Workers today face a host of challenges undreamt of by previous generations. Outsourcing, downsizing, buyouts, mass layoffs, job cuts — the list goes on and on. Workers have nowhere to turn when the chips are down ... unlike big business, who only has to run to Uncle Sam with hat in hand and ask for a loan to carry them through. What about the unions? Where do they fit in and why don't they try to help the very workers they are supposed to protect? It is no secret that today's labor unions are entirely subordinate to the very forces they are supposed to protect workers from. They preach a message of "partnership" between bosses and workers, divide us along national, racial and gender lines, force us to fight against each other to save our jobs, and render the massive power of an organized and determined working class impotent. This is no accident. A united working class would indeed be a mighty opponent and would spell the eventual end of wage labor and its parent system so cherished by those in power. A new organization is needed, an organization based on working-class principles, and organized, led and administered by the workers themselves. This new union of the working class will bring together all workers — men and women, young and old, across artificial racial and national boundaries — into one powerful and irresistible force. But organizing will not be an end in itself; organizing will only be the beginning of a bigger plan, a plan which will one day bring forth a system that will benefit everyone, a system that will see the end of forced unemployment, an end to poverty and war, and all the other miseries that follow in the wake of the so-called "best of all possible systems." With the greater merger between political and economic power, it is no longer possible for organizations of the working class to abstain from fighting on the political battlefield, or to leave that fight to "pro-worker" politicians. Just as workers must organize and lead their own struggles on the job, so too must workers take their united power and bring it forward against the massed forces of the public power and political establishment. The first step is to start building this new union. Like any other massive undertaking, it takes people — people who are conscious of their position as workers; people who are conscious of the fact that they, along with others who see the world in the same light, have the power to change society into something much better for everyone, through the use of our rights as workers. With this understanding and goal in mind, the General Organizing Committee of the Workers' International Industrial Union calls upon all workers to join with us to begin building a new union of all workers, a union formed to unite the only class that matters: the working class.
The WIIU and IWW
The Workers' International Industrial Union stands on the history and tradition of Industrial Unionism that brought about the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905. As well, in reviving the Workers' International Industrial Union, we seek to revive the principles and aims of our namesake, especially in the relationship between the economic and political struggle. In beginning this effort, some have asked if we also intend to revive the rivalry and, in many respects, hostility that marked the relationship between the WIIU and IWW. Our answer is a clear NO! We are fully aware of the bitter history between the two great Industrial Unions, and we believe it is unfortunate that such bitterness existed. Yes, we differ from the IWW on the question of workers' political action. That is why we are two, not one. But we nevertheless regard the IWW and its members as fellow workers — brothers and sisters in the great struggle for the abolition of the wages system, and liberation of the working class from exploitation and oppression. We declare today that any past animosity between the IWW and WIIU is, should be and must be left in the past. We are not enemies or opponents, but allies and comrades in struggle. We are ready to agree in advance, without conditions, to assist the IWW in any campaign or organizing effort it undertakes, to not negatively interfere or intervene in any area of its work, or to attempt to diminish its membership, work or activities. We invite members of the IWW who agree with the need for political action to become members of the WIIU, and hope they will extend a similar invitation. We hope, one day, to re-unite with our brethren in the IWW, to unify and move forward as One Big Industrial Union, on the basis of the principles established in the 1905 Preamble.
Those interested in joining with us or if you have further questions may contact me at cmiller85 at verizon. net
Fraternally, Carl Miller, Acting Secretary-Treasurer WIIU