‘IWW stood for Industrial Workers of the World. Work, Good Wages & Respect – that’s what they wanted for the workers.’ The Wobblies, woman, 1979
At the turn of the century America was changing rapidly from a basically rural society to an urban industrial one … One of the striking features of the period was the rapid growth of the enormous corporations which began to control the basic industries. ibid.
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. ibid. preamble
‘The IWW was the only thing that was accepting Negro or black workers.’ ibid. black worker
A year after the Lawrence Strike another strike broke out in Paterson, New Jersey, 1913 … They were defeated in their demands for an eight-hour day and higher wages. ibid.
‘You either had to stop living or become a rebel.’ ibid. woman
They would use the soapboxes as recruiting stations. ibid.
‘Rebellious slaves – that’s what we were.’ ibid. old boy
A devastating series of strikes brought the country to a halt and changed the face of British politics for ever. Revolution indeed: Labour was cast into the wilderness for nineteen years and union power was smashed. It was called the Winter of Discontent. Secret History s6e8: Winter of Discontent, Channel 4 1998
The trades unions were fed up after three years of incomes policy. ibid.
The first big test came with the pay negotiations at Ford … The workers wanted 30%, inside, management offered 5%. ibid.
The 5% pay limit was being ignored by almost everyone except the government. ibid.
Strikes by ambulancemen and hospital ancillary staff soon meant that nearly half the country’s hospitals could handle emergencies only. ibid.
In Liverpool even the gravediggers went on strike. ibid.
Council workers were now going on strike. ibid.
The rubbish was piling up. ibid.
It were 1920 in the south-west field and things was tough. The miners was trying to bring the union to West Virginia and the coal operators and their gun thugs was set on keeping ’em out. Matewan ***** 1987 starring Chris Cooper & James Earl Jones & Mary McDonnell & Will Oldham & David Strathairn & Ken Jenkins & Gordon Clapp & Bob Gunton & John Mostel & Kevin Tighe & John Sayles et al, director John Sayles
We did it, Mamma. We’re going to have the union. ibid. miner
You don’t want to go there, mister. Ain’t nuttin’ but crazy people. ibid. train guard
These picks and shovels are to be considered a loan from the Stone Mountain Coal Company. Their cost will be deducted from the first month’s pay. ibid. company man
I was with the Wobblies. ibid. Convenor
If you stand alone, you’re just so much shit to those people. ibid.
You work, they don’t: that’s all you got to know about the enemy. ibid.
The union didn’t have too much it could give to the people back then. All we got in common is our misery. ibid. commentary
A new day coming: sometimes I could just about see it. But it were a dangerous living for a union man and you didn’t dare turn your back. It was hard time. It was hungry times too. The union relief was spread thin, and hope of a new day could feed your soul but leave your belly rumbling. ibid.
In the summer of 1917, World War I was raging and the Queen of the Copper camps, Bisbee, Arizona, was crucial to the war effort. Copper was essential for munitions, and the mining companies were making record profits.
The miners, many of them immigrants, grew tired of the unsafe working conditions, imbalance of power and the discrimination they faced in the camp.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) seized upon this opportunity and came to Bisbee, to radicalize the workers and help cripple the war effort.
The IWW called a strike and the townspeople were forced to choose between the strikers and the mining companies.
Then on July 12 1917 a posse of two thousand men, led by Sheriff Harry Wheeler, rounded up the strikers at gunpoint, threw them onto cattle cars and shipped them to the barren desert of New Mexico, leaving them to die.
This event came to be known as the Bisbee Deportation. Bisbee ’17, 2018, captions
Thank you for riding the deportation express. ibid. coach tour
The Bisbee deportations seemed to disappear from the town’s history. The story was rarely told or mentioned. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher came to power on a promise to middle England. But she saw one big obstacle in the way … How she dismantled it: the cunning, the ruthlessness as she weaponised the police. And the killer instinct … Thatcher vs the Miners. Mrs Thatcher vs The Miners: The Battle for Britain, Channel 5 2021
Thatcher watched on as Ted Heath made a fatal mistake. Heath called an election on the question, Who runs Britain – the Tory government or the Miners? Heath lost. ibid.
‘Scargill and Thatcher deserved each other; absolutely no-one else deserved either of them.’ ibid. Neil Kinnock
Spurred on by his first brush with Thatcher, Scargill demanded a pay rise for his miners towards the end of 1983. The government refused. So the miners stopped working overtime. But Scargill had miscalculated Thatcher’s determination to stand firm. And on March 6th 1984 when news leaked out that Cortonwood colliery in Yorkshire would be shut down, and the men would all lose their jobs, Scargill was taken by complete surprise. The men walked out on strike immediately. A few days later, it was announced that another twenty pits would close with 20,000 job losses. Caught off guard, Scargill went for the kill and called for a national strike. ibid.
When the men walked out of the collieries, Scargill didn’t call a national vote. This was his next big mistake. ibid.
On March 12 1984 Scargill’s call for action resulted in almost 165,000 men downing tools and walking out on strike. Over 35,000 others remained at work. ibid.
Those on strike had nothing; they weren’t entitled to benefits. Families were really struggling. ibid.
One thing Thatcher did underestimate was their resilience. ibid.
The Christmas bonus really worked, and it became clear that the strike was nearing its end game. ibid.
You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism which enslaves you both. Tom Watson, cited Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA I: Divide and Rule, 2015
Courtaulds Ltd: 900 workers went on strike after a row with the management … ‘The strike as such here involved coloured people.’ Michael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw, Malcolm’s BBC interview, Sky Showcase 2021
It all started in north London at a small photographic processing lab called Grunwick … He [Ward] sacked the strikers … He still wouldn’t deal with the unions: it was the Freedom Association … There were over 50 vehicles involved in [Operation] Pony Express … 20,000 pickets came to Grunwick … The Freedom Association kept George Ward in business. Tory! Tory! Tory! II: Path to Power, BBC 2006
In 1980 there was a massive strike in the steel industry; inflation was high and workers wanted a pay rise to match it … The strike went on for three months. ibid.
The United Mine Workers of America staged a fourteen-month strike against the Rockefeller company. An assault on the striking coal miners was ordered on April 20th 1914. The Secret Plan of the New World Order
The purpose of this demonstration is to publicize the situation that three of our lads are faced with in jail; secondly, to point out that there are another eight now on trial, and another ten pending trial. Justice for the Salisbury Pickets ***** man with megaphone, Platform Films 2011
In 1973 Ricky Tomlinson and Des Warren were 2 of 24 building workers charged under an 1875 Conspiracy law for their part in organising the first national builders’ strike. The jailing of the Shrewsbury Pickets was not an isolated incident, more the start of a concerted campaign to criminalise rank and file trade union activists. In the 30 years since their imprisonment we have witnessed the increasing use of laws aimed at weakening organized workers’ ability to defend living standards and working conditions. ibid.
‘Working conditions were appalling; men were being killed.’ ibid. Elsa Warren, 2009
With 2,411 workers killed on building sites in the 10 previous years and with over 30,000 serious injuries, the 1972 national building strike had to challenge the lump system if wages and working conditions were to be improved. Tens of thousands of workers downed tools around Britain. ibid.
Later that summer, an even bigger show of working class solidarity had forced the release of five dockers jailed in Pentonville Prison for refusing to recognise the government’s industrial relations court. ibid.
‘We were accompanied at all times by the police.’ ibid. Tomlinson
‘The case was political because the start of the trial there was at least 1,000 police all around the court. ibid. John Jones
‘Two of the jury changed their mind … The court usher had gone into the jury room.’ ibid. Tomlinson
A savage campaign in the Tory press condemned the pickets for violence when in fact they had taken lawful means to spread the strike. ibid.
One of the most vicious attacks inflicted on the labour movement since the Second World War. ibid.