Fred W. Thompson
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Frederick Willard Thompson (5 June 1900 – 9 March 1987) was a Canadian-American labor organizer and historian. A member of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
(IWW) for 65 years, he was first elected to the General Executive Board in 1928. He served in various capacities for the organization, including as the General Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World from March 1936 to February 1937 and as editor of the IWW's primary newspaper, the ''
Industrial Worker The ''Industrial Worker'', "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism", is the magazine of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It is currently released quarterly. The publication is printed and edited by union labor, and is frequently ...
''. In a 1987 obituary published by
Labour/Le Travail ''Labour/Le Travail'' is an academic journal which publishes articles on the labour movement in Canada, sociology, labour economics, and employment relations. Although its focus is Canadian, the journal carries articles about the United States an ...
, scholar and poet
Franklin Rosemont Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009) was an American poet, artist, historian, street speaker, and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group. Over four decades, Franklin produced a body of work, of declarations, manifestos, poetry, collage, hidden hi ...
described Thompson as "the most influential Wobbly since the 1930s."


Early life

Born in 1900 in
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
to Frederick Sommerville Thompson and Florence Adelaide Olive, he was the youngest of seven children.


Labor organizing

He became interested in politics at an early age and was an organizer for the
Socialist Party of Canada The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the socialist newspaper ''Western Clarion''. History Establishment The founding of the Socialist Party of Canada bega ...
as a teenager during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He was then an iterant worker and traveled throughout Canada. In 1920, he joined the One Big Union, a syndicalist labor union while in
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
. In 1922, he moved to the west coast of the United States and joined the Industrial Workers of the World. He was arrested later that year in
Marysville, California Marysville is a city and the county seat of Yuba County, California, located in the Gold Country region of Northern California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 12,072, reflecting a decrease of 196 from the 12,268 counted ...
for distributing Wobbly literature. He spent five years in
San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
(1922–1927) alongside many other labor radicals. After leaving San Quentin, he organized workers in a number of industries throughout the midwestern United States. He was denied U.S. citizenship because of his politics but, after nearly two decades in court, he was granted citizenship in 1964.


Historian

Thompson was one of the first historians of the IWW. In 1955, he published The I. W. W., Its First Fifty Years, 1905-1955: The History of an Effort to Organize the Working Class. An updated version of the book was published in 1975. In the 1960s, Thompson was part of a group which re-established the
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company is an American publishing company. The company was established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886 as Charles H. Kerr & Co. by Charles Hope Kerr, originally to promote his Unitarian views. As Kerr's personal inte ...
. It had been one of the leading publishers of leftist books from its founding in 1886 until the 1930s but had declined during the middle of the century. He was a co-founder of the Illinois Labor Historical Society. His papers, which "reflect his involvement with the IWW and his interest in preserving its history," are held by the
Walter P. Reuther Library The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, located on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, contains millions of primary source documents related to the labor history of the United States, urban affai ...
at
Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in Detroit, Michigan.


Later life

Thompson was active in the Industrial Workers of the World until his death in 1987. He spoke about his experiences to numerous student groups across the U.S. and Canada. He is buried at Oakridge Cemetery in
Hillside, Illinois Hillside is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 8,320. Geography Hillside is located at (41.874797, −87.900372). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Hillside has a total ar ...
near
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. After his death, Kerr published ''Fellow Worker: The Life of Fred Thompson'' which is an autobiography compiled by historian
David Roediger David R. Roediger (born July 13, 1952) is the Foundation Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Kansas, where he has been since the fall of 2014. Previously, he was an American Kendrick C. Babcock Professor o ...
from Thompson's published writings and his recollections to the author.


Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Fred W 1900 births 1987 deaths Activists from Saint John, New Brunswick Canadian emigrants to the United States Inmates of San Quentin State Prison Activists from Chicago Industrial Workers of the World leaders Labor historians Socialist Party of Canada politicians One Big Union (Canada) members Trade unionists from New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Historians from Illinois