Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), U.S. labor organization, founded in 1905 by revolutionary socialists to radicalize the labor movement. It reached its greatest influence 1912–17, and at its peak it had almost 100,000 members. Unlike the American Federation of Labor (AFL), it aimed not at improving labor conditions but at revolution. It lost support by attempting to exploit World War I; its strikes were considered treasonable. IWW leaders were imprisoned and the movement almost wholly suppressed.

See also: Labor movement.