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Reviews
| Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World, edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman. London and New York: Verso, 2005. 306 pages. $25.00, paper.
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| Wobblies! is unique in several respects. As the subtitle indicates, the book charts the history of the I.W.W. through a multimedia mix of comics, editorial cartoons, anecdotes, song lyrics, murals, excerpts from convention manifestos, and iconic portraits. Secondly, it combines graphics from the period with those of 34 current artists and cartoonists, many who contribute (as does editor Nicole Schulman) to the periodical World War 3 Illustrated, a cooperatively-edited journal of graphic political commentary published since 1978. Thirdly, while historian Paul Buhle provides brief connecting essays between each of the book's six sections, in the spirit of the I.W.W. (and the current journal), Schulman assembles interestingly the contributions of visually varied artists. Finally, while summarizing the controversies involving the I.W.W. and lives of their leaders, the editors relate the older organization to a continuing radical labor tradition, from Mexican agrarians in the 1920s, through the New Left 1960s, to scattered remnants among radical environmentalists. Even though there is still a tiny I.W.W. today, headquartered in Chicago, the reader may not be fully convinced of a truly living Wobbly heritage. But the book reminds readers of what the I.W.W. has contributed to the art, music, and tactics of protest; puts faces to the names of iconic figures; and suggests that readers and students can consider this heritage while studying history through the graphic arts. |
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The first four sections are the most impressive, exploring movement origins, leading embroilments among both eastern industrial workers and western migrant laborers, and repressions and martyrdoms suffered by many of its leaders. By focusing on charismatic organizers and their employment of a variety of "agitprop" techniques (song parodies, editorial cartoons, posters and emblems, sit-down strikes, and free speech demonstrations), the book ably complements and enriches the typical prose accounts of Lawrence and Paterson, Bisbee and Centralia, government suppressions, kangaroo courts, and vigilantism during World War I. By combining portraits and biographies with comics about Wobbly history, it underlines the extent to which, from 1905 until its decimation after World War I, the I.W.W. pioneered as a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-pronged gathering of radicals and desperate workers. |
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The book is less successful in establishing and tracing a post-World War I heritage for the I.W.W. Examples offered from the 1920s through the 1960s are sketchy, limited in scope, and contain puzzling omissions. Some latter-day organizers are rescued from obscurity, such as Primo Tapia de la Cruz or Tom Scribner of Santa Cruz, but others such as Carlos Cortez, Utah Phillips, and Slim Brundage seem isolated and idiosyncratic wanderers. And there is a startling omission: Cesar Chavez's "La Causa," well within the spirit of I.W.W. both politically and culturally. The reader senses that recent years have provided slim pickings for chroniclers of the I.W.W. spirit, beyond some local wildcatting, the possible murder of a Greenpeace radical in Washington State, and the 1971 "United Cartoon Workers" fiasco in San Francisco. |
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But even where the book is thin, it raises questions and piques curiosity, which can inspire a variety of teaching approaches and student research projects in high school and college level courses. Some may do further reading about events during the classic period treated by Buhle or the cartoonists. They are clearer about the immediate reasons for Wobbly agitation than about the organization's ideology, and clearer about what they did than what they believed. Many artists in the book draw the "sabo-cat," the black cat symbol of sabotage, without explaining its origin. Similarly, the book is wobbly about the name "Wobblies." Students might investigate the Black Marine Transport Workers of Philadelphia, who identified with the I.W.W., or the Wobbly impact upon Mexican agrarian revolt, and compare Emiliano Zapata with Carlos Cortez, Los Hermanos Magon, or Primo Tapia. Some might even compare "radical chic" during the 1960s, where social elites embraced groups like the Black Panthers, with that of the Progressive Era, where Big Bill Haywood was lionized in the salons of Mabel Dodge and Gertrude Stein. Finally, some might wish to read World War 3 Illustrated, the clearest contemporary example of Wobbly inspiration. |
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Graphic art telling serious stories is increasingly attractive to a visually-oriented generation, and an increasing number of carefully researched cartoon novels depicting historical events are being published. Wobblies! includes period artwork, information about contributing artists, and a bibliography. It is a unique attempt at a gestalt, a collective portrait by a collection of creators, and an attempt to link past and present through art, reprising the Wobbly penchant for fact-based propaganda. It is fun as well as worthwhile to read! |
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| Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, Emeritus |
Kalman Goldstein |
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