100 Years of Workers' Struggles
A Conference Commemorating the Centenary of the Founding of the Industrial
Workers of the World

June 25 - 26, 2005
Chicago, Illinois

DELEGATES FROM ACROSS THE United States and Canda gathered in Chicago in June
1905 to launch a new labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World. In
the years that followed, the IWW revolutionized the labor movement, organizing
workers who the traditoinal craft unions had written off and creating a form of
direct action, rank-and-file militant unionism that inspired workers around the
world even as it led terrified employers to unleash a savage wave of repression.

Today, while the mainstream labor movement seems headed to oblivion, workers are
reclaiming and reinventing earlier modes of struggle. Workers centers,
solidarity unionism, and the contemporary resurgence of the IWW demonstrate
that workers continue to resist exploitation, and to struggle for control over
their working lives.

We are commemorating the 100th aniversary of the founding of the IWW with a
two-day conference at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The first day of
this two-day conference will focus on how the IWW and its ideas have inspired,
and continue to inspire, a wide array of social movements; the second day will
focus on alternative forms of worker organizing as workers grapple with
globalization, contracting-out and other aspects of the new economy  in the
face of an increasingly hostile labor law regime.  There will also be
performances and exhibitions in conjunction with the conference.

We welcome proposals for presentations on specific aspects of these themes, for
panels, or for related presentations (video showings, workers' art, etc.).
Brief descriptions (approximately 150 words) of proposed presentations should
be submitted by April 1, 2005.  Proposals should be sent to: IWW Centenary, PO
Box 13476, Philadelphia PA 19101, or emailed to: centenary@iww.org.  Please be
sure to include a short description of each presenter with your proposal.

Sponsored by the Industrial Workers of the World and the Graduate History
Society at the University of Illinois at Chicago