134. ORIGIN OF THE I.W.W.--The letters I.W.W. are a convenient
abbreviation which is used to designate a group of militant socialists
calling themselves the Industrial Workers of the World. The I.W.W.
resemble a French socialist group known as syndicalists, and on that
account the I.W.W. are sometimes called the American syndicalists. As
a matter of fact, the I.W.W. are a distinct group, and are in no way
affiliated with the French syndicalists.

The I.W.W. movement can be traced to a miners' strike in Colorado in
1903. As the result of the labor unrest which this strike accentuated,
a conference of radical labor leaders was called in Chicago in 1904,
to discuss the question of forming a socialist organization which
should advocate methods more drastic than those of political
socialism. In the summer of 1905 a second convention was held in
Chicago, and a constitution was drawn up and subscribed to. Section 1
of Article I of this constitution reads: "This Organization shall be
known as the 'Industrial Workers of the World.'"

135. THE I.W.W. AND THE POLITICAL SOCIALISTS: SIMILARITIES.--Like the
political socialists, the I. W. W. go back to Karl Marx for their
basic teachings. William D. Haywood, one of the I. W. W. leaders,
accepted Marx's theory of surplus value in these terms: "The theory of
surplus value is the beginning of all socialist knowledge. It shows
the capitalist in his true light, that of an idler and a parasite. It
proves to the workers that capitalists should no longer be permitted
to take any of their product." The I. W. W. also stress the class
struggle. The preamble to their constitution declares that "the
working class and the employing class have nothing in common," and
asserts that "between these two classes a struggle must go on until