Wobbly, Nos. 1-3 (complete run)
Berkeley: Berkeley General Recruiting Union, Industrial Workers of the World, 1962-63. A complete run of this short-lived, locally produced IWW magazine, issued by the Berkeley General Recruiting Union during an early-1960s revival of radical labor and anarchist activity in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although an accredited IWW branch publication, Wobbly expressly disclaimed status as an official organ of the union, explaining that it reflected IWW principles and policies but could not speak for the organization as a whole.
Produced from typewritten and hand-drawn stencils, the magazine combined labor history, political argument, fiction, humor, cartoons, and recollections of veteran Wobblies. Its crude mimeographed printing and pulp paper reflect the inexpensive, participatory print culture through which small radical groups communicated before the flourishing of the underground press later in the decade. Wobbly passed through three editors during its three-issue run: Dave Bromfield edited No. 1, Bill Rickhardt No. 2, and Richard Dennie “Dick” Ellington No. 3. In the final issue, Ellington—signing his editorial “RDE”—apologizes for the long delay since No. 2 and describes himself as the “third editor for three issues.” Subscriptions and correspondence were directed to Wobbly, care of Ellington, at 1941 Oregon Street in Berkeley. The rapid editorial succession, publication delay, and appeal for money and manuscripts reveal the limited resources that contributed to the magazine’s short life.
Contributors for issues one and two include Dave Bromfield, Bill Rickhardt, Chuck Doehrer, John Kendrick, Vince Hickey, Dick Ellington, Sam Weiner, and Ray Nelson addressing the state of the IWW, labor-party politics, war and Christianity, youth incarceration, workplace exploitation, and the revolutionary possibilities of everyday life. The third and final issue includes Zapata Modesto’s substantial “Joe Hill: Some Notes on an American Culture Hero,” “History Lesson” by Viny, “The Workers and the Wobblies” by Maurine Blanck, the speculative story “The Observers” by noted Wobbly artist Carlos Cortez, and “Freedom” by Ray Nelson. Artwork throughout the run—including contributions by Viny, Norm Taylor, Nelson, Dave Rike, and Pat Ellington—reinforces the journal’s distinctive mixture of labor militancy, countercultural imagination, and handmade mimeographed production.
Each issue consists of side-stapled pulp sheets (11" x 8 ½”) mimeographed in various colors, 22 pp.; 16 pp., 24 pp. illustrated. Fragile covers with slight chipping to two issues, foxing to the bottom edge of one cover, but a very good, well-preserved run of a notoriously fragile title. Item #15182
Price: $350.00