Industrial Worker
and Industrial Union Bulletin

Organ of the Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

During the economic panic of 1907, the Industrial Union Bulletin went from a weekly publication to every two weeks, and for a time publication was suspended. The last issue of the Industrial Union Bulletin was published March 6, 1909. A few days later, on March 18, the Industrial Worker, version II, No. 1, Vol. 1 was published in Spokane, Washington. We gave digitized both publications from 1907 through 1913.

The Industrial Worker, "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism," is the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It is still published to this day and is the longest running radical newspaper in the U.S.

The newspaper was first printed in journal format in Joliet, Illinois, beginning in January 1906, incorporating The Voice of Labor, the newspaper from the former American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and International Metal Worker. It was edited by A. S. Edwards, and early contributors include Eugene V. Debs, Jack London, Daniel DeLeon, Bill Haywood, and J. H. Walsh, along with poetry by Covington Hall. When the group led by ousted President Charles Sherman retained physical control over the paper after the union’s 1906 Convention, and continued publication under that name for a few months (before giving up the ghost), the IWW instead issued the Industrial Union Bulletin for several years and is reproduced here. A.S. Edwards was elected editor of the Bulletin in 1906. The second series of the Industrial Worker commenced in 1909 in Spokane, Washington, and has continued to this day, with only one major interruption, during the period of 1913-1916. In the early years, it was printed weekly and mainly circulated west of the Mississippi, while the IWW’s "Official Eastern Organ" was Solidarity published in New Castle, Pennsylvania and later, Cleveland, which continued until it merged with the Industrial Worker in Chicago in the 1930s.

The Spokane paper was the birthplace of the comic strip character Mr. Block, later commemorated in a Joe Hill song. The Industrial Worker usually ran four pages, with an annual eight page May Day issue reflecting on gains of the labor movement in the previous year. Circulation fell off due to the repression of the IWW during and after the First World War, reflecting a decline in the influence of radical unionism more generally.

The digitization of both the Industrial Union Bulletin and the Industrial Worker were the result of the work done by Marty Goodman of the Riazanov Library Project. For more information on the Riazanaov Library Project click here. For more technical information on the scanning and digitization techniques click here.

—Based on the Wikipedia entry and the introduction to the
Greenwood Publication of the the Industrial Union Bulletin
and the Industrial Worker by Melvyn Dubofsky.

Industrial Union Bulletin
(Volume 1, March 2, 1907 through February 22, 1908):

Industrial Union Bulletin
(Volume 2, February 29, 1908 through March 6, 1909):

Industrial Worker
(Volume 1, March 18, 1909 through March 19, 1910):

Industrial Worker
(Volume 2, March 26, 1910 through March 16, 1911):

Industrial Worker
(Volume 3, March 23, 1912 through March 21, 1912):

Industrial Worker
(Volume 4, March 28, 1912 through March 20, 1913):

Industrial Worker
(Volume 5, March 27, 1913 through September 4, 1913):

Industrial Worker and Industrial Union Bulletin

Organ of the Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

The Industrial Worker, "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism," is the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It is still published to this day and is the longest running radical newspaper in the U.S.

Table of Contents

Industrial Worker
and Industrial Union Bulletin