How Western Washington history explains the rise of hate groups hcn.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hcn.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On November 11, 1919, tensions came to a head between members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) known as the Wobblies and members of the American Legion in Centralia, Washington, at the first Armistice Day parade after World War I. The conflict between the two groups was deep-seated. The American Legion had been chartered as a patriotic veteran’s organization just after the war. Meanwhile, the IWW had opposed U.S. participation; it was the only American labor organization to do so. A fatal confrontation between the two parties began when, as documented in the IWW’s The Centralia Case: A Chronological Digest, “an armed mob charged on the [Wobblies’] union hall from the rear rank of the Armistice Parade.” Legionnaires Warren Grimm, Arthur McElfresh, and Ben Casagranda were killed in the initial blow between the Legionnaires and the Wobblies.