was added. This is the great weapon of the new propaganda. After interminable discussion it was adopted by that powerful body in Paris, the "General Confederation of Labor." A few years after its formation in 1895, I again saw a sharp contest directed by that body under syndicalist leadership. This led me to gather the literature available at that time, of which some account will be given in other chapters. In 1903, I was asked by the late Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. Wright, to report to him confidentially upon the strike in Colorado of the Western Federation of Miners.
In the murky terrors of that miners' strike, the vehement and practical thing called I. W. W. had its birth. Grimy and hot, it rose there as from a sulphurous pit. It is insufficient testimony, but one of the more daring leaders in that strike assured me that not one of them ever heard of "Syndicalism" as for ten years it had been known in Europe. He said, "One or two of us knew that trade unions were called Syndicates in France, and that sabotage meant some sort of a row with the boss, in which labor got back at him with new tricks. It enabled the men to hold on to their jobs while the strike was still carried on 'at the point of production.'" Here they could quietly bring worse damage to the employer. The same informant has since assured me "The I. W. W. was hammered out in the fires of that conflict." So far as origins have value, the source of the Western Federation of Miners and its stormy history must have brief notice. The most rugged personality it has produced is that of William D. Haywood, who was amused
