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- The IWW Legacy
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- Dick Meister
The Occupy Wall Street Movement could find no greater inspiration than the Industrial Workers of the World - the WWW that waged a fierce anti-capitalist struggle across the US and abroad a century ago that led to major reforms despite the overwhelming odds against it.
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Piece Description
The Occupy Wall Street Movement could find no greater inspiration than the Industrial Workers of the World - the WWW that waged a fierce anti-capitalist struggle across the US and abroad a century ago that led to major reforms despite the overwhelming odds against it.
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Transcript
The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the other anti-capitalist forces of today could find no greater inspiration than the Industrial Workers of the World – the IWW, one of the most influential organizations in U.S. history, that was founded in Chicago in 1905 by a band of fiercely dedicated idealists.
The Wobblies, as they were called, battled against overwhelming odds. Their only real weapon was an utter refusal to compromise in a single-minded march toward a Utopia that pitted them against the combined forces of government and business.
Their weapon, their goals, the power of their opponents, the imperfect world about them made it inevitable that they would lose. But this is not to say the Wobblies failed because they didn’t reach their goal of creating “One Big Union” to wage a general strike that would put all means of production in the hands of workers and transform the country in...
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Intro and Outro
INTRO:Commentator Dick Meister notes that before the Occupy Wall Street Movement, there was the Industrial Workers of the World.
OUTRO:Dick Meister is a longtime labor journalist.
