The I.W.W. organizing Iowa’s unemployed in 1915.

‘The Sioux City Unemployed League’ by Jack Allen from Solidarity. 6 No. 260. January 2, 1915.

Like all other cities, this one has a problem of the unemployed to solve, and the I.W.W. has been active in assisting the people who are interested in the solution of it to bring about a condition of affairs that will set well with the actions of the One Big Union, so far as the men out of work are concerned.

We have given the various missions a chance to make good in the attempt to relieve the distress of the many out-of-works at this, point, with the hope that there would be some effort on their part to do something for those who could apparently do nothing for themselves. It has proven to be the same fiasco as in the past, and it remains for the I.W.W. to tell the slaves to do something for themselves. There has been a meeting of the idle on several different occasions, and in all these meetings there has been an evidence of the slaves wanting to do something other than has been done for them in the past. There have been 500 cards of the Unemployed League issued, and that will mean that when the holder of that card turns it in to the secretary of the I.W.W. Propaganda League, he will be given a card in the I.W.W. Without having to pay an initiation fee, and will have to pay only the first month’s dues. We will recognize the unemployed card of all other locals which have issued the same kind of thing to the slaves, and it will not have to be worded in the same manner as the one issued here. The fact that a man has a card in the pocket bearing the seal of a local industrial union or that of a propaganda league will be all that will be required. That we can line up many of the slaves in the One Big Union seems certain, and there will be a good chance to have them all in the ice fields. All those who are in need of immediate assistance will be handled in the manner best known to the I.W.W. membership, and that will mean that there is a good chance to be of use to the slave element in this and surrounding towns.

All the slimy sheets of the capitalist class are on the job, and seem to take a keen delight in vilifying the organization, despite the fact that there is a good sentiment in favor of those men and principles involved in the battle for more of the good things of this life at this point of the compass. There are men of the crafts interested in the outcome in this town, and will go the limit to have all men do something for themselves. They will be anxious to point the way to industrial unity of all the men concerned, and it is the opinion of the writer that they will be given every chance to make good their promises to that effect. Everywhere we turn, we find that prejudice has laid hold of the minds of the people, and to overcome that prejudice we will have to act in an intelligent manner, for upon the men and women who are prejudiced at this time will depend the fight of the future, so far as the class struggle is concerned.

All men in this place who expect to make the ice will be asked to refuse to work for less than 25 cents an hour, and while that will not be sufficient to tide them over the balance of the winter after the ice is through with, it will be somewhat better than slaving like hell for 15 cents an hour. It will be small pay, compared to the suffering those who do the work will have to endure, and it will be only a step in the direction of the ultimate goal of those who contend that capitalism is not needed in the conducting of future society. That will be in line with the principles of industrial unionism, and while we do not expect to see all line up who have taken out unemployed cards, we will have the satisfaction of seeing a number of them making a protest against the system.

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/1915/v06-w260-jan-02-1915-solidarity.pdf