An editorial on the wobbly view of religion.

‘The I.W.W. and Religion’ by James Wilson from Industrial Worker. Vol. 1 No. 16. July 1, 1909.

“O, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill;
To pangs of Nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt and taints of blood.

The wish, that of the living whole
No life may fail beyond the grave
Derives it not from what we have
The likest God within the soul?”

The I.W.W. is an economic organization. We deal with the bread-and-butter question in this world. The first economic thought in the “Lord’s prayer” is “give us this day our daily bread.” Whether or not a man has an immortal soul, he at least has a body. To exist as a man in the world he must have his daily bread. It is the purpose of the I.W.W. to get the daily bread for the workers, and also all the good things of life. In the new “Jerusalem,” some may hope that there will be no employing class. “O, yet we trust” that there will be no bread lines and no hunger strikes to be able to eat of the “tree of life.” Paul, the early apostle of Christianity–the agitator–once said: “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men the most miserable.” He aimed to show men that the future existence was of far more importance than the present one. We will not quarrel with Paul; he was executed by the Bill Taft of ancient Rome, the Emperor Nero. He was a brave man and a martyr, this man Paul. The condition of the workingman today, if he has no hope, is of all men the most miserable. The I.W.W. does not teach religion. There are members of the I.W.W. who are the followers of the carpenter of Nazareth–today He would be a member of the Building Constructers’ Industrial Union, or we miss our guess–we have members who are the followers of Mahomet, and some of our Japanese fellow workers are the followers of Confucius. They all look alike to us, so they be workers.

But the position of the I.W.W. is not affected by the religious ideas of any of its members. If there be a hereafter, it will be none the worse for us that we have been able to get the pork-chops in this world. To live here, we must eat. To eat we must go to the boss and get his permission–a job. In order to control the job, and be able to eat, boss or no boss, we must have organization. To the religionists we say, “Order is Heaven’s first law.” If organization is a good thing for the “white-robed harpers of the sky,” why not for the black-robed slaves of the shovel? The men of the French Revolution–all honor to their matchless bravery–intended to “dethrone the king of heaven, as well as the kings of the earth.” We confine ourselves to dethroning the kings of industry–the king of heaven is able to fight for himself. The Church of England has a hymn: “The Son of God goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain; His blood-red banner streams afar, who follows in his train?” We are there with the blood-red banner, but the kingdom in this world is for the workers. If the kingdom of heaven depends on justice and truth, then the I.W.W. is the organization to join to get your hand in for the hereafter. If the kingdom of heaven is to be ruled by Gunny-sack Riley and Hike-along Ross, we want none of it. The preachers can fight out the fine points. The trouble with the church is that it sides in with the bosses, and fights the workers. That is the cause of the fight between the workers and the priests! Not the “burning” question of the hereafter! To be a man, to develop the powers of manhood, it is necessary to eat without bowing down to a boss–a fellow worm. The I.W.W. is the religion of good food, healthy bodies, clean houses and pure women; of decent enjoyment and care-free affection. The I.W.W. man should be able to tell the world that he is on the side of his fellow worker; on the side of the carpenter of Nazareth, and against the legal and political scribes and Pharisees.

We need courage, perseverance, system! It is up to every man with a spark of manhood and every woman with a spark of womanhood to be a member of the I.W.W., if he or she has to work for wages. Sentiment does not rule the world. Bread and butter rules the world. Men may be deceived as to the means, but experience is rapidly teaching us that we must stand together, or we will starve and freeze together.

The I.W.W. is the bread-and-butter union of the working people. Questions of religion, of race, of color, of nationality are so many firebrands sown among the workers to keep them from fighting the bosses and seeing where their true bread-and-butter interest lies.

Moral: Join the union of your class, and eat. Let the future take care of itself, and let the dead bury themselves.

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/v1n16-jul-01-1909-IW.pdf