Industrial Workers of World CANDIAN LUMBER wobbly pin

The Centralia Massacre was a violent and bloody incident that occurred in the town of Centralia, Washington, on November 11, 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day. This conflict between the American Legion and workers who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) — also called the "Wobblies" — labor union, resulted in six deaths, additional wounded, multiple prison terms, and an ongoing and especially bitter dispute over the motivations, timeline, and the events that precipitated the massacre. The subsequent ramifications of this event included: a trial that attracted national media attention; notoriety that contributed to the red scare of the late teens and 1920’s; creation of a powerful martyr for the IWW; a monument to one side of the battle and a mural for the other; a formal tribute to the fallen Legionnaires by President Warren G. Harding [1] and a deep-rooted enmity between the local American Legion and the Wobblies that persists to this day.

The IWW in Canada
The IWW was active in Canada from a very early point in the organization's history, especially in Western Canada, primarily in British Columbia. The union was active in organizing large swaths of the lumber and mining industry along the coast of BC, and Vancouver Island. The wobblies also had relatively close links with the Socialist Party of Canada.[23] Arthur "Slim" Evans, organizer in the Relief Camp Workers' Union and the On-to-Ottawa Trek was a wobbly. Today the IWW remains active in the country with numerous branches active in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto. The largest branch is currently in Edmonton. Wobbly (Sometimes shortened to "Wob") : A nickname of unknown origin for a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Many believe "wobbly" refers to a tool known as a "wobble saw." One often repeated anecdote has it that a sympathetic Chinese restaurant owner in Vancouver would extend credit to IWW members and, unable to pronounce the "W", would ask if they were a member of the "I Wobble Wobble."[6] Another explanation is that the term was first used pejoratively by San Francisco Socialists around 1913 and adopted by IWWs as a badge of honor.[7] In any case, the nickname has existed since the union's early days and is still used today.

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