Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia

The Working Class in American History

by Peter Cole

 
During the 1910s and 1920s, the Philadelphia waterfront was home to the most durable interracial, multiethnic union seen in the United States prior to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) era. For much of its time, Local 8's majority was African American and included immigrants from Eastern Europe as well as many Irish Americans. In this important study, Peter Cole examines how Local 8, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), accomplished what no other did at the time. He also shows how race was central not only to the rise but also to the decline of Local 8, as increasing racial tensions were manipulated by employers and federal agents bent on the union's destruction.

Genres: History, Labor, Nonfiction, Politics, Race

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable piece of American labor history that often gets glossed over or little mentioned. Peter Cole delves into the history of the Local 8 union, which was built on interracial solidarity. Wobblies on the Waterfront tells the story of how workers of every race and status came together in a racist nation during the Progressive era.

I'd recommend this title for anyone who's interested in U.S. labor history, particularly African American or immigrant labor history.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on Philly's interracial waterfront IWW union. In an era of African American exclusion, the Wobblies in Philly maintained an integrated and effective union--albeit short lived.

[Thomas Sacino · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books concerning labor history in the United States, and by far my favorite pertaining directly to Philadelphia. Cole gives an in-depth analysis of the IWW's recruiting, striking and negotiations that led to one of the most successful integrated unions of its time.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Peter Cole's thorough and impressive history of how a majority-black local (Local 8) of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) rose to dominate Philadelphia's docks in 1913-1922, the reader goes on a wild ride that is both riveting and a look into the possibilities of what-could-have-beeen. Cole begins the narrative by looking at the history of the Philadelphia ports, one of the largest in the nation, spanning on both the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. By 1913, after decades of Irish domination of the docks (which fits into the even today Irish-American presence in neighborhoods of "Two-street" and Gray's Ferry by the rivers, the docks were becoming more and more worked by African-American longshoremen. Cole noted how 40% of the longshoremen were black in 1913 and the process would bring that number up to 60% by the time of Local 8's demise. Thus, any effort to win power on the docks would need to be a multiracial one, a hard shell to break through since ship employers specifically hired labor gangs by race in order to keep longshoremen divided. 
The picture that is painted is pretty inspiring. The Wobblies on the docks organized for power, balancing the porkchop issues of winning real material concessions, with the longer goal of building a working class revolution. One of the main leaders to emerge was Ben Fletcher, one of the few black wobblies in the era. Interestingly, unlike their reputation of being "class-reductionist" and looking past issues of race, the militants of Local 8 instead said that Black workers had special problems and organized to break racial separation and balance power by race within the local, meaning the checkerboard method of making sure there were always about the same amount of black and white union officers (usually the president being black and the secretary being white.) Even though they faced a combination of shipping company, federal government, and their rival union conservative International Longshoremen Association (ILA), the IWW Local 8 used a combination of larger strikes, quick strikes, walkouts, and continuing militancy with a commitment to rank and file democracy and recentering of power from the docks to their union hall near Front and Christian streets. They won raises, reduction in hours, paid time off, more men per workcrew, and abolition of racialized workcrews. Quickly, they established domination of the docks that proved hard to break, meaning the only way a longshoremen could work on the Philadelphia docks was by wearing a IWW that showed he was up to date on dues.

The rise to power of the only majority black IWW chapter in the nation, which won real gains while also keeping revolutionary rhetoric (at least in its literature), is a fascinating tale in itself. It maintained its power through the war years, meaning in order to win the war the federal government had to work through the union (the IWW's treatment of the war effort meant that it left it up to individual locals to figure it out, and Local 8 largely chose to participate, though would later refuse to handle material headed to White Russian forces.) Cole skillfully demonstrates that, even though the national IWW was not destroyed by the wartime and postwar repressions, it was at least wounded, and Local 8 was no different as its leaders were jailed, including Fletcher. Coupled with a triple threat of Communist-led splits and divisions within radical circles about the new Soviet Union,the rise of black separatism in response to the post-war race riots epitomized in Garvyism that started to weaken the Local, and internal IWW conflict that led to the national union twice suspending Local 8 over what seemed like misunderstandings or minor issues and trying to centralize power from Local 8 to New York IWW or Chicago. This all weakened Local 8 so it would be defeated in a postwar 1921 strike to try to gain the 8 hour day, and finally crushed and pushed off the docks in a 1922 lockout that saw shipping companies bring in many black replacement workers who had begun to flood into northern cities at the beginning of the Great Migration, as well as using the ILA to provide replacements. For years the docks would be union-free until the ILA established a presence by using some of the old Local 8's tactics, but still remained largely corrupt, racially divided, and hostile to rank and file democracy.

This book, thickly written and chock full of information, should be carefully studied. Cole packs a lot in here, so I had to make sure to read slowly or risk losing important information. Impressive work, that should appeal to labor historians (specifically those interested in the Progressive Era and IWW) as well as Black History, immigrant history, and the history of Philadelphia. Well worth a read, and important "lost" history that reshapes what it would have been like to live in the river wards of Philadelphia over a century ago.

[Alicia]

I'm excited to read this, given that my great great grandfather is mentioned in it!