IWW Chronology (1916 - 1920)
Originally Titled, 95 Years of Revolutionary Industrial Unionism, by Michael Hargis - featured in Anarcho Syndicalist Review, #27 and #28.
1916
- BTW dissolves. Victim of 5,000 blacklisted members.
- National Industrial Union of Textile Workers dissolves, its remaining locals affiliate directly to IWW.
- Philadelphia MTW wins recognition at non-union docks without a contract.
- Shoe workers strike 28 shops in Philadelphia; Strike of 700 against Solvay Processing Plant in Detroit, MI;
- Strike of 3,000 against Kelsey Wheel in Detroit, MI;
- Housemaids organized in Denver, CO;
- Iron miners strike on the Mesabi Range in Minnesota (6,000 workers);
- Miners strike, Cayuna Range, MI;
- Dock workers strike in Two Harbors and Duluth, MN;
- Shingle-weavers strike in Everett, WA; Miners strike in Scranton, PA
- Vernillion Iron Range out on strike.
- Everett Massacre - IWWs murdered by hired guns in Everett, WA. Seventy-five held for murder of deputy, acquitted.
- IWW Convention adopts anti-war resolution.
1917
- Oil Workers Industrial Union and Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union chartered.
- Longshoremen strike in Philadelphia, PA.
- Lumber Workers Industrial Union established.
- River drivers strike in Fontana River, MT, and win 8-hour day.
- Idaho and Minnesota pass Criminal Syndicalism Laws to counter IWW organizing.
- General Construction Workers Industrial Union formed; construction strike in Exeter, CA. Construction strike in Seattle wins IWW hiring hall; Construction strike in Rockford, IL;
- Speculator mine disaster in Butte, MT leads to strike;
- Copper strikes in Arizona in support of Butte;
- Lumber workers strike in Spokane district, WA;
- Miners strike in Virginia, MN.
- Bisbee Deportation - 1200 copper strikers deported from Bisbee, AZ.
- Miners strike Gogebic Range.
- Frank Little Murdered - Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched by copper bosses.
- Australian IWWs tried for treason for opposing conscription, IWW outlawed.
- Federal agents raid IWW halls and offices nation wide, arrest 165 IWW members.
- LWIU 120 Wins 8-Hour Day - Lumber strike in on the job wins 8-hour day in Northwest timber country.
- General Defense Committee formed to defend class war prisoners.
1918
- IWW lumber workers burn bedrolls and mattresses.
- Chicago trial of 100 IWWs for espionage ends in sentences of 20 years for 15 men; 10 years for 35; 5 years for 33;1 year for 12 and nominal sentences for the rest.
1919
- General strikes in Seattle, WA, Butte, MT, Toledo, OH and, Winnipeg, MB.
- MTW strike in Philadelphia, PA.
- Mine workers strike in Butte, MT and Oatman, AZ or 6-hour day.
- Lumber strikes on river drives win clean bedding.
- Lumber workers hall in Superior, WI, attacked by mob but show of force by Wobs turns them back.
- Short-log district lumber strikes include demands for release of class war prisoners and withdrawal of U.S. troops from Russia.
- Centralia Massacre - Mob of Legionnaires attack IWW hall in Centralia, WA. IWWs defend hall with force. IWW Wesley Everest, one of the hall defenders, tortured and lynched by mob. Eight others sent to prison on conspiracy charges.
- MTW branch established in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- IWW administrations established in Mexico and Chile.
- Wichita and Sacramento IWW trials. 2000 class war prisoners.
1920
- Palmer Raids - Palmer Raids round up and deport thousands of alien radicals.
- IWW and British Shop Stewards Movement agree on exchange of membership cards.
- MTW strike in Philadelphia, PA.
- Chilean IWW conducts strike to protest export of food during famine; Chilean government launched reign of terror to destroy IWW.
- Communist-controlled IWW General Executive Board suspends Philadelphia MTW on false charges of loading arms for Russian counter-revolutionary Wrangle.