In 1905, representatives from dozens of radical labor groups came together in Chicago to form One Big Union—the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), known as the Wobblies. The union was a big presence in the labor movement, leading strikes, walkouts, and rallies across the nation. And everywhere its members went, they sang. Their songs were sung in mining camps and textile mills, hobo jungles and flop houses, and anywhere workers might be recruited to the Wobblies’ cause. The songs were published in a pocketsize tome called the Little Red Songbook, which was so successful that it’s been published continuously since 1909. In The Big Red Songbook, the editors have gathered songs from over three dozen editions, plus additional songs, rare artwork, personal recollections, discographies, and more into one big all-embracing book. IWW poets/composers strove to nurture revolutionary consciousness. Each piece, whether topical, hortatory, elegiac, or comic served to educate, agitate, and emancipate workers. A handful of Wobbly numbers have become classics, still sung by labor groups and folk singers. They include Joe Hill’s sardonic “The Preacher and the Slave” (sometimes known by its famous phrase “Pie in the Sky”) and Ralph Chaplin’s “Solidarity Forever.” Songs lost or found, sacred or irreverent, touted or neglected, serious or zany, singable or not, are here. The Wobblies and their friends have been singing for a century. May this comprehensive gathering simultaneously celebrate past battles and chart future goals. In addition to the 250+ songs, writings are included from Archie Green, Franklin Rosemont, David Roediger, Salvatore Salerno, Judy Branfman, Richard Brazier, James Connell, Carlos Cortez, Bill Friedland, Virginia Martin, Harry McClintock, Fred Thompson, Adam Machado, and many more.

Big Bill Haywood was one of the most inspirational leaders of the revolutionary IWW. With an introduction by John Newsinger that captures Haywood's extraordinary life and turbulent times, this book collects together most of Haywood's articles for the revolutionary International Socialist Review. Written between 1910 and 1917, the articles cover struggles in not only in the US and but also in Europe - notably the 1911 South Wales miners' strike and the 1913 Dublin Lockout. They form an inspiration for the struggle today and to come.

In the early 20th century, immigration, labor unrest, social reforms and government regulations threatened the power of the country's largest employers. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, New Hampshire, remained successful by controlling its workforce, the local media, and local and state government. When a 1912 strike in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts, threatened to bring the Industrial Workers of the World union to Manchester, the company sought to reassert its influence. Amoskeag worked to promote company pride and to Americanize its many foreign-born workers through benevolence programs, including a baseball club. Textile Field, the most advanced stadium in New England outside of Boston when it was built in 1913, was the centerpiece of this effort. Results were mixed--the company found itself at odds with social movements and new media outlets, and Textile Field became a magnet for conflict with all of professional baseball.

William D "Big Bill" Haywood was one of the most colorful figures in American labor history. While working in an Idaho silver mine as a young man, he joined the Western Federation of Miners, and quickly became a member of its Executive Board and then its Secretary-Treasurer. Haywood preached a militant brand of unionism which advocated the overthrow of capitalism by a mass general strike and the use of sabotage. In 1905, a former Governor of Idaho was killed by a bomb; Haywood and two other WFM leaders were tried and acquitted of planning the murder. In 1905, Haywood was a founding member of the revolutionary labor union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW--the "Wobblies") and soon became its Secretary-Treasurer and best-known member. In 1917, 165 IWW members, including Haywood, were arrested and charged with violating the Sedition and Espionage Acts by opposing the First World War. Sentenced to 20 years in jail, Haywood skipped bail and fled the country in 1921.

Marxism and the USA by Alan Woods was the first title produced by Wellred USA. The book was written at a time when George W. Bush was president, a time when many around the world – including many on the left – considered the U.S. to be one reactionary bloc, devoid of class struggle or revolutionary potential. Woods' aim was to dispel these misconceptions, draw on the marvelous traditions of struggle throughout U.S. history, and inspire those new to the ideas of Marxism to learn more – and get involved. Providing one example after another, he showed how the ideas of socialism and communism are not recent, "foreign" importations, but have deep roots in the American tradition itself. He also debunks many of the common misconceptions Americans have about socialism, taking up the question of socialism and religion, freedom vs. dictatorship, an explanation of what happened in the Soviet Union and more. Today there is an immense polarization of wealth in the U.S. between the extremely rich and the extremely poor. The years of boom have come to an end. In spite of its immense power, U.S. capitalism has entered a phase of terminal decline along with the rest of the world. This is reflected in the questioning by many ordinary working Americans of the society they live in. The ideas of Marxism can explain why society finds itself in this impasse and also offer a way out to American workers and youth. The American people and above all the American working class have a great revolutionary tradition. On the basis of great historical events they are destined to rediscover these traditions and to stand once more in the front line of the revolution as they did in 1776 and 1861. The future of the entire world ultimately depends on this perspective. And although today it may seem very far off, it is not so incredible as one might think. Marxism and the USA will serve as an introduction to the rich revolutionary history of the United States. The expanded second edition includes appendices on the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike, the early history of the Socialist Party, Shays's Rebellion, and Engels on the need for a labor party.