workingclasshistory:

On this day, 2 January 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union was conceived in the US at the Conference of Industrial Unionists in Chicago. Formally constituted at a subsequent conference in June, the IWW was a new kind of revolutionary, multi-racial union, it aimed to unite all workers into One Big Union, form the body of a new society, run by the working class, in the shell of the old. Facing savage repression from employers many members were lynched, killed and imprisoned. But they organised large swathes of previously unorganised workers and won many strikes. It still exists today in several countries, and often acts as a militant minority union.
More info in our podcast about the union at this time: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/05/23/wch-e6-the-industrial-workers-of-the-world-in-the-us-1905-1918/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1311611885690625/?type=3