In this image, originally from the Bain News Service, and colorized by Julius Jaaskelainen, the card in Ian Turner’s hat demonstrates the radical nature of some elements of the union movement, specifically the IWW, which advocated for worker’s rights in general.

Source: (Reddit/colorized by Julius Jaaskelainen)

The United States increased industrialization at the end of the Civil War, as railroad lines expanded across the country, and factories needed to power their production. Andrew Carnegie introduced vertical integration, which would allow him to control the profit and the quality throughout the process of steelmaking. And workers had to work in hazardous conditions for low pay. As profit was increasingly consolidated in the hands of a few, people began to advocate for unionization. Workers wanted to work fewer hours, improved safety regulations, better wages, and freedom of speech and assembly. However, the industrialists opposed the unions, hiring guards to surveil the workers and blacklisted those who supported unionization. In the 1870s, conflicts intensified, in some cases, becoming violent. 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago, and in 1912, the term wobbly was first used in their publications. The international labor union, comprised of “Wobblies” brings together a number of industries and combines general unionism with industrial unionism. They welcome everyone, including women, minorities, and immigrants. It has connections to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements. They promote the idea of “One Big Union;” the workers should all be united as a class to form an industrial democracy; they adopted the motto of “an injury to one is an injury to all.” One of the cornerstones is the Wobbly Shop model of workplace democracy. In this model, workers elect their managers and implement other elements of self-management. Workers are not required to work in a represented workplace and they can be members in another labor union. They believed that the wage system and capitalism should be abolished through a general strike, and a new system would be established to emphasize people over profit. Interestingly, one of the goals for the IWW was to achieve harmony with the planet.

Why Union Square?

Incorrectly captioned photo showing the rally. Source: (Library of Congress).

Union Square, which was re-designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1872, included the Union Square Pavilion, which became a stage for protest and demonstration, a feature included because of a public requirement for mass meetings. The pavilion, designed in the Victorian Gothic style, was a wooden structure. It became a stage for demonstrations of working-class solidarity, starting in 1882, with the first Labor Day parade.

Before a meeting in Union Square, the organizers had to apply for a permit, which the police could deny, although they rarely did. In 1913, the International Barbers Union, which was an organization within the IWW, during the Brooklyn Barbers’ Strike, Joseph James Ettor addressed the striking union members. In 1914, the IWW demonstration in Union Square was a socialist and labor demonstration, as early that year, America was in a recession and the unemployment rate was at 16.4%. The unemployed demonstrated in Detroit and in New York, led by Frank Tannenbaum, they occupied the churches and in Union Square, hosted a rally.