(IWW), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America
. During the first two decades of the 20th century, he was involved in several important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars
, the Lawrence textile strike
, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts
and New Jersey
.
Haywood was an advocate of industrial unionism
, a labor philosophy that favors organizing all workers in an industry under one union, regardless of the specific trade or skill level; this was in contrast to the craft unions that were prevalent at the time, such as the AFL
.
If one man has a dollar he didn't work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn't get.Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 146.
A liberal is someone who leaves the room when a fight breaks out.
Socialism is so plain, so clear, and so simple that when a person becomes an intellectual he doesn't understand socialism.
[Christianity] was all nonsense, based on that profane compilation of fables called the Bible.
The bandage will remain on the eyes of Justice as long as the Capitalist has the cut, shuffle, and deal.Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 146.
Eight hours of work, eight hours of play, eight hours of sleep - eight hours a day! (From the Haymarket era eight hour campaign)
The mine owners "did not find the gold, they did not mine the gold, they did not mill the gold, but by some weird alchemy all the gold belonged to them!"Haywood, William D. The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood. New York: International Publishers, 1929, p. 171.