He never calls them by name, John Steinbeck immortalizes the Wobblies in The
Grapes of Wrath. The novel is about the life of the Joad family. The Joads have lost
their farm during the Depression, the family has come to California seeking work.
There is no permanent work for anyone, moreover, the money earned by picking
crops is not enough to feed the family.
Union organizers have talked to the workers about organizing and striking.
Tom, the oldest Joad son, has listened to them, however, he has not yet joined them.
Tom is in hiding because he has accidentally killed a man in a fight. He spends all
his daylight hours alone, he has lots of time to think about his family’s situation.
Tom becomes convinced that life is unfair for his people, he decides to leave the family, find the union men, and work with them.
He is inarticulate when he tries to explain to Ma what he hopes to do he gropes
for words to express his frustration and his hope. Ma asks him how she will know
about him, she worries that he might get killed and she would not know. Tom’s reassurances are almost mystical: “Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat,
I’ll be there an’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they
build, I’ll be there.”
If Tom had had a copy of the Wobblies’ “little red song book,” he could have
found less mystical words. Every copy of the book contained the Wobblies’
Preamble, the first sentence in the Preamble was unmistakably clear “The working
class and the employing class have nothing in common.” Tom would have understood those words he would have believed them too.
