WOBBLY HISTORY

An obituary written by Charles Velsek of John Neufeld, an IWW member of almost 50 years. Originally appeared in the Industrial Worker (June 1971).

John Neufeld, a member of the IWW, passed away in Chicago in April after ailing for several years. He was born in Canada and reared as a Mennonite. During his youth he became aware of social and ecnomic conditions that he seemed to think needed changing.

Neufeld was first a member of the One Big Union of Canada. In 1923 he came to the United States and also joined the IWW. He belonged to both unions for a while, but decided that as we would remain in the US he would be active in the IWW.

In 1926 he became secretary of the GRU [1] branch in Minneapolis and helped maintain a hall on the West Side until the Colorado coal-mine campaign began to bear fruit in 1927. By then he became a GOC [2] member of the GRU and went to Colorado to lend a hand. He remained there until the strike was settled.

During the Depression he was active in the Industrial Workers Unemployed Union of Chicago, and he remained active in that group until it dissolved. He held continuous membership in the IWW from 1923 until his passing. He will be missed.

C. Velsek

Transcribed by Juan Conatz

Transcriber’s Footnotes

[1] General Recruiting Union
[2] General Organizing Committee