A greater emphasis on the songs of the IWW rather than its actual role in the trade union movement of the US throughout the twentieth century. One cannot come to a full grasp of the significance of the IWW without understanding the pernicious and counterrevolutionary role of Stalinism, which ruled the labor movement through the Communist Party of America and subordinated the struggles of the working class with the direct collaboration of the trade union leaders - many of them Stalinists themselves - for their own personal gain for decades. The fight to end exploitation of the working class as a whole was replaced with the fight for slightly higher wages, something the IWW nor any trade union left to their own could withstand. The trade unions have never and will never be revolutionary, the only times it has lead the working class directly against capitalism in the bid to seize power was with the most intense leadership and direction by the revolutionary parties such as the Bolsheviks. And what of those genuine revolutionaries, what did the IWW make of them? Not very much, genuine marxists, later on Trotskyists, were expunged from the trade unions and witch-hunted.

The near constant shattering and sabotaging of the American economy by the capitalist class throughout the 1920s and 30s is unmentioned. Again genuine historical facts which could have painted a clearer picture of the times and the role of unions are avoided.

Only a second is spent on Eugene Debbs, one of the founders of the IWW and one of the first genuine American socialist revolutionary. He voiced not only the interests of workers in the US but the international working class as a whole and was an enormously powerful writer and orator. The mass membership acquired by the IWW over a short span of time during the beginning of the twentieth century cannot be explained without the enormous appeal of an individual like Debbs.

Real history for the most part is left out, with the emphasis rather on certain individuals subjective experiences within the IWW. One can only presume the reason for this is to not expose the betrayals of the trade unions. Although the film tries to paint a cherry picture the facade doesn't hold. One comes out of the film demoralised and with little prospects of trade unionism and the struggles of our ancestors, as it was back then and as it is today. Where are the hard fought gains today? What is left of the enormous sacrifices made by the American working class, whose faith remained in the shackles of the union bureaucracies?

This is not cynicism but the inevitable product of a leadership based on collaboration. As long as capitalism exists, the working class and the world as a whole is exploited and subordinated, every political tendency which bases itself on the continuation of capitalism must therefore, by hook or by crook, directly come to heads with the working class when it tries to emancipate itself, including the trade unions. A film which hides the truth from us is a poor work indeed.

The "Wobblies" was a nickname for a radical labor union that was founded in 1905. Unlike other unions of the day, the IWW was open to all people--regardless of gender or ethnicity as they were a very democratic organization. This and their anti-war stances were admirable--especially in WWI when the US went to war for no particular reason. They were also hard-core theoretical Marxists who believed in the ownership of industries by the workers. At the time, I guess I couldn't blame them--as working conditions at the time were often dangerous and some employers didn't seem to care about their welfare or decent wages. However, the Wobblies belief that all private ownership was evil and their looking towards eventual worldwide revolution scared the powers that be--particularly following the successful revolution in Russia.

The film is a well-constructed film--with lots of interviews with surviving union members from the early days and vintage footage. However, the film really does not seem like it was very objective, as it tended to present the story just from the Wobblies' point of view. In other words, the context for the labor problems and government persecution of the movement wasn't really explored--making them look virtuous and the government and bosses 100% evil. The members were definitely political prisoners--harassed by the government. also rather "pie in the sky" and selfish as well. Because there is no balance to this film, it might seem more like propaganda and loses a few points from me because of this. Here the story is simple--they are victims and all their post-WWI activities are ignored.

FYI--Though very, very small today, the IWW still exists today.