The packinghouse campaign of 1917 marked a huge victory in the fight for industrial unionism in the US. Although union leaders had long thought the meatpacking industry was an organizing dead end, Foster, along with other militant union leaders, proved them wrong. Using a bold tactic of “strike first, ask questions later”, Foster and his group of previous ITEUL militants organized hundreds of thousands of meatpacking workers into one of the most formidable industrial unions of the time. Foster recounts how they succeeded despite push back from industry, government and reactionary union leaders.