The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and sometimes referred to as the “wobblies,” is a labor organization that formed in 1905. As a matter of fact, certain Starbucks shops are affiliated with it. The IWW had an image problem in its early years. Some considered it radical in its thinking for the time. Others considered it a communist organization. It gained notoriety for its strikes that were marred with violence.
The biggest problem IWW faced in Lassen County was that all three big lumber companies paid the prevailing wage, if not above, and provided better housing than found in other regions on the west coast. The employees had few grievances, so there was no incentive to be a part of the labor movement. It was because of these conditions that Lassen County sawmills remained union free during the 1920s.
In the 1930s witnessed Franklin Roosevelt’s economic recovery program for the nation, which brought about with it a whole new terminology. It could actually be called alphabet soup, with such acronyms as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the Works Projects Administration (WPA). In Margaret “Peg” Woodrich’s small booklet about the history of the Madeline Plains, she added the whimsical non-existent program Information, Wind and Water (IWW).