"In the brief span of its life, the IWW produced men who became internationally known and whose names were torches of inspiration in many lands. Most of them paid a high price for their fame, some with their lives. Frank Little and Wesley Everest were lynched. Joe Hill, the poet and song-writer, was executed. Bill Haywood, out of prison on bail while his war-time conviction was being appealed, was persuaded by New York Communists that world revolution was just around the corner and that he was needed in it. He skipped bail and fled to Russia, only to be relegated to the sidelines, and to die there a broken man...The IWW was much more of a revolutionary organization than a labor union-and frankly so...It was characteristic of IWW meetings that after the last speech had ended and the applause had died down, the audience would break up into circles, to continue discussing the subject, and later each circle would sing its favorite song. Gradually the circles would merge, and finally each man present, his arms over another's shoulders, would join in Joe Hill's best-known ballad, The Preacher and the Slave."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Rose Pesotta Bread upon the Waters (1945)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Industrial Workers of the World
11 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Industrial Workers of the World →
Related Quotes
"Deliver us from a country where man is damned for the dollar and the dollar is deemed the man"
"Deliver us from the greed and graft that exist in this nation and from the parasites who neither toil nor spin, but b…"
"You scoff at the rebel and lynch him till' dead But I was an outcast and they called me a "Red." You call me Christ J…"
"We shall laugh to scorn your power that now holds the South in awe; We shall trample on your customs, we shall spit u…"
"The IWW's founding convention in 1905 featured a marquee lineup of the twentieth century's most famed-and in some cas…"
"Through our house there came the dissidents, the brave exploded root, the radicle. I think the IWWs had the greatest …"
"The Industrial Workers of the World never brought about their revolution. Despite the IWW's internal problems, the st…"
"In 1905, when she was invited to appear at the founding convention of a new radical industrial union christened the I…"
"The Industrial Workers of the World, an organization launched in Chicago last June, is making wonderful progress in a…"
"The term "Wobbly", said to have been fastened on the I. W. W. members in derision by a Los Angeles editor, had been a…"