An injury to one is an injury to all

An injury to one is an injury to all is a motto popularly used by the Industrial Workers of the World. In his autobiography, Bill Haywood credited David C. Coates with suggesting a labor slogan for the IWW: an injury to one is an injury to all.[1] The slogan has since been used by a number of labor organizations. The slogan reflects the fact that the IWW is "One Big Union" and organizes skilled and unskilled workers. Despite the reduced number of organized workers today, the slogan is still popular with labor unions and other organizations.

Marching demonstrators displaying the motto.

Origin

The expression is similar to, and may be derived from, a slogan popularized in the prior quarter century by the Knights of Labor, "that is the best government in which an injury to one is the concern of all".[2]

See also

References
  1. William Dudley Haywood,The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood, 1929, pp. 186.
  2. Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, 1884, pages 68–71.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.