Industrial Workers of the World
Chicago Centenary Celebration
Introduction: The Chicago Centenary
The last weekend of June, 2005, the IWW commemorates the 186 labor visionaries who met in Chicago at Brand’s Hall on Tuesday, June 27, 1905, at ten o’clock AM, to hear William D. "Big Bill" Haywood speak the following words:
"Fellow workers... this is the Continental Congress of the working class. We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class from the slave bondage of capitalism. There is no organization, or there seems to be no labor organization, that has for its purpose the same object as that for which you are called together to-day. The aims and objects of this organization should be to put the working class in possession of the economic power, the means of life, in control of the machinery of production and distribution, without regard to capitalist masters."
To celebrate this momentous Centenary of the Founding Convention, the Chicago IWW will be hosting a Centenary Celebration the weekend of Thursday, June 23 through Sunday, June 26, 2005.
On Thursday evening there will be a benefit concert for the IWW featuring John McCutcheon and Utah Philips.
Friday evening, we will hold a banquet to welcome our out-of-town guests and get reacquainted with our friends from around the city.
Saturday and Sunday will feature a conference on the history of the IWW and the future of radical worker organizing
Saturday evening there will be a concert to Fan the Flames of Discontent, featuring the Citizens' Band, Mark Ross, Len Wallace, Charlie King, Rebel Voices, Larry Long, Anne Feeney and special guest Utah Philips and our own John Berquist as MC.
A Conference Commemorating the Centenary of the Founding of IWW
Saturday, June 25 – Sunday, June 26, 2005
Delegates from across the United States and Canada gathered in Chicago in June 1905 to launch a new labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World. In the years that followed, the IWW revolutionized the labor movement, organizing workers who the traditional craft unions had written off and creating a form of direct action, rank-and-file militant unionism that inspired workers around the world even as it led terrified employers to unleash a savage wave of repression.
Today, while the mainstream labor movement seems headed to oblivion, workers are reclaiming and reinventing earlier modes of struggle. Workers centers, solidarity unionism, and the contemporary resurgence of the IWW demonstrate that workers continue to resist exploitation, and to struggle for control over their working lives. We are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the IWW with a two-day conference at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The first day of this two-day conference will focus on how the IWW and its ideas have inspired, and continue to inspire, a wide array of social movements. The second day will focus on alternative forms of worker organizing as workers grapple with globalization, contracting-out and other aspects of the new economy in the face of an increasingly hostile labor law regime.
The full conference schedule is available at www.iww100.org.
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER.
So that we can plan for enough food for everyone, please call us to let us know you're coming: 215-222-1905 or email ghq AT iww.org
Conference
Both Days: Registration is $45, $30 for IWW members, students, retirees, and the unemployed.
Single day: registration is $25, or $20 for IWW members, students, retirees, and the unemployed.
We will accept registration at the conference.
Concert tickets
Conference attendees can also purchase discounted tickets to the Saturday evening concert for $10.
Housing
We have very limited conference housing still available for $35 per person, per night, for Friday and Saturday nights only.
Please call 215-222-1905 or email ghq AT iww.org immediately if you would like to reserve conference housing.
Mail-in Registration (please call also, no more preregistration after 6/18)
Please download & print the Registration Form (found on www.iww100.org) to pre-register for the conference, as well as for housing, meals, and the Saturday concert, or use the form on the back page of the May issue of the Industrial Worker
Location
UIC Behavioral Sciences Building
1007 W. Harrison St. (just west of Halsted and Harrison)
For those of you coming from out of town, or anyone who wants to know how to get to our various locations, there are detailed CTA directions at www.iww100.org for getting around over the weekend. It includes addresses for all of our events.
Utah Philips and John McCutcheon
Thursday June 23 2005
8:30pm, doors open at 8
$25 in Advance, $25 at the door
(21 & Over unless accompanied by a legal guardian)
@ Hothouse
31 E. Balbo Ave
Chicago, IL 60605
Purchase Tickets now from the Hothouse Box Office
Featuring: John Berquist, Larry Long, Anne Feeney, Charlie King, Len Wallace, Mark Ross, Rebel Voices, Citizens' Band, and Bruce "Utah" Philips
Saturday June 25, 8:00 pm
At the Preston Bradley Center (Peoples' Church of Chicago)
941 W Lawrence Ave.--at Sheridan
Chicago, IL 60640
Tickets: $20/$15 for members of any union
Ticket Sales locations: The New World Resource Center--1300 N Western Ave, Chicago
Mail Order Tickets: Fill out the Ticket order form found at www.iww100.org , and mail it to:
Jenny Ohlson
attn: Concert Tickets
4711 N. Talman #1
Chicago, IL 60625
Checks payable to "IWW"
Online ticket sales---email gregory.ehrendreich AT gmail.com and I will send you the PayPal directions. Online Ticket Price is $20, no discounts.
Purchase your ticket in advance and receive a free copy of the Centenary Edition of the Little Red Songbook at the door.
A lot of volunteer help will be needed to make this conference and concert a success. We need crash-space, drivers, ticket takers, ushers, and all sorts of people to help out with this project. Fellow Workers, if you want to use your labor power to benefit the Union instead of the Bosses, this is your chance. If you would like to volunteer, email our Volunteer Coordinator, cbossen AT mindspring.com
