The Wobblies

Long exiled on the fringes of history, the leaders of the International Workers of the World (IWW, a.k.a. the Wobblies) were actually a significant force in the rise of labor unions in America. Alas, the group's ultra-left politics brought them heaps of suspicion and scorn—particularly for their radical (for the early 20th century) vision of a workforce free of racial and gender prejudice. The wonderful 1979 documentary The Wobblies traces the rise and fall of the IWW union via rare newsreel footage, poster art, songs (the bonus features section is also rich with these amazing tunes), and interviews with surviving members who were in their 70s, 80s, and 90s when filmmakers Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer tracked them down. The result is an extraordinary portrait of how organized labor invented itself, evolving from a collected voice championing individual empowerment into a political force that exorcised the extremism within the movement (particularly the Wobblies) in order to achieve socioeconomic clout and respectability. If the IWW organizers ultimately failed in meeting their goals, the film insists they triumphed in a larger sense by not selling out while fighting for a society in which all would be treated with the same basic tenets of fairness and justice. DVD extras include interviews with the filmmakers and historian Paul Buhle, photo galleries, and the aforementioned songs. A must-see for anyone interested in labor history and political science, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)