Agricultural Workers Organization

Hellraisers Journal: "This is the Story of the Success of the Agricultural Workers' Organization."

With no treasury they declared war against the millions of dollars
robbed from the agricultural workers.
Perhaps never in the history of the world was there a war more unequal,
or a success more unexpected.
-ISR on the AWO, December 1915

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday December 22, 1915
From the International Socialist Review: No Budget, No Problem for the Agricultural Workers' Organization

From the Review of December 1915:

A NEW CHAPTER IN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

By J. A. Macdonald
Agricultural Workers Organization, Big Bill Haywood, Day Book, Sept 24, 1915.png

THIS is the story of the success of the Agricultural Workers' organization. This story is not finished, it cannot be till the doomed industrial system of today has also been damned and over thrown. It is the story of the moving of the propaganda of revolutionary industrial unionism from the open forum and the street corner, to the primary theater of the industrial revolution—the job.

The wise men of the labor movement—generally too wise to work—the philosophers of the easy chair and the big salary, said the migratory worker could not be organized. They said the work was too casual. A union for them would have to be too migratory. It would have to have its office in a box car.

Hellraisers Journal: Nils Hanson on the Organizing Drive of the AWO in the Mid-Western Wheat Fields

Thirty thousand Negroes will come and 30,000 I. W. W.'s will go back.
The red card is cherished as much and its objects understood as well
by a black man as by a white one.
-Solidarity, Fall 1915

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday December 21, 1915
From the International Socialist Review: Nils Hanson on Organizing in the Wheat Fields

IWW Membership Card.png

In the latest edition of the Review, Nils Hanson discusses working conditions, living conditions, and the great organizing drive, launched by the Agricultural Workers Organization, this past fall in the harvest fields of the mid-western states. He tells of following the wheat harvest from Kansas on up to North Dakota.

The A. W. O. of the Industrial Workers of the World, has become such a menace that the North Dakota farmers claim they will import Negroes as harvest hands next year. In response to that threat, the I. W. W. newspaper, Solidarity, recently gave "John Farmer" this warning:

The I. W. W. has some good Negro organizers, just itching for a chance of this kind. Thirty thousand Negroes will come and 30,000 I. W. W.'s will go bak. The red card is cherished as much and its objects understood as well by a black man as by a white one.