An Unwelcome Valentine, Wednesday 14 February 1912 Although the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago, it was very active in the Pacific Northwest, appealing especially to the itinerant resource workers who drifted from camp to camp up and down the coast as the availability of work demanded. The first IWW chapter in BC was founded in 1906, and its nickname, “the Wobblies,” likely originated in Vancouver. The story goes that the group held meetings in a Chinatown cafe where the proprietor’s pronunciation of “IWW” sounded more like “Eye Wobble Wobble.” The context of this cartoon was the Free Speech Fights, during which the call went out for IWW members to come to Vancouver and help flood the jails to thwart the City’s ban on street speaking. By this time, however, Vancouver and American Wobblies were already moving on to the San Diego Free Speech Fights.  Source: Vancouver Daily Province
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An Unwelcome Valentine, Wednesday 14 February 1912

Although the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago, it was very active in the Pacific Northwest, appealing especially to the itinerant resource workers who drifted from camp to camp up and down the coast as the availability of work demanded. The first IWW chapter in BC was founded in 1906, and its nickname, “the Wobblies,” likely originated in Vancouver. The story goes that the group held meetings in a Chinatown cafe where the proprietor’s pronunciation of “IWW” sounded more like “Eye Wobble Wobble.”

The context of this cartoon was the Free Speech Fights, during which the call went out for IWW members to come to Vancouver and help flood the jails to thwart the City’s ban on street speaking. By this time, however, Vancouver and American Wobblies were already moving on to the San Diego Free Speech Fights. 

Source: Vancouver Daily Province

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    PNW history of the wobblies AND of Valentine’s day!
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