Activity

The second and third issues of the Waterfront Worker, in February and March 1933, apparently also Hynes’s work, hinted at some new organization on the docks but provided no further information. The fourth issue, in April 1933, acknowledged the MWIU. The fifth issue, in May 1933, cited the MWIU as t…

Hynes’s most important project in San Francisco seems to have been launch-
ing the Waterfront Worker, a mimeographed newsletter, part of the plan adopted
in March 1932 to “immediately . . . issue the West Coast Bulletin for the marine
workers.” The first issue was less than immediate, perhaps on…

As of March 1932 in all of California there were only five CP members in the marine industry—all of them, apparently, MWIU functionaries. In his memoirs, Darcy recalled that in early 1932, District 13 leaders met for several days, examined the San Francisco waterfront, studied a failed longshore st…

In May 1934, longshore workers from Bellingham in northern Washington to San Diego in Southern California went on strike under the leadership of the Pacific Coast District of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA-PCD). They were soon joined by shipboard workers, organized in several uni…

By the time of the cotton strike, John Steinbeck had become acquainted with members of the John Reed Club in Carmel. The John Reed Club was the party’s organization for intellectuals, and club members were avid supporters of the CAWIU. Not limited to party members, the Carmel club included Lincoln …