The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the IWW During the WWI Era

Based on extensive archival research, The Wobblies in their Heyday looks at the union during the World War I era when it was able to organize militant strikes that drastically curtailed production in key industries, copper mining and lumber. It also looks at the debates within the union on how to build a broadly based movement to oppose the war. The book also details the coordinated campaign of repression launched by the administration of Woodrow Wilson with the intention of crushing the Wobblies. During World War I, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) rose to prominence as an effective, militant union and then was destroyed by a devastating campaign of repression launched by the federal government. Eric Thomas Chester’s The Wobblies in Their Heyday documents the rise and fall of this important industrial labor organization. The Industrial Workers of the World—or “Wobblies,” as they were known—included legendary figures from U.S. labor history. Joe Hill, “Big Bill” Haywood, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn have become a part of American popular folklore. In his new book, Chester shows just how dynamic a force the IWW was in its heyday during World War I. “This deeply researched study offers an incisive analysis of the success of the IWW in organizing during World War I and of the relentless campaign of corporate and federal authorities to destroy it. Chester has established a new watermark for historical understanding of the IWW.” —Staughton Lynd “Chester’s description of the anti-subversive crusade by federal authorities during World War I and their linking of domestic radicals with violence or terrorism proves yet again how government uses its legal authority to crush and punish dissenters and mavericks.” — Prof. Melvyn Dubofsky, Author, We Shall Be All