Today, 1913, 4000 Philadelphia longshoreman, demanding a 35-cent hourly wage for all, a ten-hour maximum workday, extra pay for night work, Sundays and public holidays, went on strike. During the strike, the workers, led by Ben Fletcher, an African American, joined the Wobblies who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a revolutionary union deeply committed to racial equality and socialism. Fletcher's top priority was for workers to overcome their bosses' divide and rule strategy. With a disunited workforce, Fletcher believed working class solidarity would be impossible.

By 1916 all but two of Philadelphia's docks were under IWW control. By 1917 dock workers were receiving .65 cents/hr. against the bosses' preference of 25 cents.
Fletcher paid the price for his activism. Targeted by the federal government, he and other IWW leaders were convicted of treason because of the union’s anti-war stance in WW l.

Though no evidence was brought against him specifically, Fletcher was sentenced to ten years in a federal penitentiary and a $30,000 fine. As the judge announced the sentences, Wobbly leader “Big” Bill Haywood reported, “Fletcher sidled over to me and said: ‘The Judge has been using very ungrammatical language.’ I looked at his smiling black face and asked: ‘How’s that, Ben? He said: ‘His sentences are much too long.'”

Fletcher served three years in federal prison, but his sentence was commuted in 1922. Fletcher’s release became a celebrated cause among black radicals, championed by The Messenger, co-edited by A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen. Afterwards,

Fletcher remained committed to IWW ideals, though never again played an active role in the union. Below, image of Fletcher and a book written on his life by historian Peter Cole.