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36-670: The Stockton cannery strike of 1937 , also known as the spinach riot , was the bloody culmination of conflict between the Agricultural Workers Organization local and the California Processors and Growers in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The riots of April 23, 1937, in which both sides were armed with clubs and firearms, began in front of a Stockton cannery and resulted in one death, over fifty serious injuries and tied up

72-579: A Red Card, proof of membership to the IWW, from all other riders. If a hobo could not produce a membership card, the field delegates forced the rider to purchase a card or get off the train. By doing so, the AWO hoped to create an "800 mile picket line" along the wheat belt ensuring the IWW controlled all harvest jobs. They were also organizers at the workplace and presented grievances to the ranch foremen and farmers; holding full organizer's responsibilities, delegates had

108-594: A bitterly divided, partially organized, labor movement at odds with a militant business association, the California Producers and Growers, determined to block unionization at any cost. All parties viewed Stockton as the key battleground for control of California's multimillion-dollar agricultural industry. In April 1937, the Agriculture Workers local and the workers at Stockton's five canneries demanded higher pay, better working conditions and

144-663: A call to the California Governor Frank F. Merriam to request National Guard troops to help quell the violence. On the advice of the Chief of the Highway Patrol , Raymond Cato, who had relayed the managers' decision to reopen talks, Governor Merriam declined the request. The riot resulted in a "truce" mediated by Governor Merriam in Sacramento the following Saturday during which a tentative agreement

180-847: A large donation to the IWW's Work People's College in Duluth, Minnesota"(Sellars). However, because of the frightening split in Wobbly ranks in 1924, the AWIU experienced a steep decline in its members. The AWIU eventually fell as a result of the rise of new technologies. These technologies eventually drove the majority of harvest workers out of labor. The last annual convention (the 21st) was held in Seattle in 1929. Forsythe Charles Clowdsley Forsythe Charles Clowdsley (February 6, 1895 – September 26, 1940)

216-464: A promise by the cannery owners to operate a " closed shop ". The growers and cannery owners refused, countering that they had only recently given workers a 25% pay raise. Tensions mounted as the union threatened to strike at the opening of spinach season if its demands weren't met and the California Producers and Growers warned farmers that "Communist pickets will, by force, prevent" them from getting their crops to market. When their demands weren't met,

252-719: The Great Depression on one hand and the Dust Bowl on the other, resulted in an estimated 1.3 million people migrating from the midwest and southwest of the country to California to seek better living conditions. At its peak in the fall of 1931, 1200-1500 migrants arrived each day, many of whom settled in the San Joaquin Valley agricultural area. The new influx of people, often living in designated work camps, found themselves competing not only with each other, but also with locals in an environment where unemployment

288-471: The Industrial Worker included Ernest Riebe 's cartoon whose character "Mr. Block" was controlled by employers who used race and ethnic backgrounds to divide workers. The cartoon was addressed toward several ethnicities and exposed the strategies employers used to obtain the most production for the little pay. In an earlier example of multiracial organizing among IWW agricultural workers was in

324-523: The 1913 Wheatland Hop-Fields Riot in Wheatland, California. Ralph Durst and his brother, owners of a large farm and ranch, refused to address the complaints of their agricultural workers who presented a list of demands to them. In response to their refusal and firing of the leading IWW members, Wobblies met that same night and included speakers who spoke in German, Greek, Italian, Arabic, and Spanish to

360-754: The AWIU coincided in the midst of the Red Scare and World War One, the AWIU's membership still continued to grow reaching 25,000 members by 1921. The AWIU eventually became the biggest financial contributor to the Industrial Workers of the World. "Nearly $ 85,000 of the money the AWIU had raised in 1922 [$ 135,055 total] went to support strikes in Oregon and California; and harvesters had also provided defense funds for Wobblies in Centralia, Washington, and made

396-501: The AWO, but not many recruits stayed with the union due to the migrant nature. The AWO did not restrict membership to a particular race or ethnicity, as did craft unions. The AWO built solidarity among its members by emphasizing the shared exploitation in the fields and living quarters. The Wobbly press's attempted to build solidarity by drawing on the similar working conditions among white, Asian, Hispanic, and African American workers. Conscious of employer's use of race to divide workers,

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432-446: The AWO. Field delegates carried materials such as: union application materials, union membership dues books, dues stamps, and Wobbly literature necessary to recruit agricultural workers. Compensation for field delegates was based on commission per new member so it was an incentive to recruit as many new members as possible. To recruit members to the AWO, field delegates sometimes freight trains in and around harvest areas and demand to see

468-718: The WFM Haywood fought for raising wages and wanted to ban children workers from working in the mines. Eventually Haywood became the secretary-treasurer of the WFM, and in 1901 he joined the American Socialist Party. Eugene V. Debs was an activist in the Trade Union Movement and eventually became the national secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. Daniel De Leon was a Marxist who

504-510: The ability to call a strike against a farmer if the farmer did not address grievances. Field delegates had direct contact with other agricultural workers and were able to experience the working conditions at the field level; direct communication with both workers and ranch foremen, including farmers, allowed for negotiation of wages and delegates would not accept jobs that paid under the union scale of $ 3 per day. The delegate system effectively recruited new members and established multiple locals of

540-576: The crowd in order to gain the most supporters among the group of workers. The decline of the Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union (AWIU) the mid 1920s was also influenced by the inability to adapt to the rapidly changing demographics of farmworkers in the West Coast. Asians and Latinos composed a large part of the workforce; the AWIU struggled to incorporate strategies that united a culturally and socially diverse workforce. During

576-601: The emergence of the Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO) that focused on recruiting farmers in the Western United States and Canada to join one big union. This new organization demanded: The harvest workers stated that if these requirements were met then they would in return perform their best work. To organize the wheat harvest in the west, the Agricultural Workers Organization used two successful tactics: job delegate and on

612-566: The farmers in the area did not want the AWO taking over their town. Eventually, the harvest workers in Yakima Valley went on strike to demand better wages, but the strike was soon halted once local law enforcement became involved. By 1917 the Agricultural Workers Organization had close to 20,000 members. In this same year the AWO was renamed the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (AWIU). Even though

648-507: The founders and leading heads behind the IWW. These founders and the IWW were against the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and was the only labor group who opposed World War I. The IWW consisted of unskilled workers who represented farm workers and miners who demanded higher wages and better working conditions. The IWW did not discriminate on class and welcomed workers from all groups such as women, minorities, immigrants, and

684-399: The hundreds-strong picket line before the first spinach truck, being escorted by California State Highway Patrol cars with sirens blaring, approached the cannery. 850 picketers surrounded the truck, disabled it, and began dumping the produce, prompting the state officers to fight back while Odell's men fired teargas bombs into the crowd. As yet more reinforcements from both sides began arriving,

720-447: The job strike. For the job delegate tactic, the IWW assigned members to work the fields and assist farmers with the harvest. The on the job strike tactic was threatening member withdrawal of productive efficiency to win over employer demands. These two highly successful tactics resulted in the Agricultural Workers Organization's ability to organize thousands of individuals in the agricultural, lumber, construction, and oil industries. The AWO

756-524: The labor organization Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW was found on June 27, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois. A group of radicals held a conference and their primary goals were to overthrow the wage system and get rid of capitalism which gave the IWW their platform. Members of the IWW were commonly known as wobblies who advocated for socialism, and did not discriminate based on race or gender. William D. Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, and Daniel De Leon were

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792-481: The labor organizations called a strike. Cannery and farm workers were joined by longshoremen and other pro-union groups in picketing outside Stockton canneries. In anticipation of the strike, San Joaquin County Sheriff Harvey Odell had deputized 700 citizens and armed them with a truckload of pickaxes that he had ordered "with shaved down handles for easy swinging" from a local mill. Members of

828-480: The most efficient way to reach the goals of IWW, but De Leon and Debs believed they could achieve their goals though the Trade Union Movement and Socialist Party. This disagreement caused De Leon and Debs to leave behind the IWW which caused the wobblies to split into two different groups. William D. Haywood was a part of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and was the main founder and of the IWW. In

864-474: The movement of a $ 6 million vegetable crop. The strike is remembered as the most violent confrontation in a long struggle between unions and growers for control of Stockton canneries (and the millions of acres dependent on them) and the political, economic and labor ramifications that affected California for years to come. As the 1930s began, the social and economic turmoil created in the United States by

900-410: The parent organization communicated its more radical message to workers – soapboxing was practiced by AWO delegates, and met with considerable success. The AWO developed the roving delegate system for member sign-up and dues collection, which is still used by the IWW. Within two years, the AWO had achieved a membership of a hundred thousand. Members of the American Socialist Party were the founders of

936-620: The picketers threw rocks and pulled deputies from vehicles and beat them with clubs. The deputies opened fire with shotguns at point blank range. The chaos continued with both sides attacking and retreating in successive waves for 3 hours until Odell decided to abandon the attempt to reopen the cannery and managers promised the union to stay closed and negotiate. During the height of the melee, San Joaquin County District Attorney, Forsythe Charles Clowdsley , placed

972-509: The posse were mostly local farmers and non-union cannery workers who viewed the interference of the unions as part of the wider communist activities associated with the first Red Scare . The focal point of the riot was the Stockton Food Processors cannery on Waterloo Road where 200 posse members took up positions and tried to reopen the plant on the morning of April 23. About 25 non-union replacement workers managed to cross

1008-403: The strike and merits of the final agreement. 37°59′10″N 121°14′53″W  /  37.986°N 121.248°W  / 37.986; -121.248 Agricultural Workers Organization As a member organization of the IWW, the AWO embraced a variety of tactics in order to organize workers. While the AWO resolved to prohibit street speaking and soap boxing – a common method by which

1044-528: The summer of 1916, farm workers in Washington State campaigned to establish the Agricultural Workers Organization in Washington's Yakima Valley. With many AWO leaders residing in the region already, the IWW sent out AWO leaders to reach out to the independent farmers in the valley. The Agricultural Workers Organization's plan was to convince the harvest workers to join their union. However, most of

1080-484: The unemployed. Youth groups were even encouraged by the IWW and followed in their steps by organizing their own unions. They referred to themselves as "Junior Wobblies". At the beginning of the IWW there were three main founders and leaders. These three founders include William D. Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, and Daniel De Leon who were all a part of the Socialist Party. Haywood believed strikes and boycotts were

1116-795: Was a United States Democratic politician, serving in the California State Assembly . Clowdsley was born in California. During World War I he served in the United States Army . Clowdsley served in the California State Assembly from 1927 to 1935, and was Speaker of the California State Assembly in 1934. He was San Joaquin County District Attorney during the Stockton Cannery Strike of 1937 . This article about

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1152-671: Was a part of the Knights of Labor. De Leon was an editor for the Social Labor Party, and was extremely opposed to capitalism and wanted to overthrow it. Through the Socialist Party these three men gathered and formed the IWW. On April 15, 1915, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) all gathered in Kansas City, MO in attempt to form an organization directed towards harvest workers. This conference led to

1188-546: Was already as high as 25%. This intense competition and desperation for work led to a steep drop in agricultural wages and tolerance of deplorable working conditions. The Agricultural Workers Organization, a subsidiary of the Industrial Workers of the World , as part of its continuing nationwide push to unionize agricultural workers, took up the workers' cause through the Local 20221 in San Joaquin County. Local 20221

1224-876: Was chartered through the American Federation of Labor in May 1936 and in March 1937 was authorized by the Stockton Central Labor Council to start organizing cannery workers, a move not sanctioned by the State Federation, but nevertheless undertook to head off both the International Longshoremen's Association which they considered too radical and their rival, the Congress of Industrial Organizations . This left

1260-695: Was known for being able to bring in new members to the union while also improving working conditions for the harvest workers. Many of the workers employed at these industries faced harsh conditions that made collective action necessary for survival. Harsh conditions included, lice infested camps, long hours, intense heat, and earnings of $ 2.50 a day. Agricultural Workers Organization's Secretary-Treasurer Walter Nef designated two types of delegates, field delegates (or walking delegates) and stationary delegates, who organized in main wheat belt towns without continuous migration. Field delegates were agricultural workers who recruited new members and acted as representatives of

1296-461: Was reached between the labor representatives and the California Processors and Growers regarding wage increases and union recognition. Stockton's canneries were reopened April 28, 1937. Despite the concessions made by the canneries and the apparent labor victory, the agricultural and cannery workers in Stockton remained largely divided and unorganized due to differing opinions regarding the tactics of

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