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Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World, edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman. New York: Verso, 2005. Paper, $25.00. Pp. ix, 305.
The year 2005 marked the centennial of the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the legendary American labor movement which organized, for the first time, unskilled and skilled workers into "One Big Union" across ethnic, racial, gender and geographical lines. Born in opposition to the discriminatory and conservative policies of the American Federation of Labor, the IWW advocated a new brand of American industrial unionism centered on internationalism, working-class solidarity, and direct forms of action and protest, such as sabotage, strikes, and boycotts. With about 100,000 members by 1917, the movement sponsored hundreds of strikes and free speech fights across the country, winning historic concessions for agricultural laborers, miners, and factory workers. But the Wobblies, as IWW members were known, are remembered not only for their unique unionism, but also for their vibrant literary and artistic subculture, which included poetry, cartoons, and, especially, protest songs written by rank-and-file artists.
Wobbly culture and politics have fascinated scholars for decades and continue to generate interest. Among the most recent publications, released in commemoration of the centennial, is the book under review, edited by historian Paul Buhle and artist Nicole Schulman. For the most part the book recounts stories that have already been discussed thoroughly elsewhere; but what is fascinating and innovative about this volume is the way the stories are told. Wobbliest is not a conventional scholarly book: it is a graphic history. Rather than using a narrative text, it reconstructs the story of the IWW through comic strips, cartoons, illustrations,...