We hold the center of the line of battle: The IWW, immigrant labor, and industrial unionism in the Pittsburgh district, 1909--1913

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the ethnically diverse immigrant workforce of the "Pittsburgh district" during and immediately after the industrial conflicts of 1909. This interactive process was distinctive because "Wobbly" organizing bridged differences that so often divided immigrant workers in this critical era in industrial relations. Through an examination and comparison of IWW rhetoric and worker demands, the reasons for the close fit between organization and laborers is more apparent, shedding light on the success of the IWW. I argue that the IWW in Western Pennsylvania preached a brand of industrial unionism that organized and fought for various "social justice" issues that bridged the chasms of skill, ethnicity, religion and, to a degree, gender. Both Wobbly organizers and foreign-born workers expressed concerns over "distributive justice" demands and "workplace rights" issues that transcended cultural differences, based their respective "ideologies" on these social justice concerns.;Historians have continually pointed out the short-lived nature of IWW locals in the eastern United States and thus have generally overlooked the union's wider organizational role. However, I contend that the political and social interaction made labor organizing in the Pittsburgh district more dynamic. There was a "reciprocal social process" at work during these years that shaped both lives and institutions, a process in which the workforce continually interacted with the Wobblies and their philosophy. Of course, this reciprocity was most apparent and dramatic during the strikes, but was also of longer duration. Even after 1913, foreign-born workers in Western Pennsylvania continued to organize and fight for the demands of their members through the "ideological vehicle" of industrial unionism. This study demonstrates that the IWW's industrial unionism was reflective of the basic social needs of a new industrial unionist working class, which was attempting to bridge gaps caused by various categories of "difference," in an effort to attain their goals, influencing the unionism of the 1930s.