3 8JD (0114 [email protected] Road. Baltimore, MD 21201. www. wordpress.com 223 2100). [email protected] San Francisco Bay Area GMB: P.O. Box Central Michigan: 5007 W. Columbia Providence GMB: P.O. Box 23067, baltimorebicycleworks.com/about Norwich Bar and Hospitality Workers 11412, Berkeley, 94712. 510-845- Rd., Mason 48854. 517-676-9446, 02903. 401-484-8523. providence@ Ontario IUB 640: [email protected] 0540. [email protected] [email protected] iww.org Evergreen Printing: 2412 Palmetto Ottawa-Outaouais GMB & GDC Local Street, Oakland, CA. 510-482-4547, 6: 1106 Wellington St., P.O. Box Nottingham GMB: [email protected] San Jose: SouthBayIWW@gmail. Minnesota Tennessee [email protected] 36042, Ottawa, K1Y 4V3. ott-out@ West Midlands GMB: IWW, Bike com, www.facebook.com/SJSV.IWW Duluth IWW: P.O. Box 3232, 55803. Mid-Tennessee IWW: Jonathan Lakeside Printing Cooperative: 1334 iww.org, [email protected] Foundry, 1539 Pershore Rd, Birming- Colorado [email protected] Beasley, del., 218 S 3rd St. Apt. Williamson Street, Madison WI. 608- Ottawa Panhandlers Union: ham B30 2JH (0121 459 7276). Denver GMB: IWW, P.O. Box 12451, Twin Cities GMB: 2 E. Franklin 7-6, Clarksville, 37040. beasleyj@ 255-1800, www.lakesidepress.org Raymond Loomer, interim delegate, [email protected] Denver, 80212. 814-758-7761. Ave Suite. 1, Minneapolis, 55406. apsu.edu MoonDog’s Edibles: 54 East 200 [email protected] Bristol GMB: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Texas North, Salt Lake City, UT Peterborough: c/o PCAP, 393 Water Reading GMB: [email protected] Connecticut Missouri Houston: Gus Breslauer, del., North Country Food Alliance: 770 St. #17, K9H 3L7, 705-749-9694. London GMB: [email protected] Connecticut: John W., del., 914-258- Greater Kansas City IWW: P.O. Box [email protected]. Facebook: Hamline Ave. N., St. Paul, MN. Sean Carleton, del., 705-775-0663, 0941. [email protected] 414304, Kansas City 64141. Houston IWW 612-568-4585. northcountryfoodal- [email protected] Belgium liance.org Belgium IWW: [email protected] DC 816-866-3808. greaterkciww@ Rio Grande Valley, South Texas IWW: Toronto GMB: P.O. Box 45, Toronto P, gmail.com P.O. Box 5456 McAllen, Texas 78502. P & L Printing: 2727 W. 27th Ave., M5S 2S6. 647-741-4998. toronto@ German Language Area Washington DC GMB: P.O. Box 1303, Denver, CO. [email protected] 20013. 202-630-9620. dc.iww. St. Louis IWW: P.O. Box 63142, Greg, del., 956-278-5235 or Marco, iww.org. www.torontoiww.org IWW German Language Area [email protected]. www.dciww.org, 63163. Secretary: stl.iww.secre- del., 979-436-3719. iwwrgv@riseup. Paper Crane Press: 2 New Rd, Aston, Windsor GMB: c/o WWAC, 328 Pelis- Regional Organizing Committee www.facebook.com/dciww [email protected]. Treasurer: stl.iww. net. www.facebook.com/IWWRGV PA. 610-358-9496, papercrane- sier St., N9A 4K7. 519-564-8036. (GLAMROC): [email protected]. [email protected] Utah [email protected]. www. [email protected]. http:// www.wobblies.org Florida papercranepress.com windsoriww.wordpress.com Gainesville GMB: c/o Civic Media Montana Salt Lake City: Michael Garcia, del., Austria (Vienna): iwwaustria@ 801-891-5706, iwwmoondog@ Pedal Power Press: P.O. Box 3232 Québec gmail.com, wien@wobblies. Center, 433 S. Main St., 32601. Construction Workers IU 330: Duluth, MN 55802. www.pedal- at. http://wobblies.org. www. [email protected], www. Dennis Georg, del., 406-490-3869, gmail.com. [email protected] Montreal GMB: cp 60124, Montréal, gainesvilleiww.org [email protected] powerpress.com QC, H2J 4E1. 514-268-3394. iww_ facebook.com/pages/IWW- Vermont Phoenix Health PLC: FW Jeffrey Shea [email protected] Wien/381153168710911 Hobe Sound: P. Shultz, 8274 SE Pine Missoula IWW: Diane Keefauver, Burlington: John MacLean, del., Jones #102- 3237 Hennepin Ave. S, Berlin: Offenes Treffen jeden 2.Mon- Circle, 33455-6608. 772-545-9591, 1250 34th Street #D202, 59801. 802-540-2561 Europe [email protected] 406-531-0601 Minneapolis, MN. 612-501-6897 tag im Monat im Cafe Commune, Virginia Primal Screens Screen Printing: European Regional Administration Reichenberger Str.157, 10999 Berlin, Orlando: Joey Leach, del., 978-424- Two Rivers IWW: Jim Del Duca, del., 1127 SE 10th Ave. #160, Portland, (ERA): P.O. Box 7593, Glasgow, 18 Uhr. (U-Bahnhof Kottbusser 8758. [email protected]. 106 Paisley Court, Apt. I, Bozeman Richmond IWW: P.O. Box G42 2EX. www.iww.org.uk. 0800 Tor). Postadresse: IWW Berlin, c/o Facebook: OrlandoIWW 59715. 406-599-2463. delducja@ 7055, 23221. 804-496-1568. OR. 503-267-1372, primalscreens@ [email protected], www. gmail.com 998 9149 Rotes Antiquariat, Rungestr. 20, South Florida GMB: P.O. Box 370457, gmail.com ERA Organisation Contacts 10179 Berlin, Germany. berlin@ Nebraska richmondiww.org Profession Roofcare: 708 13th Bell- wobblies.org 33137. 305-894-6515. miami@iww. ingham, WA 98225. 360-734-974, Access Facilitator: Sue Fortune, org, http://iwwmiami.wordpress. Nebraska GMB: P.O. Box 27811, Washington [email protected]. [email protected] Bremen: [email protected]. com. Facebook: Miami IWW Bremerton: Gordon Glick, del., www.iww-bremen.org Ralston, 68127. nebraskagmb@iww. Red Emma’s Bookstore Co-op: 30 W. Central England Organiser: Russ Tallahassee: www.facebook.com/ org. www.nebraskaiww.org [email protected] Spring, [email protected] Cologne/Koeln GMB: c/o IwwTallahassee Olympia: Dylan Brooks, del., North Avenue, Baltimore, MD. 410- Allerweltshaus, Koernerstr. 77-79, Nevada 230-0450, [email protected] Communications Department, 50823 Koeln, Germany. cologne1@ Georgia Reno GMB: P.O. Box 12173, 89510. [email protected] Red Lion Press - British Columbia, Chair - Xav Bear, communications@ wobblies.org. www.iwwcologne. Atlanta GMB: P.O. Box 5390, 31107. Paul Lenart, del., 775-513-7523, Seattle GMB: 1122 E. Pike #1142 Canada: [email protected] iww.org.uk wordpress.com 678-964-5169, [email protected], [email protected] 98122-3934. 206-429-5285. Sweet Patches Screenprinting: Cymru/Wales Organiser: Peter Frankfurt a.M. GMB: Frankfurt@ www.atliww.org IU 520 Railroad Workers: Ron [email protected]. Jess Grant, [email protected] Davies, [email protected] wobblies.org. http://Frankfurt. Idaho Kaminkow, del., P.O. Box 2131, del., [email protected] Worth’s Lawn Care and More: 2 East of Scotland Organiser: Carol Wobblies.org Boise: Ritchie Eppink, del., P.O. Box Reno, 89505. 608-358-5771. Spokane: P.O. Box 30222, 99223. Sandalwood Dr., Davenport, FL. Ince, [email protected] Hamburg-Waterkant: hamburg@ 453, 83701. 208-371-9752, eppink@ [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Legal Officer: Guy Mitchel, Legal@ wobblies.org gmail.com New Jersey Whatcom-Skagit GMB: IW- iww.org.uk Kassel: Rothe Ecke, Naumburger Str. Illinois Central New Jersey GMB: P.O. Box [email protected]. www. IWW Branches & London Regional Organiser: Tawa- 20a, 34127 Kassel. kontakt@wobblies- Chicago: Christopher Preciado, 10021, New Brunswick, 08906. 732- bellinghamiww.com. Facebook: Local/Regional Contacts nda Nyabango kassel.de. www.wobblies-kassel.de del., 470-326-6531. X363823@ 692-3491. [email protected]. Whatcom-Skagit IWW. Emily John- Membership Administrator: Philip Leipzig: [email protected] gmail.com Bob Ratynski, del., 908-285-5426. Martin, del., emily.john.martin@ Asia LeMarque, membership@iww. www.newjerseyiww.org gmail.com Taiwan org.uk Munich: [email protected] Indiana New Mexico Wisconsin Rostock: iww-rostock@systemausfall. Taiwan IWW: c/o David Temple, Merchandise Committee: merchan- org. iwwrostock.blogsport.eu Indiana GMB: iwwindiana@gmail. Albuquerque GMB: [email protected] Madison GMB: P.O. Box 2442, 53701- 4 Floor, No. 3, Ln. 67, Shujing St., [email protected] com. Facebook: Indiana IWW 2442. www.madison.iww.org Switzerland: [email protected] New York Beitun Dist., Taichung City 40641 Northern Regional Organiser: Sam Iowa Madison Infoshop (I.U. 620): c/o Taiwan. 098-937-7029. taIW- Greece New York City GMB: 45-02 23rd [email protected] Frowien, [email protected] Eastern Iowa IWW: 319-333-2476. Street, Suite #2, Long Island Rainbow Bookstore, 426 W. Gilman, Organising Department: Chair - Greece IWW: [email protected] [email protected] City,11101. [email protected]. 53703. 608-260-0900. madinfos- Australia Tawanda Nyabango, organising@ Iceland: Heimssamband Kansas www.wobblycity.org hop.wordpress.com/ New South Wales iww.org.uk Verkafólks / IWW Iceland, Reykja- Wichita: Richard Stephenson, Starbucks Campaign: iwwstar- Milwaukee GMB: P.O. Box 342294, Sydney GMB: IWW-Sydney-gmb@ Research and Survey Department: víkurakademíunni 516, Hringbraut del., 620-481-1442. barfolumu@ [email protected], www. 53234. [email protected]. iww.org.au. [email protected] 121,107 Reykjavík gmail.com starbucksunion.org 630-415-7315

Contents IWW DIRECTORY ORGANIZING & WINNING Twin Cities IWW’s Sisters Camelot Canvass 6 Union stays strong in a three-year struggle

International Women’s DaY Remembering the women who perished in the 8 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Black History month Remembering a long history of U.S.-led 10 racist oppression

Fighting Back Workers achieve power fighting against 12 police brutality and racist terror

InTernational Solidarity One Wobbly’s journey to the heart of 16 Zapatista territory

Industrial Worker Editor & Designer: Periodicals postage paid Chicago, IL. Diane Krauthamer Postmaster: Send address changes to IW, [email protected] P.O. Box 180195, Chicago, IL 60618 USA

Art Director/Cover Art: The Voice of Revolutionary Industrial Unionism Matt Zito Subscriptions Electronic subscription for IWW members: Free Official newspaper of the Proofreaders: Annual print subscription rate: - U.S. IWW members: $16 USD Industrial Workers Blaise Farina, Bill O’Connor, Matt Dube, - Regular U.S. subscriptions: $20 USD of the World Neil Parthun, Chris Heffner, X374942, Post Office Box 180195 Stanton Hancock - ALL international subscriptions: $28 USD Chicago, IL 60618 USA Annual bundle subscription of 5 copies (20 total): 773.728.0996 • [email protected] Printer: - U.S. subs: $60 USD www.iww.org Sommers and Fahrenbach, Inc. - International subs: $80 USD Chicago, IL Published quarterly in the fall, winter, IWW General Secretary-Treasurer: Next deadline is summer and spring. Randall L. Jamrok April 1, 2016

IWW General Executive Board: U.S. IW mailing address: Articles not so designated do not reflect K. Maria Parrotta, Adam K. Jones, DJ IW, Post Office Box 180195, the IWW’s official position. Alperovitz, Mitchel Runnels, shugE Mis- Chicago, IL 60618 sissippi, Brandon Sowers ISSN 0019-8870 Press Date: February 8, 2016 4 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Upstate NY IWW holds Black Friday action at Walmart By Gregory Giorgio On Nov. 27, 2015, members of the Upstate New York IWW participated in a Black Friday action at a Walmart store in Rotterdam, NY. This was in solidarity with a national day of action at Walmart. We passed out copies of our Black Cat Moan English translation of newsletter and even delivered one to store man- agement. We stood with a banner until we were Spanish CNT text now thrown off the property, wherein we stood on the available to all Wobblies public sidewalk on the adjacent street. A news

photographer from The Daily Gazette took some Photo: Gregory Giorgio “If our syndical action is weak, this is, in pictures of us, too. Wobblies protest Walmart on Black Friday. short, on the account of intellectual laziness.” - Syndicalist Atheneum in Spain to the Second Check out the wonderfully-disobedient Bryan McPherson Catalonian Workers’ Congress, 1910 By X331980 punk rocker Louise Distras. In If you have not yet heard an interview, he told me he grew Due to the fact that I still haven’t come up listening to The Clash (and across an English translation of the Spanish of Bryan McPherson, you may want to listen to his wonderfully that really shows in his music), Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT)’s and to an eclectic mix of Guns resolution “Confederal Concept of Libertar- disobedient music, as I did this past fall at a very special concert. and Roses, Patsy Cline, Sex Pis- ian Communism,” I have translated it and Bryan McPherson played tols and Celtic tunes. Although made it accessible to IWW members. You can his gritty, incendiary songs at his music is also clearly influ- access it from Scribd by visiting http://bit. the Joe Hill centennial concert enced by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, ly/1KdMzA7, or emailing me for the transla- in Salt Lake City, Utah, in and Woody Guthrie, it is (as tion at [email protected]. November 2015. He rocked the far as I can tell) more explicitly I regard the confederal concept as an house. That was the first time I revolutionary than theirs is. On instructive document of relevance to all syn- heard McPherson, and he blew “Days of Rage” he sings: dicalists, anarchists, and ecologists today that me away with his intensity and, “…There’s no freedom of should inspire us in the IWW to create our well, with his “Wobbliness.” speech in the land of the sheep own similar sketches of revolution and of how McPherson might be called a And if you really want the news society will probably look when we put our bit folksy, but he ain’t no Judy then look to the streets Photo: Jason Stone, bryanmcpherson.com ideas into practice. Collins, Bob Dylan or Phil Bryan McPherson performing. In the sidewalk and the sand, the I recommend attempting to illustrate the Ochs; and yet his early exposure cracks and disasters significance of our ideas from confederal, to punk rock is really obvious. A self-described Pawns in the hand of the propaganda of the eco-regional, local, and workplace perspectives “troubadour,” he plays music dealing with the dark masters in the spirit of the example laid forth in the side and hardships of life on the streets and in the And we bleed the blood of the workers of the confederal concept. workplaces of America. He is enraged with the world Special emphasis should be laid on ugliness of capitalism. In his song “I See a Flag,” We toil and labor and hand over the pearls establishing our own theories of revolution; he extols rebellion by singing “let’s start a fucking In a broken system the snake will eat itself precisely, what social forces and institutions riot on the White House Lawn.” Not surprisingly, How can I go to heaven if I’m living in hell.” should be in place when we instigate revolu- the Disney Company banned him from the stage “I’m a sponge,” he told me. “I just go out in Anaheim, Calif. in 2014 for his “anti-police tion or take advantage of a situation to dissolve and live in the world and soak things up and spit views and drugs insinuation.” the state, the police, the capitalists, and the things out…the revolutionary thing, it’s what Often with mouth harp ready to go, he plays draws my attention. I got into thinking about other exploiters’ and dominators’ who rule an energetic yet beautiful acoustic guitar. His voice revolution and change and the revolving nature of over us in our localities. is clear and lyrics are sharp. His stage presence is With articulated finalities and goals, I dynamic, walking around and engaging with the nature. America is a country founded on revolu- think we can better explain the potential audience, as anyone can see from his latest album tion and now it is not portrayed that way at all. significance of the IWW and illustrate the “Wedgewood.” The country has evolved into a place that needs beautiful and harmonious possibilities of syn- McPherson grew up in Dorchester, a working another revolution.” dicalism, anarchism, and ecology in the world class neighborhood in Boston. He now lives in Though not a member of IWW, McPherson we inhabit today. Los Angeles when not on the road playing at small first heard of our union while playing in Gaines- Furthermore, with more clarity, we can venues all over North America. Before engaging ville, Fla. a couple years ago and again on the same be on better guard to prevent the IWW from in the life of a musician, which for him entailed tour when he met Duncan Phillips (son of the late swimming in circles and from partaking in living life on the road and in his van, McPherson Wobbly Utah Phillips) in Denver, Colo. IWWs activities that do not contribute to creating the had “tons of shitty jobs: dishwasher, musical in- and fans of rockin’ protest music should take in cultural, moral, and organizational conditions strument cleaner, carpet cleaner, construction, car his show when he comes around. Sample his tunes necessary for an instigated revolution. sales, bartender, waiter, etc.” and support this guy. He’s about as good as they X363823 In 2015, McPherson toured Europe twice, first come. You can hear Bryan’ McPherson s music San Antonio, Texas opening for the Boston-based Celtic punk band and find out when he is playing near you on his Dropkick Murphys and then touring with London website: http://bryanmcpherson.com.

By Hybachi LeMar To thejuveniles confinedthroughoutamerika which istrue—freedom shouldnever bea“privi- it’s a “privilege” foryou. In fact,itistheopposite believing thatfreedom isn’t ahumanrightandthat tobrainwash your preciousyou mindinto try that we’re fightingtofree! ourselves individuallyandasanoutcastedsociety so thatwe maybandtogetherforfreedom within like you and I,whothegovernment hasrejected, purpose tohelpothersandunifywiththose and healthytohave apositive purposeinlife.A is tolive without aneffect. It’s highlyimportant in. One thing forsure isthattolive withoutacause andthatyouto your cansurely heart findstrength Knowledge that’s foryou toholdclose important that thoseinauthoritywon’t dare toteachyou. movementtionary wouldlikeyou toknow. Things that othersofthesameagehave funenjoying. far, farawayfrom family, friendsandfrom thejoys “jumped in.” To notbeunderstoodby othersand restrained by grown-ups andtobe jumpedonand it feelsliketosufferthefeelingofloneliness,be sleep. Yes, Iknow too,dearyoung comrade,what many nightswhenI’d, myselfto inprivate, cry that thesystemlockedmeinsideof. There were who couldn’t seemtoquitefitinanyinstitution misfit in various juvenile placements.Iwasaloner We grew upfastinamerikaatanearlyage! (especially ifyou’re Black orLatino)ourchildhood. signs intheireyes andit’s costingmanychildren big businessfor Wall Street hustlerswithdollar words, they’re rearing you fortheBig House. It’s and under-paidprisonworkers forprofit. In other nomic systemthatimprisonsmillionsofunpaid to become“institutionalized slaves” ofaneco- Latino &poorwhites)assurrogate (fake)parents the systemraisesmanyofus(especiallyBlack, the staffat your facilitycanadmittothatmuch. up inanadultprison.Even theleasthonestamong youth confinedinjuvenile facilitiesinamerikaend are extremely high. admit toyou thatyour chancesofbecomingone prisoner afteryour juvenile bid,they’ll mostlikely at whattheoddsare ofyou yourself becomea if you askanycounselorwhere you’re confined “juvenile justicesystem” doesn’t work. In fact, the future andyou’re muchLOVED. very the generationofamerika’s rejected youth—you are stand infront ofyour doorsatcourt-time. Yes, you, and whoare ordered tomakeyour own cutsand me, wasn’t bornwithasilver spooninyour mouth venile placementsacross amerika. To you who,like Never letthosewhohave legalauthorityover There are thingsthat afew we ofthe revolu - I, too,spentmostofmyyounger years asa What theymaynottellyou, however, isthat According tostatistics,between 80-90percent of And they’re right! It doesn’t takeageniustoseethattheso-called To thecast-awayed youth lockeddown inju-

over you have lied toyou andhow behind lock-n- yourself how many timesthosewhohave power agitated, mis-educatedandincarcerated. Think for inblindfaith. rules obedience andtobasicallyfollow oneoftheir every ents, teachersandeven priests,withunquestioned conditioned tosubmitthelaw, toobeyourpar- realizing itformostofourlives. We were slowly been slaves (inonewayoranother)withouteven A lighthouseofourown! tively and individually becomeourown overseers. refusing over torule andmasterothers—we collec- overing otherstorule andmasterus—andinour frankly aviolentandplayed-out idea.In ourreject- We inanyformiswrong believeandis thatslavery and where there’s noslave there canbenomaster. large! the cops,we know how freer we’d beasapeopleat and ifsocietycalledonthecommunityinsteadof you growing up, andifyou were listened-tomore live andwe learn.If conditionswere different for lack ofreligious) belief. Such are lessonsoflife. We age,raceandreligious one ofus,from (or every we couldtakebackbutobviously cannot—every soldier, oneofushasmadechoiceswe wish every with openarms! into ourworldwidestruggle your voice andwho are ever-ready toembraceyou of caringpeoplewho’ll never turnadeafearto they’ve sentencedyou to,aworldwidemovement larger thanthebootcampsandjuvenile prisons you’re notalone!There’s movement a revolutionary ignored you andthejudgeshave rejected you— may have beatenyou andalthoughsocietyhas your situationmaybe—thatthoughyour parents society, freedom isahumanright! lege” inafree society. On thecontrary, inafree We seehow farthat’s gottenus,however: Naturally, thisdoesn’t comeovernight. We’ve Where there isnotmaster, there isnoslave, It’s thatyou understand,young important We wouldalsolikeyou toknow thatwhatever

newsletter, niles (aswell asadults)tobeconsidered intoour toall. tooneisaninjury belief thataninjury here andprotect you tosupport andupholdthe Organizing Committee—forwe acceptyou, are young rebel, inIWOC—the Incarcerated Workers slam you when theyrestrain you? Thenjoinus, their lawnswithnopay, likefieldslaves? Do they they makeyou vacuum theirofficersand mow make you spend hourstrimmingtheirbushes?Do ACCEPT YOU.WE ing personyou cangrow andmature tobecome. watch how rapidlyyou develop intothefree-think- Exercise your righttospeakandaskquestions ask specificquestions receive specificanswers. thattheoneswho cannot befed,italsoholdstrue foryou todoso.important Just asaclosedmouth talk backtothem,letthemknow thatit’s, infact, back toyour parents andiftheytellyou notto system triestoslaponthewristsofyour mind. Talk our mindsandspirittoquestionauthority. we openourmouthstospeak,it’s alsohealthyfor just becauseyou’re apre-teen or ateenager. deny you ofthisrightsimplybecauseyour age, right asitisacivilone,andnoonehastheto can’t, however, fakeittomakeforever. for themjusttorelease you untoprobation! We key theydrive you to “fake ittomakeit” inorder United States Kansas City, MO64141 P.O. Box 414304 Attn: IWOC Greater KansasCityIWW canbesenttousat: All lettersandartwork We andwritingsfrom acceptallartwork juve - Does thestaffatjuvenile facility you’re in WRITE US&JOIN THE MOVEMENT, Question authorityandunlockthecuffs Just asitisforustothinkbefore asimportant The righttofree speechisasmuchahuman SPEAK TRUTHPOWER! TO Industrial Worker 2016 •Winter Industrial

The IncarceratedThe Worker. 5 Photo: IWOC 6 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Twin Cities IWW’s Sisters Camelot Canvass Union stays strong in a three-year struggle

By shugE Mississippi 2013 was an exciting and rocky year for the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the IWW. The fundraising canvass workers at the Minnesota-based non-profit Sisters’ Camelot publicly announced their affiliation with the IWW. These workers, calling ourselves the Sisters Camelot Canvass Union (SCCU), went on strike less than one week after going public. This was the first actual strike campaign by Wobblies in Minnesota since the chartering of the current membership branch, and it caused quite a stir in the local leftist scenery. That strike put into motion a series of events that are still making waves today—the most recent being a 2015 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which may end up being the precedent that extends cer- tain labor rights to workers being exploited in the Photo: SCCU United States as independent contractors—from IWW Sisters Camelot Canvass Union in 2013. Uber drivers to construction laborers. This campaign is now almost three years old North Country Food Alliance is also an officially- union made an offer of a package deal to the man- and remains ongoing, with workers still on strike, recognized IWW shop that is democratically run agement. This deal took all demands regarding an IWW worker-run organization being created, by its workers who are all IWW members. pay and benefits off the table, leaving only eight an ongoing public boycott, and bosses losing legal When the strike began, the managing col- terms of unionization. These eight terms would battles with the NLRB. lective engaged in an aggressive union-busting have simply given the workers more workplace Here’s a recap and an update of the campaign campaign—including character assassination of democracy and more control over their immedi- to refresh memories and tell the story to those of myself, and many public statements full of lies ate work environment. The management refused you who are just reading about it for the first time: about the facts of our unionization and manage- this offer to end the strike, publicly exposing their After months of consensus-based organizing, ment’s refusal to negotiate. One source of contro- bitterly anti-union stance which would ultimately the canvass workers at Sisters’ Camelot went pub- versy surrounding this campaign was the fact that ruin them. lic on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. On Friday, March a group of class traitors (who called themselves Soon after management refused the package 1, the union met with the managing collective to “anarchists”) acted as a free union-busting firm deal, the NLRB made a decision that the firing of begin negotiations—only to be forced to go on and coordinated the aggressive campaign on behalf a striking union member was illegal. The NLRB strike when management flatly refused to negoti- of the bosses at Sisters’ Camelot. offered the management a settlement to end legal ate with the union. A small group of self-proclaimed green anar- proceedings, which would include rehiring me and On Monday, March 4, the union workers at- chists and insurrectionists in Minnesota accused paying back-pay. tended the managing collective’s weekly meeting, the IWW members of creating a rift in the local Instead of accepting the settlement offer from hoping to restart negotiations. At this meeting radical community—when in fact a rift that was the NLRB, the Sisters’ Camelot managing col- the managing collective publicly fired one of the already there was simply exposed publicly. This rift lective began working with a known right-wing striking union members (myself) in retaliation for union organizing and offered some concessions existed because a small number of self-proclaimed union-busting lawyer named John C. Hauge to to the other workers if they would abandon their radicals had no meaningful class analysis or sense fight the decision in court. union. of working-class solidarity. This was exposed pub- The case was taken before an administrative The workers stayed strong in their solidarity licly when the self-proclaimed “radicals” chose to law judge on June 6 and 7, 2013, who decided and refused the management’s union-busting offer, side with bosses over workers fighting for dignity. that Sisters’ Camelot canvassers were correctly setting into motion a campaign that would end up As happens too often in the non-profit sector, classified as independent contractors and therefore crippling the organization—even forcing the bosses the bosses collected salaries while hard-working are not protected by the National Labor Relations to stop paying themselves and get jobs elsewhere. fundraisers were often paid less than minimum Act. Thus, although Sisters’ Camelot clearly en- This strike also set into motion what would wage as independent contractors. These bosses gaged in union-busting behavior, technically their eventually be the birth of the North Country claimed to be pro-union, but proved otherwise actions were not illegal, according to this verdict. Food Alliance, a food justice non-profit corpora- when their own employees tried to exercise the The Minneapolis NLRB disagreed, believing tion that now provides livable-wage jobs to many basic right to collective bargaining. that Sisters’ Camelot canvassers were misclassified of the striking workers from that struggle. The After several weeks of being on strike, the as independent contractors and should be treated

7 as employees under the eyes of the law. The case the 2014 May Day Festival, was endorsed by local for 30 minutes or so, the bosses’ union-busting was appealed to the Washington D.C. board, who bodies of the Teamsters, the Communication friends were visibly on their cell phones working (after a long wait) ruled in 2015 in favor of the Workers of America (CWA), and the American to get people there to try to break the picket. Soon SCCU, ordering Sisters’ Camelot to issue a formal Federation of State, County and Municipal a small crowd of what appeared to be train- apology, pay back wages, and remove all language Employees (AFSCME). The annual theme for hopping crust punks and hippies gathered, many in their records and workplace trying to justify the May Day parade honored the 80th anniversary of of them intoxicated and taunting the picketers illegal firing. the historic 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike. with sexist and homophobic insults. Finally, one Meanwhile, the striking canvassers of Sisters’ of the anti-union people got up the courage to Camelot formed our own food justice non-profit physically tackle and land punches on a picketing in 2013, the North Country Food Alliance. In the Wobbly before other IWW members broke up first few years of North Country Food Alliance the scuffle with the union busters, watching and we worked hard to build something that we all doing nothing. proudly controlled as Wobblies through a fully- This incident was the breaking point, leading democratic workplace. to a call for a full economic and social boycott that We’re proud to brag that in our second fiscal has since been the galvanizing motivation for dis- year we managed to provide livable-wage jobs ruption of and picketing by the Twin Cities IWW to over a dozen Wobblies while redistributing of several attempts by Sisters’ Camelot to have over $250,000 worth of mostly organic surplus public fundraising events in the Twin Cities. produce to needy people in the Twin Cities. Our Graphic: FW Desmond MacDougal Next time someone asks you if the IWW is programs have also built multiple community still relevant in class struggle you can recount to garden projects, taught monthly classes on foraging For obvious reasons Sisters’ Camelot was asked them a modern story of IWW workers who stood healthy wild foods (during the summer months), by festival organizers for the first time ever to up to corrupt bosses and actually won—a story in and we’re moving ahead with the longer-term plan not be a part of the festival. The bosses at Sisters’ which the workers end up with their own amazing of building a mobile commercial grade kitchen for Camelot decided to defy that request by parking democratic union workplace while the union- community use. In our second year as an organiza- their kitchen bus on the street next to the park busting organization became financially crippled. tion we managed to do all of this on a budget of where the festival was held and serve free meals to A story in which union-busting bosses had to less than $200,000. attendees. This angered Wobblies and other labor give up their salaries and get jobs at a local cafe Also during the long wait for our eventual supporters at the festival and an ad hoc picket was because the workers who raised the money were NLRB victory, there was an event that caused quickly organized next to the Sisters’ Camelot bus. on strike...and scabs were unable to successfully the Twin Cities IWW to call for a full social and After the picket successfully ruined Sisters’ replace them because of the public support for the economic boycott of Sisters’ Camelot. This event, Camelot’s attempts to crash the May Day Festival union.

Support the Southern IWW Speaking Tour Fellow Workers, to organize a space, promote locally, and host The entire U.S. South is ripe for IWW the traveling speakers. expansion and organizing! There are many We also intend to coordinate resources so major cities where we could build strong IWW that we can follow up with contacts who came branches, and the widespread right-to-work to the event, and in the more promising cities laws give us a perfect environment to prove the host follow up meetings, with the goal of form- strengths of organizing which go beyond the ing branches that are engaged in workplace National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). organizing. However, we have historically had little We are asking non-Southern branches to presence in the South, and in many cities peo- discuss how they can support this. To start, ple who would make great Wobblies have not financial commitments would be welcome: heard of us. We have struggled to build new $100, $200, or even more if you feel your branches, or sustain the ones we have built. branch is in a position to do so. We are a caucus of Southern IWW mem- Southern branches or members who are bers who are organizing a “Southern IWW interested in hosting a stop of the tour should Speaking Tour” for the spring of 2016. The get in touch with us. idea is to package an “event-in-a-box” which You can send messages to atlantaiww@ can be easily duplicated across multiple south- gmail.com with the subject “Southern Speak- ern cities where we may only have a handful ing Tour.” of members, or perhaps no members at all. We In Solidarity, will organize the speakers and the promotional Brandon S., for the Southern IWW Speaking Tour group strategy, while the local members will only have Graphic: IWW

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 8 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Remembering the women who perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire By Raymond S. Solomon News of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, that occurred at 23-29 Washington Place on March 25, 1911, spread fast throughout lower Manhattan. Crowds gathered. The fire, on an otherwise uneventful Saturday afternoon, started on the 8th floor and quickly spread to the 9th and 10th floors. What started out as a normal pay day turned into desperate efforts to escape. Fire escapes collapsed under the weight of too many people. Women and girls jumped to their deaths as fire nets could not hold them. Insecure elevators became overcrowded. Some people acted courageously. Some women let teenage girls go ahead of them. New York University students in a building adjacent to the factory helped people on the 10th floor escape. One worker, Rose Freed- man, survived the Triangle fire by following the managers to the roof. Obviously managers were not trying to get their employees out through

an escape route they knew about. While the fire Image: trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu was still raging dead victims were put in coffins Cover of The New York Heraldthe day after the fire, March 26, 1911. by policemen. Many bodies were burnt beyond recognition. It was only after more than 100 years made escape and rescue almost impossible? Why that the identification of victims completed. did these conditions exist? What are the long- Descriptions of the fire by eyewitnesses were term lessons? vivid. Louis Waldman, who was to later become Among the fire hazards at the Triangle Shirt- a Socialist New York State Assembly member, waist Factory and other factors impeding rescue witnessed the fire. He described women onlookers were, according to the website of the Interna- fainting and men onlookers crying. He described tional Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), that women from the factory were consumed by “Locked doors to the stairwell; Rusty fire escapes fire while they were contemplating whether or that collapsed; Cluttered work spaces; Short [fire not to jump, and firemen were desperately trying truck] ladders only reached the 6th floor; Not to pump water up to the floors that were on fire. enough water pressure in the fire hydrants; Long Radical historian Howard Zinn, in “A People’s wooden tables became obstacles; Wicker baskets History Of The United States,” cited the New full of scraps; Oily floors spread the fire quickly; York World: Weak fire nets that jumpers fell through; No “Screaming men and women and boys and sprinkler system, only pails of water; Flammable girls crowded out on the many window ledges barrels of oil; Boxes crowding the exit; Lack of and threw themselves into the streets far below. a required third staircase” and weak fire escapes They jumped with their clothing ablaze…on both the Green Street and Washington Place sides of which collapsed from the weight of women trying the building there grew mounds of the dead and to escape. Subsequent reforms included new fire dying… codes in the city—something Fire Commissioner “From opposite windows spectators saw Rhinelander Waldo had been advocating. His again and again…companionships formed in the suggestions had been ignored until after that fire. instant of death—girls who placed their arms He had given factories an order to put in sprinkler around each other as they leaped.” systems. The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist

The New York World also described women Factory refused, saying it was like “confiscation of trianglefire.ilr.cornell.eduPhoto: and girls with their hair on fire. Zinn wrote that private property.” Also, the owners of the factory Fire fighters struggled to extinguish the burning had refused to sign the citywide garment union Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Fire-quenching sprinkler there were other industrial fires at the time in systems, though proven effective, were considered too New York and throughout the country. agreement providing for safety factors. costly by many factory owners and were not installed What were the immediate conditions that Manifestations of sadness and protests were in the building.

9 abundant. After the fire there was a collective memorial procession consisting of approximately 400,000 people—which was roughly 10 percent of the population of the New York City at the time. In her eulogy at the memorial, Rose Schnei- derman said: “I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting. “The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumb- screws and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. We know what these things are today; the iron teeth are our necessities, the thumbscrews are the high-powered and swift machinery close to which we must work, and the rack is here in the firetrap structures that will destroy us the minute they catch on fire. “This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers. Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life

of men and women is so cheap and property is so Photos: .findagrave.com sacred. There are so many of us for one job it mat- Gravestone (left) and photo (right) of Tillie Kupperschmidt, who was only a teenage when she was killed. ters little if 146 of us are burned to death.” Morris Rosenfeld’s poem in the Yiddish-lan- guage Jewish Daily Forward included: “Only hell’s fire engulfs these slave stalls And Mammon devours our sons and daughters. Wrapt in scarlet flames, they drop to death from his maw And death receives them all. Sisters mine, oh my sisters; brethren Hear my sorrow: See where the dead are hidden in dark corners, Where life is choked from those who labor.” After the memorial there were protest marches about the Triangle fire held by the ILGWU. According to Wikipedia, 23 of the people killed in that fire were men. Most of the victims were Jewish, but others were Italian and German Graphic: trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu immigrants. Most of them were new immigrants. fire, all of the people killed have their names read safety and health. Fire drills and fire inspections The aftermath of the Triangle fire was a starting and remembered. are vitally important. Recently the people of Flint, point for limitations of what employers could do. One of the victims, Tillie Kupperschmidt, was Mich. have been suffering lead poisoning as a result The two owners of the factory, Isaac Harris and finally identified after he body was unclaimed. of their governor’s decision to change the source of Max Blanck, were put on trial for manslaughter, She was described, in research uncovered by but amazingly and disgustingly were acquitted. Hirsch, as a “friendless immigrant” who was from their water supply. Children are especially at life- This event was crucial in American labor his- a “small town in Poland.” She was only 16 or 17 long risk. Actions and risks resulting from capitalist tory, in Jewish-American labor history, in Italian- years old when she was killed. Recently a tomb ideology in both business and government, that American labor history, in German-American has been erected for her. Following tradition, the puts money, power, and pseudo-efficiency over labor history, and in women’s labor history. tomb, in Hebrew, gives her name as Tova, daugh- people’s life and health, may continue to cause In 2011, it was reported in The New York ter of Rabbi Aaron. death, injury, and illness. Times and other media sources that genealogist Today, coal miners work in unsafe mines. There I acknowledge the help of Industrial Worker and historian Michael Hirsch had done research has been a lessening of the standards of protection editor Diane Krauthamer on this article. Fellow for four years trying to identify the names of of workers’ safety in mines, offices, and factories. unidentified victims. He was successful, and now Many existing laws are disregarded. A most fitting Worker Diane is working to change the dominant all the victims have been identified. Now at the memorial to the women who died in the Triangle capitalist socioeconomic ethic to a workers’ oriented annual commenoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire would be fighting for workers’ and consumers’ ethic and society, and beyond.

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 10 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Black History Month: Remembering a long history of U.S.-led racist oppression “You can kill the revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” - Fred Hampton

By Nolan Grunska At 4:45 a.m. on Dec. 4, 1969, 14 heav- ily armed police officers raided Fred Hampton’s Chicago apartment housing nine members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, including Hampton’s pregnant fiancé, Deborah Johnson. Between 91 and 101 shots were fired. One shot was fired by Black Panther Mark Clark, who was killed instantly from a shot to the heart, and fired his shotgun as a result of a death convul- sion. The remaining shots were fired by the police. Hampton was the only other person to be killed during the raid. The autopsy revealed that he was unable to wake up throughout the assault due to secobarbital—a barbiturate which slows the activity of the brain and nervous system. This substance is now known to have been put into his drink by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Wil- liam O’Neal at a dinner at a local church where Hampton taught a political science class. His death Photo: wikimedia.org occurred in the midst of the following exchange by Black Panther Party founders Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. officers according to Black Panther Harold Bell (as quoted in “The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack the “violent” and “extremely vicious” Panthers ingful justice despite an overwhelming supply of Obama” [Vintage Books, 2010]): and had only been defending themselves. At a evidence. Chicago, of course, is the very same city “‘That’s Fred Hampton.’ second press conference they were commended famous for the power of its political machine, and ‘Is he dead?... Bring him out.’ for their “remarkable restraint,” “bravery,” and the very same where Mayor Rahm Emanuel has ‘He’s barely alive.’ “professional discipline” for not killing everyone been shown to have conspired with police sur- ‘He’ll make it.’ present. A later inquest, in which only police and rounding the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. (Two shots). an “expert witness” testified, ruled the deaths of In regards to the Hampton case, the ‘He’s good and dead now.’” Clark and Hampton to be justifiable homicide. COINTELPRO (a portmanteau derived from After they killed Hampton, the police officers Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Edward COunter INTELligence PROgram) scandal directed fire toward the remaining seven Panthers, Hanrahan supported the ruling as a reinforcement revealed outrageously illegal operations by the severely wounding Verlina Brewer, Doc Satchel, of the “truthfulness of our police officers’ account FBI all over the country, concretely tethering the Blair Anderson, and Brenda Harris. After being of the events,” as quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times involvement of multiple FBI officers and govern- beaten and dragged outside, they were all charged in 1970. ment officials in the intentional murder of Fred with attempted murder and aggravated assault of Evidence presented in defense of the officers Hampton. In M. Wesley Swearingen’s book, “FBI the officers, as well as multiple weapons charges. included “bullet holes” allegedly created by Black Secrets: An Agent’s Expose,” FBI agent Gregg York The aftermath of the assassination was perhaps Panther gunfire, but these have been actually dem- is quoted saying: the most complete representation of how all onstrated to be nailheads. Similarly, in 2011 after “We expected about twenty Panthers to be in people of color, especially African-Americans, the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in London, it the apartment when the police raided the place. are oppressed in the United States. According to was claimed that Duggan shot a police officer first, Only two of those black niggers were killed, Fred “The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the but the bullet that evidenced this was actually prov- Hampton and Mark Clark.” FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black en to be fired by another police officer, and hit the Despite all the evidence, regardless of how ab- Panther” by Jeffery Haas, (Chicago Review Press, other officer after passing through Duggan’s arm. solutely sure the community was that any country 2009), the day after Fred Hampton was shot, What is likely most frustrating is the corruption that stood for principles like liberty, justice, and the police formally stated they were attacked by the incident exposed and the lack of any mean- democracy would punish those involved, the guilty

11 parties ultimately got the same punishment as the murdered Lumumba, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, was killers of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Rodney the same man who later took power in the Congo King, Eric Garner, Arthur McDuffie, Emmett Till, until his death in 1997. In 1968, Mobutu offered Trayvon Martin, and an unacceptable amount of amnesty to Pierre Mulele. When Mulele returned, others: a free-walk with a slap on the wrist, if any- he was publicly executed; his eyes were pulled thing at all. When the killers weren’t white, as with from their sockets, his genitals torn off, and his Tyrone Robinson and Thomas Hagan, who killed limbs amputated one by one, before he died. What Huey Newton and Malcolm X, there was no hesi- remained of his body was dumped in the Congo tation at all to throw them in prison for murder. River. Under Mobutu, terror and oppression were If the United States, perhaps the most brutally facts of life, which itself was marked by an absence imperialistic nation that has ever existed, would op- of civil liberty. As far as the United States was Photo: wikimedia.org press its own Black citizens to this extent, it may be Patrice Lumumba raises his arms, injured by shack- concerned, it was a job well done. sickening to imagine what they’ve done to blacks les, after his release from prison in January 1960. The list goes on, with each transgression against outside their borders. said that the United States had abducted him and leftists in Africa and elsewhere seemingly more held him hostage until he vowed to resign. When egregious than the last. Some of the many victims “Duvalier has performed an economic miracle, he he did, he was exiled to South Africa. The United of underhanded aggression by the United States has taught us to live without money, to eat without States threatened South Africa to prevent them include: Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Agostinho food, to live without life…” - Haitian citizen under from getting a spot on the United Nations Secu- Neto and the Movimento Popular de Libertação the regime of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier rity Council were they to refuse to hold Aristide. de Angol (People’s Movement for the Liberation It’s almost incomprehensible for a movement Aristide returned to Haiti in 2011, and has since of Angola, or MPLA) in Angola; the Lunda people for socialism or freedom to come to fruition under abstained from politics. in and around Zaire; Maurice Bishop in Grenada; the thumb of someone as brutally oppressive as On April 22, 1961, four French generals or- Michael Manley in Jamaica; and Dési Bouterse in Francois Duvalier. It is thought that his secret chestrated a putsch (violent attempt to overthrow a Suriname. It is reasonable to assume that many police were greater in numbers than the Haitian government) in Algeria in an attempt to maintain a more will eventually feel the wrath of America’s rac- military. Yet, in 1959, a resistance movement had union with France. According to Italian newspaper ist, anti-leftist agenda. What the United States has sprung up with the support of exiled Haitians from Il Paese, “It is not by chance some people in Paris done by way of imperialism thus far, merely since Cuba and Venezuela, and it seems as though U.S. are accusing the American secret service headed World War II, is briefly but beautifully explained Marines landed in Haiti to crush the rebels before by Allen Dulles of having participated in the plot in William Blum’s “Killing Hope,” in which Blum Duvalier even knew they were there. They never of the four ‘ultra’ generals.” The CIA-backed the suggested that America’s public mindset was the stood a chance. When Papa Doc died in 1971, putsch because they opposed an independent intent to save democracy from communism, by after enjoying full diplomatic and economic sup- Algeria, and they opposed Charles de Gaulle who getting rid of democracy. port from the United States throughout his reign, supported Algeria’s independence. They opposed In February 1976, the United States officially Clinton Knox from the United States was the only an independent Algeria because of concerns over recognized Black History Month for the first time. diplomat present to swear in Haiti’s new leader, “communists” taking power, as de Gaulle was In some ways, it may seem like a pathetic way Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who would negotiating independence with the National of trying to apologize for hundreds of years of enjoy the same support from the United States that Liberation Front, Algeria’s popular party. Charles oppression, though it’s certainly less pathetic than his father had. Baby Doc was 19 years old when he de Gaulle was also a major obstacle in the forma- Australia’s “Sorry Day.” In other ways, it’s a product was sworn in. tion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of all the thoroughly great things the Black com- Trained and armed by the United States, (NATO), and the CIA is known to have conspired munity worldwide has done to benefit mankind. Haitian military forces enjoyed more than 20 on at least a couple attempts on his life. Black History Month was, after all, formulated by uninterrupted years of freedom to rape, torture, and In the same period, the United States vio- the leaders of Black Students United at Kent State murder the people of Haiti, until the United States lently opposed plurality-elected Congolese Prime University in 1969. decided they didn’t like Duvalier anymore, and sup- Minister Patrice Lumumba. A communist and History isn’t always something to be celebrated; ported the counterinsurgency against him. In the sharp opponent of western imperialism, Lumumba looking back on what America has done to Blacks following 11-person candidate election, the honesty was forced to endure a CIA backed secession over the years is something that the nation, as a of which was assured by the Organization of Ameri- conflict in Congo’s richest province, Katanga, as whole, needs to feel deeply ashamed of. The worst can States (OAS), Jean-Bertrand Aristide won 67.5 well as ongoing aggression from Belgium and the insult, however, that could possibly be tossed at the percent of the vote. He was known as a “leftist.” In United Nations, and perpetual conspiracy between Black community, and those who gave their lives less than eight months, he was deposed by military the CIA and local groups interested in assassinat- for its sake and the sake of humanity, would be to forces found to have been economically supported ing him. After being illegally removed as prime forget what these heroes all stood for before they by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and minister by the president of Congo, who was paid were silenced. everything that could have been done to keep directly by the CIA to do so, Lumumba fell into It seems today it takes a special person just to Aristide from coming back to power, short of killing custody of opposition forces, who tortured and care. To care about their community, to care about him, was indeed done by the United States. They murdered him. freedom, to care about making a better world for were unable to keep Aristide from being elected two In an attempt to re-establish Lumumba-esque everyone: that’s what makes a lot of these people more times, but the United States made sure he was leadership, Pierre Mulele formulated the 1964 Sim- special. They stood up and fought for what most paralyzed politically. In 2004, when a coup d’état ba Rebellion. When it was crushed, Mulele took were afraid to stand up for, and many of them removed Aristide from power for the last time, he refuge in Congo-Brazzaville. The man whose forces paid the ultimate price.

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 12 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Photo: Twin CitiesPhoto: Twin IWW General Defense Committee Local 14 On Jan. 9, 2016, the Twin Cities IWW General Defense Committee Local 14 joined with the Quinn family, Native Lives Matter, Idle No More, AIM, Black Lives Matter and many others in the freezing cold to continue the fight for Justice For Phil Quinn (who was shot by St. Paul, Minn. police in December 2015). Protesters shut down University Ave., the Green Line, and disrupted business at Target, Walmart, and Cub Foods. Workers’ Power Against Police Brutality and Racist TerroR By Brandon Sowers and demand the removal of police from school demands. If a teachers union prioritized “cops The decision of the Chicago Teachers Union campuses, or defunding of the police force, that off campus,” and waged a strike on the level of (CTU) to participate in the Black Friday protests would make their strike illegal in the eyes of the Chicago in 2012 or Seattle earlier this year, this against police brutality in November 2015 is state. Chicago teachers have an important choice. would be a massive step forward. This would be an important step forward, advancing both the Even if the teachers go on strike and don’t say a particularly powerful to the degree that it spread struggle against the Chicago Police Department word about the police, the CPD is intimately tied beyond the teachers to include other education (CPD), and allowing the CTU to flex its muscles to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s austerity re- workers. Of course, any industrial action for “cops before the end of its contract. Chicago teachers gime, and a teachers’ strike could strengthen and off campus” would meet bitter resistance from voted overwhelmingly to support a strike in their build on the movement against police brutality the city administration, at the same time that the recent strike authorization vote, and if they can and terror. However, if the teachers do explic- national media, the Democratic Party, and—most win another strike as they did in 2012, it would itly include anti-police demands in their strike, importantly—the national unions would stop at be an incredibly important victory for the work- and stick by them even when threatened with nothing to sabotage this action, and force or ca- ing class around the country. It would show that injunction, they could really inspire the rest of the jole the workers into moderating their demands. education workers can fight and win, especially if working class in Chicago to mobilize and support This is why militant education workers would they have united with the broader working class them. A victory in that case would also show that have to prepare for this struggle, beginning by around issues such as institutional racism. workers can successfully take on the system of consciously identifying with the victims of police The simmering rage against Chicago’s blatant- anti-labor laws in this country, particularly those brutality, against the police rather than with ly racist, terrorist, secret prison-operating police which declare certain kinds of strikes illegal. them. An initiative to strike for “cops off campus” department provides an important backdrop. U.S. Could teachers and other education workers might need years before education workers actu- anti-labor law illegitimately limits what work- strike to remove police from schools? Nothing ally have the strength and organization to pull it ers can strike over; if the teachers go on strike could stop them from putting this into their off—but the situation in the United States over

13 the last several years has also been very fluid, This is something that revolutionaries have to sive influence on the course of the class struggle in and things could develop much quicker than we struggle against, especially within the labor move- the United States (or internationally). might expect. ment. However, it’s been clear since the shooting of “Cops off campus,” a slogan which came out The inclusion of police as “union brothers and Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014 (maybe even of the struggles at the University of California sisters” blurs the lines by simultaneously legiti- since Oscar Grant was shot in 2009) that move- around 2009, is just one example of an achievable mizing cops, and delegitimizing any industrial ments against police brutality are taking on a revolutionary demand. The left wing of capitalism action against them. To stick with the example of mass character, and will have a growing impact on can articulate very specific and imaginable goals, education workers who might strike for “cops off the class struggle in the United States. Eventually, such as body cameras or community policing— campus,” there would be very loud voices in the the working class will be ready to really move, and but these “demands,” even if granted, would only labor bureaucracy arguing that they can’t strike any organization which has ignored the impor- reinforce the legitimacy of the police. Revolu- against their “brothers and sisters” in the Fraternal tance of struggles to reduce the power, presence, tionaries should be putting forward winnable Order of Police. The degree of legitimacy that or legitimacy of police in our society will be left demands which do the opposite. police unions have directly affects the morale of standing in the dust—and rightly so. Education workers have a very specific ability workers who might try to take industrial action Our union recently committed to having to use their power as workers to reduce the power against police—attacking that legitimacy creates deeper discussions of our strategic outlook during of police in our society, both by removing their more space for industrial action. Of course, our future IWW General Conventions—specifically ability to assault students, and by reducing their priority in the labor movement should be on mentioning movements against police brutality as social legitimacy. But they aren’t the only ones. building workers’ power, not on radical sounding an area where we could have a bigger impact. Our The blog “Red Atlanta” has done a good job resolutions—there is a larger question of whether convention is an important part of our member- finding actions that fast food workers have taken and how we should do things like bring resolu- driven democracy, but it will only be bear fruit if against police. Most importantly, many of the tions to union locals, which is beyond the scope we have serious discussion in our branches during people on the ground in the Ferguson rebel- of this article. the year. The most important step we can take as lion were fast food workers, many of whom had a union to meaningfully engage with anti-police previously been involved in Fight For 15 (FF15), struggles is for branches to engage, discuss the where they had gotten experience organizing. results, and bring their ideas to the convention. Also notable is that when FF15 leadership called The rage at police violence against people of “strikes” around the country, they deliberately color is constantly simmering, sometimes boiling avoided strikes in St. Louis or Ferguson in the over. This, in itself, is an important marker of a name of “peace” and “calm,” instead bussing new confrontational attitude in the working class. protestors from Ferguson/St. Louis to other cities. In limited ways, this confrontational attitude is Beyond this, there have been low-level actions, even expressing itself in the workplace. At the such as workers writing “pig” on burrito wrap- same time, there were more strikes and threats of pers or otherwise making police know they are strikes in 2015 than any year in recent U.S. histo- unwelcome. ry. The labor bureaucracy will do everything they There was also the infamous “Hands Up, can to keep these two trends from merging, as will Don’t Ship” action which was organized by IWW the official civil rights leaders. Yet workers—fast

members working at the United Parcel Service Graphic: twitter.com/copsoffcampus food workers, education workers, transportation (UPS) in the fall of 2014. In this case, workers in workers, auto workers—will quickly find that any the sorting facility researched one of the busi- The Twin Cities IWW branch was able to effective strike must break the law and therefore nesses that shipped through their facility to police have a huge impact when the fight against police invite police repression, and they might also learn, departments around the country, and found that brutality became critical in November 2015. I as Chicago teachers have, that mobilizing against a lot of the material being shipped was racist can’t speak for that branch, and encourage local police brutality will inspire members and build training material. The workers temporarily as- members to write their own analysis. However, important alliances with other parts of the work- serted their power on the shop floor by refusing to two broad trends seem to stand out: they have ing class. ship packages coming from this company. consistently engaged in anti-racist and anti-police The IWW is uniquely positioned to agitate This shows a path that workers could take brutality work alongside their workplace organiz- and organize for workplace action against police even if they don’t directly interact with police ing in recent years; and they are ambitious. As a brutality, and to agitate and organize for mass at work on a daily basis, as teachers or fast food group, they have the confidence to believe that industrial action that rips U.S. anti-labor law workers do. Workers know a lot about the com- they can have a big impact. completely apart. Serious discussion and ambi- modities they create or handle, and can find These are two factors that we, as an organiza- tious engagement in the class movements around creative ways to register their opposition to police tion, struggle with beyond the level of individual us will bring major results. By acting as a united through job action. branches. Although a lot of our members are organization, we can achieve the position that the generally anti-cop, very few of our branches have Twin Cities IWW has—one that opposes racial What We’re Fighting much experience engaging in anti-racist or anti- profiling and police brutality—on a national Part of the enduring strength of the police in police brutality work. More critically, we have scale. And then we can really start to shake things our society comes from the legitimacy they are a crisis of ambition and confidence beyond the up! given as “regular joes,” “part of the 99 percent,” branch level—we have a hard time imagining that A longer version of this will appear on http:// or most dangerously, “union brothers and sisters.” we, as an organization, can actually have a deci- www.lifelongwobbly.com.

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 14 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Keep on rockin’ GLAMROC! 2016 is the 10th anniversary of the IWW in the German language area. One of a million good reasons to take a small look back.

By Mark Richter (GMB Frankfurt) and Jonathan Sznejder (GMB Cologne) As Wobblies we always say that our history is important to us and that we’d like to learn from it. But what if there is no such history—or very little—in an IWW region? As the German Language Area Membership Regional Organizing Committee (GLAMROC) we now can look back on the history of our first 10 years in existence since before World War II. There had been Wob- bly branches in several German cities before the war, but that would make an interesting subject for a different article. Since it all started in 2004 with four white men in Frankfurt, lots of changes have happened in our region. In these first years we started as a small group with some experience in workplace organizing, but, to be honest we were mostly trying to give our bad copy of the Confederation Photo: Familias Unidas por la Justicia GLAMROC was host to many organizing events, such as the Training For Trainers (pictured above), which took of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerk- place in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015. schaftsbund, or DGB) a little radical glitter. After World War II, grassroots workplace organizing “Life has just begun” but we don’t talk about them in public. It is still outside the DGB had hardly taken place. The few One of the biggest changes in our regional pretty invisible that we have some very com- efforts either happened on a very small scale or as organizing committee was the visit of two fellow mitted organizers and a membership that works campaigns within the DGB, initiated by leftists. workers from the Jimmy Johns Workers Union in really hard on building the union. Even within Thus, we had too few stories and experiences to 2012. They did a tour speaking about the success- our ROC we still don’t have a solid practice of gather resources from. es and failures in their organizing efforts, leading discussing and sharing our experiences. So in the early years we tried to organize a several Organizer Trainings (OT 101) along the more militant union—just with the same meth- road, and had a grand finale Training For Trainers “Changing the face of the union” ods, strategies and tactics as the DGB. We still at the end of their trip. The fabulous spirit of the When we started analyzing our efforts last lacked an idea what an alternative union—left IWW, that ol’ rank-and-file union, thus bestowed year, we recognized that we got a lot of new from the mainstream unions—may look like upon us a very crucial tool: the OT 101. We members and that the number of active organizers (apart from having less money, different logos translated the training manual and delivered our has increased massively. In numbers: we currently and lofty goals such as the abolition of the wage first trainings in Lithuania, Germany, Austria and have about 200 members in good-standing, 10 system, that is). We had some campaigns but they Switzerland, organized by our own Organizer branches and 12 committees (data from June were often short-lived or very dependent on that Training Committee (the so-called OrganizerIn- 2015). We organized our first own Training For one charismatic colleague who signed up all his nen Training Komitee, or OTK). By now we have Trainers in November 2015 which boosted the co-workers and also happened to be a Wobbly. also held a training in Turkey, amounting to 14 numbers of trainers in GLAMROC to 20 people. Thanks to the experiences made in both the trainings in five countries with over 120 partici- Almost every branch has at least one trainer. United Kingdom and in North America we were pants in the past four years. Another interesting development is that the age able to talk to fellow workers from and read One of our problems, until June 2015, was structure within our ROC has changed massively. about the Starbucks Workers Union, the Clean- that we didn’t systematically analyze our efforts, The average age has dropped down to somewhere ers Branch, the Jimmy Johns Workers Union, losses and gains. When we started doing that, we between 29 and 35 years. Looking at the mem- Brandworkers, “Recomposition” blog, and several realized that we had 12 ongoing committees in bership of most mainstream unions we gather others that we cannot mention here. Our discus- eight cities in our ROC. As of now, we have cam- that that’s a good thing. sions about how we want to organize and what paigns in several call centers, within the chemical In fact, the changing of our age structure also our union should look like intensified with our industry, with cab drivers and care workers, in brought a lot of active organizers who are female, growing imagination kick-started by that influ- food production, and the education industry. non-white, bi- or multilingual and with vari- ence. Slowly a clearer profile of the IWW in the Yet none of them have gone public as the IWW. ous migrational backgrounds. Even among the German language area emerged. In short: our efforts are successful in some ways, current trainers we almost have a 50/50 composi-

15 tion of women and men—which is really unusual changed into a culture of solidarity and support ing Department Board (ODB). With the Tech for a union in the German language area. In addi- for different perspectives, clearly due to the ef- Committee from the United Kingdom we hope tion, we can say that we also increased our abili- forts of active female Wobblies who were able to to build our new helpful technical infrastructure. ties to address workers in several languages. Since both challenge previous atmosphere and to be We changed our website domain from wobblies. our last Training For Trainers we now have train- role models for a different type of membership. de to wobblies.org because we want to include ers who speak 11 different languages: German, Thirdly, we reckon that luck was a decisive factor all people from the German language area who English, French, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Greek, as well. We had some great people joining us who don’t live in Germany. We will have our first Catalan, Spanish, Polish and Russian. Even if we had a really good influence on the union. Organizing Summit in May and are also working don’t feel confident to deliver trainings in all of Most of our branches are located in Ger- on a new look for GLAMROC with the help of those languages we feel that we are enlarging our many, there is one in Vienna, Austria, and none professional public relations workers to see what skillset to break down those language barriers that in Switzerland, even if we have members there. an impression we make—and which impression help divide our class. We are trying to actively change that by both we want to make. We got to confess that we are not quite sure training Austrian trainers and supplementing our Last but not least: we will have our glorious why all these changes happened. It is probably training material with the labor laws of Austria 10th anniversary celebration on Aug. 26 to 28, due to a combination of circumstances, both and Switzerland. Our branches have between five 2016 in Koennern near Leipzig, Germany. We outside and within the union. Firstly, the financial to 30 members—a pretty large number is actively would be very happy to see fellow workers from crisis hit Germany with delay. For some years organizing while others are aiming to. We are on a around the globe come and join us. Also, birthday a successful German government and capital, good path. There are many steps still to be taken, presents will be warmly appreciated ;-) playing a leading role in enforcing austerity mea- mistakes to be made, lessons to be learned and Finally, we would like to thank all you fellow sures in Europe, was able to make Germany the fights to be fought, but we’re definitely sizzling workers around the world who actively supported European winner of the crisis. Perhaps, while the with a new generation of Glamroc(k)ers willing to GLAMROC in its development and helped us German hegemony started to crumble and with create a new tradition. learn more about successful, militant unionism. working conditions already deteriorated, young Thank you so much, Fellow Workers!For at people tended to start organizing again. The lack “I want to break free” least another 10 years! of hope for the future is widespread as it seems This upcoming year we plan continue on the The authors are currently members of the Orga- more and more conceivable that the crisis will at- road of change. With the help of the Organizing nizer Training Committee Coordination of GLAM- tack the still relatively high standard of living. Departments in North America and the United ROC. If you’d like to contact us, write to training@ Secondly, the atmosphere within the union has Kingdom we are trying to form our own Organiz- wobblies.org. Subscribe to the Announcing the 2016 Industrial Worker Get a one-year subscription* Working Writers Contest! (that’s 4 issues) for: Fellow Workers! - U.S. IWW members: $16 Now is the time to start thinking about - U.S. regular subscribers: $20 what work you’re going to nominate for - ALL international subscribers: $28 the 2016 Working Writers Contest! Anything published in the Industrial One-year bundle subscription Worker or Solidaridad is eligible, as are (4 issues, 5 copies per issue) for: other works written by fellow workers. - U.S. bundles: $60 You can nominate any piece which in- - International bundles: $80 spired you, even if it’s yours. If you know a fellow worker who has a good idea for Subscribe online: an article, now is the time to encourage http://store.iww.org/industrial-worker.html them to get to it! The winning pieces will Send a check or money order: be published in the 2016 “Radical Works Industrial Worker, P.O. 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Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 16 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Photo: Brendan Maslauskas Dunn A mural of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata in the Zapatista village of Oventic. The sign on the building reads “snail” in the Mayan language Tzotzil (also known as Bats’i k’op). A Journey To The Heart Of Zapatista Territory By Brendan Maslauskas Dunn keeps me up at night, followed by an endless rain workers we ran into on a side street in Mexico The taxi rolled to a sudden and unexpected of other questions: What do we hope to change? City. And I tasted it in a profound way in that stop. The driver turned to us and said, “Estamos How do we make change? And most importantly, damp Zapatista village hugged by mountains and aqui. Oventic.” For the last hour, the vehicle what does that change look like? yet pervaded by dense fog. had driven the winding roads from the city of In the United States, I think about these ques- The Zapatistas are an indigenous Mayan San Cristobal de las Casas to our destination—a tions and fight for the better world I envision, revolutionary movement in Mexico that launched small village called Oventic under revolutionary one born of a process of collective struggle. In a major rebellion on January 1, 1994, the same Zapatista control in the highlands of Chiapas in Mexico, however, I saw a new world being born day that the North American Free Trade Agree- southern Mexico. in a different light, one that breathed through ment (NAFTA) came into effect. It was called a My partner Michelle and I stepped out of the mass movements. I saw it in Oaxaca during the “war against oblivion,” triggered only in part by taxi, and noticed an older Mayan woman who protracted occupation of the Zócalo (the main NAFTA, a trade agreement which captured the wore a black ski mask and stood guard at the gated square in central Mexico City) by thousands of violent and chaotic nature of the global capitalist entrance. teachers fighting education reform. I saw it in economy. The Zapatistas called it a death sentence She walked up to us and patiently listened as the tears of the parents that were shed for their for indigenous people. we tried to explain why we were there. The very disappeared sons and daughters—just some of The Zapatista rebellion surprised many around first line she spoke was profound and piercing. the 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ the world. Rather than seizing state power, as “What do you hope to change?” Her question College who were kidnapped and tortured by the many revolutionary and guerrilla movements aim weighed heavily on me for the rest of the week we combined forces of the Mexican state and drug to do, they put down their arms just as quickly as spent in the Zapatista village. This question still cartels. I heard it in the shouts of the striking they had risen up and instead focused on build-

17 ing power from below, carving out autonomy and aspirations, of Zapatismo. Murals of corn, masked But the revolution is hardly over. I learned practicing mutual aid. Over 1,000 Zapatista com- Zapatistas, Che Guevera and Emiliano Zapata that week that Zapatismo has a place in the hearts, munities have sprung up in Chiapas since 1994. covered the fronts of buildings. Much to our the organizing and the forging of new a society Zapatismo is a bit anarchist and a bit socialist, but delight, there was even one classroom with a large in every corner of the world. The inspiration my it claims to be neither. It is fiercely indigenous and mural of Mexican revolutionary, anarchist and partner and I have gained from our Zapatismo specifically Mayan but it also has an international Wobbly Ricardo Flores Magón. experience is that it has propelled us to emphasize appeal. One could argue that in 1994 the Zapatis- My partner and I spent the whole week with life-affirming possibilities and alternatives for tas ushered in a new era of revolutionary struggle another student from Germany learning Spanish social justice and peace through the social will to for the world. and a little Bats’ik’op. Life in Oventic was at a create. We were let into Oventic, one of the five different pace. Every day we had language classes, We may not have all the answers, nor should Zapatista enclaves called carocales (which translates discussions, watched Zapatista films, read, sang we. Answers, the Zapatistas say, are born through directly into “snail shells”) and a beating heart of revolutionary songs in Spanish and Italian, and struggle. It should be no surprise, then, that a Zapatista territory. These caracoles are centers of dreamed of the worlds we all wished to create. saying of both the Zapatistas and the Spanish political organizing, education and ideas. During We even hiked up a mountain and got our hands anarchists of the 1930s is, “We make the road the week I spent in Oventic, for the very first dirty tilling some land. For the Zapatistas, land is by walking. We walk by asking questions.” It is time in my life, I experienced freedom. There intrinsically tied to liberty. through this process that we will find our way were schools that taught Spanish and the Mayan I also gained a much deeper understanding forward in creating a new world. The creation of language of Bats’ik’op. There was a school for Za- of Zapatismo, one that cannot be fully grasped this new world is a story forged by the Zapatistas patista children called the Escuelita Zapatista. The from the written word. In short, the Zapatista core and all others struggling for freedom. main road was dotted with various cooperatives beliefs are as follows: “Lead by obeying; propose, And that story, as they say, will continue— and collectives. A leather goods and boot factory don’t impose; represent, don’t replace; anti-power little by little! that is self managed by workers stood atop a hill against power; convince, don’t defeat; everything To read more stories about Brendan’s travels overlooking the rest of Oventic. Every building for everyone, nothing for ourselves; construct, through Mexico and Cuba, please visit the Utica, and every surface, it seems, had been painted with don’t destroy; and we want a world where many N.Y.-based blog http://www.loveandragemedia. vivid murals that evoked the beliefs, history and worlds fit.” wordpress.com. Beware of Company Consciousness By x372712 1950s, the corporate class launched an ideologi- the threats to its continuation.” We are constantly told by our employers cal re-conquest of the United States with the These techniques were as successful as they that they appreciate all the hard work we do and tentacles of their propaganda reaching into every were hypocritical. A more conservative business- sometimes they go out of their way to show us facet of American life. Their goal was to erase friendly climate was created that undermined their appreciation. During one week, my bosses from the minds of people the thought of better- the labor movement. During one strike, the had many events in which they showed their ap- ing yourself from collective action and instead personnel director found that over 60 percent preciation of our services. I attended a breakfast relying solely on your own gumption to “lift of the strikebreakers were involved in company with my division and food was served by the yourself up by your boot straps.” activities. executive staff in my building. Are these tokens Some of the many techniques used within Now let me ask you this: Does your employer the plant to woo workers over were: economic of appreciation sincere or are they just a facade? REALLY appreciate you when they outsource education about the glories of the free market, Looking back into the past will help remove the your jobs? Does the little bit of ice cream or letters sent home from the CEO, softball leagues, veil. pizza make up for the fact that positions are not birthday cards, foremen being instructed to have After World War II, unions had gained being filled and the slack is being taken up by sympathetic ears, reading racks, employee maga- much strength and the federal government had the remaining employees? My educated guess is zines, suggestion boxes, aesthetic improvements imposed many regulations on big business. Much that management wants you to be starry-eyed, in factories, profit-sharing plans and company thinking that they love you, as they violate your of this was due to the long and bloody struggle of picnics. the labor movement culminating in the reforms Some might suggest that these are a sincere contract. They want you to feel that you no of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New showings of appreciation, but they would be mis- longer need the union, as management will take Deal. One indicator of union strength was when taken. Consider the case of the 1952 elections. care of you. Maybe even one day they can smash the president of the United Auto Workers, Walter Before the election, the number of firms involved your union so they can get away with anything P. Reuther, attempted to pry open the books of in economic education jumped from 20 percent they want. General Motors (GM) to tie wages and prices to to 44 percent, only to fall back to 20 percent af- Don’t let them, brothers and sisters! Educate profits, which cut into management’s control. ter a Republican victory. Why did this occur? As your co-workers! Don’t forget that everything So what is a poor, little multinational corpo- an Opinion Research Corporation vice president we won was not given to us on a silver platter. It ration to do if they are losing absolute control? said, “The Republican victory in the national was won by us joining together with our brothers Spend vast amounts of money to win over the elections has removed the need for explaining so and sisters in a union and demanding that we are people’s hearts and minds, of course! In the thoroughly the basis of the enterprise system and compensated properly for our worth.

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 18 Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 “Patriot” Militias Exploit Rural Communities’ Crises By x372712 throughout rural towns by claiming that the crisis They seem to have, since the standoff in 2014 at Rural America was thrown into the spotlight was a Jewish, socialist conspiracy to control global Cliven Bundy’s ranch over grazing rights, found this January, when an armed militia group occupied food supplies. They continued growing until groups their economic angle—blaming rural problems on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, like the National Farmers Union and the American land policy and regulation. In 2015, the movement Ore. This group, led by militant anti-government Agriculture Movement gained support by focusing had two separate standoffs in the Northwest to protestor Ammon Bundy, claimed they were going on the actual causes of the crisis, stopping the right “defend” mines from regulators. Harney County to “get the logger back to logging, to get the rancher from monopolizing the conversation. must have seemed like a good target. In addition back to ranching, to get the miner back to mining, The militias might have faded into obscurity to the Hammond arson case, the county has been the farmer back to farming” in Harney County, if not for the passage of the North American Free economically hard-hit by the mechanization and where 21.1 percent of residents live in poverty. The Trade Agreement (NAFTA), anxiety over the Rod- deforestation of the timber industry, which once militia tried to present itself as a friend of hardwork- ney King riots, and the standoffs at Ruby Ridge, provided 31 percent of the county’s jobs and now ing, rural people. We aren’t fooled. This militia Idaho and Waco, Texas. Once again, the militias provides just six jobs total. Ammon Bundy likely movement is the latest wave of a far-right, anti-labor capitalized on frustration and fear in rural commu- expected, too optimistically on his part, that the movement that’s been building itself by exploiting nities, spreading a narrative of a socialist, globalist people of Harney County would rally to his side. crises and hardship in our communities for decades. “New World Order” in the making. No longer as So, in early January, the Malheur National Wildlife These “patriot” militias first came into the openly white supremacist as Posse Comitatus, the Refuge in Oregon found itself the latest site of an spotlight during the Farm Crisis in the 1980s. new wave hid its racial politics with dog whistle occupation aimed at opening more federal land to Overproduction—supply outstripping demand, phrases and a focus on fighting “socialism.” Recruit- extractive industry. leading to low prices and profit—had been a ment soared, and by 1996 there was a militia group For Wobblies, the answer to the Bundy standoff problem in American agriculture for decades. Since in every state. The Waco and Ruby Ridge stand- isn’t to cheer a crackdown against the militias. the Great Depression, a system of price insurance, offs also sparked retaliatory attacks, including the Those crackdowns have only driven recruitment government purchase of surplus, and paying farm- Oklahoma City bombing. In response, the federal and violence from the right in the past. We also ers to leave some land fallow had kept prices stable government adopted a policy of de-escalation. This know that repressive powers given to the state for despite growing yields. That changed in the 1970s, has allowed militias to successfully get the federal any reason frequently are turned against working- when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) government to stand down in confrontations, rather class movements. Instead, the IWW response to cut those programs, switched to direct subsidies, than risk another Waco. Using this tactic, the move- the militia movement should be to understand the and told farmers to “Get Big, or Get Out!” The ment reached a high point in the late 1990s before problems facing rural communities, and organize USDA assured farmers that overseas demand slowly declining through the 2000s. our class around real solutions. Most “progressive” would keep prices high. It did for a while, and Since the Great Recession, a new wave of politicians and large parts of the left have written farmers bought more tractors and took more loans “patriot” militias has grown. This third wave is off the countryside as a poor source of votes or easy to “get big.” Then in the 1980s, overseas demand centered around the Three Percenters and the recruits. Wobblies know that the bonds of industry dropped, prices fell, and interest rates rose. Tens of Oath Keepers, both founded in 2008. The two connect us across racial, religious and county lines. thousands of farms went out of business or onto groups work closely, though the Three Percenters We know that solidarity unionism and direct action life support with off-the-farm jobs. When the crisis are more loosely organized and have a more open can be just as effective in Snohomish as in Seattle, hit, Posse Comitatus, a militia founded in 1969 recruitment policy. The Oath Keepers accept only and that realizing our power as workers standing by white supremacist preachers and former “Silver veterans and former law enforcement. Even more together is our strongest antidote to racial hatred Shirt” fascists, capitalized on it. The group sub- than the 1990s wave, they move away from open and bigots. We know that the rural working class scribed to a combination of anti-tax and small-gov- white supremacy and wrap themselves in the lan- has a long and radical history of labor struggle that ernment, county-sovereignty ideas, and “Christian guage of “patriotism.” Their actions, however, have can be renewed and strengthened. We need to take identity” theology which stated that white people included intimidating Muslims and immigrants, rural organizing seriously, because if we don’t, then were the true Israelite of the Bible. They spread and confronting Black Lives Matter protesters. the Bundys of the world are more than willing to. Spread your message of solidarity this May Day The deadline for ads and Donations for the following ad announcements to be featured sizes will be requested: in the annual “May Day” issue of - 1/8 page: $20 (full color); $12 the Industrial Worker is Friday, (red &/or black & white) April 1, 2016. This is the place - 1/4 page: $45 (full color); $25 to share your May Day greetings (red &/or black & white) - 1/2 page: $90 (full color); $60 with the rest of the world! (red &/or black & white) Send all questions & submis- - full page: $180 (full color); $120 sions to [email protected].

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19 In China, labor unrest and crackdowns on the rise By John Kalwaic Labor unrest and crackdowns in China have hit a peak. Strikes were at an all-time high, reach- ing a whopping 301 protests in November 2015. According to the China Labour Bulletin, “a major focus of worker unrest was in the traditional manufacturing centre of Guangdong, which saw a record 56 strikes last month, more than double the number in any other province.” In late 2015, labor right activists were detained in China’s southern city of Guangzhou as part of a larger crackdown on organized labor in China. According to The Nation, the detainees include Panyu Dagongzu Service Center staffers Zeng Feiyang and Zhu Xiaomei; former Dagongzu staffers Tang Jian and Meng Han; Peng Jiayong of Photo: clb.org.hk the Panyu-based Laborer Mutual Aid Group; He Workers strike at a paper products factory in Shenzhen—just one of hundreds of protests in November 2015. Xiaobo, director of Foshan Nanfeiyan Social Work Services Organization; and Deng Xiaoming of the surnamed Yang, was shot three times in her leg. On Dec. 24, 2015, a man claiming he was Haige Workers Center. “The activists are report- According to “Radio Free Asia,” “unconfirmed owed 20 days’ worth of pay working as a plumber edly being detained on grounds of ‘endangering reports said the police had explained the gunshots staged a protest by climbing to the top of a crane at national security,’ according to Amnesty Inter- as a ‘misfire.’” the Ho Man Tin construction site in Hong Kong; national,” wrote The Nation. The arrest of these Walmart sites experienced labor unrest as well. police and firefighters were called to the scene. activists has brought an international campaign to A small group of Walmart workers have taken issue Firefighters gave the man some water and eventu- support them. with the fact that the company has hijacked the ally convinced him to come down. The man has Additionally, police opened fire on taxi drivers state-run labor union, the All-China Federation reportedly reached a settlement with the company. on Dec. 10, 2015. The drivers were protesting of Trade Unions (ACFTU). The Walmart workers With files from “China Labour Bulletin,”Finan - unlicensed cabs being used in the province of want to be able to elect their own delegates rather cial Post, The Nation, http://hongkong.coconuts.co, Shangdong. One taxi driver, a 43-year-old woman than the company board selecting the delegates. and http://www.rfa.org.

2016 ushers in a new era of International Solidarity

By the IWW International Solidarity direct contact through branch liaisons to the years, with members imprisoned for union activ- Commission (ISC) ISC, continue translating IWW literature into ity. Call or mail your local Iranian Embassy with The incoming IWW International Solidarity many other language groupings of workers and letters of support from educational and labor or- Commission (ISC) would like to thank Florian to develop assessment stamps to aid other labor ganizations, demanding an end to suppression of H., Yusuf C. and Jefferson P. for the great work organizations. We are also looking to translate workers’ rights: Embassy of the Islamic Republic in 2015. The new ISC website is up and run- IWW materials that may be of future use to of Iran: 1250 23rd Street NW, Washington, ning at http://iww.international. organizing Middle Eastern refugees in their own D.C. 20037, United States. You may also write We have nominated Fellow Worker Anders languages. to: 16 Princes Gate, London, SW7 1PT, United M. as our new chair and we plan to continue International solidarity is part of the fabric Kingdom. the work begun by our predecessors. We plan of our union and there are numerous ways to get For the One Big Union! to continue to maintain newsletters with our involved. For example, members of the Iranian Abraham C., Joey N., Anders M. sister organizations, prioritize direct contact Teachers’ Trade Association have been suffering International Solidarity Commission with international organizations by facilitating from extreme repression in recent months and Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Worker • Winter 2016 Industrial Worker PO Box 180195 Chicago, IL 60618 USA ISSN 0019-8870 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

WINTER 2016 #1776 VOLUME 113 NO. 1 $4 (U.S. IWW members) / $6 (U.S. non-members) / $8 (International)

BOSTON,BOSTON, 1942: 1942: PICKETING PICKETING WORKERS, WORKERS, MOSTLY MOSTLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN. WOMEN, LAUNDRYLAUNDRY WORKERS WORKERS INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL UNION UNION LOCAL LOCAL 135 135. LIBRARYPHOTO OF COURTESYCONGRESS OF PHOTO U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

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