born Feb. 4, 1869, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
died May 18, 1928, Moscow, Russia
U.S. labour leader.
A miner from the age of 15, he chaired the founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905 and led its organizing efforts. In 1907 he was acquitted of a charge of involvement in the murder of Idaho's antilabour former governor, Frank Steunenberg (1861–1905). "Big Bill" Haywood then undertook a speaking tour for the Socialist Party and supported numerous strikes. He was later forced out of the party for advocating violence. In 1917 he was convicted of sedition for his opposition to World War I and sentenced to 20 years in prison; in 1921, while free on bail, he fled to Russia.