The Point Gorda Strike - Marine Workers Industrial Union Pamphlet

This pamphlet is fascinating, but perhaps the real gems here are the preamble to the MWIU and the list of headquarters on the back page. MWIU were a militant communist organization. They were the marine section of the Trade Union Unity League who were directly affiliated with the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU). In the early 1920's the communist international's strategy was to form "red" communist run unions instead of trying to enter and radicalize existing AFL unions.

In the United States, MWIU set to work building a militant industrial union for waterfront workers. Most of their activity was in New York. They advocated industrial unionism exclusively and laid the foundation for the major surge in organizing in the mid 1930's with the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organizations. Most of the TUUL sections would transition into CIO unions. The MWIU helped establish the National Maritime Union (CIO), Likewise, the Cannery & Agricultural Workers Industrial Union of the 1920's laid the foundation for the CIO's United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing & Allied Workers.

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International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union - C.I.O. Local Union list

This is a working list that is continually being expanded and cross referenced as I work through archival material. You will notice I pose questions next to some of the locals or include various notes. If you use this list as a reference please know it may not be 100% accurate. This is a continuation of my project to map the Congress of Industrial Organizations. You will notice several different charters with the same local number. The International reused local numbers as they amalgamated or ceased to exist. Making this research a tad bit more difficult. ILWU Local 1 - RAYMOND, WA (longshore) *** chartered ’37 ILWU Local 2 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA (shipscalers) *** chartered ’37 ILWU Local 3 - STOCKTON, CA, (Barge / Power Boat) *** chartered ’37 in 1950 Local 3 becomes catch all for the International Fisherman & Allied Workers after they are expelled from the CIO. Below is a list of locals that became Local 3 in 1950. I believe these numbers correspond w...

United Packinghouse Workers of America Local 9 - C.I.O. 1940 Agreement with George A. Hormel & Co. - Austin, Minnesota

"We, the United Packinghouse Workers, realize that the struggle to better our working and living conditions is in vain unless we are united to protect ourselves collectively against the organized forces of the employer. We, therefore, form an organization which unites all workers in our industry on an industrial basis with rank and file control regardless of craft, age, sex, nationality, race, color, creed or political beliefs consistent with democratic processes, and we pledge ourselves to pursue at all times a relentless and aggressive struggle to advance our interests. We recognize that our industry is composed of workers of all nationalities, of many races, of different creeds and political opinions. In the past, these differences have been used to divide us and one group has been set against another by those who would prevent our unifying. We have organized by overcoming these divisive influences and by recognizing that our movement must be big enough to encompass a...

STRIKE STRATEGY by William Z. Foster - Trade Union Education League 1926 Pamphlet

STRIKES, even when small and weak, constitute breaks of the workers with capitalism. They are living refutations of the time-worn conservative trade union slogan that the interests of capital and labor are identical. They are expressions of the irreconcilable quarrel between the workers and the employers over the division of the workers’ products. They are skirmishes in the great class war, foreshadowings of the final struggle which will abolish capitalism. During strikes, workers are in an especially militant and rebellious mood. They are then highly receptive of revolutionary ideas. It is then above all that they can and must be taught the full implications of their struggle. To rouse the class consciousness of the workers and to educate them to understand the class struggle and the historic mission of the working class is always a first consideration in strike strategy. Strikes are of many kinds and characters. Losovsky lists 13 types, as follows : Spontaneous, organized, o...

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