Episode 488: In The Seats With...Deborah Shaffer, Stewart Bird and 'The Wobblies'

The stories of the struggles of the working classes always seem to ring true, no matter when the story was told....On this episode we are taking a blast from the past as we take a look at a documentary that was recently restored by the Museum of Modern Art and is just as relevant now as it was back in 1979 when it came out.  Streaming now on the OVID streaming service it's 'The Wobblies'.“Solidarity! All for One and One for All!”Founded in Chicago in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) took to organizing unskilled workers into one big union and changed the course of American history. This compelling documentary of the IWW (or “The Wobblies” as they were known) tells the story of workers in factories, sawmills, wheat fields, forests, mines and on the docks as they organize and demand better wages, healthcare, overtime pay and safer working conditions. In some respects, men and women, Black and white, skilled and unskilled workers joining a union and speaking their minds seems so long ago, but in other ways, the film mirrors today’s headlines, depicting a nation torn by corporate greed.Filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird weave history, archival film footage, interviews with former workers (now in their 80s and 90s), cartoons, original art, and classic Wobbly songs (many written by Joe Hill) to pay tribute to the legacy of these rebels who paved the way and risked their lives for the many of the rights that we still have today.Recently restored and inducted into the National Film Registry, this is a piece of cinema that stands the test of time and is a relevant today as it ever was.  We had to unique pleasure of sitting down with the directors of the film Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird to talk about the origins of the film, why it is so relevant today and everything else in-between.'The Wobblies' is available now on the OVID Streaming Service.