 First Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World

When Bill Haywood used a board to gavel to order the first convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), he announced, "this is the Continental Congress of the working class.We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class..."

The first step towards the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World had already been taken in the fall of 1904 in an informal conference of six leaders in the socialist and labor movement