Note 79 — Chapter II · The Birth of the Organization[78] (1905)

The three letters, I. W. W., have lent themselves to various picturesque and derisive translations: "I Won't Work," "I Want Whiskey," "International Wonder Workers," "Irresponsible Wholesale Wreckers," etc. "The Wobblies" is a nickname by which they are quite commonly known, especially in the West. It is said that the I. W. W.'s were so christened by Harrison Grey Otis, the editor of the Los Angeles Times. And now, in 1917, Senator H. F. Ashurst, of Arizona, declares that "I. W. W. means simply, solely and only, Imperial Wilhelm's Warriors." (Congr. Record, Aug. 17, 1917, vol. lv, p. 6104).