At the previous general meeting, we unanimously voted to make local working-class history the topic of the first WCU Article.
arguments for…
During the meeting, we made the following arguments for this topic:
@Turcotte supported it because it could draw more people to our organizing work. He noted that Stockton has a rich union history that many people are unaware of.
@Raiken_202 agreed, stating that starting with local issues would serve as a good foundation for the new year.
@PeterKraljev suggested connecting local labor issues to figures like MLK and Malcolm X, emphasizing how historic figures often have their views sanitized to be celebrated.
@HipGnosis said that “working-class history” has “working class” right in the name, making it a natural fit for WCU. He mentioned the 1937 Stockton Cannery Strike as a specific example of how we could talk about local stories that happened nearby.
I supported it because it could counter the defeatist narratives that people in Stockton have about themselves. It would be good to push past the recent years of political corruption and downturn and reconnect with our roots when there was more working-class militancy.
We approved the article. Now what?
article writing process
Below is the outline for how we plan to proceed with the article writing process. In short, we should have an article outline prepared to present at the next General Meeting in February.
This month, we have two online meetings scheduled to discuss what should go into this article (@Bozzii, can you please edit this post with specific dates and times?).
This thread should serve as the primary hub for discussing what should go into this article.
article outline
Below are some items I think the outline we present next month should cover, but this is just my opinion. We need to decide on this together.
Introduction/Hook
How is this information relevant today?
What is the call to action?
Some general questions we should answer before we get too far into the process:
What is our main message?
Who is our primary audience?
Are we trying to correct misconceptions? If so, which ones?
What will resonate with our audience (not just with us)?
How do we balance information with inspiration to act?
@Englishpete08, or anyone else, do you think there are other questions we should keep in mind?
I did some quick research and found the following labor movements and strikes:
Stockton Cannery Strike of 1937 / Spinach Riot
California Agricultural Strikes of 1933
Filipino Labor Organizing
Delano Grape Strike
Key figures in local labor history (discussing their limitations would be a good topic for later). Focusing on labor history from the perspective of everyday workers is better than focusing on these leaders:
Larry Itliong
Dolores Huerta
Cesar Chavez
There were also splits within the labor movement during some of these strikes. But with a 500-word limit, that might be too detailed.
The spinach strike is pretty interesting because it turned into an actual battle with capitalists, and though the union won their demands in the short run, they were betrayed in the long run.
It serves as a warning and a call to action all in one, assuming we were out correctly
I might take a shot at writing this to see what people think.
That being said, for anyone else interested in taking a crack at it, it might be useful to think about the ways in which one can relate local labor history to labor movements in other areas of California/the country at large and maybe even trying to draw parallels to today’s labor movements.
Topic: Working Class History of Local Labor - Stockton Cannery Strike of 1937 / Spinach Riot
Target audience:
the average person
What is the point?:
Comparing state Stockton of warehouse work to the canneries in Stockton during the 1930s
Portrayed as a win when it wasn’t actually a victory for the working class (still researching this point)
– Canneries reopened 5 days later and workers felt sold out by their leadership
– Tie it back to general assumption that unions are good, but having union leadership can lead to massive failures
Your boss will use scare tactics to intimidate you
Gavin Newsom’s recent actions towards unions
Red Scare back then; making a comeback now (recent vote by Congress)
Relating it to current experiences, when wages were low, and communism (collective labor) was vilified, then it is not too much to say that we have the same conditions and the same demands today as things have not improved.
Possible Conclusions:
No one is going to come in to save you or fix your problems, it is work that we have to do together
– Keep advocating with yourself and your community
Join WCU
– We should promote ourselves at the end; talk about how we are organizing collectively, democratically, for the first time in a long time, returning to our roots as not bitches.
– People used to risk their lives for a better wage. Now we bend the knee to internet celebrities who promise to drop their pocket change on our heads.
– So if you want to have a different outcome or you want to change the status quo, then we need to organize differently or else we will get more of the same.
Red scare reference in this article “The largest strike occurred in San Francisco in 1933 with effects felt across the state. It began as a labor strike by the Longshoremen but turned into a general, 4-day long, citywide strike. Though quickly settled, it led to the hatred and distrust of labor unions and a communist scare. Many labor movements were seen as a communist threat to the American way of life and thus despised, most likely because communist groups would back the strikes, as it coincided with their socialist agendas. In 1934, the California State Chamber of Commerce and California Farm Bureau created an emergency organization to prevent further strikes”
“The organization included such groups as the American Legion and Associated Farmers of California. The Associated Farmers created a statewide strategy while the American Legion acted as the foot soldiers with the self-created title, “Strikebreaking Deputies.” The organizations became known by the labor parties as the “farm fascists” and were not seen as effective. In many instances the extreme tactics used to break the strikes were considered brutal and harsh.”
Thank you @Englishpete08 for doing all the work researching this article and writing out a timeline and thank you @HipGnosis for helping write the article!
Here is a draft of the article that we worked on. Please leave comments/edits and we will continue working on it throughout the week until the General Meeting.