The Wobblies (1979)

Description

Directed by Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird
Not Rated | 89 min.
4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art

Founded in Chicago in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) took to organizing unskilled workers into one big union and changed the course of American history. This compelling documentary of the IWW (or “The Wobblies” as they were known) tells the story of workers in factories, sawmills, wheat fields, forests, mines and on the docks as they organize and demand better wages, healthcare, overtime pay and safer working conditions. In some respects, men and women, Black and white, skilled and unskilled workers joining a union and speaking their minds seems so long ago, but in other ways, the film mirrors current headlines, depicting a nation torn by corporate greed.

Recently inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird weave history, archival film footage, interviews with former workers, cartoons, original art, and classic Wobbly songs (many written by Joe Hill) to pay tribute to the legacy of these rebels who paved the way and risked their lives for the many of the rights that we still have today.

“A vivid look into America’s radical past. Its heroes and heroines are filled with vitality—a rare attribute these days.”—Studs Terkel, author of Working