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Call for Submissions: ‘Workers of the World Unite!’

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are seeking submissions for our new publication: Wobbly Times. The theme of the first issue is ‘Workers of the World Unite!’. The Editorial Circle for Wobbly Times welcomes submissions that engage with the theme. We would like essays, articles, opinion pieces, poems, short stories, drawings and other artwork on the theme of ‘Workers of the World Unite!’.

Since its founding in 1905, the IWW has set out to build ‘One Big Union’ that unites workers within each employment sector, (i.e. each Industry), and across all employment sectors. As a Union we have engaged in workplace struggles for better wages and conditions, but our ultimate aim has been a revolutionary one, the abolition of the wage system itself. Contributors to the first issue may wish to critically reflect on attempts to create ‘One Big Union’ and attempts to abolish the wage system, in recent years and throughout history. Some of the questions contributors may want to engage with are: how can workers’ unity best be achieved today, in a context where smaller workplaces and a more diverse and fragmented workforce is increasingly the norm in Europe and North America? What organisational forms are required to achieve workers’ unity in the twenty-first century? What philosophical principles are required to achieve the abolition of the wage system in the twenty-first century? How do we make creative use of the tensions between Industrial organising (IUs) and local organising (Regional and Branch)?

Although the IWW was founded in the United States of America, it was deliberately named the Industrial Workers of the World, not the Industrial Workers of America. From its origins the IWW has had aspirations to be an international union and the international appeal of the IWW as a form of Union organisation can be seen in the spread of the Union to countries all over the globe. Contributors to the first issue may wish to reflect on the international dimensions of workers’ struggles. Questions that contributors may wish to consider include: how do we best provide international solidarity for workers’ struggles across the globe? What forms of worker solidarity with Palestinians has the IWW engaged in since the beginning of the war on Gaza, and/or historically? What does membership of the International Confederation of Labour-Confederación International del Trabajo (ICL-CIT) involve?

We are living through times of significant social divisions between workers all over the world. Nativist sentiment is driving anti-immigrant protests in many countries around the world. Far-right parties are enjoying levels of electoral support not seen since the 1970s, or in some places not seen since the 1930s. A majority of workers reject the anti-immigrant, transphobic, misogynist, war-mongering, nationalistic rhetoric and policies of these far-right parties. A concerning number of workers, however, are being drawn towards these anti-working-class ideas and the organisations that spout them. The Editorial Circle would like to hear from workers who want to write something about what ‘Workers of the World Unite!’ means in this context. Questions you might want to engage with include: What, if any implications, does the rise of nativist activity have for workplace organising? How should workers organise to oppose these divisive sentiments?

The IWW is sometimes described as an anarchist Union. The founding members of the IWW, and many of its members over the years, however, have included not just anarchists but also Marxists and other socialists. The IWW is sometimes described as a syndicalist Union, (and sometimes as anarcho-syndicalist), but some of the founding members of the IWW were involved in electoral politics. Is the IWW a form of organisation that can unite revolutionary workers across these different, sometimes rival, traditions? Or, is the IWW inherently anarchist and/or syndicalist? If the IWW is inherently anarchist and/or syndicalist, what are the implications of this for workers’ unity?

One of the reasons the IWW are trying to unite workers is to bring about the abolition of the wage system. But it is worth asking, what happens after that? And does how we organise now have implications for a post-capitalist society? What does workers’ control of production mean in a post-capitalist society, and do we need to bear that in mind when thinking about how we organise now?

The suggestions above are not meant to be prescriptive. They are offered as a stimulus to thinking. The Editorial Circle are open to any submissions that engage with the theme of “Workers of the World Unite!”.

Deadline for Submissions: May 30, 2025

If you are interested in contributing to the thematic issue ‘Workers of the World Unite!’ (on the writing or production side), please contact the IWW Literature Committee at: literature@iww.org.uk or wobblytimes@riseup.net

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Notes for Contributors

Notes for Contributors

Wobbly Times is published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). We publish Wobbly Times as part of our goal of abolishing the wage system and taking control of production into the hands of the direct producers, the workers.

Who can write for Wobbly Times?

The pages of Wobbly Times are open to contributions from IWW members and to non-members who share our goal of abolishing the wage system. In order to abolish the wage system, we aim to build world-wide working-class solidarity. As such, we welcome contributions from anywhere in the world. As part of our aim of building world-wide working-class solidarity, we are opposed to bigotry, discrimination and hierarchical domination. We will not publish materials that condone or promote racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, religious hatred, discrimination against Deafness or neurodivergence, ableism, agesim, or any other forms of bigotry or discrimination that serve to divide the global working-class.

The IWW believe that the liberation of workers from the wage system is part of the historic mission of the working-class. We believe that this liberation of the working-class must be done through their own actions; it is not a gift of labour ‘leaders’. As Eugene V. Debs, one of the founders of the IWW, put it: “Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage… I would not lead you out if I could; for if you could be led out, you could be led back again”. As such, we will not publish materials that advocate for organisations, leaders or representatives to lead workers to freedom. Wobbly Times aims to provide a platform for working-class expression. No previous experience of writing or publishing is required. As part of the IWW’s commitment to worker education, the
editorial committee will arrange workshops, for IWW members, to assist potential contributors to work up their ideas into a publishable form.

What does the IWW publish in Wobbly Times?

Wobbly Times is open to visual and text-based materials. We are open to publishing creative works, theoretical articles, debates and discussions, archival materials – anything which assists in the self-development of workers as class conscious activists in the struggle against capitalism.

Who can be in the editorial circles?

Contributing non-members are welcome to be part of the editorial circles and workshops. The final selection of journal content and oversight of editorial circles will be undertaken by a committee open to any and all IWW members.

Format guidelines

1.) Please submit in .txt, .word, format to literature@iww.org.uk, wobblytimes@riseup.net or use weTransfer. NOT PDF!
2.) work will not remunerated.
3.) Submitted work does not have to be exclusively published in this journal. You can publish it elsewhere, or have published it elsewhere already.
4.) Please ensure that you have the rights, correct referencing, for content used in your submission. Our editors can help make sure that they are all correct, but we need specific information such as… ‘please credit images, texts, excerpts, screenshots… to the copyright holders and check for creative commons rights’, ‘share websites with date accessed and web address’, ‘share excerpts with author, title, ISBN, publisher, location, and publication date’.
5.) Word Length:
(longer pieces may be considered for serialisation)
Short reports and updates (up to 1500 words)
Short Articles (1000 to 3000 words)
Deep-dive articles (up to 10,000 words)
Short stories and creative writing (up to 5,000 words)
Reviews (up to 3000 words)
Flash fiction ( up to 1000 words)