Fellow Worker Dylan Hamilton Brooks passed on June 21, 2024. His passing came as a shock to all of us who knew him. He’d had a mystery illness for some time, which ultimately turned out to be bile duct cancer. He is survived by his wife and their two cats, Toby and Mojo.
Dylan came to the Pacific Northwest in late 2015, at the end of a road trip from out east with his partner at the time. An at large delegate during the trip, they stopped to give wobs advanced picket training wherever they could. Eventually they found Olympia amenable and laid down roots. Dylan was instrumental in re-founding the Olympia branch in 2016. He was a driving force in re-vitalizing the Olympia branch, especially in the early years.
Dylan took on many roles in the IWW, and was respected by many for staying steady amidst difficult times and controversy. He was Olympia’s Branch Secretary from 2016 to 2018, chair of the organizing committee, and a founding member of the Northwest Regional Coordinating Committee. In 2019, he accepted nomination for the General Executive Board (GEB) of the IWW and was elected Chair. His steady presence was appreciated by many during his time as Chair. He focused on what was good for the IWW rather than getting drawn into drama. After his time on the GEB, he returned to the Olympia branch and was serving as branch treasurer at the time of his passing.
Dylan was born and raised in the mountains of Virginia. The son of working people, and a worker himself, he learned first hand of the struggles we go through to survive in this world. In that struggle he found comfort by focusing on how we can keep fighting today for a better world tomorrow. He found a home in the IWW and was proud to fight alongside his fellow workers.
Sharing knowledge with fellow workers was important to Dylan. He taught a US labor history course as part of his work with the Workers Educating Workers Committee. His connection to the Pacific Northwest was forged during a road trip where he taught advanced picket training at branches he visited along the way.
Dylan also shared through writing and publishing. He was the first editor of “The Line,” the Olympia branch’s bi-monthly newsletter that started publication in 2018. He was also active in the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee prison letter writing and was involved in helping publish the work of Uhuru Rowe, a prisoner in the Virginia prison system. Works in Progress, a long time Oympia progressive newspaper, published a speech he made at a gathering in Sylvester Park to celebrate International Workers’ Day. In his speech, he reminded us all that though it may be hard to believe at times, “…we have the power to change the world. The power to control our own work.”
In the fighting there was also joy. Dylan met Becca, the love of his life, while organizing for International Workers’ Day. He was never happier than when they were together.
Dylan was a student of history and a voracious reader who read to gain a better understanding of how we got here. It wasn’t just the words in books that moved him to action, but the injustice of capitalism itself. He fought for a world better than this one. As Dylan said in his May Day speech, our power comes from our solidarity. Please work together and fight to make up for his untimely loss.
You can read Dylan’s obituary here, and his International Worker’s Day Speech is here.
This article originally ran in Seattle Worker on November 1, 2024 and has been published here with permission of the authors.
In the month of November we remember our fallen Fellow Workers. Rest in Power. If you would like to submit a remembrance, please email [email protected].