Wobblies’ timeline

Inspired and sourced from the graphic novel: Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World, which features a different comic artist for each subject/era, and also by colly.com’s timeline, I made this page to tell the story of the famous labor union’s prominent figures.

What struck me was each artist’s unique tribute to the legendary fighters. To not let them drip from my mind sieve, I snapped photos as a way to help remember their stories, before returning the book to library.

1905

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the Wobblies, was forms in Chicago.

They represent the working class With a focus direct action.

At one time they had 100k members in the US and 10k+ worldwide. They aim to unite all workers, regardless of skill level or trade, into one big union to overthrow capitalism and establish a more just society.
1886

Lucy Parsons is a founding member of the IWW. Parsons is a powerful speaker and fights for the rights of workers, women, and people of color. She’s a key figure in the Haymarket Riot of 1886 which is a bloody affair resulting in dead police and executed activists. However, it helps spark a movement for better working conditions, the eight-hour workday, as well establishing of May 1st as International Workers’ Day.

“Let us all labor to add one more word to the preamble of the constitution, and that word is ’industrial.’”
1911

The Magón Brothers are journalists and activists who play a key role in founding the IWW in Mexico. 1911, they publish a newspaper "Regeneración" to spread their mission and become lead voices in the Mexican anarchist movement.

“All the tyrannies of which the working class is victim are born of the government and capitalism. The government is the head of the monster; capitalism is its body.”
1912

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones is an Irish-born founding member who works to end child labor through legal means. She is 83 when Teddy Roosevelt calls her "the most dangerous woman in America." She leads a childrens’ march to the home of Roosevelt to demand better working conditions for miners in 1912.

“Morn the dead and fight like hell for the living."

"I have been in jail more than once and I expect to go again. If you are too cowardly to fight, I will fight.”
1912

"Big" Bill Haywood is another founding member. His leadership plays a crucial role in successful strikes and campaigns, such as the 1912 Bread and Roses strike, which saw over 20k textile workers in Lawrence, MA win better wages and working conditions. He’s known for his fiery speeches and his 250 lb stature. Charged with conspiracy to commit murder, he’s acquitted but is forced to flee to the Soviet Union in 1921.

“The mine owners did not find the gold, they did not mine the gold, they did not mill the gold, but by some weird alchemy, all the gold belonged to them.”
1914

Mabel Dodge, a wealthy socialite, becomes involved in labor activism after attending an IWW meeting. She uses her influence to support the movement. In 1914 she helps organize the Paterson silk strike in NJ, one most significant of the era. The strike lasts six long months, involves 24k workers, and results in a shorter workweek, increased pay, and better working conditions.

“The economic freedom of women is necessary to free our civilization from the tyranny of the patriarchal family.”
1915

Joe Hill organizes and leads a strike of dock workers in San Pedro, CA 1915. It shuts down the entire port of Los Angeles for nearly two months causing significant disruption. The Swedish-American writes many songs that become labor anthems, including "The Preacher and the Slave" (also known as "Pie in the Sky") - a satirical song criticizing the Salvation Army’s promise of "pie in the sky" in the afterlife rather than material improvements in this life.

“A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once. But a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over.”
1915

Emma Goldman becomes involved in the movement after working in a factory in Rochester, NY while experiencing harsh working conditions and mistreatment. Her fiery rhetoric draws her toward newspaper contributions and speaking events.

In 1915, she starts a lecture tour in which she advocats for women’s access to birth control, a topic that was taboo at the time. She remains an influential figure in the birth control movement until her death in 1940. She was arrested several times for participation in strikes, and eventually deported from the US for her beliefs.

“The most violent element in society is ignorance.”
1916

Frank Little is appointed as the IWW’s national field secretary in 1916, and tasked with organizing workers in the west. He plays a key role in organizing the Mesabi Range miners strike that year, which was one of the largest strikes in American history.

Little’s dedication to labor rights and his commitment to nonviolent protest makes him a target for the authorities. Known for his uncompromising spirit and refusal to back down in the face of opposition, he faces threats, violence, and imprisonment, but never wavers in his commitment to the cause.

“Workers of the world, awaken! Break your chains, demand your rights. All the wealth you produce belongs to you, not to a minority of parasites.”
1920

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn joins the IWW at just 16, and quickly rises ranks. She is a trailblazer, as she’s one of the few women to hold a leadership position in the movement at the time, and also one of the few who openly embraces socialism.

She’s a passionate advocate on the Defense Committee for the Italian-born anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, who were convicted and ultimately executed for a robbery and murder they may not have committed in 1920.

“We are all born free and equal, but some are more equal than others."”
1932

"T-Bone" Slim Brundage is an traveling worker who writes songs and poems promoting the IWW message, eventually influencing Kerouak and Ginsburg.

In 1932 he helps organize the National Hunger March in D.C., in response to high unemployment and poverty plaguing the country. Although it is met with violence from the police, it brings attention to the struggles of workers during the Great Depression.

"We were driven from our homes, boys, driven from our homes,
By the thugs that Rockefeller hired to bust our union’s bones.
And we pitched our tents in Ludlow, boys, and we thought we’d be all
right, But the thugs and the lawmen shot us down in the middle of the night."

—from the song "The Ludlow Massacre" which tells the story of the violent confrontation between striking coal miners and the Colorado National Guard.
1937

Paul Robeson was known for his powerful baritone voice and his ability to convey a deep sense of emotion through his singing. He brought new life to Joe Hill’s labor anthems.

In 1937 he plays a crucial role in setting up the Council on African Affairs - an organization aimed at promoting African liberation at a time when such issues received little attention from Americans. He inspires countless civil rights and labor activists, including Angela Davis and Harry Belafonte.

“The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice.”
1965

Gary Snyder, a prominent anarchist and labor activist, becomes involves with the IWW and gives speeches on behalf of the organization. In ’65 he participates in the Delano grape strike and became a leading voice in the environmental and counter-cultural movements.

“Doom scenarios, even though they might be true, are not politically or psychologically effective. The first step . . . is to make us love the world rather than to make us fear for the end of the world.”
1989

Judi Bari, an environmental and labor activist, is injured when a bomb explodes in her car in Oakland, California. Despite being targeted for her activism, she is later falsely accused by the FBI of being responsible for the bombing. In 1989 she organizes a successful campaign to save California’s Headwaters Forest from logging.

“The only way we can stop the destruction of the Earth and its people is to build alliances. And the only way to build alliances is to be honest and respectful with each other.”