HIT: Wobblies
Submitted on Sun, 07/24/2005 - 9:41pm
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2005/hits_2005-06-30.cfm
Downtown Salt Lake City workers are used to small bands of half-asleep anti-war protestors outside the Federal Building, but the sight that greeted the lunchtime crowd Monday was something else. At the corner of 200 South and Main Street, people took turns literally standing on a soapbox and shouting to the wind about the alleged crimes of President Bush while praising long-forgotten Utah labor figures like “Big Bill” Haywood. It was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World, a radical union that once made big marks in Utah, particularly when IWW organizer Joe Hill was executed here. It’s nice to know a few still recall a time when Utah was in the mix of labor activism. About 20 by our count.