Haywood, William D

▪ American labour leader

byname  Big Bill Haywood  

born Feb. 4, 1869, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

died May 18, 1928, Moscow

      American radical who led the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or “Wobblies”) in the early decades of the 20th century.

      A miner at the age of 15, Haywood became active in the Western Federation of Miners and was elected its secretary treasurer. At the founding convention of the IWW in 1905, Haywood chaired the proceedings and subsequently led the initial IWW organizing efforts. His arrest and acquittal on a labour-related murder charge in 1906–07 propelled him into the national limelight, and he spent much of the next five years on a national speaking tour for the Socialist Party. Haywood and other IWW organizers lent their support to a number of strikes in the period from 1909 to 1913.

      In 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, Haywood was arrested in Chicago, along with scores of other IWW members, and convicted the following year on charges amounting to treason and sabotage. Released on bail during appeal procedures, Haywood in 1921 decided to jump bail and go to Russia. He was given an administrative post by the Russian revolutionary government, but his health steadily declined and he died in 1928. Bill Haywood's Book: The Autobiography of William D. Haywood was published in 1929.

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