The IWW, or Industrial Workers of the World, was founded in Chicago in 1905, in part as a response to the traditional craft based structure of organizations like the American Federation of Labor, which organized laborers into unions according to their respective trades. If you go to their website today you’ll note that the IWW still proudly promotes itself as “one big union”, that is one union for all workers, united by class struggle.

Dr. Peter Cole is a professor of history at Western Illinois University and a researcher specializing in the history of social movements. He’s also the author of several books, and was co-editor of Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW.