The Texas oil boom is super-charged by U.S. entry into World War One, with all the primitive traits of primary accumulation we have come to expect from the fossil fuel industry. Here, the I.W.W. tries to make inroads in the ramshackle boomtown of Goose Creek, now the site of massive petrochemical industrial concerns.

‘Oil Workers of Texas Organizing in I.W.W.’ by Ray Corder from Solidarity. Vol. 8 No. 378. April 7, 1917.

A.F. of L. Wants “Efficiency” for Bosses, but the O.B.U. Demands Shorter Hours and Better Pay

Goose Creek, Texas. The boom is on, in full swing. Men are coming here in droves. Gushers and gas blowouts are daily occurrences. Our oily masters are reaping almost as great a harvest of filthy lucre as the Wall Street gamblers with their war babies. Goose Creek has grown from a bay-shore village with a general store, a church house, and 25 or 30 antiquated mossbacks, to a city of 5,000 or more. Spuds have gone up to a dime each. In fact, the only thing that hasn’t changed in Goose Creek is the $3.00 that is paid to us wage slaves for tolling for 10 hours of each day or night. Last, but not least, the oil workers of Texas are organizing in the One Big Union, in poolroom, restaurant, boarding house and on the job they are talking about the I.W.W., while “direct-action,” “sabotage” and “an injury to one is an injury to all” are becoming familiar words. The oil workers of Texas have been misled, swindled and tripped up, hog-tied and sold out, by the old and rotten system of organization, as advocated by the American Separation of Sympathy, that there has been a deep distrust and suspicion forced on them, against any kind of a union, thus making organizing a little slow.

My brother and I have turned loose with the help of our new fellow workers and are holding street meeting every night that is favorable, with the result of a large and attentive crowd. We sold all our song books at the first two meetings and immediately placed an order for 100 more, which we expect to last only a few meetings. We are both on the job as “roughnecks.” There are several drilling rigs with old and new wobbles working and we have job control on one “roustabout” gang with a wobblie in charge who sees that no one but rebels get on. He will walk up to a slave and feel him out in regards to the I.W.W., and if said slave will take out a card he is told about the job. Now, fellow workers, we have so many members in the A.W.O. that the coming harvest will be taken care of alright; so come to Goose Creek, Tex., and help to spread the germ of discontent. This field is on the boom and ripe for organization. And it takes (as a rule) an old rebel, not a one-stamp man, to make the best agitator. This field is too big for two delegates to handle. It has spread from a few derricks to a mile out in Galveston Bay, and five miles back inland. Each rig is working five men: there being over 250 drilling rigs besides rig builders, pipe liners, pumpers, roustabouts, etc.

The oil and gas workers’ federal union of the A.F. of Hell are organizing here, but we can’t be worried. The “roughnecks” will know which is the right way to organize; there are many boll-weevils (inexperienced men) here and those that have union ideas will want to join some kind or a union, and the I.W.W. being open to all who are exploited, will receive them and not care for making more “efficient” slaves for the masters to exploit. To hell with efficiency! The oil workers want eight hours and more money to meet the hi-cost of robbery that is being carried on by the Bush-wahs here. Below is an article taken from the Joke corner of the Goose Creek Times:

“Efficiency” is the watchword with the Oll Field Workers’ Union No. 16387, of Goose Creek, according to Secretary D.R. Black’s letter. If every labor union would adopt that same motto there would be no more labor troubles, and capital and labor would unite in a brotherly spirit to do the world’s work. In the present-day world the man who delivers the goods is the man who gets there, and it is highly gratifying to all to note that the Goose Creek oil field workers are setting their standard high.”

Read and weep!!

Fellow workers, can we stand by and see bunk like this handed out to our fellow men without a word. So come, fellow workers, and help to add one more state to the O.B.U. map and build up a Goose Creek branch of Local 450, O.W.I.U. Ask the night waiter (a new wob) at Bill’s White Kitchen, where we can be found, or address care General Delivery, Goose Creek. RAY CORDER, Delegate 930, O.W.I.U.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1917/v8-w378-apr-07-1917-solidarity.pdf