The IWW, the Red Scare, and Lessons on Resisting Repression Today

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On today’s episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we sit down with labor historian Peter Cole, who speaks on how the state in the midst of World War I, used a variety of tactics, which came to be known as the ‘Red Scare,’ to attack and smash the ascendant Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an anti-capitalist labor union organized around syndicalist lines.

Cole maps out the variety of forces which attacked the union, ranging from coordinated government raids on IWW union halls, attacks from far-Right vigilantes in the the Ku-Klux-Klan and the American Legion, and the assassination of organizers by local police. We look at how the American state utilized the courts against the IWW through things like the the Espionage Act, the Sedition Act and the Criminal Syndicalism laws, which criminalized membership within the union. Finally, we unpack the role of early nationalist disinformation, which attempted to paint the IWW as agents of the German state in the midst of the the war, especially at a time when the IWW was organizing heavily in industries which were crucial to the war effort.

In closing, we compare this history of the Red Scare with the ongoing wave of repression happening in Atlanta today, as the state attempts to break the movement against Cop City. We also look at recent attempts by the US government to demonize membership in the IWW, such as in the J20 trials and the assassination of forest defender Tortuguita in Atlanta.

The history of the Red Scare is a dire warning about the ability of the democratic State to smash by any means necessary radical working-class organizing from below, utilizing a wide range of repressive tactics. Just as today, the state is ready to criminalize ideology and participation in social movements in an effort to safeguard its interests.

More Info: Peter Cole interview on IWW.org. Check out Peter Cole on the IGD podcast here, here, and here.