The Industrial Workers of the World
is socialism with its working clothes on.
-Big Bill Haywood
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Thursday May 13, 1915
Washington, D. C. - Big Bill Haywood Testifies before the Walsh Commission
Big Bill Haywood & Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
with strikers' children, Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1912
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Big Bill Haywood, the secretary-treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World, came before the
Commission on Industrial Relations yesterday and gave testimony regarding his long history in the American labor movement.
Regarding his vision of the future, Mr. Haywood stated:
I have had a dream of a new society some time, in which there will be no struggle between capital and labor, in which every man will have free access to the land and means of production and livelihood. There will be no government, no states, as we know them now. Congress will be made up not of lawyers and preachers, but of experts from all branches of industry, come together for the good of all the people.
Below the fold our readers can find coverage provided by the
The Washington Post of Fellow Worker Haywood's testimony from yesterday's session of the Commission. Haywood was recalled to the witness stand this morning and is expected to give testimony for most of the day.
From The Washington Post of May 13, 1915:
GOAL IS ONE BIG UNION
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I. W. W. Leader Tells Federal Board of Labor's Ideal Era.
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WARRING AGAINST CAPITAL
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Identity of Interests Between Workers and Men Like Rockefeller
and Morgan; Impossible, Asserts W. D. Haywood
Before Industrial Relations Commission.
"Don't Care if It Means Revolution."
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Big Bill Haywood
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A world in which labor, organized into a vast compact union, should control all of the means of production, and in which there would be no such thing as "capital" was held up by Haywood as his land of promise. He declared that only implacable war between labor and capital ending with a great general strike and confiscation of the means of production could bring the workers to that ideal existence.
"Struggle That Must Go On."
[He told the commission:]
This is a class struggle that must go on. There can be no identity of interest between the workers, who have only their labor power, and such men as Rockefeller and Morgan and their stockholders, who contribute nothing to production. The struggle will go on despite everything this commission can do or commend to Congress the battle is inevitable. Labor must fight for what capital now controls, the means of production, tools, machinery and all of those things which should be controlled by labor alone.
I have had a dream of a new society some time, in which there will be no struggle between capital and labor, in which every man will have free access to the land and means of production and livelihood. There will be no government, no states, as we know them now. Congress will be made up not of lawyers and preachers, but of experts from all branches of industry, come together for the good of all the people.
Believes in Any Tactics.
Commissioner Weinstock questioned Haywood as to what methods would be employed to bring about this change.
"I believe in any kind of tactics," said the witness. "I don't care if it means revolution. That's all."
In reply to other questions. Haywood said the I. W. W. differed with the trade unionists because it believed in the organization of a single great union instead of craft unions. Its ultimate purpose, he said, differed little from socialism.
"I might say it is socialism with its working clothes on," he added.
Would Wipe Out Great Cities.
In the new era, Haywood said, there would be no great cities.
"What is to become of New York, Chicago, and the other great cities?" asked Commissioner Weinstock.
"There would be no idle brokers, lawyers, and financiers to occupy such cities," replied the witness.
"But what would you do with New York?"
"Tear it down, or leave it as a monument to the foolishness of this age."
Recites Incidents of His Past.
Haywood sketched the stormy incidents of his past life, telling of strikes in which he had participated, from the early troubles in Colorado and Utah to the recent outbreaks at Lawrence and Patterson. He will continue his testimony today.
Police Commissioner Woods, of New York, discussed the use of New York gunmen in labor disputes, and the protection accorded free speech and free assembly in that city.
Dr. H. R. Seager, of New York, spoke of the difficulties of labor in the courts.
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[Photograph added.]
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SOURCE
The Washington Post
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-May 13, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
IWW Red Button
http://iww.ca/
Big Bill Haywood & Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
with strikers children, Lawrence, MA, 1912
http://spartacus-educational.com/...
Big Bill Haywood, 1915
http://www.loc.gov/...
General Strike by William D Haywood
http://babel.hathitrust.org/...
See also:
Industrial relations: final report and testimony
United States. Commission on Industrial Relations
-ed by Francis Patrick Walsh,
& Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
Volume 11: https://books.google.com/...
10540-Washington, D. C, Wednesday,
May 12, 1915—10 a. m.
Present : Chairman Walsh, Commissioners
Weinstock, O'Connell, Lennon, and Garretson.
https://books.google.com/...
10569-10586: Testimony of Mr. William D.
Haywood -afternoon session.
https://books.google.com/...
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Workers of the World Awaken
If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.
-Joe Hill (words and music)
https://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.folkarchive.de/...
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