Industrial Worker

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A huge U.S. military man holds a cannon and bombs, spewing poison gas and clutching a sword between his teeth. He strides across the landscape "Looking for Peace." An allegory criticizing U.S. intervention in the Mexican Revolution.

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Art Young’s Dangerous Cartoons

Posted on August 19, 2024June 6, 2024 by Hank Kennedy

Art Young, The Masses, December 1915. After President Woodrow “He Kept Us Out of the War” Wilson, recently...

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In Memoriam: FW Alan Curry

Posted on August 19, 2024May 30, 2024 by Greg Giorgio

I first came into contact with Fellow Worker Alan Curry in the late 1990s, not long after the...

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A 14-panel comic titled "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" Page 1, Panel 1: Six people are hard at work loading trucks in the snow and someone off-panel says "Listen up drivers. We have a new rule in effect." A worker hauling a box in a beanie hat and sweater says "Oh great. This guy again..." Page 1, Panel 2: The Boss, a rodent with a long snout, holds up an orange jacket with a price tag while seven more employees around him are working. The Boss says “Only company-branded coats may be worn over your uniforms during deliveries. Each driver will need to purchase one for eighty dollars.” Page 1, Panel 3: A worker with a mustache in a warm puffy coat can barely contain his anger and is being restrained by two of his fellow workers, one of whom has long black hair and wears a yellow cabby hat, and one of whom wearing an orange beanie. He says “Chill, man.” The mustachioed worker says “Eighty dollar coats on what YOU pay us!!! We’re eating ramen noodles every night and we gotta buy flimsy wind breakers to wear in the snow?” At the bottom of the panel, The Boss says “Watch your TONE, driver – rules are rules.” Page 1, Panel 4: In the upper part of the panel someone wears a black cat costume and says “EASY Fellow Workers, don’t overheat.” The mustachioed worker with the warm puffy coat is being comforted by the two fellow workers who had previously restrained him. He says “What’s the difference? I can’t afford to drop eighty dollars on a coat, so I’m as good as fired anyway. May as well let them have it.” His fellow worker wearing the yellow cabby hat on the left says “it’s Pacey Pratt…” and the orange beanie fellow worker on the right says “–the Sabo Cat!” Page 1, Panel 5: The mustachioed worker in the puffy coat adds, “And besides that, I’m pissed off!” Sabo Cat replies “Sure you’ll get fired if you go alone. But IMAGiNE if you stuck together – what then?” The worker in the orange beanie to the right of the mustachioed worker says “We could ask to wear our own jackets, or–” In the bottom of the panel he adds “we could demand they provide us warm coats, for FREE…as a group–” Page 1, Panel 6: The workers collectively reply, “As a UNION!” Sabo Cat says, “Now how could your union apply pressure on the company to WIN that demand?” Other workers appear to approach the small group around Sabo Cat. The bottom of the page says "X423931" and "Page one of two."

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Cartoon: Rule of the Road

Posted on August 19, 2024May 23, 2024 by x423931

Editors note: This is the second in the "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" series. Enjoy this primer on...

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Person in an IWW hoodie (unidentified) holds a black and red flag with Sabo-Tabby on it.

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Working Class History of Oshawa, Part II

Posted on May 5, 2024May 16, 2024 by Shea O'Connor

Photo credit Toronto General Membership Branch. In September 1955, Local 222 members began a five-month strike at GMC....

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Call to Action

Poem: In Defence of the Wretched of the Earth

Posted on May 1, 2024May 1, 2024 by Wayne L. Pilon

Who shall nourish the wretched of the earth? Who, when the naked night places its cold breath upon...

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Person in an IWW hoodie (unidentified) stands before a grave for fallen workers.

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Working Class History of Oshawa, Part I

Posted on April 26, 2024April 18, 2024 by Shea O'Connor

Photo credit Toronto General Membership Branch. The labor history of Oshawa has affected workers’ rights in the whole...

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A 12-panel comic titled "Pacey Pratt the Sabo Cat" Page 1, Panel 1: Four people are working in a printing shop. Someone off-panel says, "Listen up, workers. Great news!" On the left, a heavy-set white person with a moustache says, "Yeah right" and a dark-skinned short-haired person in the bottom right says, "Great for who?" Page 1, Panel 2: A large rodent wearing green suspenders and green shoes is labeled "The Boss." The Boss says, "I'm replacing the old printing presses with new digital printers-- these babies are so simple, one worker can run four at a time!" A worker with long dark hair says, "You mean..." Page 1, Panel 3: The dark-haired person says, "... we'll work four times harder and four times faster--" The bald person with the moustache says, "But will we get four times the pay?" Page 1, Panel 4: The Boss says, "In your dreams! I've got to pay off the bank loan for all this gear" while the employees look displeased. Page 1, Panel 5: Walking out of frame, The Boss says, "Let's hear printers humming!" The mustachioed worker says, "They found a new way to screw us-- next we'll be laid off!" The worker with long dark hair says, "We've got to do something." The dark-skinned short-haired person says, "We've got to stick together." Page 1, Panel 6: "You've got to be a union!" says someone in a black cat costume, riding a cart. The mustachioed worker says, 'It's Pacey Pratt!" and the dark-skinned short-haired worker says, "The Sabo Cat!" The worker with long dark hair says, "Pacey, the boss is using technology to speed us up!" The Sabo Cat says, "He'll find out that the workers control production-- let's think up an action to slow his roll." The bottom of the page says "X423931" and "Page one of two."

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Cartoon: Printing Pressed

Posted on August 19, 2024April 11, 2024 by X423931

Editors note: Today I'm excited to re-introduce an old Industrial Worker tradition: political cartoons! This series, called "Pacey...

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A green pyramid with text that says "understanding your workplace" on the bottom tier, followed by "building relationships," "practicing democracy," and "using collective power" in the very top narrow tier.

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Beware the Hot Shop

Posted on May 16, 2024April 4, 2024 by A Bellingham Wob

Graphic courtesy of Organizing.Work. Editor’s note: The following story was published in Seattle Worker on March 8th, 2023....

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Flint, Michigan. 1937. A sit-down strike at the GM plant. Photo by Sheldon Dick. Library of Congress.

Culture

Organizing the Unorganized: A Radical Introspective or a Top-Down View?

Posted on March 20, 2024March 20, 2024 by Roger Williams

Flint, Michigan. 1937. A sit-down strike at the GM plant. Photo by Sheldon Dick. Library of Congress. I...

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The Invisible Hand of the Class Struggle and The Myth of Spontaneity

Posted on August 19, 2024March 6, 2024 by Jean-Carl Elliott

Image by FW Fitz. There was a recent walkout at the restaurant where I work. I was off...