Question

What does the iww's experience reveal about the status of civil liberties in early twentieth-century america?

Answer 1

The court rulings that came to define free speech as we know it were primarily handed down in the mid to later part of the 20th century by a much more activist, liberal leaning court. 

Answer 2

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW by its acronym in English) is a Union that fought for labor democracy and worker self-management. The experience of the IWW reveals that the population was not satisfied with the policies that clearly affected civil liberties in the early twentieth-century.

The workers considered that their rights were not respected and that they were unfairly exploited. They complained about precarious salaries that did not allow them to meet their basic needs. The working conditions were very worrisome and degrading. The purpose was to promote workers' solidarity, integrate as many workers as possible into the union, abolish the salary system and organize together as a social class. One of the most important characteristics of this union is that it included all workers without distinction: women, immigrants and African Americans.

The IWW attracted the general attention of the population during the strike of the Pressed Steel Car Company in 1909. The union sought to apply total freedom of expression.

Union members were victims of repression, enforced disappearance, murder, and judicial harassment.