The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood

Description

The Story of His Life and of the Industrial Workers of the World

By William D. Haywood
International Publishers

A heroic giant of the American labor movement during its most turbulent years, “Big Bill” was a socialist and a founder and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World. Born in Salt Lake City, he went into the Nevada metal mines at the age of 15 and joined the Western Federation of Miners in 1896. At 31, he was Secretary-Treasurer of the WFM and led its epic struggles against the mining trusts. He became the storm center of many other great labor struggles on the eve of World War I, including the strikes of textile workers in Lawrence, MA. and in Paterson, NJ. He also led the militant Wobbly “Free Speech” fights and was prosecuted for opposing US entry into World War I. His story, a swift moving narrative as absorbing as a novel, should be known to all workers.