The
International Brotherhood Welfare Association (I.B.W.A.) was a mutual
aid society for traveling workers (commonly referred to as “hoboes”)
which existed from 1905 to the early- to mid- 1920s.
It
was less radical and less numerous than the Industrial Workers of the
World (I.W.W.; the Wobblies), the largest union in America before the
rise of the American Federation of Labor (later the A.F.L.-C.I.O.). Although the I.B.W.A. was supportive of the I.W.W., they remained
separate, and the I.B.W.A. survived multiple failed attempts by the
I.W.W. to take it over.
In
1907, founder James Eads How, the “Millionaire Hobo”, told the
New York Times that he wanted to make hoboes “not only better
citizens, but better 'hoboes', and I want the public to appreciate
what the 'beat' is, what his rights are, and how he should be looked
upon.”
Centered
in the Midwest United States, the I.B.W.A. had a presence in about
twenty cities. I.B.W.A. centers, called “hobo colleges”, were
meeting places that offered hot meals, shelter, and education. These centers "graduated" hoboes.
Subjects
covered at these “colleges” ranged from philosophy to literature
to religion, with lectures given by street orators and academics
alike; as well as social science, industrial law, vagrancy laws,
public speaking, job searching, the eight-hour work-day, pensions,
unemployment, and disease awareness.
According
to sociologist Nels Anderson, the goals of the I.B.W.A. were to
“bring together the unorganized workers … co-operate with persons
and organizations who desire to better social conditions … utilize
unused land and machinery in order to provide work for the unemployed
… furnish medical, legal, and other aid to its members … organize
the unorganized and assist them in obtaining work at remunerative
wages and transportation when required … educate the public mind to
the right of collective ownership in production and distribution …
[and] bring about the scientific, industrial, intellectual, moral and
spiritual development of the masses”.
In
the interest of raising awareness of (and promoting solutions to)
homelessness – and in the interest of ameliorating the problems of
temporary homelessness, unemployment, income disparity, lack of
education, lack of marketable skills, and lack of knowledge about
legal rights on the job site – I would urge Portland
Rescue Mission, Transition Projects Inc., Right 2 Dream Too, and
other homeless charities to look into continuing to expand the
variety of the services which they provide, or at least to consult
with other local homeless charities which could be better equipped to
provide the space necessary to hold large events.
Imagine
homeless people gathered under one roof – not just to eat, sleep,
find housing and work opportunities, and to receive religious
ministry (as they do at the Portland Rescue Mission), and not only to
do laundry and to get lockers and IDs (as they do at Transition
Projects, Inc.) – but in order to do all
of the above,
in addition to learning
about how to survive in Portland, the local job scene, and local
social services.
Imagine professors of labor law, representatives from
unions such as the I.W.W. and the S.E.I.U. (Service Employees
International Union), labor rights advocacy organizations such as Portland Solidarity Network and local affiliates of O.S.H.A. (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), and staffing and consulting agencies and
members of green and sustainable business alliances, teaching homeless people about
workers' rights and how to get jobs in the area, and teaching them
marketable skills. Imagine professors of philosophy, literature,
theology, and law at Portland State University or Portland Community
College teaching homeless people such advanced knowledge.
Imagine Food Not Bombs coordinating with local food
banks to help homeless people find donated food around the city more
easily. Imagine an issue of Street Roots that contains a map and time
schedule of free meals, that anyone can go to simply by looking up
the day of the week and the time.
Lastly,
imagine putting the able-bodied homeless and unemployed back to work
restoring and beautifying the urban environment, by coordinating activity
between landscaping companies, staffing agencies, homeless charities,
green and sustainable business alliances, community land trusts, community gardening
groups, college urban farming apprenticeship programs, the Master Recycler Program, and groups for the elderly and veterans (such as retirement communities; fraternal orders and lodges; and local affiliates of A.A.R.P., the Veterans' Administration, and Veterans for Peace).
A
revived mutual aid society like the one I am proposing should promote
the idea of a “hobo” as a traveling worker,
and remind people that all working
people travel; hence the need for services like The Portland Loo
downtown, accessible to all people,
regardless of whether they're experiencing homelessness.
It
is essential to get people to realize that homelessness can happen to
them. Anyone can become homeless overnight, and from a distance it is
difficult to even tell the difference between the working poor and
the non-working poor. It is time for
charity organizations in Portland to set the national standard for
helping the poor; reviving the I.B.W.A., and improving coordination
across agencies that provide different types of services to the
homeless and poor.
The various homeless charities in Portland should give
homeless people the same opportunities that people in prison have:
the opportunity to learn marketable job skills, and even to earn a
degree. Billboards around the city urging an end to “petlessness”
and “plant homelessness” only contribute to distraction from (and
commercialization of) the homelessness issue, and to the public
perception of the homeless as animals and non-native invasive
species (which is apparent in the way pets and plants are advertised around the city).
For more information, please visit the following link and go to Section VI.:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2013/09/proposal-for-cooperative-party-of-oregon.html
See also the following links on the history of the I.B.W.A.:
Video about history of Reitman, How, I.B.W.A., hobo colleges, College of Complexes:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyeYMGXZPUwBen Reitman:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Reitman http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-ben-reitman-1879-1942/http://jwa.org/womenofvalor/goldman/love-sexuality/ben-reitman James Eads How, "the millionaire hobo":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Eads_How http://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/6989585889http://www.silogic.com/peden/James%20Eads%20How.html http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/589223http://www.thevalueofarchitecture.com/blog/history-james-eads-rudolph-schindler-house/I.B.W.A.:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Brotherhood_Welfare_Association#Hobo_colleges College of Complexes founder Slim Brundage:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Brundage
Written and Published on June 10th, 2014
Links Added on June 11th, 2019
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