The I.W.W. leads a strike begun by Mexican street construction workers to win parity with Anglo workers in San Diego as the bosses try to pit U.S.-born, Italian, Greek, and Mexican workers against each other over some of the hardest, lowest paying jobs in the city.

‘San Diego Strike of Mexican Laborers Conducted by the I.W.W.’ from Solidarity. Vol. 1 No. 37. August 27, 1910.

San Diego, Calif., Aug. 13. The first strike to be pulled off in this city for a number of months was inaugurated by the Mexican members of the I.W.W. Union to-day. This strike is only the beginning to raise the wages of the Mexican laborers as a whole in San Diego.

The Mexicans have organized a Spanish speaking Public Service Workers Union of the I.W.W. and will, with the assistance of the English speaking local No. 13, carry on a campaign of agitation and education among the Mexicans of this locality, with a view of getting every one of them organized and raising the wages of all of them.

Until this time the Mexicans in this. country have been receiving the lowest wages of any class of labor. They have been discriminated against in every way possible. Their families are some of them in a starving condition and all live in the cheapest shacks they can get. Another class of Mexicans, who are not married, are shipped out on various jobs by employment sharks, and some work for less. than a dollar a day and rotten grub, mostly all of them either sleeping out of doors dirty quarters. In short, the Mexicans have been treated like dogs.

But now there is hope, for the I.W.W. is going to be a factor to be reckoned with. in the near future, inasmuch as it is pro- posed to get every Mexican here in the Union, and educate them on the I.W.W. principles and tactics.

Now about the present strike of the Mexicans employed by the gas company. We had several I.W.W. men (Mexicans) on this job, which is digging trenches for gas pipes. They learned that a couple of Americans and several Italians on the same job were getting $2.25 a day, while they were only getting 2 for 9 hours. Owing to the educational propaganda, and agitation among the Mexicans all of them went out together, leaving only three other men working.

When the spokesman for the strikers demanded $2.25 a day and no discrimination against our men, the foreman of the job told him that he could get all the Mexicans he wanted for $1.50 a day. This foreman has another guess coming though, not one of them will work for less than $2.25 and as the Company depends on this class of labor things look favorable for us.

Even if we should lose, conditions wages cannot be worse than they were before, and it will mean a great step toward compact organization and education.

We held a special strike meeting Sunday and decided to use “McKees Rocks tactics,” and we want to make the strike short and sweet.

Will let you know later how it turns out.

San Diego Cal. Aug., 15. The strike of the Mexicans employed as common laborers at the San Diego Consolidated, Gas and Electric Co. here has assumed larger proportions than was at first expected. Five Greeks and a couple Italians and Americans who at first refused to strike quit work today. After these men quit there was no work going on (that is on the excavating job which was affected by the strike) until several Americans were sent to work by the employment sharks as scabs. Just think of it? our brave and free American workingmen scabbing on the poor Mexicans. It didn’t last long though, for at noon the Americans were persuaded to quit by the I.W.W. pickets.

After these men quit the strike committee interviewed the superintendent without any results. They then went to the A. F. of L. Headquarters. After the I.W.W. men told their story they were told that “the I.W.W. could go to hell but we stand for the principle of unity and will see, what we can do.” It may be that the A. F. of L. will take action in this matter.

The men returned to the I.W.W. headquarters tonight well satisfied with the results of the day, and after holding a meeting decided to continue to picket as for a few days yet and in the meantime to organize and agitate among the Mexicans all over the city.

We have held several Mexican meetings and the speakers are doing all in their power to explain Industrial Unionism.

Will let you know more tomorrow.

San Diego Cal. Aug. 17. This little city is now on the map. The real estate sharks, or the Chamber of Commerce didn’t do it, but the I.W.W. did it. We are putting it on the map every day.

The strike has extended from the Gas Company plant to the street “pick and shovel men” and the employes of the Barber Asphalt Co.’s concrete men who are only getting $2.00 per day for 10 hours. We want 8 hours. and $2.50 a day, and we are going to get it if we have to call out every unskilled laborer in San Diego.

In our last report we stated that only a few men had been working at the gas plant that day and that they would quit that night (the 3rd day of the strike.) They did, but the boss hired a few more Americans and a couple of Italians who couldn’t understand what was going on. They worked Tuesday, but Wednesday morning the Mexicans and American I.W.W. men got them to quit with the Americans, leaving the job at a standstill. The foreman looked crestfallen when he saw his scabs strike. But he still refused to come through with the $2.25 a day. He still thought he could get other Mexicans to work, but the strike committee told him that if he didn’t offer $2.25 pretty soon that we would force him to pay us $2.50 and give us an eight hour day besides. He still thought he could get all the pick and shovel stiffs he wanted at $2.00 so we told him to watch us and we went to another job where the Company was laying gas mains in another part of the city and called out every man. Then we went over to the street paving job on the next street where the Barber Asphalt trust was sweating men 10 or 11 hours a day for $2.00 and we got every man to quit, without any trouble whatever.

The bosses had evidently taken our advice and watched us for they sent around a squad of police and the patrol wagon, and took the strike committee to the police station where they examined us in the presence of the companies’ lawyers, but were forced to free us as, we had done our work and conducted the strike without any violence whatever. Our very peacableness has won for us public sympathy. Even the policemen recognize the justice of our cause for they told us on the side, “to go after our raise and get it.” Evidently they have read of the mutiny of the police in Columbus and also Fort Worth, Texas.

Last night (Tuesday) a committee of three went up to the A: F. of L. Hall and met the Central Labor Council and asked them to take action and extend their moral support, if nothing else. A few old stiffs would not talk to us, but a couple of in their meeting. We have not heard yet what action they took.

Tuesday night we had the biggest street meeting that was ever held in San Diego. Nearly 200 people mostly working men listened to Fellow Workers Mrs. Emerson, “Shorty Hopkins”, Fellow Workers Martinez, and MacDonald, who spoke for three hours steady. Each speaker received great applause and a collection was taken up for the families of the striking Mexicans. There was a couple of “plain clothes men” there trying to start something, however they failed for our speakers are level headed. Tonight (Wednesday) we held a bigger meeting than last night, nearly 250 people being present on the street listening. The police were very good and didn’t bother us in the least although we took the crowd away from the Starvation Army on the opposite corner. To get even the starvationists beat their drums and tried to drown our speakers’ voices.

Although the strike was called prematurely we have every reason to expect success. We have already organized 100 Mexicans and if we had an Italian I.W.W. man, and a Greek I.W.W. man we could organize them too.

We intend by next spring to have every unskilled laborer in the I.W.W. Watch us!

Yours for Revolutionary Unionism, Mexican Strike Committee. L.U. No. 13 I.W.W.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1909-1910/v01n37-aug-27-1910-Solidarity-San-Diego.pdf