Industrial Worker on Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture
For Industrial Worker, Tamara L. Smith talks about Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture, a PM Press and Charles H. Kerr Library publication based on Franklin Rosemont’s history of Joe Hill, originally published by Charles H. Kerr in 2003:
“Industrial Worker: Can you tell us a little about Franklin Rosemont?
Tamara L. Smith: Franklin was a surrealist poet and painter, as well as a labor historian. He and his spouse Penelope and others co-founded the Chicago Surrealist Group in 1966. His interest in labor probably originated with his parents, who were both union members. His mother was a jazz musician, and his father was a member of Chicago Typographical Union No. 16 — which happened to be the same shop as that of Albert Parsons, whose spouse Lucy helped found the IWW.
Because of his surrealist outlook, Franklin loved pointing out those kinds of connections, something he does throughout the book. Franklin was likely drawn to Hill because they shared a passion for revolutionary labor organizing. Franklin was a member of the IWW all of his adult life.
Hill had been a figure in Franklin’s consciousness long before he wrote the book. Writing it entailed a process of bringing together a lot of information Franklin had amassed about Hill over many years and doing extensive research to fill in gaps of knowledge, where possible.”