History of Industrial Classification
& Industrial Organization in the
Industrial Workers of the World

An Incomplete History of Industrial Classification in the I.W.W., showing most of the major changes from 1905 to the present day.

The Principles and Practice of Industrial Unionism

The Industrial Union Manifesto, 4 January 1905

William E. Trautmann, Industrial Union Methods, Charles H. Kerr 1912. Note: This is a 1 MB PDF, and will take some time to download if you don't have a high-speed connection.

William E. Trautmann, One Great Union, Workers International Industrial Union, Detroit, 1915. Note: This is a 2 MB PDF. This pamphlet was originally written for the I. W. W. as "One Big Union"and published by Kerr. Trautmann went over to DeLeon's "Detroit I.W.W.", later called the W.I.I.U, and re-issued the booklet under the present title. The I. W. W. continued for many years to revise and publish "One Big Union" without crediting Trautmann as the author. (A version from about 1924 is here.)

Vincent St. John, "The I. W. W.—Its History, Structure & Methods" (with B. H. Williams, "The Trend Toward Industrial Freedom") I. W. W. Publishing Bureau, 1917. Much of this is out of date, both theoretically and practically, but it still affords a good summary of industrial unionist theory.

Justus Ebert, "The Most Important Question", The One Big Union Monthly, March 1919. A good little sermon summarizing the principles of industrial unionism.

Giovanni Baldazzi, "How an Industrial Union Works", The One Big Union Monthly, February 1920

John Sandgren, "Solving the Social Problem Through Economic Direct Action", The One Big Union Monthly, October 1920

"Shop Organization in the Metal & Machinery Industry: '440's Method of Organizing Its Shop Councils into the One City Branch", The One Big Union Monthly, December 1920

P. G. Anderson & C. B. Currie, "The One Big Union of Canada", The One Big Union Monthly, December 1920. An argument for industrial unionism and against geographically based "class" or "mass" organization.

James Kennedy, "How the I. W. W. is Organized", Industrial Pioneer, May 1921.

Chart: "One Big Union of the Metal & Machinery Workers Industrial Union, Industrial Workers of the World" (ca. 1930), showing the interrelations among various constituent organizations within the O.B.U., using an automobile factory as an illustration. (Compare with the chart in the 1920 article on I. U. 440, above.)

The Reorganization of 1920

George Hardy, "Shop Organization the Base of the I. W. W." (with organizational chart), The One Big Union Monthly, June 1920. Many features of this proposal were adopted in the reorganization of 1920.

"City Central Councils", The One Big Union Monthly, August 1920. Expands on one aspect of the Hardy article above.

Preamble & Constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World as amended by the 1920 referendum. To compare the 1919 Constitution, click here.

"Industrial Unions Renumbered by General Executive Board", The One Big Union Monthly, October 1920

"IMPORTANT BULLETIN, GEN. HEADQUARTERS" Industrial Worker, 9 October 1920 (parts), setting out instructions for implementing the major revision of the industrial classification system by the 1920 General Convention.

Ralph Winstead, "Instinct and Better Organization", The One Big Union Monthly, August 1920. A logger supports the reorganization.

"Shop Organization for the Industries of the East: a Plan and a Prophesy By 'A Shovel Stiff'", The One Big Union Monthly, November 1920. A proposal for a radical reorganization of the I. W. W., heavily influenced by "Technocrat" Howard Scott.

Ralph Chaplin, "The Bureau of Industrial Research and its Work", The One Big Union Monthly, July 1920. Only indirectly related to the reorganization, but of interest in connection with Howard Scott's influence on the union at the time.

Reinventing the Wheel: The Evolution of Father Haggerty's Wheel

Father Thomas J. Haggerty's Original "Wheel of Fortune", from the Voice of Labor , May 1905

Wm. Trautmann's Version from the original One big union; an outline of possible industrial organization of the working class, with chart (Chas. H. Kerr, 1912) (This one is actually from a later edition—see Transcriber's Note—but I believe it's the same.)

The Wheel of 1920 from "One Big Union of All the Workers: the I. W. W.", Industrial Workers of the World (ca. 1920). This pamphlet bears no date, but it predates the 1923 amendments to the list of Industrial Unions, and presents the Wheel as it stood in the fall of 1920.

The Wheel in Hungarian from a 1933 pamphlet on Technocracy & the I. W. W. which FW Robert Rush very kindly sent me and FW Ildiko Sipos very kindly translated.

A Later Version of the Wheel From About 1946