Bill Haywood, not to be confused with Tony Hayward who oversaw the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, (including the loss of eleven workers when the oil rig exploded and set on fire), opened the 1905 Industrial Workers of the World Conference (IWW) with these words: “Fellow Workers, this is the Continental Congress of the Working Class. We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working-class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the Working Class from the slave bondage of capitalism.” (1)
Haywood, who was born and raised in Utah and worked as a miner’s helper and Pony Express rider, understood very well the importance of Working Class emancipation. Not only did he learn the principles of industrial unionism and socialism from the Knights of Labor, but he lost his homestead when the federal government seized it. (2) As head of the Western Federation of Miners in Silver City, and later editor of the Miner’s Magazine, Haywood helped oversee labor camp schools, hospitals and stores that served workers. He also fought corporate bosses, their abusive practices, and hired security thugs. (3)
It was not long, though, for Haywood and the newly formed Industrial Workers of the World to be labeled and framed as militant socialists, specifically since they believed a revolutionary union, not another working-class political party, should be the vehicle for radical economic and political change. By organizing workers into one large union, the IWW and Haywood’s goal was to lead a massive general strike in which capitalism would be overthrown, leaving industry to be run in a more decentralized, democratic fashion. (4) It would finally be industry and industrialization for the people, by the people, and of the people.
Haywood’s goal was immediately aborted when in 1906, he was charged with the bombing murder of a former Idaho governor, who had ordered the breaking of strikes resulting in the deaths of several workers. Haywood was eventually acquitted, and as an organizer of the IWW helped lead several successful labor strikes for better pay and safer working conditions. (5) However, the captains of industry disapproved of Haywood’s “sabotage” rhetoric. For Haywood, “Sabotage meant to push back, pull out or break off the fangs of Capitalism.” (6) Both politicians and the government interpreted Haywood’s words as pro-militancy and pro-violence (7), and as a threat to the status quo.
During World War I – and even though Haywood did not agitate against the war or forbid IWW members to comply with the draft, but only spoke against U.S. entry – politicians, patriotic organizations, and monopolists attacked the union and Haywood of being disloyal and dangerous. (8) A series of government raids resulted in the indictment of Haywood, along with most of the IWW’ leadership. Even though there was a lack of evidence, under the Sedition Act, Haywood was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment and fined $20,000. (9) He later fled the U.S., while the IWW and many of its members were either broken or left in shambles.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, on the other hand, is still employed, despite one of the worst labor and industrial disasters in the history of the United States. Even though some experts predict he might lose his job, including a $1.5 million salary and a $3 million bonus in stock options, Hayward will more than likely receive a lucrative severance package and a multi-million dollar pension. After endangering the lives of workers and the Gulf region by cutting costs and by not abiding to safety standards, not to mention the livelihood and health of hundreds of thousands of people living along the coast, one has to wonder who is really guilty of sabotage, and who is the really at fault for damaging the Working Class.
In other words, when workers attempt to improve the plight of the Working Class in the United States, it is called sabotage. When corporations and their executives do sabotage the Working Class in the United States, it is called an accident. Will this valuable lesson from a tale of two workers: IWW Haywood and BP Hayward, including Working Class emancipation, ever be learned and realized?
——-
(1) Gutman, Herbert and Stephen Brier. Who Built America?, Working People And The Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture And Society From the Gilded Age To The Present, Volume II. New York, New York: Pantheon Books, 1992., p. 192.
(2) Buhle, Mari Jo, Paul Buhle and Dan Gerogakas. Encyclopedia Of The American Left. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992., p. 298.
(3) Ibid., p. 298.
(4) Gutman, Herbert and Stephen Brier. Who Built America?, Working People And The Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture And Society From the Gilded Age To The Present, Volume II., p. 192.
(5) Ibid., p. 299.
(6) Ibid., p. 299.
(7) Ibid., p. 299.
(8) Ibid., p. 299.
(9) Ibid., p. 300.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy