Big Bill Haywood - Autobiography - Idaho Mines Union Coeur d'Alene 1958 HB M6

Description: Available is this 368 page hardcover with unclipped dust jacket titled "The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood" by Bill Haywood and published as a 1958 reprint of the original 1929 International Publishers Co edition. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Dudley Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of America. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Haywood was involved in several important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars, the Lawrence Textile Strike, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Haywood was an advocate of industrial unionism, and syndicalism, a labor philosophy that favors organizing all workers in an industry under one union, regardless of the specific trade or skill level; this was in contrast to the craft unions that were prevalent at the time, such as the AFL. He believed that workers of all ethnicities should be united, and favored direct action over political action. Haywood was often targeted by prosecutors due to his support for violence. An attempt to prosecute him in 1907 for his alleged involvement in the murder of Frank Steunenberg failed, but in 1918 he was one of 101 IWW members jailed for anti-war activity during the First Red Scare. He was sentenced to twenty years. In 1921, while out of prison during an appeal of his conviction, Haywood fled to the Soviet Union, where he spent the remaining years of his life. Paul Freeman, John Reed, Charles Ruthenberg, and Haywood are the only four Americans to be buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Born in 1869 in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, his father, a former Pony Express rider, died of pneumonia when Haywood was three years old. His mother Elizabeth was an Episcopalian. At age nine, Haywood injured his right eye while whittling a slingshot with a knife, permanently blinding that eye. He never had his damaged eye replaced with a glass eye; when photographed, he would turn his head to show his left profile. After his uncle Richard arranged for Haywood to work as an indentured laborer on a farm, a job Haywood disliked, he changed his name from William Richard to William Dudley after his father. At age 15, with very little formal education, Haywood began working in the mines. After brief stints as a cowboy and a homesteader, he returned to mining in 1896. High-profile events such as the Haymarket Massacre in 1886 and the Pullman Strike in 1894 fostered Haywood's interest in the labor movement. Western Federation of Miners involvement In 1896, Ed Boyce, president of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), spoke at the Idaho silver mine where Haywood was working. Inspired by his speech, Haywood signed up as a WFM member, thus formally beginning his involvement in America's labor movement. He immediately became active in the WFM, and by 1900 he had become a member of the union's General Executive Board. In 1902, he became secretary-treasurer of the WFM, the number two position after President Charles Moyer. The following year, the WFM became involved in the Colorado Labor Wars, a struggle centered in the Cripple Creek mining district in 1903 and 1904, and took the lives of 33 union and non-union workers. The WFM initiated a series of strikes designed to extend the benefits of the union to other workers. The defeat of these strikes led to Haywood's belief in "One Big Union" organized along industrial lines to bring broader working class support for labor struggles. Thank you for looking. All items will be packaged carefully for protection from moisture and rough handling.

Price: 17.5 USD

Location: Nampa, Idaho

End Time: 2025-02-02T15:04:11.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.38 USD