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American Autumn: The Class Warfare Has Begun

People hit the streets in New York’s financial district, Wall Street, and it’s about time the labor unions joined in. It will take all of us to win this “class warfare.” Whether they, the protesters, know it or not they are showing the old Wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World or IWW) Spirit. In their passion and their organization skills. The occupation of a financial district is only beginning for it is going to spread across the country.

This is our American Autumn, the same as the Arab Spring in the Middle East protests; and yes, it is class warfare and we should not be manipulated by the GOP and corporations into saying that it is not class warfare. The GOP and corporations are afraid that if we realize and understand what is going on then we will have an American Autumn, and start taking back our rights and start rebuilding our middle class by pulling the poor from the muck the GOP and corporations have pushed them into.

I don’t know if our young organizers have studied the IWW Wobbly movement, but if they have not, it might be prudent to have a look at what the Wobblies won and how they were ultimately defeated. As Art of War advises, know your history. It would be wise to know and understand what eventually took the IWW down to prevent the same tactics from being used today.

At one time, the IWW were the most feared organization in the U.S. with only 60,000 members. One of their most powerful weapons was their publications. The Wobblies had newspapers and pamphlets to spread the word and communicate. Today, we have cell phones and the Internet, which is being used very well, especially when the corporate media is turning a blind eye and deaf ear to us. It looks like our young protesters are getting some good tractions by using the means at hand.

A good book on the history of the Wobblies is: Rebel Voices by Judith L. Kornbluh. It is loaded with soapbox militant speeches, songs about labor and people, tactics, direct action and relevant labor cartoons.
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