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 strike in 1919, and laid plans to develop an organization. On March 15, 1932, the district secretariat adopted an organizational plan that included “immediately to begin to issue the West Coast Bulletin for the marine workers.” Other parts of the plan included attendance by Darcy and three others, including James Branch and Emmet Kirby, at the morning shape-up, where longshore workers sought work for the day, and recruiting of longshore workers through public speaking and individual discussions. Branch and Kirby, like Darcy, were not longshore workers. Branch was managing editor of the Western Worker, and Kirby was the paper’s artist.41