#wobblies — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #wobblies, aggregated by home.social.
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📣 New Podcast! "7 May 1912: NYC waiters strike" on @Spreaker #anniversaries_history #city #day #facts_weekly #history #history_historical #history_otd_on #history_weekly #in #iww #lives #new #news_everyday #restaurants #servers #stories_daily #this #waiters #wobblies #york
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/7-may-1912-nyc-waiters-strike--71869080 -
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties”*…
Today we have Substack and social media and blogs. In the old days, we “spoke” in person…
Speaker’s Corner, in Hyde Park in London, is a fabled site of on-going, open public speeches and debate. As Amelia Soth reminds us, that tradition also has a long history in the U.S…
There is nothing in American civic life today like Chicago’s old “Bughouse Square.” From the 1890s to the mid-1960s, it was a hotspot for soapbox speakers: radicals, evangelists, cranks, poets, philosophers, and eccentrics. Anyone with a perspective outside the mainstream gathered there nightly to declaim from their improvised podiums. The ethos, as one newspaper put it, was “free speech and the louder the better.” People actually came to listen, too, in crowds.
Bughouse Square (properly named Washington Square Park) might be the most famous free-speech center, but the practice of soapboxing stretched from sea to shining sea. New York City had its own crew of “peripatetic philosophers.” Hubert Harrison, known as the “Black Socrates,” delivered his critiques of capital right in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Then there was Portia Willis, the “suffrage beauty,” who drew in crowds with her looks and kept them with her wits.
As Mary Anne Trasciatti writes in “Athens or Anarchy? Soapbox Oratory and the Early Twentieth-Century American City,” the soapbox was a particularly democratic mode of public address. Even if you couldn’t get your cause into a meeting hall or a newspaper column, you could still hop on a box, lift your head a few inches above the crowd, and start talking. But that doesn’t mean just anyone could be a successful soapboxer. You had to be a good speaker to keep the crowds listening.
People tried all kinds of tricks to get attention. One soapboxer (wonderfully named Lowlife McCormick) would perform a Houdini-like escape from a straitjacket, which he would then declare to be a metaphor for the bonds of wage labor. Another would catch the crowd’s attention by shouting “I’ve been robbed! I’ve been robbed!” Once he had their ears, he’d finish up with “…by the capitalist system!” A really good soapboxer could draw in so many listeners as to render the streets impassable. One photo shows anarchist Alexander Berkman completely surrounded by a sea of hats.
But the attention soapboxing attracted wasn’t always positive. The 1910s saw a series of vicious “free speech fights” kick off in cities like Spokane, San Diego, and Fresno. Grace L. Miller lays out the history of perhaps the most violent of these struggles in “The I.W.W. Free Speech Fight: San Diego, 1912.” Things started to heat up when a deputy sheriff drove his car into a crowd of people listening to a socialist speaker. One listener reacted by slashing the sheriff’s tire. Within two days, the city passed an ordinance banning street speaking.
In response, the I.W.W. (the Industrial Workers of the World, or the “Wobblies”) urged supporters to ride the rails to San Diego and fight for their right to soapbox:
Come on the cushions; ride up on top;
stick to the brake beams; let nothing stop.
Come in great numbers; this we beseech;
Help San Diego to win free speech.Soapboxers descended on the town en masse. Each would step up on the box, say a word or two, and then get yanked off by the police and carried to jail. There’s even an old Wobbly joke about a speaker who starts his speech with the traditional salutation—“Fellow friends and workers”—and then, when he realizes no one’s coming to arrest him, panics and shouts “Where are the cops?!”
The Wobblies’ goal was to overwhelm the court system with free-speech cases until the city was forced to give up prosecuting soapboxers. Soon the jail was overflowing. But instead of following the legal process, the city discharged the arrestees right into the waiting arms of a vigilante gang, who drove the Wobblies to the county line and viciously beat them with axe handles.
It’s not exactly clear who the vigilantes were, but the gang may have been composed of some of the city’s most prominent citizens. A newspaper editor who was run out of town for his sympathy to the free-speechers wrote of them (as quoted by Miller): “The chamber of commerce and the real estate board are well represented. The press and public utility corporations, as well as members of the Grand Jury are known to belong.”
Yet the vigilantes went too far, and labor organizations called on the state government to intervene. The commissioner sent to investigate declared that the abuses he saw weren’t taking place in Tsarist Russia. At great personal cost, the Wobblies had put the concept of free speech to the test, and won…
When public oratory was a defining feature of civic life: “The Golden Age of the American Soapbox,” from @amelia-soth.bsky.social in @jstordaily.bsky.social.
* John Milton, Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicens’d Printing, to the Parliament of England
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As we speak up, we might ponder another Chicago-related phenomenon, recalling that it was on this date in 1986 that Geraldo Rivera made a “shocking discovery”:
#AlCapone #AlCaponeSVault #BughouseSquare #Chicago #culture #FreeSpeech #freedomOfSpeech #GeraldoRivera #history #oratory #politics #soapbox #SpeakersCorner #WobbliesNotorious and “most wanted” gangster, Al Capone, began his life of crime in Chicago in 1919 and had his headquarters set up at the Lexington Hotel until his arrest in 1931.
Years later, renovations were being made at the hotel when a team of workers discovered a shooting-range and series of connected tunnels that led to taverns and brothels making for an easy escape should there be a police raid. Rumors were spread that Capone had a secret vault hidden under the hotel as well.
In 1985, news reporter Geraldo Rivera had been fired from ABC after he criticized the network for canceling his report made about an alleged relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. It seemed like a good time for Rivera to scoop a new story to repair his reputation.
It was on this day [that] a live, two-hour, syndicated TV special, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault aired. After lots of backstory, the time finally came to reveal what was in that vault. It turned out to be empty. After the show, Rivera was quoted as saying “Seems like we struck out.”
– source
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📣 New Podcast! "15 April 1916: Domestic Workers Union" on @Spreaker #anniversaries_history #cleaners #colorado #day #denver #domestic #facts_weekly #feminism #history #history_historical #history_otd_on #history_weekly #in #iww #lives #news_everyday #stories_daily #this #wobblies #women
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/15-april-1916-domestic-workers-union--71033831 -
📣 New Podcast! "13 April 1890: Ben Fletcher born" on @Spreaker #anniversaries_history #ben #black #day #dockers #facts_weekly #fletcher #history #history_historical #history_otd_on #history_weekly #in #iww #lives #news_everyday #pennsylvania #philadelphia #stories_daily #this #wobblies
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13-april-1890-ben-fletcher-born--71033841 -
An excerpt of an interview with Utah Phillips in 2003. He talks about the origins of the IWW, the labor movement, corporate fascism and the US with a comparison to the rise of the Nazis.
Worth a listen.
"The long memory is the most radical idea in America..."
#Fascism #Resist #History #IWW #Wobblies #Labor #Union #Socialism #Anarchism #Organize #Solidarity #US
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@John And the classic Paul Robeson song (particularly poignant given Robeson's own life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes
Others have sung this, but IMHO Paul's version will always be definitive.
#music #socialism #capitalism #unions #tradeunions #wobblies #joehill -
Remembering Joe Hill
The legendary Wobbly and songwriter, executed 110 years ago, was celebrated worldwide for his resilience and humourm.
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Artificial Intelligence is a threat and a promise; as the world grapples with understanding its prospects and dangers, we invite you to join us in London on the 17th of November for a talk and open discussion to explore these questions and consider their implications for social movements.
https://interregnum.ghost.io/artificial-intelligence-to-participate-or-to-abolish/
#AI #event #events #london #discussion #socialmovement #socialmovements #iww #iwwunion #wobblies
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The fight continues, join the Industrial Workers of the World
To join our Tacoma branch email [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
🏴🚩 join the Tacoma IWW!
(you don't need to live in Tacoma to join our branch 😉)We're the One Big Union - open to all workers!
Email: [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
🟥 do you have your red card yet? Join the IWW, a labor union open to all workers!
Email [email protected]
Or visit
iww.org
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Join the fight against the Boss, capitalism and fascism.
Join the Industrial Workers of the World ✊🏼📧 email: [email protected]
Únete a la lucha en contra del Patrón, el capitalismo y el fascismo. ¡Únete al lxs Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo!
Manda un correo electrónico a: [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Tacoma representing ✊🏼🔥
Working-class solidarity!
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
I.W.W. What we stand for:
Industrial Workers of the World ("The Wobblies") is a rank and file union and worker solidarity organization. We stand for worker control on the job and in society. Membership is open to all workers in all jobs, employed or not. Dues are low and based on income.Join the Tacoma IWW
Email 📧 [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
💥Since 1905, we have been for the abolition of the wage system. We are a revolutionary labor union. Join the Tacoma IWW!
Email [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
🌋 join the Tacoma IWW!
Open to all workers - join the One Big Union 🌎
📧 email [email protected]
Español:
¡Únete al IWW!
Manda un correo a [email protected]
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#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
What are you waiting for? Get your #redcard - join the One Big Union!
To join our Tacoma branch email [email protected]
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#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
📢 join the Tacoma IWW branch next Thursday April 17th at 12:30pm at Freighthouse Square (in food court), to eat some food, hang out and see what we've been up to. All are welcome.
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#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
🗞 pick up the latest issue of the Seattle Worker - free for all workers!
https://seattleiww.org/2025/02/26/check-out-the-march-april-2025-issue-of-the-seattle-worker/
#tacomaiww #iww #seattleworker #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
¡Únete al Tacoma IWW!
Estás tratando con:
¿Un mal jefe/gerente?
¿Condiciones peligrosas?
¿Pagos bajos/robo de salarios?
¿Acoso en el trabajo?
¿Programación terrible?
¿Pobre/Sin beneficios?¡Organízate y gana!
Envía un correo a [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidaridadparasiempre #trabajadoresindustrialesdelmundo
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Join the Tacoma IWW Branch!
Are you dealing with:
A bad Boss / Manager?
Dangerous Conditions?
Low Pay / Wage Theft?
Harassment at Work?
Terrible Scheduling?
Poor / No Benefits?Organize and win!
Email us at [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
🏴🚩 Educate. Agitate. Organize. Now is the time. Join the @industrialworkersoftheworld - Join our Tacoma branch!
Email: [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
💥Join the One Big Union - Join our Tacoma branch! It doesn't matter if you are employed, unemployed, a student, or retired, as long as you're not the boss, a police officer or a prison guard, you can join the fight!
Email us at [email protected] for more information and become a member of the Industrial Workers of the World !
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Give yourself the gift that gets the goods, get yourself your own IWW Red Card! 🟥
Join our Tacoma Branch, email us at [email protected]
Also, visit iww.org to join the One Big Union
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
This holiday season (or anytime), don't be a scab.
Text: "Don't scab. Join the union of your class the I.W.W.
Whenever you speed up or work long hours on the job, you are scabbing on the unemployed."Join our Tacoma branch, email us: [email protected]
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
In November we remember.
Pick up the lastest issue of the Seattle Worker. It's free for all workers.
https://seattleiww.org/seattle-worker/
#seattleworker #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
What is Direct Action according to the IWW?
"Direct action is any form of activity that cripples the boss’ ability to make a profit and makes him/her cave in to the workers’ demands. The best known form of direct action is the strike, in which workers simply walk off their jobs and refuse to produce profits for the boss until they get what they want. This is the preferred tactic of the TUC “business unions,” but is actually one of the least effective ways of confronting the boss."
https://iww.org.uk/resource/organise_direct_action/
#directaction #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Anti-capitalist Mondays
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.
Join the Industrial Workers of the World
https://www.iww.org/membership/
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Pick up the lastest issue of the Seattle Worker! It's free for all workers. Industrial Workers of the World
https://seattleiww.org/seattle-worker/
#seattleworker #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Join the One Big Union, the Industrial Workers of the World!
https://www.iww.org/membership/
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Have you gotten your red card yet?
Join the IWW, the labor union for all workers!
https://www.iww.org/membership/
#tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
*Tomorrow Thursday*
END PRISON SLAVERY NOW
Join the Industrial Workers of the World and Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and a community coalition on Thursday, August 8 at 6pm to help organize a prisoner-led campaign to
HALT ALL PRISON LABOR & COMMISSARY SPENDING - ORGANIZE PROTESTS OUTSIDE OF PRISONS, JAILS, & ICE FACILITIESEvent is held online on Jitsi at
meet.jit.si/ShutEmDownTacoma.
Jitsi is a no-software, no registration alternative to ZoomFor more information, visit jailhouselawyersspeak.com or email [email protected]
SHUT 'EM DOWN
#jailhouselawyersspeak #abolishprisonslavery #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
Immigrants and refugees welcome!
The IWW stands in solidarity with all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. We oppose the racist, white-supremacist, classist, anti-immigrant, and xenophobic rhetoric, actions and attacks by the capitalist class, politicians, the far-right, or anyone else for that matter.
The IWW has a long and proud history of being comprised of immigrants and organizing immigrant workers, and we will continue to do so. We must continue to build solidarity among the working class not only in our jobs and industries but also in our communities and neighborhoods.
As our motto states, an injury to one is an injury to all.
Solidarity Forever!
#immigrantrightsareworkersrights #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem -
*One week away*
END PRISON SLAVERY NOW
Join the Industrial Workers of the World and Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and a community coalition on Thursday, August 8 at 6pm to help organize a prisoner-led campaign to
HALT ALL PRISON LABOR & COMMISSARY SPENDING - ORGANIZE PROTESTS OUTSIDE OF PRISONS, JAILS, & ICE FACILITIESEvent is held online on Jitsi at
meet.jit.si/ShutEmDownTacoma.
Jitsi is a no-software, no registration alternative to ZoomFor more information, visit jailhouselawyersspeak.com or email [email protected]
SHUT 'EM DOWN
#jailhouselawyersspeak #abolishprisonslavery #tacomaiww #iww #solidarityforever #industrialworkersoftheworld
#industrialunionism #aninjurytooneisaninjurytoall
#solidarityunionism #industrialworker #wobradio #wobblies #onebigunion
#abolitionofthewagesystem
