According to legend, Utah Phillips recounted on one or more occasions that Judi Bari announced a workshop (in the “Earth First! Journal”) on the IWW to be held at the conference described in the article below not knowing that the IWW still existed in 1988 (as it does now). Several IWW members connected with Earth First! (including Utah Phillips) then contacted Judi Bari and informed her that the IWW was still functioning and they’d be interested in assisting in the workshop. Judi Bari accepted.
Darryl Cherney recalls this history differently. Prior to the joint IWW – Earth First! issue of the Industrial Worker, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney both recognized the cultural similarities between the IWW and Earth First!, and when Cherney came across the May 1988 issue of the Industrial Worker, he showed it to Judi. Judi then contacted the IWW and that was followed by the events described below.
According to Gary Cox, A musician friend of Utah Phillips, Dakota Sid Clifford, soon to join the IWW himself, brought him to this conference. After the workshop, at Gary Cox’s urging, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney joined the IWW (Billy Don Robinson initiated them) despite some initial trepidation about the IWW’s ability to organize timber workers. Little did anyone expect that these initial efforts would be far more successful than imagined.
- Wobs Conduct IWW Workshop at Environmental Conference - Author Unknown, Industrial Worker, October 1988.
- Wobblies & Environmentalists Take on Tree Nazis ... and Win! - by Lisa Loving, Industrial Worker, December 1988; reprinted from the Portland Alliance.
- Earth First! Meets the Wobblies - By Crawdad Nelson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, December 7, 1988.
- Northwest Wobs Call for Support to Keep L-P Mill Open - By Darryl Cherney, Industrial Worker, March 1989.
- An interview: Wobbly Bill Robinson - By Crawdad Nelson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, May 23, 1990.
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Last Updated - July 1, 2026.