propaganda were foreigners, new to America and speaking alien tongues. From the very first a very liberal policy in regard to the foreign element had been adopted by the Industrial Workers of the World. Certainly they could not consistently adopt a narrow policy here and draw the color line if they intended really to become an all-inclusive democratic organization. It will be remembered that protest against discrimination against the negro by craft unions was voiced by William D. Haywood at the very opening of the first convention. At the second convention this liberal attitude was maintained in regard to all foreign elements. Moreover, in the work of organizing the immigrants it was proposed to go still further and take the aggressive.

This convention [said Secretary Trautmann] should instruct the incoming Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World to immediately find the necessary agencies in Europe, so that immigrants to this country, before leaving, will be already furnished with all the information necessary, and be enlightened as to the real conditions in the United States, and an appeal should be made to them to immediately join the existing organizations of the Industrial Workers of the World immediately after they accept employment in any industry. The literature of the Industrial Workers of the World should be distributed in different languages in the various emigration ports in Europe, and central bureaus be established by the Industrial Workers of the World in American harbors, and be opened to the immigrants, and information should be furnished them [as to] how they could . . . participate in the struggles of organized labor. . . .2

1 Cf. supra, p. 84. Also, Proceedings, First I. W. W. Convention (1905), p. I.

2 Report of the Secretary-Treasurer, Proceedings, Second I. W. W. Convention (1906), p. 68. There was no action taken by the convention on Trautmann's suggestion that European propaganda agencies be established.

Requests were made at the convention for literature in many foreign languages-Macedonian, Jewish, Italian, Slavonian, Spanish, etc.-on behalf of these and others. Foreign-language publications and pamphlets were issued and foreign-language branches of the local unions had been established and continued to be extended in scope after the second convention. The Italian Socialist Federation asked for the services of an Italian organizer, and one was provided. An Italian paper, Il Proletario, had been appearing for a short time as an official organ of the Industrial Workers of the World, and its publication was continued under the supervision of the General Executive Board.1

Furthermore, the structure and scheme of organization in the local unions was modified to suit the requirements of a polyglot membership. A motion was proposed and carried

to allow wage-earners of a given nationality to form unions of their own in the respective industries in which they are employed and where there are not enough to form unions of that kind, the parent unions shall allow the [non-English-speaking] members... to have branch meetings for educational purposes.2

It is worthy of note that sex lines were ignored quite as completely as race lines. Perhaps the organization leaned backwards a little in the policy of special inducements to women and "juniors "-indicated in the resolution carried "to remit for female members, ten cents per member per month to the union, the same to apply to juniors.' The character of the unit group- the local union — as being preeminently industrial in nature, was emphatically reaffirmed and more fully defined than ever before.

" 3

1 Bulletin of the Industrial Workers of the World, No. 4, Dec. 1, 1906. 2 Proceedings, Second I. W. IV. Convention (1906), p. 110. 3 Ibid.

the smallest unit of an industrial union [says Secretary Trautmann] comprises the employees in one industrial plant, whether large or small. Likewise should all the employees of industrial corporations, no matter where . . . . employed, be members in that respective department of wage-earners, if already organized. Taking for illustration the Mining Department, it should embrace within its folds not only the metalliferous, the coal and the salt miners, all the employees in the oil and gas fields, and the various plants connected with that industry, but also the employees in oil and gas refineries, the teamsters and distributors of oil, and any other mining products in the large or small industrial centers. They should belong to the same department in which the workers in the mines, or in the oil fields, are organized.1

There was some agitation in New York City in the summer of 1906 to organize that section on a basis of one local union to each industry, with each local divided into subbranches as the needs and extent of its constituency might require. These latter sub-branches were, moreover, to have no direct connection with the General Organization. This plan was opposed at the convention. It was in conflict with the policy of centralization which characterized the earlier stages of I. W. W. development. It was emphatically condemned by President Sherman as a violation of the constitution. He asserted that it centered the "power of the whole industry in the hands of the members of one local union." 2

Centralization was wanted-but it was national (or international) centralization, not district centralization. A provision had been made the year before for what were called "mixed locals " which were to include workers in various

1 Report of General Secretary-Treasurer, Proceedings, Second I. W. W. Convention (1906), p. 61.

2 Report of the Genei al President, Ibid., p. 46.

industries, but only so to include them temporarily; it being understood that so soon as a sufficient number of the workers in any particular industry came into the locality to warrant their organization into a union that all members of the mixed local who belonged to that industry should immediately withdraw from the "mixed" and join the " "pure industrial union. It was, of course, assumed that no one should join a mixed local or remain in a mixed local when a union of his industry existed in that locality. The privilege of membership in mixed locals had already been very much abused. In numerous intances it was found that members continued as members of the mixed local, even after their particular industrial union had been organized, or even maintained membership in both the mixed and the industrial body at the same time. This double membership was not only of no value-it was usually positively disastrous. It made confusion and brought on factional fights between "mixed" and industrial bodies,' and resulted in a double, and consequently inflated, membership representation at the annual conventions. After an extended discussion of the seemingly unmixed evils of mixed "locals," the convention passed a resolution defining their functions. "The mixed local," runs the resolution, "is not to be a permanent institution in the I. W. W. It is merely the propaganda [body] that will build up an industrial union. for the future. It is a recruiting station [only]." "

2

1 Cf., e. g., the case of the Tinners and Platers of Youngstown, Ohio, as reported by Delegate Lundy, Proceedings, Second I. W. W. Convention (1906), p. 277.

2 Proceedings, Second I. W. W. Convention (1906), p. 287. The following clause was added to the constitution: "Mixed locals. No member of a trade that is organized in his locality is qualified for admission into a mixed local in the same locality, and no member of a mixed local can remain a member of the same after his trade has been organized in that locality." Ibid., p. 276. For the discussion of the "mixed local" problem, cf. ibid., pp. 276-288.

Important subdivisions of the organization were the Industrial Councils. These had been constitutionally defined as "central bodies composed of seven or more local unions in two or more industries." 1 Such central bodies had been organized during the first year in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Paterson, N. J., and Flat River, Mo., and were, according to Secretary Trautmann, "in process of formation in Cleveland, Seattle, and Toronto, Canada." 2 Steps had also been taken toward the formation of the Arizona (state) District Industrial Council. These bodies had a definite future rôle as well as an immediate function mapped out for them. Here is given some little conception of the anticipated modus operandi of one part of the cooperative machinery of a future industrial society-of which the Industrial Workers of the World is proposing to be the framework. The work of the industrial councils, present and future, is explained by Wm. E. Trautmann as follows: If it is the final object of the Industrial Workers of the World to prepare the government for the coöperative commonwealth, then likewise should provisions be made to organize the agency, through which the administration of cities and rural districts [can] be conducted. The Industrial Council should, therefore, be organized for that purpose, and the territory to be covered by such organization should be determined by the central administration. . . . While the future functions of such councils will consist in the administration of the industries by the chosen representatives of the various industrial unions, their present-day duties should be to direct the propaganda, the organizing work, the education through central agencies, the direction of strikes, and other means of warfare between the workers and the shirkers, and the supervision of organizers; in fact, all such functions as will yield better results, if carried

1 I. W. W. Constitution (1905), art. i, sec. 2(b), cf. supra, p. 98. 2 Proceedings, Second I. W. W. Convention (1906), p. 60.