The IWW's goal was to promote worker solidarity in the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the employing class. The IWW was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States. The Combined Syndicates of America traces its direct history back to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). For electoral praxis operations, it supports the CSA-dominated Socialist Party of America on the ballot. However, due to the poor health of its General Secretary, it is led by the formidable journalist-turned-politician John 'Jack' Silas Reed in 1936. It formed out of the Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The Combined Syndicates of America (CSA) is an American association of trade unions, based on the principles of syndicalism.