Biography of Big Bill Haywood, Socialist

           William “Big Bill” Haywood, laborer and socialist, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 4, 1869. During his childhood many tragedies occurred. His father died of pneumonia when Bill was only age three. Big Bill blinded his right eye at age 9 while whittling, the act of carving out wood (Ward). Following this tragic event, Big Bill chose to work in the mines rather than pursuing his educational career. Therefore, Big Bill received minuscule formal education. However, Big Bill would soon lead a life of radicalism and discovery.

            The year of 1886 revolutionized Big Bill’s views on life, rather his future. The infamous 1886 Hay market riots occurred, which were protests and uproars against a police attack on Union pickets at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in which workers were injured and killed. This sparked an interest in Big Bill to pursue a life of radicalism. As a result, Big Bill became a part of the American Labor Movement, a movement that promoted socialism and improved working conditions for the average American. In 1894, further protests in the American Labor Movement arose, such as the Pullman railroad strikes, which were protests against wage cuts in Illinois, furthermore induced Big Bill’s yearn for the labor movement.

            Later on, in 1896, while working on a silver mine in Idaho, Big Bill listened to a speech by Ed Boyce, President of the Western Federation of Miners. Resulting from this, Big Bill joined the Western Federation of Miners, and by 1900, was elected secretary-treasurer.

            When Boyce retired as president in 1902, he recommended Big Bill and Charles Mo-yer assume leadership of the rapidly growing organization. Mo-yer and Big Bill differed in decision making and personality. For example, Mo-yer was apprehensive and cautious as Big Bill was assertive and inclined toward radical altercation. Big Bill organized a rally about the time spent performing manual labor. The campaign for an eight-hour work day became one of Haywood’s principal causes. He would shout, “Eight hours of work, eight hours of play, eight hours of sleep– eight hours a day!”

            During Big Bill’s rise in the labor movement, he founded the Industrialist Workers of the World organization in 1905. The next year Big Bill was charged with plotting the murder of a former Idaho governor. The jury freed Big Bill, but businessmen and labor leaders would be anxious with Big Bill’s doings and intentions. In 1915, he became the formal head of the organization and helped to direct strikes from New Jersey to Washington State (William). 

            World War I brought much oppression to the IWW (Haywood 310). In 1917, the federal government arrested Big Bill and one hundred others and charged them with violating espionage and sedition acts for calling strikes during wartime (William). Big Bill was convicted and had ideas of fleeing the United States. When the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal in 1921, Big Bill fled to the Soviet Union, where he died in 1928.

            Big Bill left a strong legacy on the West. He led a predominant position in the American Labor Movement with his strikes, such as the “eight-hour work day” campaign. He was a social radical that helped shape the west. Big Bill once said, “Socialism is so plain, so clear, so simple that when a person becomes an intellectual he doesn’t understand socialism”. “No” was not a word in his vocabulary as he battled for what was right, even if violence would be involved. Big Bill battled adversity as a child and his inspirations led him to shape the Western Union with his views on social radicalism. If it wasn’t for Big Bill, events preceding WWI could have been furthered into the midst of WWI causing complications that would damage the United States. William “Big Bill” Haywood surely left his mark on the West, rather the whole world.