Activity

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 …

The 1933 cotton strike was the largest single strike in the history of agricultural labor up to that time. By then CAWIU organizers had gained practical experience, and they prepared carefully, holding meetings with farmworkers throughout Kern and Kings counties. They asked for one dollar per hundr…

Throughout 1931 and early 1932 the party’s approach to farmworkers remained much like that in 1930—waiting for a spontaneous strike, usually because of wage cuts, and showing up to provide support and try to take leadership. Caroline Decker, centrally involved in those efforts, recalled, “Two-third…

In early June 1931, Darcy wrote to Jack Stachel about his first six months in the district. Party headquarters was at 734 Harrison Street, in a neighborhood Darcy called the “skid-road” and the local press called the “skid-way”—an area of inexpensive residential hotels, cheap cafes, and numerous ba…