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Popular Culture Review
written during a period of social change in which the Wobblie legacy resonated.
In his preface to the abridged edition of this labor classic, Joseph A. McCartin
takes note of the cultural milieu, observing, “Dubofsky’s history of the IWW
appeared at just the moment when proponents of the New Left and the civil
rights and antiwar struggles, having suffered the disillusionment and defeats of
1968, began to cast about for models of an authentic American radicalism that
could sustain them over the long haul and rescue them from encroaching
despair. In Dubofsky’s IWW, they found joyful champions of what the New
Left called participatory democracy, ardent visionaries of what the civil rights
movement called the beloved community, and principled foes of what antiwar
activists dubbed the military-industrial complex. They also found radicals
undaunted by crushing defeats, men and women who had come to believe that
‘in the struggle itself lies the happiness of the fighter,’ as one IWW die-hard
once put it.”'^
While cultural protest was influencing the academic community in the
late 1960s, international cinema also reflected the spirit of rebellion flowing
through the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa as world
revolution appeared almost imminent. In 1970, Swedish filmmaker Bo
Widerberg released Joe Hill with Thommy Berggren in the title role and Wendy
Geier as Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the inspiration for Hill’s epic song “Rebel
Girl.” Widerberg’s film tells the story of Swedish immigrant Joseph Hillstrom,
who was bom Joel Hagglund in his native land, from his arrival in North
America in 1901 until his death in 1915. The film is clearly sympathetic to the
union organizer who understood the importance of music as a propaganda
weapon, and Widerberg does not accept Wallace Stegner’s premise that the
Wobblie martyr was guilty of murder. The film received generally favorable
reviews, but some critics, such as Joan Mellen in a piece for Film Quarterly,
took issue with the film’s conclusion. After Joe’s death, IWW leaders are
dividing up his ashes to send to every state as the martyr requested. This
activity, however, is interrupted by dancing in an adjoining room, and the union
men desert Hill’s remains to dance with younger women. The final shot of the
film is that of Joe’s abandoned ashes with Joan Baez singing “The Ballad of Joe
Hill” in the background. Mellen took issue with Widerberg’s suggestion that the
IWW betrayed Hill’s legacy. And certainly the heroic individual here is being
privileged at the expense of the mass movement.’"^
American film audiences in 1971 were also treated to Italian filmmaker
Giuliano Montaldo’s Sacco and Vanzetti. Although the film does not directly
deal with the IWW, it did attempt to recreate the oppression of the First Red
Scare and make connections with the political unrest of the 1960s. The Italian
anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti also shared the syndicalist philosophy espoused
by the Wobblies. Montaldo’s film strongly (too vehemently for some critics)
championed the innocence of Sacco and Vanzett i. It is within this cinematic
context that director Martin Scorsese released his first Hollywood film. Boxcar
Bertha (1971), loosely based upon IWW supporter Boxcar Bertha Thompson’s