IWW Yearbook 1922

This is a chronological database of campaigns, strikes, and IWW related events as reported in the Industrial Worker, the IWW's West Coast weekly, during 1922. It was researched by Cameron Molyneux. Start by reading the highlights report. Below that is the database.

Highlights 1922 by Cameron Molyneux

After four years of arrests, costly trials, the imprisonment of much of the top leadership, as well as internal struggles, the IWW began to recover in 1922, regaining membership and launching organizing campaigns. The organization’s flagship industrial unions would undertake (and win) numerous strikes. In addition to strike victories, three industrial unions-- Agricultural Workers Industrial Union 110 (AWIU no. 110), General Construction Workers Industrial Union 310 (GCWIU no. 310), and Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union 510 (MTWIU no. 510)--saw a marked uptick in membership due to successful organizing drives early in the year. The courts would also prove to be a key site of Wobbly victories in 1922 as momentum around criminal syndicalism statutes began to shift in the worker’s favor in the Northwest. These developments also emboldened local leadership to undertake multiple free speech fights throughout the year. Even with these good omens, the IWW still consistently struggled with police brutality and hostile citizens attacking both traveling organizers and unionized workers. The issues causing internal strife remained, but the year’s victories helped temper the divisions, at least for a time.

Strikes and Job Actions:

In terms of strikes and other job actions, 1922 proved to be a much more fruitful year than 1921. More strikes of all sizes and tactics found their way to the pages of the Worker that year. While the increased number of small strikes could be chalked up to better reporting and a change in editorial staff, the numerous large-scale strikes reported on throughout the year suggest that the IWW was more active on the job than the year before. Most of the larger industrial unions had a signature strike that year.

[read full report/close report]

The first large job action of the year took place near the end of April in Wenatchee, Washington. Following a successful West Coast organizing drive, the General Construction Workers Industrial Union no. 310 began to use its newly acquired strength to fight for higher wages and an eight hour day.[1] The strike would last for over two months before the IWW secured a decisive victory.[2] The strike began with a walk out of union men who stayed off the job for a month. During this time, Wobblies picketed the job sites as well as employment agencies in nearby metropolitan areas to prevent the recruitment of strikebreakers.[3] This combination proved effective as locals and Wobblies throughout the country helped the construction workers outlast the companies, who caved on all the striking workers’ demands.[4]

The next major strike for the IWW would take wildly different course than in Wenatchee. When the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union no. 120 rose to challenge logging companies in Klamath Falls, Oregon, they found that a strike alone would not be able to win their demands. Over the course of many months, the loggers fought a combined intermittent strike and free speech fight that nearly bankrupted the town.[5] The conditions of the strike began to foment in early March as a sawmill went on strike and lumberjacks in Northern California and Southern Oregon began to take notice.[6] The strike would start in earnest in late April to early May. Despite having won demands at their own lumber camps, IWW men refused to return to the job until their AFL affiliated counterparts also received the same benefits.[7] Logging companies did not take kindly to this, however, which forced the union to extend the strike multiple months past its original aim. At this point, the strike transitioned most of its resources into a free speech fight. After an IWW organizer was assaulted and jailed,[8] members flooded into the town to support the job action. [9] During this period, the strike itself received less news coverage than the free speech fight, suggesting that the IWW was using one of their trademark tactics- the strike on the job, or the intermittent strike. This strategy had Wobblies return to the job in the middle of the strike, where they would organize scabbing workers and pull them off the job to exhaust the company’s labor pool. This could be done multiple times and cost the company whatever resources they were recouping from strikebreakers. Though the free speech fight would carry over into the next year,[10] the strike itself would end in December with the lumber companies agreeing to an eight hour day due to fear over the impact of the free speech fight.[11]

Near the end of the year, the IWW would engage in two more major strikes, both of which would continue into 1923. In Portland, the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union no. 510 banded together with the International Longshoremen's Association to fight against long hours and discriminatory hiring practices from shipping companies.[12] Despite the local strike committee’s best efforts, the strike would extend into a brutal waiting game between workers and the bosses by the time the year ended. Throughout the strike, pickets were routinely arrested and assaulted by Portland police.[13]

In California, General Construction Workers Industrial Union no. 310 would strike once again at construction sites in Yosemite and Big Creek. Construction workers shut down projects for the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and Edison Co. energy projects. Notable on their list of demands in these strikes was the liberation of all remaining class war prisoners.[14] By the end of the year, the strikes would be combined and the Hetch Hetchy strike would be transferred back onto the job.[15]

In the Courts:

Due to a trying year in 1921, the IWW’s expectations were low for legal action. On the West Coast especially, the decentralizing faction who opposed all kinds of political action (and defending arrested Wobblies was considered political) was steadily gaining more power within the union’s national apparatus. 1922 would, however, temporarily stall their plans as rulings started to fall into the favor of indicted workers across the West Coast.

The momentum shift began in Washington when the IWW won acquittal for a group of prisoners who had been arrested the previous year.[16] This was followed a few weeks later when an imprisoned Wobbly had his conviction overturned by the state supreme court.[17] The wave continued to mount when the IWW caught a break on a federal district court ruling on immigration. Previously Wobbly organizers were particularly vulnerable to being deported after being arrested, but the courts declared that immigration authorities now had to deport those arrested within four months or release them.[18] With these developments in mind, the IWW began to pursue more aggressive actions to protect their fellow worker. That year the IWW would engage in two major free speech fights- the previously mentioned fight in Klamath Falls and one in Grays Harbor County, Washington. After several months, the IWW believed they had finally broken the criminal syndicalism laws when all charges were dropped against the men arrested in Grays Harbor.[19] One state, though, would prove a rather ugly exception to this trend.

In many ways the IWW’s experience in California that year would run almost entirely opposite to their experience in Oregon and Washington. Besides the Bay Area, the state of California continued to harden its stance on criminal syndicalism. Many Californian Wobblies would become incensed when union officials from other parts of the country brashly advised them to ignore court orders and purposely break syndicalism statutes. The courts in California began to hand down increasingly harsh sentences for prisoners convicted of syndicalism. Conditions in San Quentin prison were generally miserable, leading imprisoned Wobblies to strike multiple times for better conditions.[20] The year culminated with a disastrous pair of trials in Sacramento. After two workers were arrested and charged with criminal syndicalism, the local decided to defend them by proving that the IWW’s program did not constitute a criminally syndicalist organization. The only way they could do this, they reasoned, was to put members on the stand and have them discuss what being a Wobbly meant. However, at the end of the trial both defendants were convicted and all ten witnesses who testified were immediately arrested and charged with criminal syndicalism.[21] The second trial would start in November and continue into the next year, but the influence on policy in California was immediate.[22]

Elsewhere, the IWW continued to face numerous arrests and scuffles with conservative citizenry. In Northern California and Southern Oregon clashes with the American Legion again hampered attempts to speak in public and hold amnesty meetings.[23] In oil fields and docks throughout the southern half of the country, the IWW faced heavy opposition from the Ku Klux Klan, which used terror to stop organized labor from gaining a foothold in the South. [24] In the Midwest conditions remained similar to years prior. Workers would be occasionally arrested and assaulted by a mob of deputized citizens and were then often “floated” out of town on the soonest train under threat of violence.[25]

Membership increase:

As mentioned earlier, multiple industrial unions undertook serious organizing drives early in the year, signing up new and returning members. We have several reports indicating that membership increased significantly in 1922. Reports from the Bolshevik Red International of Labor Unions the previous year pegged dues paying IWW membership around 15,000 to 16,000 (disputed at the time, but likely close to the true number), where another outside count in 1923 counted membership at close to 60,000.[26] Despite not having solid numbers for 1922, it is most likely that organizing drives, especially of the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union no. 110, added a significant number of members to the IWW. This lines up with claims at the year’s general convention that membership had doubled over the previous year.[27] Whatever the actual number, the added dues were significant enough to ease the financial strain put on the organization over the past few years. The number of significant strikes and free speech fights seem to suggest that finances were sufficient to support extensive legal defense of workers imprisoned during direct action on the job.

[1] “Strike Called at Wenatchee by 310.” Industrial Worker, April 29, 1922.

[2] “EIGHT HOUR STRIKE ON GREAT NORTHERN WON.” IW, July 8, 1922.

[3] “Wenatchee Construction Workers Honor the Day by Striking in the Guthrie Camp Against Ten Hours.” IW, May 6, 1922; “TEN HOUR CAMPS TIED UP.” IW, June 10, 1922.

[4] “PREACHERS AND GIRLS HOLD SCABS IN CAMP.” IW, June 17, 1922; “Bitter Final Phase Comes in Wobbly 8-Hour Fight.” IW, July 1, 1922.

[5] “Jailed Wobblies Eat Up Profits.” IW, August 26, 1922.

[6] “Sawmill Workers On Strike Against Longer Work Day.” IW, March 11, 1922; “Strike of Loggers Is Still Spreading.” IW, March 18, 1922.

[7] “Strike Would Fail Without I.W.W. Aid.” IW, May 20, 1922.

[8] “Louis Davis Beaten and Held Without a Charge in Klamath.” IW, June 3, 1922.

[9] “Let’s Go!” IW, June 3, 1922.

[10] “Klamath Cases Put Off.” IW, November 18, 1922.

[11] “Klamath Bosses Yield to I.W.W.” IW, December 16, 1922.

[12] “Docks Tied Up in Portland, Wobs and I.L.A. On Strike.” IW, October 21, 1922.

[13] “I.W.W. REINFORCEMENTS ENTER PORTLAND.” IW, October 28, 1922.

[14] “Strike at Hetch Hetchy; Demands Include Amnesty.” IW, October 28, 1922.

[15] “Let’s Go!” IW, December 16, 1922.

[16] “Wobblies Win Big Victory.” IW, January 21, 1922.

[17] “Decision Reversed.” IW, February 4, 1922.

[18] “DECISION ON DEPORTATION.” IW, March 4, 1922.

[19] “Free Speech Fight Won, Syndicalist Law Ended.” IW, October 28, 1922.

[20] “I.W.W. Win Strike in Pen to Get Better Treatment.” IW, May 20, 1922.

[21] “Class War Hot in California Courts.” IW, April 22, 1922.

[22] “Ten Witnesses on Trial, Judge Angry at Leaflet, Wismer Awaiting Retrial.” IW, November 4, 1922.

[23] “LEGION MEMBERS RUSH TO DEFENSE OF CITY.” IW, April 1, 1922.

[24] “Challenge Ku Klux to Stop M.T.W.” IW, June 10, 1922; “Reign of Terror in Southern Oil Fields Due to Ku Kluxers.” IW, March 18, 1922.

[25] “Fourteen Nabbed, Mugged, and Then Finally ‘Floated’.” IW, February 18, 1922.

[26] Gambs, John S. The Decline of the I.W.W. (New York, 1932), p. 166.

[27] “I.W.W. Convention Finds Membership Nearly Double What It Was Last Year.” IW, November 25, 1922.

Dates in most cases are the date of publication.

Date	Article title	City	State	Description
1/7/1922	Representative at Dusseldorf Lays Before European Toilers Industrial Workers' Position	Dusseldorf	DE	George Williams delivers speech to German syndicalists in Dusseldorf, promotes the IWW as an alternative to the RILU
1/7/1922	Moscow Delegate Report	Moscow	RU	Williams begins his series of official delegate reports from the RILU conference, decries less than friendly welcome from communists. Declares the hostility between communists and syndicalists is due to a fundamental incompatibility of theory
1/7/1922	Lumber Workers' Conventions Meet in Two Sections With Good Results	Portland	OR	Industrial Union no. 120 has convention, reaffirms commitment to decentralization over politics. Remembered as markedly more pleasant and inspiring than other conventions in recent years
1/14/1922	Convicted.	Woodland	CA	Frank Sherman convicted of Criminal Syndicalism
1/14/1922	no title (arrest report)	Bakersfield	CA	C.S. Sullivan arrested and charged with criminal syndicalism
1/14/1922	Picketers Stick Despite Constant Firing by Militia	Newport	KY	National guard fires at striking steel workers
1/14/1922	Beaten, Bloody, Organizer Lies at Point of Death	Shreveport	LA	Wobbly in oil fields beaten almost to death by cops. One friendly lawyer run out of town by conservative citizens.
1/14/1922	Strikers Jailed.	White Plains	NY	Striking hat makers in NYC suburbs arrested for scuffle with strikebreakers
1/14/1922	financial statements			bail and bond/Northwest Defense Comittee statements for December, 1921
1/14/1922	Moscow Delegate Report	Moscow	RU	Williams continues delegate reports, discusses controversy over membership numbers. Bolsheviks claim IWW has an active membership of ~16-20k, which Williams disputes. Notes protest from Spanish syndicalists regarding size of Amsterdam Yellow International being supposedly bigger than the RILU, complains that nations like Azerbaijan and India have been given votes. Accuses communist party of controlling the Russian trade unions
1/14/1922	Find Bleached Remains of Two Austrians in Canyon Where They Had Sat Down to Rest after Long Walk	Rock Springs	WY	Austrian immigrants sympathetic to the IWW found dead in high plains
1/14/1922	Defense Statement	Chicago	IL	General Defense Comittee reports that IWW owes $39k from 8 who left the country on bail. Resentment towards Bill Haywood and communists for leaving to Russia.
1/21/1922	Wobblies Win Big Victory	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee trial ends in acquittal for Wobblies arrested in 1921
1/21/1922	Governor Orders Militia to Homes	Pittsburg	KS	National guard withdrawn from Kansas miners' strike
1/21/1922	U.M.W.A. Betrays Striking Miners (bad scan)	Walsenberg	CO	Miners' strike in Colorado ends in defeat after UMW members are ordered back to work by John L. Lewis
1/21/1922	You Are a Coke Head!' Says the Cook to Boss and Big Strike Was On (bad scan)	Ogden?	UT	miners begin strike in Utah after incident ending in cook calling camp marshal "a coke-head!"
1/21/1922	Terror Used Against Men in Louisiana Oil Fields	Shreveport	LA	Previously mentioned IWW lawyer kidnapped, oil workers attacked and jailed in Louisiana
1/21/1922	Moscow Delegate Report	Moscow	RU	Syndicalists at RILU convention split on how to best oppose communist majority.
1/28/1922	Strikers Battle Cold and Hunger	South St. Paul	MN	Packers in Minnesota go on strike for higher wages
1/28/1922	Japs and Filipinos Launch Movement for One Big Union	Honolulu	HI	Hawaiian IWW local starts preliminary stages of forming
1/28/1922	Attorney Mulks Severely Injured	Dallas	TX	Lawyer kidnapped in Shreveport appears in Dallas after being whipped and left outside of the city
1/28/1922	Strikers Stick Despite Terror	East St. Louis	IL	Packers on strike in East St. Louis clash with private security and police
1/28/1922	Send Out Call for Amnesty Demonstration for Politicals	Chicago	IL	General Defense Comittee declares Feb. 12th to be Amnesty Day, request locals schedule meetings that day with funds to be donated to defense fund
1/28/1922	M.T.W. Hall Raided for Second Time by the Police	San Francisco	CA	Clash in San Francisco continues as police raid MTW meeting hall, arrest secretary and charge him with criminal syndicalism
1/28/1922	Denies Factional Conflict Within Industrial Workers' Body Is Disrupting Organization	Chicago	IL	Walter Smith, of GEB, disputes rumors that RILU debate has opened factional rift within IWW. States that GEB and general membership are against affiliation with RILU, but support workers of Russia, thus are not "anti-soviet"
1/28/1922	Stopped and Searched; Refuses to Tear Card; Hauled to Calaboose	Sacramento	CA	Wobbly Valentin Rodriguez stopped by police and arrested for refusing to destroy his red card.
1/28/1922	Moscow Delegate Report	Moscow	RU	Williams continues with part 4 of his delegate report, announces plan for Syndicalist International, debates theory.
2/4/1922	Deported But Not Defeated, Mulks Still Full of Fight	Chicago	IL	Harold Mulks, IWW attorney, reveals he was kidnapped and assaulted by Ku Klux Klan for being Jewish. Details his escape and informs paper that they continue to harass unions and lynch black people, especially because black workers have started to organize.
2/4/1922	Howat Ends Strike in Kansas District	Pittsburg	KS	Kansas miners' strike ends after UMW leadership orders them back to work.
2/4/1922	Decision Reversed	Olympia	WA	State supreme court overturns criminal syndicalism conviction for Ed Aspelin of Jefferson County.
2/4/1922	Economic Power of Workers Necessary to Open Prisons	Seattle	WA	Elmer Smith speaks to large meeting in Seattle about Centralia and the lumber industry
2/4/1922	Canadian Lumberjacks Vote Affiliation with Moscow International (bad scan)	Vancouver	BC	Lumber Workers' Industrial Union of Canada vote to affiliate with RILU despite some dissent.
2/4/1922	Omaha Woblies Raise Large Sum for Relief of Striking Packers	Omaha	NB	Packinghouse strike continues in Nebraska. Local Wobblies raise funds for striking workers
2/4/1922	Moscow Delegate Report	Moscow	RU	Williams concludes his delegate reports from Moscow. Discusses future conventions of RILU, provides evidence he believes shows that Russian communists have controlled the convention by fraud.
2/4/1922	Active Delegate Has Strange Experiences with Southern Juries	New Orleans	LA	Organizer goes through series of three trials for vagrancy that eventually end in acquittal.
2/4/1922	Plan Big Drive on Construction Jobs	Chicago	IL	Industrial Union no. 310 announces organizing drive for construction workers on west coast and in the Southwest.
2/18/1922	REMEMBER OUR PRISONERS: Great Publicity Campaign for Release of Centralia Victims Is in Fully Swing	Centralia	WA	Northwest Defense Comittee announces new amnesty drive for Centralia prisoners.
2/18/1922	Amnesty Day in Aberdeen, Wash.; Smith Arrested	Aberdeen	WA	Elmer Smith arrested for distributing IWW literature.
2/18/1922	Troops Use Rifles, Tanks and Machine Guns in Kentucky	Newport	KY	Strikers at Kentucky steel strike clash with militia members armed with clubs.
2/18/1922	Waterfront Workers of Philadelphia Are Doing Good Work in Education	Philadelphia	PA	Longshoremen in Philadelphia continue to organize and educate following departure of Local 8.
2/18/1922	Fourteen Nabbed Mugged and Then Finally 'Floated'	Denver	CO	IWW hall in Denver raided. 14 arrested and deported.
2/18/1922	financial statements			IW/Northwest Defense Comittee/Bail & bond financial statements
2/18/1922	Hawaiian Workers Form Close Union	Honolulu	HI	Hawaiian workers, supported by local Wobblies, form racially inclusive industrial union meant to rival AFL
2/25/1922	DENIED RIGHT TO SPEAK!: Elmer Smith Arrested on "Belt Warrant" and Denied Right to Address Meeting	Aberdeen	WA	Elmer Smith arrested without warrant prior to speech at amenesty meeting.
2/25/1922	Caged Like Beast in Hold of Liner	New York	NY	English Wobbly who did stint in Leavenworth is deported back to England.
3/4/1922	DECISION ON DEPORTATION: Circuit Court Judge Says Undesirables Not Deported in Four Months Are Freed	New York	NY	Circuit court decides on the case of McGregor Ross, an elderly Wobbly who has been imprisoned for four years and is facing deportation to Scotland. They rule that immigration authorities may only hold potential deportees for four months and that Ross is to be released.
3/4/1922	Loggers of Canada Strike to Re-Establish Eight-Hour Day	Kamloops? (bad scan)	BC	Loggers in British Columbia strike for higher wages and shorter hours following brutal winter. American branches of Industrial Union no. 120 pledge funds to help, but it's noted that they too are in bad shape due to mass unemployment on the west coast.
3/4/1922	Disorderly Conduct	Reno	NV	Frank Blackstone, organizer, arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for distributing IWW literature.
3/4/1922	Bounty on Wobblies Offered by C. of C. of Los Angeles, Cal.	Los Angeles	CA	Los Angeles chamber of commerce creates a $10k fund for the arrest of Wobblies and other radicals constituting the "red menace." Raids and arrests increase.
3/4/1922	Criminal Syndicalism Charge Is Dismissed; More Trials Pending	San Francisco	CA	IWW newsies in San Francisco are arrested and then most released after criminal syndicalism charges are dropped. Mentioned as a tactic used to get the newsies off the streets during inflammatory periods.
3/4/1922	Refuse to Surrender to Labor Fakers in Regard to R.T.U.I.	Edmonton	AB	Edmonton branch of Lumber Workers' Industrial Union of Canada splits with the British Columbia branch and sides with the GEB over their vote to affiliate with the RILU. They accuse the BC branch of running the union autocratically and claim they committed fraud during the referendum.
3/4/1922	Third International Is Willing to Unite with Two-and-a-Half	Moscow	RU	George Williams reports that ComIntern has flipped its position and expressed its willingness to ally with the Amsterdam anarcho-syndicalist international. Williams speculates that this is to provide a "very smoky screen" to obscure their switch to the NEP, but nevertheless prints portions of their letter for readers to decide on their own.
3/4/1922	Members of Denver Go Out on a Mission to Nearby Coal Camp	Louisville	CO	Local authorities try and fail to prevent IWW meeting from taking place in coalfields outside of Denver.
3/11/1922	Small Crew Strike; Boss Gets Scabs at First; Later Loses	Deep River	WA	Loggers go on strike for higher pay. Boss tries and fails to recruit scabs to replace them.
3/11/1922	Sawmill Workers on Strike Against Longer Work Day	Klamath Falls	OR	Sawmill workers strike to keep 8 hour day.
3/11/1922	Members Are Active in Wyoming District; Speakers are Wanted	Kleenburn	WY	Meetings for coal mine workers' Industrial Union 220 start in Wyoming, speakers requested to help radicalize unorganized workers.
3/11/1922	Tom Mooney Defense Asks for Assistance in Long-Drawn Fight	San Francisco	CA	Wobbly convicted during the first world war under the sedition act requests legal aid in upcoming appeal.
3/18/1922	Strike of Loggers Is Still Spreading	Klamath Falls	OR & CA	Loggers' strike that started in Klamath Falls spreads across Southern Oregon and Northern California, 3,000 loggers off work.
3/18/1922	Released From One Thrown in Another	Washington DC	DC	Prisoner from the Sacramento trials is released from prison and is set to be deported back to Australia.
3/18/1922	Reign of Terror in Southern Oil Fields Due to Ku Kluxers	Taft	CA	The Klan terrorizes the Taft area in California, allegedly killing a local driver. They also beat a local store owner and drive him out of town, as well as surrounding a WWI veteran's home at night, only to be repelled as he starts a gun fight with them. Reports also coming in that a rival, black hooded gang named the "black beauties," has started to clash with the Klan in attempts to protect the citizenry as tensions rise.
3/18/1922	Criminal Syndicalism Trial at Bakersfield Case of C.J. Sullivan	Bakersfield	CA	criminal syndicalism trial begins for worker arrested in December.
3/18/1922	Court Decision on Syndicalist Cases	San Francisco	CA	District court judge in San Francisco rules that IWW membership does not constitute criminal syndicalism. Newly appointed DA has not been prosecuting criminal syndicalism cases.
3/18/1922	New Orleans I.S.U. Meeting Provides Wobs Amusement and Proves 'Goat-Getting' Fest	New Orleans	LA	Conflict between the MTW and conservative elements of the ISU continues as MTW disrupt an ISU meeting in New Orleans and heckle speakers.
3/25/1922	B.C. Government Aids Unemployed	Vancouver	BC	The unemployed council in Vancouver that caused unrest in February secures a victory when the city starts to provide relief and work. They continue to organize and press their demands of "full time work and union scale of wages."
3/25/1922	Is Beaten by Bulls When He Refused to Burn His Union Card	Hornbrook	CA	Wobbly pulled off of box car by police and beaten for refusing to destroy his red card.
3/25/1922	Elmer Smith Speaks to California Crowd; Tells of Conspiracy	San Francisco	CA	Elmer Smith delivers a speech on criminal syndicalism and Centralia to a large meeting in San Francisco.
3/25/1922	Courts Less Severe on Arrested Wobbly in Golden Gate City	San Francisco	CA	Following the district court ruling in San Francisco, a judge dismisses criminal syndicalism charges against newsie Thomas O'Mara and releases him without bail.
3/25/1922	Again in Struggle, Roslyn Miners Cry 'Watch Our Smoke!'	Roslyn	WA	Industrial Union 220 delegates begin to organize progressive miners against the UMW.
3/25/1922	Construction Workers Are Prepared for Spring Drive	Chicago	IL	Industrial Union no. 310 starts its west coast/Midwest organizing drive. Start holding large organizing meetings in cities with lots of construction activity.
3/25/1922	Williams Answered Wire from Russia	Moscow	RU	George Williams contests wire from American communists, including Bill Haywood, in Russia. He says they are lying about conditions in the country and that they have misrepresented his arguments.
4/1/1922	LEGION MEMBERS RUSH TO DEFENSE OF CITY: 150 with Rifles and Booze Defend Eureka from Verbal Attack of Wobbly Speaker	Eureka	CA	Elmer Smith is prevented from speaking in Eureka by members of the American Legion. He is arrested and held by both the police and the Legion for various periods of the following day until he is put on a train and run out of town.
4/1/1922	Court Sets Aside Breen Conviction		KS	Harry T. Breen, an organizer from AWIndustrial Union no. 110 who was imprisoned in 1919, has his 30 year sentence for criminal syndicalism overturned and is released from prison.
4/1/1922	Appeal for Lawyer to Test Conviction	Shreveport	LA	Call from the ACLU for lawyers to defend Wobblies convicted of vagrancy in Lousiana after atty. Harold Mulks was beaten for defending prisoners.
4/1/1922	Strike of Workers in Rand School Café Accompanied by Customary Rough Stuff	New York	NY	Picketing food workers are beaten and arrested during strike of cafeteria.
4/1/1922	Labor Leader Says Seamen's Union Is Swallowed by I.W.W.	Baltimore	MD	Conservative labor leaders lament the growing prominence of the MTW within the ISU. Note that they are putting "tremendous pressure" on union leadership to shift left and are selling IWW literature during meetings.
4/8/1922	NONUNION COAL FIELDS JOIN GREAT STRIKE: 600,000 Finally Rebel; Leaders Forced to Fight; Transport Workers Help	east coast		UMW strike in Pennsylvania gains steam. Mining companies not hiring scabs, attempting to outlast locked-out workers.
4/8/1922	Port Ludlow Mills Struck.	Port Ludlow	WA	Mill workers walk out to protest ten hour day.
4/8/1922	Injunction in Frisco to Stop Raids on Hall	San Francisco	CA	ACLU unites with Cal. Defense Committee in filing an injunction to stop raids on the MTW hall in San Francisco
4/8/1922	Great Mill Strike Now Developing in Lawrence District	Lawrence	MA	Amalgamated Textile Workers go on strike at factories throughout New England against wage cuts.
4/8/1922	Mass Conference for No. 310	Ogden	UT	West coast mass conference of Industrial Union no. 310 held.
4/15/1922	Strong Defense in Sacramento	Sacramento	CA	Casdorf/Firey trial begins in Sacramento. Notes that criminal syndicalism convictions have decreased in California, but that C.J. Sullivan of Bakersfield was recently convicted.
4/15/1922	Our House' Cop Pinches Haley	Seattle	WA	Wobbly arrested in Seattle.
4/15/1922	Strike on the Job Miners' Tactics to Win in Nova Scotia	Glace Bay	NS	Miners in Nova Scotia strike while on the job, sit down to protest wage cuts from British Empire Steel.
4/15/1922	Help Needed in Eureka	Eureka	CA	Worker arrested for criminal syndicalism in Eureka.
4/15/1922	A Good Strike Spoiled Because Right Tactics Were Not First Used	Astoria	OR	Members of Industrial Union no. 120 try to strike in Astoria and quickly lose.
4/15/1922	Strike at Elm for Decent Conditions	Elm	WA	Industrial Union no. 120 loggers on strike for better conditions.
4/15/1922	Same Old Story in Yakima	Yakima	WA	Wobbly arrested for vagrancy in Yakima. Ranch worker shot by foreman.
4/15/1922	Dirt Movers Start Membership Drive	Chicago	IL	Industrial Union no. 310 continues its membership drive in the Northwest, targets specific construction camps to organize.
4/15/1922	Tacoma Branch Is Reorganized	Tacoma	WA	Tacoma general membership branch is restarted.
4/15/1922	Los Angeles Hall Open.	Los Angeles	CA	New local hall opened in Los Angeles.
4/15/1922	Worker Jailed in South.	Sacramento	CA	Valentin Rodriguez arrested for handing out literature in Sacramento. Quickly released after "he tries to help the other prisoners."
4/22/1922	Miners' Strike Spreading; Owners Hold Government		PA	Coal miners' strike in Pennsylvania continues to grow, starting to impact coal companies. Fears that radical labor elements will influence the striking miners.
4/22/1922	Class War Hot in Claifornia Courts	Sacramento	CA	Casdorf/Firey trial wraps up in Sacramento after the IWW's ill-advised defense of witnesses admit membership and testify to the IWW's values and aims results in Casdorf and Firey's convictions and all of the witnesses being arrested for criminal syndicalism.
4/22/1922	Six Industrial Workers Who Conducted Own Case in Oakland Are Released	Oakland	CA	The group of six Wobblies convicted in Oakland during 1921 are released after appeal results in their convictions being ruled a mistrial.
4/22/1922	Elmer Smith Will Defy Mob and Handle Eureka Defense	Eureka	CA	Elmer Smith returns to Eureka to conduct defense in the trial of O.J. Eaton, who is charged with criminal syndicalism.
4/22/1922	Work Will Start in Casper Oilfield	Casper	WY	Wobbly has room raided and is arrested in Wyoming. Calls for fellow oil workers to migrate to Wyoming and pitch in for his defense.
4/22/1922	Strike at Monahan	Monahan	WA	Lumber strike in Washington.
4/29/1922	Defense of Fellow Workers Is Winning Now in California	Oakland	CA	Pair of articles detailing the continuing shift in momentum regarding criminal syndicalism in California. In the Mooney case, the DA admits the defendant was framed, giving Wobblies hope for an early release. Oakland case moves forward with overturning the conviction, judge states prisoners have to remain in jail for 30 days while it is being processed.
4/29/1922	More Miners Join Strike; Thrid Year of Mingo Fight Sees Men Standing Firm		WV	Miners' strike continues to grow. Miners' uprising in West Virginia enters its third year as tensions continue to simmer.
4/29/1922	Strike Called at Wenatchee by 310	Wenatchee	WA	Construction workers call strike for higher wages and lower hours.
4/29/1922	Comstock Strike	Virginia City	NV	Mining strike in Nevada.
5/6/1922	Wenatchee Construction Workers Honor the Day by Striking in the Guthrie Camp Against Ten Hours	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee strike starts out strong with a walk out and lots notices to the surrounding area, making sure that no strikebreakers have been imported so far.
5/6/1922	Retrial for Wobbly	Everett	WA	Cantwell case from 1921 has been granted a retrial after being convicted of criminal syndicalism.
5/6/1922	Our House Is So Very Sensitive	Seattle	WA	Wobbly arrested on the streets of Seattle near Our House diner.
5/13/1922	Construction Workers Transfer Their Strike to Job at Wenatchee	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee strike continues to develop as construction camp ships in scabs. Wobblies have another victory, however, when two organizers sneak into the group of strikebreakers and convince them to walk off the job.
5/13/1922	Men Walk Out in Kerry Line Camp	Kerry	OR	Logging camp strike for higher pay. "He hired a machine for $10 to take him away because he thought he had found the leader. But everybody was a leader."
5/13/1922	Coal Company President Shoots; Miners of Nova Scotia Stop Strike; Coal Reserves in Illinois Run Low	Ottawa	NS	Coal miners' strike roundup. Coal company president in Pennsylvania shoots at (and misses) striking miners from his car. Miners' strike in Nova Scotia is called off as striking miners run out of money. Reports that Illinois coal reserves are almost depleted as a result of striking miners in Kentucky.
5/13/1922	Portland Strike Against Wage Cuts	Portland	OR	ILA in Portland go on strike against wage cuts and to protect their right to collective bargaining. MTW notes their critical support and declares that they will refuse to scab against the longshoremen.
5/13/1922	Harding Flouts Victims; 8 I.W.W. Out This Month; Teachers Demand Amnesty	Leavenworth	KS	Pres. Harding plans to release eight prisoners from Leavenworth, though the General Defense Comittee notes that there will probably be a deportation battle for over half of them following their release.
5/13/1922	New Hall in Everett.	Everett	WA	Industrial Union no. 120 opens a new hall.
5/20/1922	I.W.W. Win Strike in Pen to Get Better Treatment	San Quentin	CA	Imprisoned Wobblies go on strike for better conditions for new prisoner, win him a bed after 14 endure solitary confinement and still refuse to work.
5/20/1922	Wallace Falls Has Strike for Wages	Gold Bar	WA	Loggers in Washington camp go on strike for higher wages after other employees in the camp receive raises.
5/20/1922	Atanasoff Arrested	Yakima	WA	IWW delegate arrested for talking about unionism while hitchhiking after discovering his driver is a deputy sheriff.
5/20/1922	Release Four Men From Walla Walla	Walla Walla	WA	Four prisoners convicted of criminal syndicalism in Grays Harbor are released from Walla Walla due to overcrowding at the prison.
5/20/1922	Ed Aspelin Gets New Trial Ordered	Port Townsend	WA	Imprisoned IWW gets retrial under foggy circumstances.
5/20/1922	Mob in Oil Fields Tortures Wobblies	Casper	WY	Hostility to newly arrived wobs in Wyoming continues as two oil workers are attacked by a mob of citizens. Notes that organization of a local local is coming together.
5/20/1922	Miner in Jail for Carrying Flag; Guard Commits Rape, Gets Low Bail.	Somerset	PA	Miners' strike round up: striking miner arrested during demonstration, guard is reported to have raped a miner's wife during strike.
5/20/1922	Light Sentence for Syndicalism	Aberdeen	WA	Aho case from 1921 concludes with the defendant getting sentenced to 10 days in prison. IW celebrates it as a sign that long sentences are becoming less common.
5/20/1922	Comstock Strikers Win Consideration of Nevada Papers	Virginia City	NV	Comstock strike continues and begins to pick up considerable support from locals.
5/20/1922	Strike Would Fail Without I.W.W. Aid	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls strike continues as IWW loggers refuse to go back to work until trade union mill workers also have their demands met.
5/27/1922	Fight Deportation Editor Finn Paper (bad scan)	Duluth	MN	The editor of Finnish IWW paper, Industrialisti, is arrested and faced with deportation by immigration authorities.
5/27/1922	New York Troopers Called in to Force Low Pay on Negroes	Haverstraw	NY	Striking bricklayers in New York are attacked by state militia in attempts to end their strike.
5/27/1922	Free Speech Fight in Grays Harbor	Grays Harbor	WA	Free speech fight is initiated in Grays Harbor and Aberdeen as two Wobblies are arrested and the local local calls for reinforcements to come participate.
5/27/1922	Sullivan Defeats Our House Patron	Seattle	WA	Case of newsie arrested in Seattle ends as charges are dismissed.
5/27/1922	Eaton Case Comes in Eureka Court	Eureka	CA	Eaton case continues as date is set for trial.
6/3/1922	Louis Davis Beaten and Held Without a Charge in Klamath	Klamath Falls	OR	Wobbly in Klamath Falls is beaten by police after an interaction with a local pool hall owner. He is held and his credentials are taken without being charged.
6/3/1922	M'Alpin, Johnson Held in Aberdeen	Aberdeen	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight continues as the original two defendants are released and almost immediately arrested again for criminal syndicalism.
6/3/1922	Strike Snohomish Camp	Snohomish	WA	Loggers in Snohomish go on strike for higher pay.
6/3/1922	Stoolpigeon Loses Fight in Spite of His Gun-Play	North Coast		Wobbly employed in soap factory dodges a conviction for beating an anti-labor provacateur in a pool hall.
6/3/1922	Strike for 8 Hours: Steel Gang Demands Living Wage; Knows How to Get It, Too		WA?	Steel mill workers go on strike for higher wage.
6/3/1922	Let's Go!	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls strike erupts into a free speech fight following the arrest of Louis Davis. Loggers request 1000 members to come to the town to distribute literature
6/10/1922	TEN-HOUR CAMPS TIED UP: Guthrie and Grant Smith Construction Jobs on G.N. All Join I.W.W. Strike	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee construction strike continues as the strike spreads to camps all the way from Spokane to Seattle. Employers trying and mostly failing to import strikebreakers, small clashes between picketing workers and police.
6/10/1922	Corrupt Officers Give Wob to Mob	Tulsa	OK	MTW in Tulsa kidnapped from jail and beaten by mob of local citizens.
6/10/1922	Win Strike for Eight Hours	Kanasket	WA	Striking construction workers in Kanasket quickly win eight-hour day.
6/10/1922	Canteloupe Pickers Insist on More Pay in Impreial Valley	Calexico	CA	Agricultural workers in Southern California go on strike. Bosses blame it on "'Bolshevik activities' among the workers"
6/10/1922	Strike Lost in Box Factory.	Dorris	CA	Strike in box packing factory ends.
6/10/1922	Aberdeen Free Speech Fight in Full Swing- District Attorney Has Meeting Raided- Wobs Happy	Aberdeen	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight speeds up as many are arrested for protesting the Johnson and McAlpin arrests. Arrested Wobblies refuse to help the prosecution for more lenient sentences.
6/10/1922	Officers of Many Lumber Companies at I.W.W. Trial	Eureka	CA	Eaton case ends in hung jury. Elmer Smith is thrown out of court after advising the public defender assigned to Eaton. J. Kennedy, Cal. Defense Committee secretary, is arrested for asking the judge if Smith has been denied due to the judge's prejudice against the IWW. Local local secretary Arthur Ward is arrested for criminal syndicalism. Public defender who has been won over from this case will be taking both of their cases.
6/10/1922	Challenge Ku Klux to Stop M.T.W.	Port Arthur	TX	After Ku Klux Klan runs an MTW out of Port Arthur, the New Orleans local adopts a resolution to establish a branch there, no matter how much harassment comes their way.
6/10/1922	Not Many in Camp Allow Unfairness	Potlatch	WA	Loggers walk out after one is fired for accidental fire. He is reinstated after camp overseers weed out Wobblies and discover that unaffiliated loggers had signed their petition for reinstatement.
6/17/1922	PREACHERS AND GIRLS HOLD SCABS IN CAMP: Pray and Pinch- Guthrie's Plan; Eight-Hour Strike Begins to Win	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee construction strike shifts decidely towards the workers. Locals do good job of keeping scabs from going on the job, job performance begins to decline as more inexperienced scabs take over. Two local IWW delegates are arrested.
6/17/1922	Woodsmen Free Delegate Held in Calif. Jail	Crescent City	CA	Lumber Workers from no. 120 protest the arrest of active IWW delegate, secure his release from local jail.
6/17/1922	Solidarity Well Paid	Wickersham	WA	Loggers and steel workers demand raise, get it before returning to work after lunch.
6/17/1922	Beat, Poisoned, Sailors Strike	Hoquiam	WA	Captain abuses sailors on steamship, sailors strike, captain is arrested and awaits trial.
6/17/1922	Hold Four I.W.W. in Klamath Falls	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight continues as repeat offenders get arrested again.
6/17/1922	Gold Hill Miners Go Back to Work	Virginia City	NV	Comstock strike ends in a loss for workers as they run out of money and return to work.
6/17/1922	Wobs Stay With Free Speech Fight	Grays Harbor	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight continues. More workers arrested, American Legion refuses to come combat IWW.
6/17/1922	Technician Called a Vagrant; Thrown in Jail and Starved; Glad Is Member of I.W.W.	Taft	CA	Oil worker arrested and abused, eventually released.
6/24/1922	Stop Scabs Brought Half Way Across the Continent	Wenatchee	WA	Wenatchee construction strike continues, scabs continue to be shipped in. Railyards across the country act in solidarity, informing incoming scabs that they breaking a strike and advising them to reroute.
6/24/1922	Wobs Shut in Cell in Klamath Falls Jail, Others Not	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight/strike combo continues with IWWs being abused in jail. Town is at a standstill as American Legionnaires are on strike with lumber workers.
6/24/1922	Force of 65 Strikes	Centralia	WA	Small lumber camp shut down as loggers strike for better pay.
6/24/1922	Famous Lawrence Textile Mills Again Scene of an Organization Drive for I.W.W.- Must Fight	Lawrence	MA	Textile Workers' Industrial Union 410 starts organization drive in Lawrence to win over workers from craft unions and organize them into the OBU.
6/24/1922	Everett Stevedores More Than Half for No. 510 of the I.W.W.	Everett	WA	Progressive ILA members control the Everett local as more than half the branch votes to affiliate with the MTW
6/24/1922	Workers Out in the Distant Northwest Are Still Fighting	Port Angeles	WA	Lumber workers on strike in surrounding area of Port Angeles.
7/1/1922	Hung Jury in Case of Ten Witnesses Up in Sacramento	Sacramento	CA	Returning to the Casdorf/Firey saga in which every witness who testified to being part of the IWW was arrested, the new case results in a hung jury after a long day of deliberations.
7/1/1922	U.S. Assists Guthrie; Tries to Deport Picket	Wenatchee	WA	Immigration authorities trying to deport organizer in Wenatchee strike to Finland.
7/1/1922	Bitter Final Phase Comes in Wobbly 8-Hour Fight	Duluth & Minneapolis & Chicago	MN & IL	Wenatchee construction strike enters home stretch as Midwestern locals picket employment agencies to prevent strikebreakers from shipping out to Washington.
7/1/1922	Welinder Under Arrest	Astoria	OR	P.J. Welinder arrested on vagrancy in Astoria, has papers and literature confiscated.
7/1/1922	They Try Again to Frame Eaton	Eureka	CA	O.J. Eaton being tried again for criminal syndicalism after his first trial resulted in a hung jury.
7/1/1922	Win Eight-Hour Strike	The Dalles	OR	Lumber workers win strike over hours in Oregon.
7/1/1922	Arizona Strike Is Off.		AZ	Arizona construction strike fizzles out before much materializes. Infrastructure for a large strike does not yet exist in the territory.
7/1/1922	New Hall Opened	Superior	MN	Duluth and Superior locals open up a joint hall in Superior.
7/8/1922	EIGHT-HOUR STRIKE ON GREAT NORTHERN WON: Guthrie and Grant Smith Surrender; Great Victory for Industrial Workers	Wenatchee	WA	After one final attempt to break the strike, Wenatchee construction strike ends in massive victory as construction companies cave on all of Wobbly demands.
7/8/1922	Bullet Flies in Wobbly Boycott	Seattle	WA	Someone shoots at Wobbly newsie John Sullivan, who is advertising the organization's boycott on Seattle diner Our House.
7/8/1922	Welinder Given a Hundred Days	Astoria	OR	P.J. Welinder convicted of criminal syndicalism and forced to pay $200 fine or spend 100 days in jail. He pays the fine and is out.
7/8/1922	Klamath Strike Still On	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath/Oregon timber strike continues as employers ship in strike breakers. No mention of how concurrent free speech fight is going.
7/8/1922	Coal Owners Start Killing; Herrin Strikes Win Battle	Herrin	IL	Gunfight breaks out in coal miners' strike as strikebreakers reportedly fire into a picket. Two miners and 19 strikebreakers die in the ensuing crossfire.
7/8/1922	Courts Bully Elmer Smith; Cal. Disbars I.W.W. Lawyer	Sacramento	CA	Sacramento court case continues. Elmer Smith is disbarred in middle of trial, Walter Smith, one of the defendants, takes over defense for him. Jury remains hung, so judge dismisses them.
7/8/1922	Foreman Robs Mail; Takes Union Cards; Steals Newspapers	Disston	OR	Lumber camp foreman confiscates shipment of IWW literature and credentials. Fires Wobblies.
7/8/1922	I.W.W. Metal Workers Open Hall in Chicago	Chicago	IL	Metal Workers Industrial Union 440 opens a local in Chicago
7/15/1922	Tacoma Opens New Hall With Overflow Meeting	Tacoma	WA	New Tacoma local hall opens, is christened with big speaking engagement from Harry G. Clark.
7/22/1922	Dirt Movers Win Another Strike	Wenatchee	WA	Momentum from the victorious Wenatchee construction strike carries on as construction workers win another wage increase.
7/22/1922	Marine Transport Wobs Plan Strike	New Orleans	LA	MTW plan a strike in New Orleans after announcing that they now count a membership of 1/3 of the city's dock workers.
7/22/1922	Oil Field Workers of Taft, California Joining the I.W.W.	Taft	CA	Oil workers in Taft organize a local branch, open hall (p.4)
7/22/1922	Oil Workers' Delegate Kidnapped Near Tulsa	Tulsa	OK	Another oil organizer is kidnapped and beaten in Oklahoma.
7/29/1922	Strike in Aloha Camp; Quit to Improve Food	Aloha	WA	Lumber workers in Aloha strike for a "new and better cook."
7/29/1922	Firemen's Strike on English Ship Means All Scabs Overboard	Anacortes	WA	Progressive ILA on strike in Anacortes, Seattle MTW refuses to scab against them. British seamen strike in solidarity when they arrive at the port.
7/29/1922	Grading Camp on Strike	Kerriston	WA	Camp goes out on strike for higher wages and/or better conditions.
7/29/1922	Legal Defense in Free Speech Fight	Montesano	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight rolls on as prisoners shift course and decide to engage in a legal defense.
7/29/1922	RAIL STRIKES FEEL THE NEED OF SOLIDARITY: Surprising Vigor of Rank and File Aids Coal Miners; "Big Four" Still Scabbing	Seattle	WA	Rail and coal strikes continue. Little in the way of detail.
8/5/1922	BIG 4 BROTHERHOOD SCABS CURBING STRIKE: No Government Inspection; Repairs Between Stations, Scabs Pay Being Reduced	Seattle	WA	Rail strike loses ground as scabs start to replace striking workers.
8/5/1922	Aberdeen Free Speech Fight Still Going On	Aberdeen	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight continues. More fellow workers arrive in town, another Wobbly arrested.
8/5/1922	Strike Won on Skagit Project; I.W.W. Members Take Advantage of Graft and Low Pay to Agitate	Seattle	WA	Wobblies on Skagit tunnel construction project successfully strike for better conditions and higher wages.
8/5/1922	Another Strike in San Quentin; Fourteen Wobblies Go to 'Hole' Because Member Treated Badly	San Quentin	CA	After prisoner Jack Gaveel has his work change request denied, 13 Wobblies strike and are sent to 'the dungeon' in San Quentin. "Wobblies even in prison believe than an injury to one is an injury to all."
8/5/1922	New Cases in Cal.; C.S. Law Does Not Prevent Meetings	Taft	CA	Oil worker arrested, local still continues to meet.
8/12/1922	Ten Sacramento Defendants Come to Trial on August 14	Sacramento	CA	Second trial for the group of ten witnesses arrested in the Casdorf/Firey trial beigns. Round up of other California legal troubles- three go to trial in Los Angeles, Felix Thornton is arraigned for criminal syndicalism, one arrested in Sunnyvale.
8/12/1922	Street Car Strike Paralyzes Chicago	Chicago	IL	Street car operators go on strike (estimated 20k workers) after company refuses their offers in arbitration. Chicago at a near stand still.
8/12/1922	HESITATE OVER GENERAL STRIKE: Brotherhoods Threaten to Walk Out Because of Danger; Decide to Wait		WA	Railway workers consider general strike but do not act upon it. Mexican and Canadian railworkers' unions strike for the day in solidarity with their US counterparts.
8/19/1922	RANK AND FILE DRIFTING INTO RAIL STRIKE: Big Four Members Quitting, Union Heads Can't Prevent, Government Hints Arrests	Roseville	CA	National railway strike continues. Reported 1000 scabs quit in California, union men stay off the job.
8/19/1922	Judge to Line Up Members?	Wenatchee	WA	Wobbly arrested, literature confiscated.
8/19/1922	Is Gassed for Boss in France; Clubbed by Boss in America	Aberdeen	SD	Two ag. Workers kidnapped and beaten by mob in South Dakota.
8/26/1922	New Conference in Rail Strike		WA	Railway strike. Rumors abound that company and union leaders have returned to the bargaining table. Wobblies aid the strike by doing their best to block strikebreakers from being shipped in.
8/26/1922	No. 310 Members Call Strike on Highway Job	Elgin	OR	Industrial Union no. 310 continues its busy year by calling a strike at a small highway construction camp. Approximately 30 workers and local farmers go on strike (half Wobblies) for standardized wages.
8/26/1922	I.W.W. Strike on Hurley-Mason Job	Cazadero	OR	Construction workers call strike in large Oregon camp, estimate that around 70-75% of workers will walk off the job with them.
8/26/1922	Jailed Wobblies Eat Up Profits	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight causes problems for the county as the sheer number of imprisoned Wobblies begins to cost around $1,500.
9/2/1922	Trainmen Would Aid Strike But Union Leader Threatens	Chicago	IL	National railway strike fractures as train operators are ordered back to work while shopmen continue their strike.
9/2/1922	Construction Men Quit for 8 Hours	Hood River	OR	Construction workers in Hood River strike for eight-hour day
9/2/1922	Grays Harbor Free Speech Fight Still Going; Need Funds	Grays Harbor	WA	Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech continues. More arrested, local local calls for donations to help their legal defense.
9/9/1922	New Skagit Strikes to Get Old Rights	Seattle	WA	Skagit construction workers strike again after conditions revert to previous lower standards.
9/9/1922	Construction Men Win at Hood River	Hood River	OR	First in series of three articles about Oregon strikes. The Hood River construction strike ends as workers win higher pay, fewer hours, and better conditions.
9/9/1922	Scappoose Strike a Swift Victory	Scappoose	OR	Eight-hour strike in Scappoose ends in a victory for workers after four days.
9/9/1922	Cazadero Strike Going Stronger; Bosses Yielding	Cazadero	OR	Big strike in Cazadero continues (650 out of 785 workers on strike). Walk out and employment agency boycotts have forced the company to start bargaining with the IWW, but the strike committee calls upon workers to refuse to return until all demands are met. Tensions between strikers and guards hired by the camp are high. "WE MUST WIN THIS STRIKE. It is the most important strike the I.W.W. has been engaged in in this territory for years. We have already won much, but we will not compromise. We must win all."
9/9/1922	Fire Fighters Walk Out When Told to Hike Without Pay	Portland	OR	Firefighters at a lumber camp walk out on strike when informed they won't be paid for hiking while on the job.
9/16/1922	Cazadero Strike Goes on the Job; Come Out Again	Cazadero	OR	Wobblies change tactics as the Cazadero strike continues. Since more scabs are arriving, especially ones organized in trade unions, the IWW is going back on the job in order to organize the scabs and pull them out on strike. Tensions remain high.
9/16/1922	Capitalists Rage Over Herrin Fight	Marion	IL	Indictments come in for those involved in the Herrin gunfight that killed 19 strikebreakers. UMW promises to defend their members in court with all possible resources.
9/16/1922	I.W.W. in Leavenworth Pen Tell Harding of Solidarity	Leavenworth	KS	The 52 remaining IWW prisoners in Leavenworth inform Pres. Harding that they will not apply for clemency because it requires them to admit guilt and renounce the IWW. "Tried together, railroaded together, sentenced together, and will be freed together"
9/16/1922	Payne at Last Out of Walla Walla	Walla Walla	WA	C.E. Payne, future editor of the paper, is released from Walla Walla. 20 Wobblies remain imprisoned there.
9/23/1922	Longshoremen in Horrible Mess; Portland to Strike	Portland	OR	The "American plan" instituted by bosses causes long-standing anger to bubble up to the surface on the Portland waterfront. Despite having a favorable arrangement with the companies, the ILA is ready to go out on strike with the MTW. P.J. Welinder stresses the need for the IWW to lead the impending action to capitalize on the longshormen's newfound class solidarity.
9/23/1922	I.W.W. DEMANDS CREATE SENSATION IN BUTTE: Miners' Strike Hindered by Finks; Wobblies Out to Abolish Rustling Card	Butte	MT	The more recently organized Butte local of the miners' Industrial Union 210 makes themselves known to local authorities by calling a strike with a list of demands including "The release of all political prisoners…" and a six-hour day. Strike started as of 9/11/22, police, mining company, and local citizens consult on how to handle the strike.
9/23/1922	Strike Lasts Hour; 70 Grade Camp Men Bounce a Bad Cook	Farriday	WA	Quick strike in Washington gets rid of cook universally hated by workers.
9/23/1922	Strike at Cavona	Cavona	WA	Lumber workers walk out on boss who tries to dodge their demands for higher pay by hiring new workers.
9/30/1922	Rotten Conditions in Camps Rouse Workers Wrath; They STRIKE	Odell	OR	Lumber strike won swiftly in Oregon after entire camp walks out. Win raise, hour reduction, and conditions. Nearby camps take notice and start to agitate.
9/30/1922	Strike for a Clean-Up	Mount Hood Loop Highway	OR	Construction camp in Oregon goes on strike over unsanitary conditions in the camp.
9/30/1922	Strike at Kelso	Kelso	WA	Washington construction camp goes on strike.
9/30/1922	Win Strike at Knapton	Knapton	WA	Lumber workers successfully strike for raise and lower price for meals.
9/30/1922	Placerville Strike	Placerville	CA	Construction camp strikes in California.
9/30/1922	Seattle I.W.W.s Move for a General Strike to Break Jails	Seattle	WA	Seattle locals officially endorse the Butte miners' strike and advocate a general strike to help win the demand for the release of all political prisoners.
9/30/1922	New Hall in Duluth	Duluth	MN	New joint branches hall opens in Duluth.
9/30/1922	Strike at Simpson Camp	Shelton	WA	Workers walk out after IWW organizers are fired. Not many details.
10/7/1922	One More Chain for the Miner; Spies, Bosses, Cowards Are in Company Union Formed at Butte	Butte	MT	Mining companies respond in Butte by forming company sponsored "independent unions" to undermine both trade and industrial union presence in the town.
10/7/1922	Record for No. 310; Win Three Strikes All in Three Weeks	Hood River	OR	Construction workers have a chain of successful strikes in mid September. Mostly gain raises and hours reductions.
10/7/1922	Cal. Oil Operators Incite to Violence; Want I.W.W. Killed, Has No Effect on Organization	Taft	CA	Oil companies take official public stance against IWW organizing in oil fields. Oil workers Industrial Union requests funds to continue organizing.
10/14/1922	One Half Portland I.L.A. Vote to Support I.W.W.	Portland	OR	Around half of the Portland ILA votes to go out on strike. The union's conservative and older members block the move by 15 votes.
10/14/1922	Utah Miners Win Right of Meeting and Raise in Pay	Eureka	UT	Miners in Utah demand that the boss let them meet with IWW organizers. Under sufficient pressure, he relents and accepts their demands.
10/14/1922	Justice Lost in 4 Courthouses	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight continues, IWW fights court cases and mostly loses.
10/21/1922	Docks Tied Up in Portland, Wobs and I.L.A. on Strike	Portland	OR	MTW and ILA officially start strike in Portland. no. 1200 walk off the docks to fight the "Fink Hall" that dominates work selection system.
10/21/1922	Klamath Falls I.W.W. Bailed	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight. Jailed Wobblies get out on bail, promise to continue the fight.
10/21/1922	Montesano Trial Gets Under Way	Montesano	WA	Trial starts (and ends) for Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight victims. Elmer Smith wires message to IW right before publication that charges have been dismissed.
10/21/1922	Longshoremen, Sailors Win in Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	CA	MTW immediately wins a shrewdly planned strike in Santa Barbara.
10/21/1922	The I.W.W. and the Rails- How They Could Have Won			National rail strike ends in "a crushing defeat." Editorial on how industrial organization could have won the strike.
10/28/1922	Strike at Hetch Hetchy; Demands Include Amnesty	Yosemite	CA	Construction workers' strike begins at Hetch Hetchy reservoir. IWW lead strike, demand higher wages, better conditions, and the liberation of all class war prisoners.
10/28/1922	I.W.W. REINFORCEMENTS ENTER PORTLAND: Dock Strike 100% Perfect; Grain Handlers Walk Out; Police Deporting Picketers	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike scales up as it enters its second week. Hundreds of picketers arrested and scabs working. IWW sends small groups of 'reinforcements' into the job to organize scabs and pull them out. Surrounding ports strike in solidarity with Portland, grain loaders and port of Astoria 100% out. Tensions are high with police as the docks of Portland remain silent.
10/28/1922	Free Speech Fight Won, Syndicalist Law Ended	Montesano	WA	As per Elmer Smith's report the prior week, the criminal syndicalism cases in the Grays Harbor/Aberdeen free speech fight have been dropped, dealing a huge blow to the statute in Washington. Fourteen imprisoned Wobblies are released and all charges dismissed.
10/28/1922	Harding Releases 6 in Leavenworth	Leavenworth	KS	Pres. Harding releases six more class war prisoners from Leavenworth, including former leader of MTW local 8, Ben Fletcher. Three will be immediately deported to Sweden. The other three are free on conditional commutations.
10/28/1922	Strike at Monroe Shows Solidarity	Monroe	WA	Strike at Washington lumber camp. Both camp and mill walk out.
10/28/1922	Furuseth Union Scabs on Dock	Santa Barbara	CA	International Seamen's Union scabs against striking MTW and ILA in Santa Barbara. "It was a perfect example of craft union scabbery."
10/28/1922	Strike Campaign Raises Utah Pay	Salt Lake City	UT	Successful copper miners' strike in Utah results in a 15% pay raise. The paper urges miners to go to Utah and continue organizing.
10/28/1922	New Hall in Chicago	Chicago	IL	New hall for construction workers established in Chicago.
11/4/1922	No More Pickets Needed in Portland Dock Strike	Portland	OR	Portland MTW stops call for more members to come picket in town. They report that arrests have temporarily ceased and arrested members are being released. Strike continues as planned and meetings are being held at the local hall.
11/4/1922	Hetch Hetchy an I.W.W. Strike; 1800 Are Out	Yosemite	CA	IWW leads the Hetch Hetchy construction strike and pull 1800 workers out from the job. New demand of higher wages for camp cooks.
11/4/1922	Klamath Falls Welcomes Wobs	Klamath Falls	OR	Free speech fight and intermittent strikes drag on. IWW continues to focus on organizing the lumber camps and raising funds for the legal defense of imprisoned workers.
11/4/1922	N.Y. Longshoremen's Local Votes to Join the Wobs in a Body	New York	NY	New York ILA local votes to join MTW.
11/4/1922	Successful Strikes in Skamokawa Lumber Camps	Skamokawa	WA	Pair of logging strikes in Washington.
11/4/1922	Philadelphia Piers Tied Up by Wobblies	Philadelphia	PA	Longshoremen in Philadelphia strike in support of the 44-hour work week.
11/4/1922	Ten Witnesses On Trial, Judge Angry at Leaflet, Wismer Awaiting Retrial	Sacramento	CA	Sacramento trial continues. Defense hopes to win by impeaching the testimony of the prosecution's star witness.
11/4/1922	I.W.W. Wins Case; C.S. Law Failing	Spokane	WA	criminal syndicalism case in Spokane won, continuing momentum against the law in Washington.
11/4/1922	Barbarous California Sees Another Wob Strike	Oroville	CA	Lumber strike in California with usual list of demands.
11/11/1922	TWO BIG I.W.W. STRIKES GOING JUST RIGHT: Grain Grows in Portland; Rails Blocked With Cars; Scabs Can't Load Lumber	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike continues. Approximately 350 scabs struggle to keep the docks open as pickets largely stop them from unloading shipments and delivering them. Surrounding ports continue to pressure Portland by remaining on strike. Scabs drive car through crowd of pickets, injuring three. Police arrest driver. Outlook positive for the strike.
11/11/1922	Hughes Makes a Speech Here in Klamath Falls	Klamath Falls	OR	Assistant DA of Sacramento County gives speech in Klamath Falls indicting the IWW. The local branch immediately responds with their own meeting and written statement.
11/11/1922	Sunset Timber Co. Gave Men No Water, Sixty-Eight Hour Strike	Sutico	WA	Washington lumber strike gets 75% walkout for better conditions.
11/11/1922	Gunmen in Hetch Hetchy, But Strikers Police Town	Yosemite	CA	Hetch Hetchy strike continues. Pickets successfully keep most scabs out, construction companies have armed guards take control of some camps. Striking workers enforcing soberness to keep discipline.
11/11/1922	Nevada Mine Strike Wins All Demands; To Watch Manager	Las Vegas	NV	Miners in Las Vegas win better conditions and higher wages after a weeklong strike.
11/18/1922	Fight for Free Speech Started in Southern Cal.	San Pedro	CA	A free speech fight starts following arrests and raids of the MTW hall in San Pedro.
11/18/1922	Hetch Hetchy Strike Is Winning	Yosemite	CA	Hetch Hetchy strike continues. All but guards have left the camps. Pickets are keeping scabs out. Wobblies are also picketing in other cities where employment agencies are attempting to recruit strikebreakers. One group of AFL carpenters ignores the strike.
11/18/1922	EUROPE HELPS DOCK STRIKE: Freight Movements Only 20 per cent Normal; Two Companies Fail; Flour Mills Using Sprouted Grain; Ships Leave Port Late and Empty; Boss Despairs	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike continues in a favorable fashion for workers. Two shipping companies fold after not being able to ship their cargo internationally. Pickets in good morale, longshoremen around the world signal their support for the strike.
11/18/1922	Release Miller Uncondtionally	Leavenworth	KS	Former GEB member is released from Leavenworth on an unconditional pardon from Pres. Harding.
11/18/1922	Nevada Miners Strike for Pay	Goldfield	NV	All waged miners in Goldfield camps strike for a raise.
11/18/1922	Klamath Falls Cases Put Off	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls free speech fight continues to drag on as criminal syndicalism trials are delayed until February of the next year. Leonard Bolton receives a threatening check from the KKK.
11/18/1922	More Arrests in Barbarous Cal.	Sacramento	CA	California arrest round up. Arrests and raids continue across the state
11/25/1922	4,500 in I.W.W. Big Creek Strike	Big Creek	CA	4,500 construction workers go out on strike in Southern California after a Wobbly is arrested for complaining about camp conditions. About 90% out, developing as a sort of sister strike to Hetch Hetchy.
11/25/1922	Bosses' Free Booze Fails to Get Hetch Hetchy Scabs	Yosemite	CA	Hetch Hetchy strike continues. Construction companies attempt to break the strike by giving alcohol to striking workers. Guards remain in camps despite protest of scabbing craft unions.
11/25/1922	MAYOR'S WATERFRONT POLICE ARE RIOTING!!: Deny Streets; Flourish Guns; Arrest Picket	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike continues largely in the same fashion as before, but with increased tensions between police and strikers. Workers report that police have been trying to provoke pickets into clashing with them in hopes that they will be able to arrest them en masse. Some pickets arrested, scabs largely unwelcome in the city.
11/25/1922	Hoboken Hall	Hoboken	NJ	New MTW hall opened in Hoboken.
11/25/1922	I.W.W. Convention Finds Membership Nearly Double What It Was Last Year	Chicago	IL	The 1922 general convention convenes in Chicago. Outgoing GEB claims that membership has doubled in the past year. Delegates elect a committee to audit the previous year's expenses from the national organization and significant local branches.
11/25/1922	Wobs to Break Pedro Gag Rule	San Pedro	CA	San Pedro free speech fight starts its intial phases as newly arrived Wobblies plan to start recruiting and speaking around town.
12/2/1922	REBEL WORKERS ATTACK ALONG PACIFIC COAST: No Scabs Yet for Edison Co.	Big Creek	CA	Approximately 6,000 construction workers are off the job in Big Creek. They've been welcomed into the Hetch Hetchy strike as a powerful duo of construction strikes. No scabs secured yet.
12/2/1922	REBEL WORKERS ATTACK ALONG PACIFIC COAST: Few Scabs for Hetch Hetchy	Yosemite	CA	Hetch Hetchy strike continues. Pickets on employment agencies throughout the state has succeeded in keeping most scabs out of the camps. Companies are trying to run one mineshaft in each camp to varying degrees of success. A handful of picketers arrested.
12/2/1922	Papers Admit Strikers Win on Portland Waterfront if Boss Can Not Divide Them	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike approaching its end. Grain production has fallen significantly, nearly crippling Portland and the rest of Oregon's shipping economy. Some attempts to provoke strikers into rioting. Scabs starting to fight each other. "'The wheat movement through Portland, which ought to be at its peak, is almost at a standstill.'"
12/2/1922	Police Desecrate Dead Body in Cal.	Sacramento	CA	Sacramento police mutilate and parade the body of a Wobbly killed in a train accident around the station.
12/2/1922	Hard Time in Scab Camp	High Point	WA	Lumber strike goes south for company when scabs are unable to work competently.
12/2/1922	Needed in Bend, Oregon.	Bend	OR	Wobbly arrested in Bend, call for a potential free speech fight.
12/9/1922	Edison Co. Workers Walk Out on Skis and Snowshoes	Big Creek	CA	The Big Creek and Hetch Hetchy strikes continue in good fashion. Workers in Big Creek dramatically leave camps on snowshoes.
12/9/1922	PORTLAND FINK HALL CANNOT PAY $7.25 BILL: Ruin Portland Commerce; Shippers Suing Dock Co.; Community Chest No Help	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike continues to approach its conclusion. Struggling shipping companies begin to try to undercut each other on prices and time, resulting in poorly loaded ships going out. A few more pickets arrested.
12/9/1922	Fail to Jail Free Speechers	San Pedro	CA	San Pedro free speech fight starts in earnest as MTW hold an uninterrupted street meeting with ten speakers over two hours.
12/9/1922	Strike at Pe Ell to Get Rid of Bed-Making	Pe Ell	WA	Lumber camp has 100% strike over better conditions, including that the men shouldn't have to make their own beds.
12/9/1922	I.W.W. Rises Up in Aberdeen	Aberdeen	WA	Lumber workers host a massive meeting to celebrate their recent free speech fight victory. Elmer Smith, among others, speaks.
12/9/1922	I.W.W. Convention Calls on Rival Red Unions to Unite	Chicago	IL	1922 General Convention continues. Delegates ok plan for MTW to host an international conference of longshoremen and seamen to expand organization. Taking note of efforts to organize miners and construction workers. AWIndustrial Union no. 110 calls for the RILU in Moscow and the Syndicalist International in Berlin to put aside their differences and unite against global capital. "Our affiliation with either, while disagreeing with both, would be worse than worthless. It would be harmful- a source of greater misunderstanding, irritation, and division."
12/9/1922	Delegates Endorse Amnesty	Chicago	IL	1922 General Convention- delegates endorse fully comitting to a nationwide amnesty campaign for remaining prisoners in Leavenworth and San Quentin.
12/9/1922	Spokane Is on the Wobbly Map Again	Spokane	WA	Potential small free speech fight? Some Wobblies have been arrested and subsequently had charges against them dismissed.
12/9/1922	Strike Lumber Camp to Teach the Boss a Lesson	Skykomish	WA	Lumber camp goes on strike after an IWW organizer is fired.
12/16/1922	Strike Complete in Brix Co. Camp	McIntosh	WA	Lumber workers go on strike for lower food prices. All but three workers off the job.
12/16/1922	Pedro Fight for Free Speech Won	San Pedro	CA	MTW in San Pedro declare the free speech fight a victory as very few workers are arrested during street meetings and the chief of police promises to work with the IWW. The defense committee, however, issues a statement warning that the fight is not over and could shift at any moment.
12/16/1922	American Legion Scabs in Calif.	Big Creek	CA	Big Creek strike continues to develop. Around 30 picketers arrested, some attempts to ship in scabs from San Francisco or Mexico, but nothing long lasting.
12/16/1922	Klamath Bosses Yield to I.W.W.	Klamath Falls	OR	Klamath Falls lumber companies cave to eight-hour day following pressure from LWIndustrial Union no. 120. Cite fear over ongoing free speech fight as a reason for change.
12/16/1922	Scabs Flee Docks, Publishing Names, Bosses Offer Peace	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike enters final phases as companies begin to negotiate with the ILA and IWW. Strikebreakers leaving the town in greater numbers.
12/16/1922	Scab Killed in Eureka Logging	Eureka	CA	Logging strike in Eureka as companies attempt to fire IWW organizers. A scab hired to replace a Wobbly is killed on the job.
12/16/1922	Let's Go!	Yosemite	CA	Hetch Hetchy strike is transferred back onto the job. The returning Wobblies plan to use their organize and pull tactic that has worked well over the past year.
12/16/1922	Right Back at Harding!	Chicago	IL	1922 General Convention continues. Delegates declare their support for a six-hour work day in response to Pres. Harding's 12-hour day proposal.
12/16/1922	Convention Is Finished	Chicago	IL	1922 General Convention wraps up with procedural work. Candidates for General Secretary-Treasurer of the GEB are announced. Expulsions upheld for three individual members.
12/23/1922	L.A. Arrests Wob Pickets	Los Angeles	CA	Wobblies picketing employment agencies in the Big Creek strike are arrested.
12/23/1922	I.W.W. General Defense Committee Announces Important Policy Change	Chicago	IL	The General Defense Comittee announces a policy change advocating that all industrial unions agitate for amnesty for all class war prisoners. "Let our slogan be: GENERAL AMNESTY OR GENERAL STRIKE- WHICH?"
12/23/1922	Intermittent Strike Is On	International Falls	MN	Lumber workers announce an intermittent strike and organizing campaign in Minnesota.
12/23/1922	Dock Bosses Quarreling	Portland	OR	Portland dock strike continues final stages. Bosses negotiate unsuccessfully. Japanese seamen rebuff scabs trying to load cargo onto their ships.
12/23/1922	Two I.W.W.s Held in Taft on Trial	Taft	CA	Two oil workers are arrested and tried in Taft. Last minute news wire reports they are acquitted.
12/30/1922	Edison Co. Secures 60 Arrests in Cal. 300 Scabs Off Job	San Pedro	CA	Police raid the MTW hall in San Pedro, arresting 60 members amidst free speech fight and ongoing Big Creek strike.
12/30/1922	Raiders Fail to Shut I.W.W. Hall	Port Angeles	WA	Police raid reading room, confiscating literature and arresting the operator. He is released and reopens the reading room the next day.
12/30/1922	Ten Witnesses Go on Trial Again; Defence Proves Townsend Degenerate	Sacramento	CA	The ten witnesses arrested during the Casdorf/Firey trial go on trial again.
12/30/1922	Acret Has Enough of I.W.W. Cases	Grays Harbor	WA	The prosecutor in Grays Harbor county refuses to litigate any more criminal syndicalism cases in fears that he might start another free speech fight.
12/30/1922	California Jury Acquits C.S. Case	Oakland	CA	An Oakland criminal syndicalism trial results in acquittal.

IWW HistoryProject

Main pages

Additional pages

See yearbook list (1906-1924)

Highlights 1922 by Cameron Molyneux