Home
Where the Fraser River Flows
In 1912 THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF the WORLD, or "Wobblies", were a revolutionary force in British Columbia. Thousands of striking railway workers in the Fraser Canyon were supporting the lWW's international goals, established in Chicago in 1905: to abolish the wage system, to "take control of the earth and the machinery of production", and to realize the impossible dream of "One Big Union". Renowned labour balladeer Joe Hill arrived to bolster the spirits of the Wobblies with "Where the Fraser River Flows," one of the first enduring folk songs ever penned in B.C. In retaliation, to support the Canadian Northern Railway bosses, the Conservative provincial government of William McBride hired "special constables" to attack the strikers. "A few people were killed," says historian Mark Leier, author of Where the Fraser River Flows: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World in British Columbia (New Star $14.95, $24.95), "One was run over by a small train engine. Joseph Biscay, an organizer, was beaten up, kidnapped by constables and special agents, and chucked in jail in Kamloops. .." The 1912 labour unrest culminated in Free Speech demonstrations in Vancouver. Police on horseback routinely clubbed the Wobblies and tossed them in jail. Following World War I the IWW was made an illegal organization. "The IWW was absolutely against signing contracts," Leier explains, "Because every contract said that during the life of the contract there would be no strikes, lockouts, slowdowns, this kind of thing.
"If it's a two-year contract it gives the boss two years to prepare for a strike. To stockpile, to run the plant 24 hours a day, so that when there's a strike he locks the doors and says, 'Who cares?'" The popular term Wobblie' was apparently born in Vancouver in 1920. According to IWW mythology a Chinese restaurant owner, prior to extending credit, asked one his customers if he was a member of the "I Wobbly Wobbly". The amused unionist told his friends and soon afterward all IWW, members were calling themselves Wobblies. 'There is an account from a Wobbly writing in prison in 1921 saying this is writing in prison in 1921 saying this is how the term originated," says Leier, "But no one's been able to verify it beyond that."
Following the Bolshevik revolution, anarchist-inspired Wobblies soon found themselves in clashes with Russian inspired communists. These schisms widened during the Depression. Labour's best-known theme song, Solidarity Forever, was written by a Wobbly, Ralph Chaplin, who was ironically drowned out from speaking at a meeting in the 1930s by fervent communists singing his lyrics. The IWW's reputation with the American government caused a brief surge in membership in the 1960s when membership in the IWW, the American Communist Party or other 'subversive organizations' prevented entry into the American army. "During the war in Vietnam," says Leier, "2,000 people discovered that for two dollars a month, which was the price of an IWW membership, you could get out of the draft!" Today there are roughly 600 Wobblies worldwide. On the third Tuesday of every month, at 7:30 p.m. at the Trout Lake community centre in Vancouver,
B.C. Wobblies gather to keep the flame of idealism alive~ Write to P.O. Box 65635, Station F, Vancouver, B.C. V5N 5KS. There are numerous books about in the Industrial Workers of the World and a monthly newspaper, Industrial Worker, available from IWW, 3435 North Sheffield, Suite 202, Chicago, Illinois, 60657.--by Ian Robbin
[BCBW Winter 1989] "Labour";
"If it's a two-year contract it gives the boss two years to prepare for a strike. To stockpile, to run the plant 24 hours a day, so that when there's a strike he locks the doors and says, 'Who cares?'" The popular term Wobblie' was apparently born in Vancouver in 1920. According to IWW mythology a Chinese restaurant owner, prior to extending credit, asked one his customers if he was a member of the "I Wobbly Wobbly". The amused unionist told his friends and soon afterward all IWW, members were calling themselves Wobblies. 'There is an account from a Wobbly writing in prison in 1921 saying this is writing in prison in 1921 saying this is how the term originated," says Leier, "But no one's been able to verify it beyond that."
Following the Bolshevik revolution, anarchist-inspired Wobblies soon found themselves in clashes with Russian inspired communists. These schisms widened during the Depression. Labour's best-known theme song, Solidarity Forever, was written by a Wobbly, Ralph Chaplin, who was ironically drowned out from speaking at a meeting in the 1930s by fervent communists singing his lyrics. The IWW's reputation with the American government caused a brief surge in membership in the 1960s when membership in the IWW, the American Communist Party or other 'subversive organizations' prevented entry into the American army. "During the war in Vietnam," says Leier, "2,000 people discovered that for two dollars a month, which was the price of an IWW membership, you could get out of the draft!" Today there are roughly 600 Wobblies worldwide. On the third Tuesday of every month, at 7:30 p.m. at the Trout Lake community centre in Vancouver,
B.C. Wobblies gather to keep the flame of idealism alive~ Write to P.O. Box 65635, Station F, Vancouver, B.C. V5N 5KS. There are numerous books about in the Industrial Workers of the World and a monthly newspaper, Industrial Worker, available from IWW, 3435 North Sheffield, Suite 202, Chicago, Illinois, 60657.--by Ian Robbin
[BCBW Winter 1989] "Labour";
Submitted on November 8, 2004 in By David.
