Oil, Wheat, & Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930 [Hardcover]

Nigel Anthony Sellars (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1998

The Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, a radical labor union, played an important role in Oklahoma between the founding of the union in 1905 and its demise in 1930. In Oil, Wheat, & Wobblies, Nigel Anthony Sellars describes IWW efforts to organize migratory harvest hands and oil-field workers in the state and relationships between the union and other radical and labor groups such as the Socialist Party and the American Federation of Labor.

Focusing on the emergence of migratory labor and the nature of the work itself in industrializing the region, Sellars provides a social history of labor in the Oklahoma wheat belt and the mid-continent oil fields. Using court cases and legislation, he examines the role of state and federal government in suppressing the union during World War I.

Oil, Wheat, & Wobblies concludes with a description of the IWW revival and subsequent decline after the war, suggesting that the decline is attributable more to the union’s failure to adapt to postwar technological change, its rigid attachment to outmoded tactics, and its internal policy disputes, than to political repression.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nigel Anthony Sellars is Associate Professor of History at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia, and author of Oil, Wheat, and Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (February 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806130059
• ISBN-13: 978-0806130057
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Union bias in Oklahoma not new, February 18, 2000

By 

Charles M. Nobles (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oil, Wheat, & Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930 (Hardcover)

It's still there, Labor Omnia Vincit(Labor Conquers All), in Article 6, Section 35 of the Oklahoma Constitution. It's the official state motto and there was a time when working men and women in Oklahoma tried to convert the motto into reality. The Industrial Workers of the World(Wobblies) was formed on June 27, 1905, in Chicago. It was to be the working peoples answer to the ever-increasing tension arising out of the emerging urban industrial society in America at the turn of the century. The tension was perhaps best exemplified by the escalating confrontation between capital and labor. The Wobblies were born out of desperation, fear and self-preservation. They preached violence, revolution, sabotage and Socialism. They rejected politics as a racket and urged the organization of a new society by the oppressed. They were poor, radical, lacking in formal education working men and women who saw no commonalty of interest between employer and employee. They refused to sign labor contracts or affiliate with any political party. The movement was crushed in Oklahoma by means more violent than they had ever practiced. The perpetrators were, you guessed it, the business community, the judiciary, the police, religious groups, the news media, and a multitude of elected officials. Thanks to Sellars, an instructor of History at the University of Oklahoma, this little known history of Oklahoma is available in a well written, well researched, highly readable book. It's all here, the founding of the Wobblies and their efforts to organize migratory harvest workers and oil field hands and their relationship with the AFL and the Socialist Party, all placed in context with the political and social events of the time. The authorities efforts to suppress the Wobblies is described in a chilling scene from Tulsa which was repeated in varying degrees throughout Oklahoma. Just before midnight on November 9, 1917, a black-robed and hooded mob accosted 16 prisoners, almost all of whom were members of the Wobblies. They were being escorted by Tulsa police officers from City Hall to the county jail. The mob, called the Knights of Liberty and comprised of police officials, local businessmen, and oil company executives, took the prisioners at gunpoint to a secluded location on the outskirts of Tulsa. What followed was a vicious ritual in which the vigilantes beat, whipped, and tarred and feathered their captives. "It was a party, a real American party," one newspaper reported. The impact of World War One on the efforts of the Wobblies to organize and the reaction of the state and federal government is examined as is the decline of both the Wobblies and the labor movement after the war. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the social history of labor in Oklahoma, the Wobblies, or political events from the early 20th century. It is an important event in Oklahoma that has, until now, been neglected.