William D. “Big Bill” Haywood ranks as one of the foremost and
perhaps most feared of America’s labor radicals. Physically imposing
with a thunderous voice and almost total disrespect for law, Haywood
mobilized unionists, intimidated company bosses, and repeatedly found
himself facing prosecution.
.” A fitting
description considering that Haywood was a hard-nosed, take no
prisoners, lieutenant who fought on the front lines of America’s labor
movement for decades.
Haywood once remarked: "
I've never read Marx's Capital, but I've got the marks of capital all over my body."
Haywood was born in Salt Lake City on February 4, 1869 , the son of a Pony Express
rider who died of pneumonia when Bill was just three. At age nine Bill
punctured his right eye with a knife while whittling a slingshot,
blinding it for life. (Haywood always turned his head to offer his left
profile when photographed, but never replaced his milky, dead eye with a
glass one.) Bill was also nine when he first began work in the mines.
The 1886 Haymarket riots, trials, and executions made a deep impression
on Haywood inspiring, he would later say, his life of radicalism.
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/11/commemorating-haymarket-martyrs.html The
Pullman railroad strikes of 1893 further strengthened Haywood’s interest
in the labor movement. Then in 1896, while working a silver mine in
Idaho, Haywood listened to a speech by Ed Boyce, President of the
Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Haywood immediately signed up as a
WFM member and by 1900 became a member of the organization’s executive
board.
When Boyce retired as WFM president in 1902, he recommended Haywood
and Charles Moyer assume leadership of the rapidly growing organization.
It was not an easy arrangement. Moyer was cautious by nature, favoring
negotiations over strikes and violence. Haywood, on the other hand, was
volatile, impulsive and inclined toward radical confrontation. Haywood
was a powerful speaker, and was a master at rallying working class
audiences. The campaign for an eight-hour work day became one of
Haywood’s principal causes. He would shout, “Eight hours of work, eight
hours of play, eight hours of sleep– eight hours a day!”
By 1902 the WFM led a series of violent strikes known as the Colorado Labor Wars. “the closest the United States
has ever approached outright class warfare.”
In the end, the violence cost 33 lives. In one terrible incident at the
town of Independence in 1904, 13 non-union miners (called scabs by the
unionists) were killed by an explosion at a train station. When
officials pointed the finger at Haywood the heat on the union rose to
fever pitch. Fortunately for Haywood and the union the locals could
never quite make anything stick against them so they lived to fight
another day.
Haywood was a Socialist and an atheist, who once said “Socialism is so plain, so clear, so simple that when a person
becomes an intellectual he doesn’t understand socialism.”and on Christianity,
he remarked that it "was all nonsense, based on that profane compilation of
fables
called the Bible." These things, along with union agitation and his reputation made him disliked (or worse) by those in the non-working classes.
It was “one big union,” for workers nationwide in all industries,
crafts and trades. This was in sharp contrast to the AFL, which was a
federation of exclusive, craft-based organizations of skilled workers. Known as “Wobblies,” IWW members included workers from all walks of
life, regardless of skill, sex or race – and Haywood was their most
beloved leader.
They stated that:
The aims and objects of this organization shall be to put the working-class in possession of the economic power, the means of life, in control of the machinery of production and distribution, without regard to the capitalist masters. (Zinn)
Further example of the inherent radicalism of the union can be found in the preamble to its constitution that was drawn up that day:
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life....
Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old. (
www.iww.org)
Strong stuff. And clearly the main reason why the owners of factories, mills, mines, and other places of employment feared and hated them. Ties to socialism and anarchism (even communism to some degree) didn't help. Nor the fact that many of the members were from that lower class of the recently immigrated that was already looked at with disdain by both corporate and middle class America.
Like Haywood the group were radicals who preferred action over negotiation and promoted what it called "direct action," meaning industrial action directly by, for, and of the workers themselves, without the treacherous aid of labor misleaders or scheming politicians. A strike that is initiated, controlled, and settled by the workers directly affected is direct action.... Direct action is industrial democracy. (Zinn)
And while violence was never to be initiated, the IWW had no problem fighting back with equal violence if (it deemed it) necessary.They were constantly on the go, moving from state to state,
organizing with songs and stories. One thousand strong, Wobblies would
pour off freight trains at strike sites, singing rebellious songs. The
150,000 Wobblies influenced millions.
Despite Haywood's involvement in the IWW, which was heavily influenced by anarcho-syndicalism, he was a longtime member of the Socialist Party of America, and often pleaded with workers to vote in elections. In January 1913, he was recalled as a member of the Socialist party National Executive Committee for purportedly advocating violence by a referendum which drew support mainly from New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. His expulsion from the party has been cited as a prime cause of the extremely steep decline in the membership of the Socialist party.
Strikes in those days were not polite affairs: Company owners routinely
hired thugs to violently encourage picketers to return to work,
strikebreakers faced likely beatings at the hands of workers, police and
Pinkerton's agents were often weapons of management, and it was not
rare for strikers or policemen to be killed..
Mine owners were eager to silence the Wobblies, so they hatched a
scheme to frame Haywood and his allies for allegedly assassinating the
former governor of Idaho. In 1905, Frank R.
Steunenberg, a former Governor of Idaho and a fervent opponent of union
activity, was murdered, and over a thousand union leaders were rounded
up and held without evidence while the killing was investigated.
Eventually Haywood was charged, along with union President Charles Moyer
and George Pettibone, a union member who had served as Moyer's
bodyguard.While in prison,with time on his hands in the Boise jail, Haywood began
to read. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Carlyle’s The French Revolution, were
among his selections. While in jail, Haywood also ran for governor of
Colorado on the Socialist ticket, designed new WFM posters, and took a
correspondence course in law.
His trial
began on May 9, 1907, with famed Chicago defense attorney Clarence
Darrow defending him. The prosecution was unable to produce sufficient
evidence to convict Haywood. He was acquitted and all charges were
dropped after it became clear that the key witness against him had
committed perjury. Moyer and Pettibone were acquitted in subsequent
trials..After the announcement Haywood jumped to his feet, crying and
laughing at the same time. After hugging supporters, he ran to shake
hands with each juror.
As the IWW gained strength, Haywood grew into a folk hero for
working people and a demon to employers..
In 1910, Big Bill went to Europe, where he participated in helping to
organize strikes in Ireland and South Wales. During the trip he stopped
in Copenhagen to attend a conference of socialist parties from all over
the world. There he met Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg and other leading
European revolutionaries of the day.
In 1912 the Lawrence Textile
in Lawrence, Massachusetts made national headlines. Textile mill
workers, mainly immigrants (and many women), left their jobs in protest
of sinking wages. Within a week, twenty thousand workers in Lawrence had
joined the IWW led strike. Authorities responded violently to the
strike. The local IWW leaders were jailed on false charges, and martial
law was declared. A national outrage was sparked when authorities
arrested women and children who were being evacuated from the town. As a
result, the mill owners lost support and were finally pressured into
caving on all strike demands. The strike outcome was a huge success for
Big Bill Haywood.
Also in 1912, Big Bill encouraged the Brotherhood of Timber Workers
in Louisiana to invite African American workers to their convention
(though it was illegal) with the following speech:
“You work in the same mills together. Sometimes a black man and a
white man chop down the same tree together. You are meeting in a
convention now to discuss the conditions under which you labor. Why not
be sensible about this and call the Negroes into the Convention? If it
is against the law, this is one time when the law should be broken.”
When World War One broke out, both Haywood and the IWW were against the United States' entry (the IWW was the only union that was adamant against going to war). On the other hand, the received idea that the war was yet another example of American patriotic response is incorrect. World War One actually was felt to require its own "marketing" division (propaganda, properly speaking) to get the spirit of patriotism whipped to the proper level so that the war would not only be supported but people would choose to fight (when the numbers of voluntary recruits were inadequate, conscription was used).
President Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information in order to instill these "correct" feelings toward America's decision to go to war (now the media, itself, fulfills the role with today's "wars," giving them catchy names and slogans, special graphics, and their own theme music). The most outspoken people against the war tended to be the sort of "radicals" that Haywood fell into: communists, socialists, anarchists, union types, and (of course) pacifists like Jeannette Rankin, the only member of Congress to vote against going to war in both in 1917 and 1941 (the latter time being the single dissenting vote).
As could be expected, Haywood saw the war in labor/economic terms, as can be seen in this statement from the IWW in 1915
With the European war for conquest and exploitation raging and destroying the lives, class consciousness and unity of the workers, clouding the main issues, we openly declare ourselves the determined opponents of all nationalistic sectionalism, or patriotism, and the militarism preached and supported by our one enemy, the capitalist class. We condemn all wars, and for the prevention of such, we proclaim the anti-militarist propaganda in time of peace and, in time of war, the General Strike in all industries. (
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk)
Further evidence of an often unmentioned resistance to going to war is shown by the government feeling it necessary to pass two acts to counteract those sentiments (which it must have felt threatened by, otherwise there would be no need for the legislation). The Espionage Act was passed in 1917. It was started out sounding like an act related to spying and giving information pertaining to national defense to the enemy in time of war ("information" defined very broadly). But it also made it illegal to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty...or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the US" (qtd. in Zinn).
It essentially became a way to quiet the voices of dissent, whether in person or in print. There was a provision making "every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, in violation of any of the provisions"
considered "nonmailable matter" and barred from transport or delivery through the mail. The same went for anything (the same very broad scope of items) "advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States" (
www.multied.com).
The second piece of legislation was the Sedition Act. It expanded the parameters of the prior act to include anything that one could willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States...or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully...urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production.... (www.lib.byu.edu) Basically, free speech could be capriciously eliminated with imprisonment.
Citing the
newly passed Espionage Act of 1917
as justification, the Department of Justice began raiding IWW meeting
halls in September 1917. Many core IWW members among them Haywood were arrested; they faced
a wide array of charges including conspiracy to hinder the draft and
encourage desertion, and intimidation.
In April 1918, Haywood and 100 other IWW brothers began their trial, presided over by
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
The trial became one of America’s longest criminal trials.Haywood testified for three full days. All 101 defendants were found
guilty. Haywood was
convicted of violating a federal espionage and sedition act by calling a
strike during wartime. He served a year in Leavenworth, then jumped
bond in 1921 while out on appeal.
By then he was in bad shape
and looking at 20 years in jail. Unable to face this fate he fled the
country and eventually settled in Moscow where he joined a trade union. married a Russian woman. and he became
a trusted advisor to the new Bolshevik government.
At the same time IWW morale was shattered. Although individuals remembered him
affectionally and excused his action without justifying it, his
influence on the American Left had all but vanished.
Haywood also became friendly with another journalist, Eugene Lyons.In his book,
Assignment in Utopia (1937), he wrote:
"Though stupidly regarded by so many as un-American,
Haywood's every nerve and muscle was rooted in the American soil, and
the movement which he started and led - a movement of hoboes, drifters,
unskilled workers, lumberjacks and miners - was likewise authentically
American in a sense that made it incomprehensible to foreign students.
He had fled to Russia with other IWW men while out on bail and was
therefore forever cut off from his native land. This robust, two-fisted
American, essentially democratic and idealistic in his instincts, found
the Bolshevik system of impersonal brutality hateful and fumed inwardly
because he could say and do nothing about it. After a lifetime of
fighting what he considered the delusions of political action, he could
not swallow a super-state, whatever slogans it might profess. He was
suddenly an impotent alien, dependent on the bounty of a dictatorial
state, and unable to return home. Out of one prison he had escaped into
another. He was a pathetic ruin. The solace of his last years was a
Russian wife much younger than himself, who nursed him and coddled him
with great devotion. It was her firm hand which kept him from drink and
imposed absolute rest and thus prolonged his life."
William Haywood was in poor health and died in the Soviet Union on 18th May, 1928 after a stroke. Half of his ashes were buried in the Kremlin near his
friend John Reed and not far from Lenin’s tomb, an urn containing the
other half of his ashes was sent to Chicago and buried near a monument
to the Haymarket anarchists who first inspired his life of radicalism.
But despite this sad ending, William “Big Bill” Haywood should be
honored and remembered for all of his contributions to the struggles of
the working class. He stood clearly on the workers’ side for his entire
life, no matter what the consequences and will be long remembered..
And despite the IWW’s unbridled enthusiasm, the organization was beset by
internal disputes and its membership declined dramatically after World
War I to about 15,000 in 1922.The Wobblies believed in permanent rebellion – and although the IWW lost its power to a degree. they are still going strong and, the spirited culture of rebellion that Haywood created will never die.
