About

The IWW Hungarian Literature Fund is an independent body founded to support the publication and distribution of IWW and other labor literature. We are funded by contributions from long-time Wobblies, the funds remaining after Bermunkas ceased publication, and proceeds from the publications we assist — in particular, the annual labor history calendar we have sponsored since 1985.

When the Hungarian-language Wobbly newspaper Bermunkas ceased publication in 1956, much of the remaining funds were set aside in a special fund to cover the expenses of publishing a translation of the history of the Industrial Workers of the World in Hungarian. The project was just getting underway when the translator died. It was then decided that the money be kept in an independent fund to publish works promoting Wobbly ideas. The committee administering the fund was comprised of long-time IWW members, who in 1984 turned to a new generation of Wobblies to revitalize the Fund.

Since then, the Hungarian Literature Fund trustees has been used to finance the publication of several labor publications on a revolving fund basis, as well as for modest grants for select labor history and union organizing projects. Among the projects we have supported are the annual Solidarity Forever labor history calendars, the 36th edition of the IWW’s Little Red Songbook, the Canadian IWW Songbook, publication of Charles H. Kerr’s edition of Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, production of a slideshow by the Chicago Women’s Labor History Group, a graphic history of the life of James Connolly, and the second edition of Sam Dolgoff’s The American Labor Movement: A New Beginning.

The Fund is launching a pamphlet series, continues publication of our Solidarity Forever labor history calendar, and welcomes proposals for HLF support of worthy projects.

The Fund can be contacted at iwwhlf@gmail.com or at IWW Hungarian Literature Fund, PO Box 42531, Philadelphia PA 19101 USA.