Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood (
February 4,
1869–
May 18,
1928), better known as
Big Bill Haywood, was a prominent figure in the
American labor movement. Haywood was a leader of the
Western Federation of Miners (WFM), a 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, he was involved in several important labor battles, including the
Lawrence textile strike, the Colorado Labor Wars (which culminated in the
Ludlow massacre), and textile strikes in
Massachusetts and
New Jersey.
Haywood was frequently the target of prosecution. His trial for the murder of
Frank Steunenberg in 1907 (of which he was acquitted) drew national attention; in 1918, he was one of 101 IWW members convicted of violating the
Espionage Act of 1917. While out of prison during an appeal of his conviction, Haywood fled to
Russia, where he would spend the remaining years of his life.
Early life
Haywood was born in 1869 in
Salt Lake City, Utah. His father, a
Pony Express rider, died of pneumonia when Haywood was three years old.
[Linder.] At age nine, he injured his right eye while
whittling, permanently blinding it. Haywood never had his damaged eye replaced with a
glass eye; when photographed, he would turn his head to show his left profile. Also at age nine, he began working in the
mines; he never received much formal education. After brief stints as a
cowboy and a
homesteader, he returned to mining in 1896.
[PBS Interactive.] High-profile events such as the
Haymarket Riot 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, 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.
Haywood immediately became active in the WFM, and by 1900 he had become a member of the national union's General Executive Board. In 1902, he assumed co-leadership of the WFM with
Charles Moyer. That year, the WFM became involved in the
Colorado Labor Wars, a struggle that lasted for several years and took the lives of 33 union and non-union workers.
The WFM initiated a series of strikes to combat the brutal working conditions and starvation wages. 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 labour struggles.
Foundation of the Industrial Workers of the World
Late in
1904, Haywood along with over 30 other prominent labor radicals, met in
Chicago to lay down plans for a new revolutionary union. A manifesto was written and sent around the country. Unionists who agreed with the manifesto were invited to attend a convention to found the new union which was to become the
Industrial Workers of the World.
At 10 A.M. on
June 27,
1905, Haywood addressed the crowd assembled at Brand's Hall in Chicago who had gathered to the Industrial Workers of the World founding convention.
[Zinn, 329-330.] In the audience were two hundred delegates from organizations all over the country representing
socialists,
anarchists, miners,
industrial unionists and rebel workers. Haywood began the convention with the following speech:
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. The aims and objects of this organization shall 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.
Other speakers at the convention included
Eugene Debs, leader of the
Socialist Party of America, and
Mother Mary Jones, an organizer for the
United Mine Workers of America.
After its foundation, the IWW would become aggressively involved in the labor movement.
Murder trial
On
December 30,
1905,
Frank Steunenberg was killed by an explosion in his
Caldwell, Idaho home. A former governor of
Idaho, Steunenberg had clashed with the WFM in previous strikes, and after the 64-page confession of suspected bomber
Harry Orchard, famed
Pinkerton detective
James McParland was sent to arrest WFM leaders Haywood,
Charles Moyer, and
George Pettibone.
On
February 17, 1906, McParland secretly arrested Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone in
Denver, Colorado. In the morning, they were extradited to Idaho for trial.
Haywood's trial began on
May 9,
1907, with famed Chicago defense attorney
Clarence Darrow defending him. Despite the testimony of Orchard (who confessed to assassinating Steunenberg under the orders of the WFM), the prosecution was unable to produce sufficient evidence to convict Haywood.
Haywood and Pettibone were acquitted, and the charges against Moyer were dropped.
Lawrence textile strike
In 1912, the
Lawrence textile strike in
Lawrence, Massachusetts garnered national attention. On
January 11, textile mill workers left their jobs in protest of lowered wages. Within a week, twenty thousand workers in Lawrence were on strike. The IWW already had a presence in Lawrence and assumed leadership of the strike.
Authorities responded aggressively to the strike, which escalated to violence. The local IWW leaders (
Joseph Ettor and
Arturo Giovannitti) were jailed on false charges, and martial law was declared. In response, the IWW send Haywood and other organizers to take charge of the strike. A national outrage was sparked when authorities forcibly detained a group of women and children who were being evacuated from the town. A
congressional hearing and the attention of President
Howard Taft pressured the mill owners into cooperating with the strikers; on
March 12, the owners to agree to all the demands of the strikers, officially ending the strike.
However, Haywood and the IWW were not yet finished in Lawrence; despite the end of the strike, Ettor and Giovannitti remained in prison. Haywood threatened the authorities with another strike, saying "Open the jail gates or we will close the mill gates." Legal efforts and a one-day strike on
September 30 did not prompt the authorities to drop the charges. Eventually, however, the IWW was successful; on
November 26, Ettor and Giovannitti were acquitted.
Socialist Party of America involvement
For many years, Haywood was an active member of the
Socialist Party of America. He campaigned for Eugene Debs during the
1908 presidential election, traveling by train with Debs around the country.
[Dolgoff.] Haywood also represented the Socialist Party as a delegate to the 1910 congress of the
Second International, an organization working towards international socialism.
In 1912, he was elected to the Socialist Party National Executive Committee.
However, the aggressive tactics of Haywood and the IWW created tension with the moderate members of the Socialist Party. Haywood and the IWW focused on
direct action and strikes, which often led to violence, and were less concerned with political tactics.
[Siitonen.] This tension eventually led to Haywood's recall from the National Executive Committee in January of 1913;
[Zinn, 341.] thousands of IWW members left the Socialist Party with him.
Other labor involvement
In 1913, Haywood was involved in the
Paterson silk strike. Haywood and approximately 1,850 strikers were arrested during the course of the strike.
[The Samuel Gompers Papers.] Despite the long holdout and fundraising efforts, the strike ended in failure on
July 28,
1913.
Espionage trial
Haywood and the IWW frequently clashed with the government during their labor actions. The onset of
World War I gave the federal government the opportunity to take action against Haywood and the IWW.
[Zinn, 372-373.] Using the newly passed
Espionage Act of 1917 as justification, the
Department of Justice raided forty-eight IWW meeting halls in September 1917.
The Department of Justice then proceeded to arrest 165 IWW members for "conspiring to hinder the draft, encourage desertion, and intimidate others in connection with labor disputes."
In April 1918, Haywood and 100 of the arrested IWW members began their trial, presided over by Judge
Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The trial lasted last five months, the longest criminal trial up to that time; Haywood himself testified for three days.
All 101 defendants were found guilty, and Haywood (along with fourteen others) was sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Despite the efforts of his supporters, Haywood was unable to overturn the conviction. In 1921, Haywood skipped his
bond while out on appeal and fled to
Russia.
He became an advisor to the
Bolshevik government,
and spent the rest of his life there. Haywood died in
Moscow in 1928. Half of his ashes were buried in
the Kremlin and an urn containing the other half of his ashes was sent to Chicago and buried near a monument to the
Haymarket anarchists.
Racial unity
Unlike many labor leaders and organizations of the time, Haywood believed that workers of all ethnicities should work together. According to Haywood, the IWW was "big enough to take in the black man, the white man; big enough to take in all nationalities - an organization that will be strong enough to obliterate state boundaries; to obliterate national boundaries."
[Orth.] In 1912, Haywood spoke at a convention for the
Brotherhood of Timber Workers in
Louisiana; at the time, interracial meetings were illegal in Louisiana.
[Zinn, 337-339.] Haywood encouraged the organizers to invite the
African American workers to their convention, saying:
You work in the same mills together. Sometimes a black man and a white man chop down the same tree together. You are meeting in a convention now to discuss the conditions under which you labor. Why not be sensible about this and call the Negroes into the Convention? If it is against the law, this is one time when the law should be broken.
Ignoring the law against interracial meetings, the convention invited the African American workers. The convention would eventually vote to affiliate with the IWW.
* Industrial Workers of the World
* Western Federation of Miners
*
