Traveling I.W.W. activist and organizer John Pancner gives some sound advice to fellow organizers and speakers, camp delegates, strikers, and members.

A leading Wobbly, comrade Pancner joined the I.W.W. in 1905, the year of its founding. For the next decade he organized in Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, and Michigan involved in many of its most important struggles. John Pancner was sentenced to ten years for conspiracy, convicted in Chicago’s mass 1917 I.W.W. trial, though hardly his first time in jail. Released after five years in Leavenworth in December, 1922, comrade Pancner would settle in his native Detroit and be active in I.W.W. autoworker organizing. He would leave the I.W.W. in the 1932, later joining the C.I.O., helping to found the United Auto Workers, becoming secretary-treasure of UAW Local 235 and active until his death in 1952. Local 235 remains an important UAW local in Detroit.

‘A Few Dont’s’ by John Pancner from Industrial Worker. Vol. 4 No. 11. June 6, 1912.

For Organizers and Speakers.

• Don’t waste your time prating about the flag and the church; talk about the ONE BIG UNION and its tactics.
• Don’t put in all of your time knocking the A.F. of L. and the S.P.; remember there is constructive work to be done.
• Don’t be afraid to go out into the camps, mills, fields and factories.
• Don’t be afraid to make a personal canvas for new members; remember that it is the walking delegate that keeps the A.F. of L alive.
• Don’t forget to use the soft pedal when in a hostile town.
• Don’t start free speech fights, especially in towns where there are no industries.
• Don’t forget that the same speech all the time gets stale.

For Camp Delegates.

• Don’t forget to write to the secretary.
• Don’t fail to get a list of radicals in your camp.
• Don’t insult everyone in the bunk-house because they don’t agree with you.
• Don’t keep the boys awake until midnight; you will lose your influence.
• Don’t be afraid to offer an organizer a bed when he comes to camp; remember that his is a hard job.
• Don’t forget to get subs for the papers.

For Strikers.

• Don’t! forget to pull all the men out with you.
• Don’t forget that every means should be used to get the men out before the police are organized by the boss; the men will not go back easily once they are out.
• Don’t forget that you need information from other points and arrange for communication accordingly.
• Don’t forget to elect a level-headed strike committee from your most resourceful members.
• Don’t forget that you need a strike bulletin for publicity; have one, if it is only mimeograph work.
• Don’t leave all the work to the strike committee; get out on the picket lines.
• Don’t fail to establish camps and cook houses.
• Don’t forget to protect your life against brutal thugs.
• Don’t forget the irritation strike, sabotage, and the boycott.
• Don’t fail to order a bundle of papers regularly; the men will thus be kept informed and cheered up in the fight.

For the Membership.

• Don’t forget to pay your dues.
• Don’t forget to donate on pay day.
• Don’t be a chair-warmer.
• Don’t forget Ettor and Giovannitti.
• Don’t forget that Preston is in the Nevada State Penitentiary and Palomarez in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kas.; visit the boys if you are in their part of the country.
• Don’t forget to picket the employment sharks in case they are shipping to strike districts; if you can’t keep the crew from shipping then ship yourself and agitate among them.
• Don’t forget that you belong to the greatest and grandest labor organization in the world, and freedom awaits you If you are active enough.

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.”

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v4n11-w167-jun-06-1912-IW.pdf