Special thanks to DJ Alperovitz and the I.W.W. Materials Preservation Project for sending me the earliest example of a stickerette from 1906 and for the advertisements from the I.W.W. newspapers Solidarity and Industrial Worker (primarily 1910-1917 with some later ads done in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1990s). The other newspaper articles reported on Ralph Chaplin, who designed many of the first stickerettes, and the over 100 I.W.W. members who were arrested by the U.S. government in September 1917 for alleged acts of sabotage under the Espionage Act of 1917. Ralph Chaplin edited Solidarity from March 10 through September 6, 1917, according to the Sacramento Bee, December 17, 1918. Bryan Alft kindly donated the May 1937 advertisements from The One Big Union Monthly.
Globe Miners’ Union No. 60, 1906
“Wise ‘Em Up,” Industrial Worker, July 2, 1910
“Order These Stickers,” Solidarity, July 9, 1910
“Stickers! Paste ‘Em!” Industrial Worker, July 2, 1910
“Help Wanted,” Solidarity, April 22, 1911
“Suggestions For Stickers,” Solidarity, May 6, 1911
“Eight Hour Stickers,” Solidarity, June 10, 1911
“Methods of Agitation,” James P. Thompson Report – Lawrence Textile Strike,” Solidarity, October 10, 1912
“Young Man, Don’t Be a Soldier – Be a Man,” Solidarity, November 8, 1913
“One Half Million Stickerettes,” Solidarity, November 18, 1915
“Stickerettes,” Solidarity, November 27, 1915
First four designs from the 1915 advertisement.
“Stickerettes,” Solidarity, December 25, 1915
“Stickerettes,” Solidarity, January 22 and 29, 1916
“New Railroad Workers Stickers,” Solidarity, March 4, 1916
“Railroad Workers Local 600 – One Big Union Gets the Goods,” Solidarity, May 6, 1916
“Stick ‘Em Up,” Solidarity, September 9, 1916
“Stickerettes – Fifteen Designs,” Solidarity, March 10, 1917
Eleven additional designs from the first fifteen stickerettes.
“All Together Now – Stickerette Day,” Solidarity, April 14, 1917
“Stick ‘Em Up,” Solidarity, April 14, 1917
“Last Call,” Solidarity, April 21, 1917
“Stick ‘Em Up,” Solidarity, April 28, 1917
“I.W.W.’s Come to Helena and Lose Literature,” Independent-Record, June 19, 1917
“Stickerettes,” Solidarity, June 30, 1917
“Enlist,” Solidarity, July 7, 1917
“Stickerettes – Stick ‘Em Up,” Solidarity, July 21, 1917
“I.W.W. Spreading Its Propaganda in City,” Indianapolis News, September 25, 1917
Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1918
Tampa Tribune, May 4, 1918
Marysville Journal, May 4, 1918
“I.W.W. Advocated Sabotage in Pasters in 9 Different Tongues,” New York Tribune, May 4, 1918
“I.W.W. Trails Proceeding in Windy City,” Modesto Evening News, May 6, 1918
Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1918
“I.W.W. Beaten in Two Attempts to Rule Out Evidence,” New York Tribune, May 7, 1918
“The I.W.W. on Trial,” The Outlook, July 6, 1918
“Sabotage Wanton Destruction of Property, Nothing More,” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, December 14, 1919
“An I.W.W. Slogan,” Star Tribune, December 28, 1919
“Spread the Stickers,” Solidarity, September 18, 1920
“It Pays to Advertise,” Industrial Solidarity, January 26, 1927
“Stick ‘Em Up! Use These Stickers for Agitating,” Industrial Solidarity, April 7, 1931
“4 Hour Day Week,” Industrial Worker, January 3, 1933
“4 Hour Day Week,” Industrial Worker, January 10, 1933
The One Big Union Monthly, May 1937
The One Big Union Monthly, May 1937
“Design a Sticker for IW,” Industrial Worker, March 1992
“IW Sticker Design Opinion Poll,” Industrial Worker, September 1992
“IW Sticker 1st Choice,” Industrial Worker, December 1992