Founded by radical Finnish immigrant miners in 1921, the Work People’s College trained hundreds of workers on tactics of the class struggle until its closure in 1941, nourishing a tradition of working class radicalism in the Upper Midwest of the United States that lives on today.

In 2006, the Twin Cities IWW began reviving the Work People’s College with a series of workshops, one-day educationals, and presentations. In summer 2012, we brought over 100 IWW members from across North America to a six-day intensive training at Mesaba Co-op Park designed to give a new generation of leaders in the IWW all the tools they need to build union branches, and fight and win the next battles of the class struggle. This year, the revival of the Work People’s College will not only continue with another cohort of Wobblies from all over the continent, but also expand to Europe. Over 100 European Wobblies will come together at Tagungshaus Wernsdorf, a former German Democratic Republic retreat center, for intensive training on all the skills needed to build a global, revolutionary workers movement.