We feel it is more important than the issues presented by upcoming elections, the bail-out plans, and even things like war. That is because the IWW is one of those few organizations that can truly change society.

There is a critical lack of democracy in our social system. The average worker experiences democracy about every four years when they cast a vote for a candidate who promises to preserve and instill democracy when all they can do is remove it from people's lives.

What is democracy? Is it the rule of the people or is it the rule of the elected? In Ancient Athens Greece some people really experienced democracy, where they would take part in meetings and all held a vote on every political motion. At least the men did. Unfortunately Athens was a patriarchal society where women were not given much say in political life. But a truly democratic society, and not just a democratic class of society, would not have been this way.

So democracy, as opposed to a republic, is where people have a direct vote on decisions, instead of voting for a representative to vote on them. There may still be officials, but they act more as secretaries of the people. But the IWW is not just satisfied with democracy on a political level. We want democracy in our social lives just as well.

With industrialism came more concentrated power to the owners of capital. The influence of control shifted largely from political institions that gain from taxes to economic institutions that hold state-sanctioned monopolies on the market and the power to influence elected officials of the republic through campaign contributions, media access, and more. Corporations help out politicians and politicians help corporations. It's almost a law.

The IWW is a historical union with the aim of the abolition of capitalism. That does not necessarily imply a planned economy as in socialism, but it doesn't dismiss the idea either. By capitalism the IWW does not mean the use of money, or the free market necessarily, but the private ownership of capital by which a boss can employ someone for a wage. It is this very system that allows the concentration of power because the profit from all of the work is not shared, but is pocketed by the owners of industry.

At its peak in 1923 the IWW claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. The idea was that once a great enough number of the working class held membership there would be a final general strike where the workplace would be expropriated, and only those who were willing to work as equals in a democratic organization would be allowed to work.

The IWW dispersed greatly due to repression from the government who deported many of the members and raided the headquaters in the Palmer Raids. There was also conflict between the communists and the anarchists within the organization at the time due to the Russian Revolution.

Today there is just as much need for the IWW and it is still a working union that is growing all the time. Recently the IWW formed the Starbucks Workers Union with gaining organized Starbucks in the North Eastern US.

People are pissed right now. We were going through a phase where everyone was apathetic, but revolutionary initiative is gaining again.