Bill Haywood

Bill Haywood
3rd and 5th General Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World
In office
February 1918 – December 1918
Preceded byFred Hardy (acting)
Succeeded byPeter Stone
In office
January 1915 – September 1917
Preceded byVincent St. John
Succeeded byFred Hardy (acting)
Personal details
Born
William Richard Haywood

(1869-02-04)February 4, 1869
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S.
DiedMay 18, 1928(1928-05-18) (aged 59)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeKremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Political partyCommunist (from 1920)
Socialist (until 1913)
Spouse
Nevada Jane Minor
(m. 1889; died 1920)
Children
  • Vern (born 1890)
  • Henrietta (born 1897)
Parents
  • William Dudley
  • Elizabeth
OccupationLabor leader and activist
SignatureWm. D Haywood

William Dudley Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of America. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Haywood was involved in several important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars, the Lawrence Textile Strike, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Haywood was an advocate of industrial unionism,[1] and syndicalism, a labor philosophy that favors organizing all workers in an industry under one union, regardless of the specific trade or skill level; this was in contrast to the craft unions that were prevalent at the time, such as the AFL.[2] He believed that workers of all ethnicities should be united,[3] and favored direct action over political action.

Haywood was often targeted by prosecutors due to his support for violence.[4] An attempt to prosecute him in 1907 for his alleged involvement in the murder of Frank Steunenberg failed,[5] but in 1918 he was one of 101 IWW members jailed for anti-war activity during the First Red Scare. He was sentenced to twenty years. In 1921, while out of prison during an appeal of his conviction, Haywood fled to the Soviet Union, where he spent the remaining years of his life.[6] Paul Freeman, John Reed, Charles Ruthenberg, and Haywood are the only four Americans to be buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

  1. ^ "New Perspectives on the West: William "Big Bill" Haywood". PBS. 2001. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2006.
  2. ^ William Cahn, A Pictorial History of American Labor. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972; pp. 137, 169.
  3. ^ Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States. Revised and Updated. New York: HarperCollins, 2009; pp. 337–39.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference siitonen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ ""Not guilty" jury of his peers say". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). July 29, 1907. p. 1.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference speak was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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