[Marxism] Anti-Imperialism and the IWW

["Calvin Broadbent" <calvinbroadbent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe so, but the IWW were certainly not consistent and often tended to
abjure 'political' positions in line with their reformist syndicalist
worldview, including principled anti-imperialism. Thus, J. Sakai has
written:

"Ricardo Flores Magon, the revolutionary syndicalist who was the first major
leader of Mexicano workers, had ties to the I.W.W. during his long years of
exile in the U.S. His organization, the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM), led
thousands of Mexicano miners in strikes on both sides of the artificial
"border". Magon was imprisoned four times by the U.S. Empire, finally being
murdered by guards to prevent his scheduled release from Ft. Leavenworth.
His proposal for the I.W.W. to join forces with the [then revolutionary]
Mexicano proletariat in armed struggle fell on deaf ears. Although some
wobblies (such as Joe Hill) went to Mexico on an individual basis for
periods of time, the I.W.W. as a whole rejected such cooperation. Magon once
angrily wrote his brother from prison: 'The norteamericanos are incapable of
feeling enthusiasm or indignation. This is truly a country of pigs... If the
norteamericanos do not agitate against their own domestic miseries, can we
hope they will concern themselvs with our?" (J. Sakai, *Settlers: the
Mythology of the White Proletariat*, pp. 71-72).



LOUIS PROYECT WROTE: <http://www.swans.com/library/art11/lproy24.html>

If there was anything that defined the IWW, it was its resistance to
imperialist war, especially World War One.

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